The Early Middle Ages: Europe 400-1000

✍ Scribed by Rosamond McKitterick (ed.)

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 330
• Series: The Short Oxford History of Europe
• Edition: Reprint
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Oxford University Press, 2001. Reprinted 2003.

The Early Middle Ages (400-1000) was one of the most dynamic and crucial periods in the formation of Europe. It covers the transition from the relatively diverse world of Roman Empire in late antiquity to the disparate world of early medieval Europe - where local differences assumed far greater significance, but where the institution of Latin Christianity lent coherence to the successor states.

In this book, McKitterick and five other leading historians have collaborated closely to produce a set of thematic interpretations covering politics, society, economy, culture, religion, and Europe and the wider world. Military matters and warfare are treated within these chapters, reflecting their entrenchment in social, economic, and political structures. The definition of 'Europe' is ambiguous in this period, but for the most part 'Europe' coincides with the ever-expanding horizons of Latin Christendom. It also looks at crucial interactions with other areas, such as Scandinavia, eastern Europe, the Islamic Middle East and North Africa, and Byzantium. Providing a coherent view of the most important elements within the period, this book gives a sense of the complexities and excitements of six hundred years of transition.

✦ Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xii
List of Maps xiv
List of Contributors xv
Introduction / Rosamond McKitterick 1
Context 2
Evidence 4
Events 9
The establishment of the early barbarian kingdoms to Byzantium 15
The emergence of the Carolingians 16
The tenth century 18
1. Politics / Rosamond McKitterick 21
Late Roman political structures 23
The early medieval kingdoms of Europe 24
The king 28
The queen 30
Power and responsibility: consensus 32
The court and closeness to the king 34
Officials and assemblies 36
Law 43
The resources and practicalities of government: finance and the army 47
Political ideology 53
2. Society / Chris Wickham 59
Roman aristocracies 60
Early medieval western elites 64
Byzantium and the Arabs 73
England and Norway 75
The peasantry 80
The year 1000 90
3. The economy / Jean-Pierre Devroey 97
The traditional interpretations 98
Facts and key issues 100
The awakening of the eighth century 104
The late antique city 105
Justinian and Charlemagne 106
The western city 110
The Roman villa 113
Rural transformations, 400-1000 115
The evolution of the great estates 117
Rural society and the state 121
The problem of rural growth 123
The year 1000 and beyond 124
The long slow rise of the western European economies 126
4. Religion / Mayke de Jong 131
'Real Christianity' 131
New Christendoms 132
Elusive others: Jews, heretics, and pagans 142
Sacred domains and strategies of distinction 148
Changing legacies 161
5. Culture / Jan Wood 167
The last century of the western Roman empire 168
The successor states and the imperial tradition 171
Spain after 711 182
The Carolingian Renaissance 185
The tenth century 194
6. Europe and the wider world / Jonathan Shepard 201
Empire without end? 202
The Mediterranean as a barrier to east-west travel 209
Out-of-body experiences in east and west 212
The eastern empire’s survival tack 214
Byzantine reports on 'barbarians': the focus narrows 217
Christians across the sea: Bishop Liudprand’s viewpoint 220
Views from the fringes: Orosius, Isidore, Bede 223
Travelling and converting 227
Charlemagne’s ambit 230
Ends of empire and Otto III 237
Conclusion: into the eleventh century / Rosamond McKitterick 245
Further reading 251
Chronology 261
Maps 279
Index 293