ABSTRACT

Early Medieval Europe 300–1050: A Guide for Studying and Teaching empowers students by providing them with the conceptual and methodological tools to investigate the period. Throughout the book, major research questions and historiographical debates are identified and guidance is given on how to engage with and evaluate key documentary sources as well as artistic and archaeological evidence. The book’s aim is to engender confidence in creative and independent historical thought.

This second edition has been fully revised and expanded and now includes coverage of both Islamic and Byzantine history, surveying and critically examining the often radically different scholarly interpretations relating to them. Also new to this edition is an extensively updated and closely integrated companion website, which has been carefully designed to provide practical guidance to teachers and students, offering a wealth of reference materials and aids to mastering the period, and lighting the way for further exploration of written and non-written sources. 

Accessibly written and containing over 70 carefully selected maps and images, Early Medieval Europe 300–1050 is an essential resource for students studying this period for the first time, as well as an invaluable aid to university teachers devising and delivering courses and modules on the period.

part I|14 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|12 pages

Why study this period?

part II|106 pages

Empires and peoples

chapter 2|19 pages

From Roman Empire to barbarian kingdoms

Cataclysm or transition?

chapter 4|23 pages

The Arab conquests

chapter 5|29 pages

The making of peoples

part III|76 pages

Power and society

chapter 6|27 pages

Pagan, Roman, and Christian beliefs about rulers

Ideological power

chapter 7|21 pages

Edicts, taxes, and armies

Bureaucratic power

chapter 8|23 pages

Kings, warriors, and women

Personal power

part IV|85 pages

The economic foundation

chapter 9|26 pages

Trade as a driving force?

chapter 10|22 pages

Cultivating the land

The basis of European society?

chapter 11|32 pages

Towns and cities

The functions of urban life

part V|74 pages

The Church’s triumph

chapter 12|23 pages

Conversion to Christianity

chapter 13|20 pages

The success of monasticism

chapter 14|25 pages

The power of bishops and popes