ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the issues of culture and space. It details the common cultural, social and economic conditions which explain why early medieval states were very large, and why there was such similarity between them that one can speak with some confidence of a common medieval culture. The chapter shows how this rather conservative and stable culture could also be a vehicle for change. With the exception of a very few persons and places, early medieval Europe was poor by Roman standards. The political map of modern Europe is in large part an inheritance from the Roman past, for four of the major nation states of Western Europe, that is, Britain, France, Spain and Italy, occupy territories which roughly correspond to former Roman provinces. Courts were in the way key conduits in the dissemination of ideas across the different kingdoms, especially as they were often centres of learning which attracted a wide range of scholars.
