This richly illustrated book is the most authoritative account of life in medieval Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire and the coming of the Renaissance.
Full coverage is given to all aspects of life in a thousand year period which saw the creation of western civilization: from the empires and kingdoms of Charlemagne, the Byzantines, and the Hundred Years War, to the ideals of the Crusades; the building of great Cathedrals and the social catastrophe of the Black Death; the cultural world of chivalric knights, popular festivals, and new art forms. The chapters show the movement of the centre of gravity in European life from the Mediterranean to the north; and the authors explore the contrast between Byzantine and Renaissance cultures in the south and the new, complex political and social structures of north-west Europe, which by 1300 had the most advanced civilization the world had ever seen.
Contents:
Editor’s Foreword
Acknowledgements
List of Colour Plates
List of Maps
1. The Transformation of the Roma Mediterranean, 400-900 (Thomas Brown)
2. The Northern World in the Dark Ages, 400-900 (Edward James)
3. The Society of Northern Europe in the High Middle Ages, 900-1200 (David Whitton)
4. Northern Europe Invades the Mediterranean, 900-1200 (Rosemary Morris)
5. The Mediterranean in the Age of the Renaissance, 1200-1500 (Peter Denley)
6. The Civilization of Courts and Cities in the North, 1200-1500 (Malcolm Vale)
Editor’s Postscript
Further Reading
Chronology
Acknowledgements of Sources
Index
Review:a splendid volume ... presenting contemporary scholarship to the general reader with care, gracce, much thought and many illustrations -- London Review of Books
over 200 magnificent illustrations ... likely to become the standard work on the subject -- Good Book Guide
