Medieval Europe

Product Description

A spirited & thought-provoking history of the vast changes that transformed Europe during the 1, 000-year span of the Middle Ages The millennium between the breakup of the western Roman Empire & the Reformation was a long & hugely transformative period-one not easily chronicled within the scope of a few hundred pages. Yet distinguished historian Chris Wickham has taken up the challenge in this landmark book, & he succeeds in producing the most riveting account of medieval Europe in a generation. Tracking the entire sweep of the Middle Ages across Europe, Wickham focuses on important changes century by century, including such pivotal crises & moments as the fall of the western Roman Empire, Charlemagne`s reforms, the feudal revolution, the challenge of heresy, the destruction of the Byzantine Empire, the rebuilding of late medieval states, & the appalling devastation of the Black Death. He provides illuminating vignettes that underscore how shifting social, economic, & political circumstances affected individual lives & international events. Wickham offers both a new conception of Europe`s medieval period & a provocative revision of exactly how & why the Middle Ages matter.