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History. Military. Nonfiction. HTML:"Not only an engrossing read about the distant past, both informative and entertaining, but also a profoundly thought-provoking view of our not-really-so-â??newâ?? present . . . All medieval history is here, beautifully narrated . . . The vision takes in whole imperial landscapes but also makes room for intimate portraits of key individuals, and even some poems."â??Wall Street Journal "A lively history . . . [Jones] has managed to touch every major topic. As each piece of the puzzle is placed into position, the modern world gradually comes into view . . . Powers and Thrones provides the reader with a framework for understanding a complicated subject, and it tells the story of an essential era of world history with skill and style."â??The New York Times The New York Times bestselling author returns with an epic history of the medieval worldâ??a rich and complicated reappraisal of an era whose legacy and lessons we are still living with today. When the once-mighty city of Rome was sacked by barbarians in 410 and lay in ruins, it signaled the end of an eraâ??and the beginning of a thousand years of profound transformation. In a gripping narrative bursting with big namesâ??from St Augustine and Attila the Hun to the Prophet Muhammad and Eleanor of Aquitaineâ??Dan Jones charges through the history of the Middle Ages. Powers and Thrones takes readers on a journey through an emerging Europe, the great capitals of late Antiquity, as well as the influential cities of the Islamic West, and culminates in the first European voyages to the Americas. The medieval world was forged by the big forces that still occupy us today: climate change, pandemic disease, mass migration, and technological revolutions. This was the time when the great European nationalities were formed; when the basic Western systems of law and governance were codified; when the Christian Churches matured as both powerful institutions and the regulators of Western public morality; and when art, architecture, philosophical inquiry and scientific invention went through periods of massive, revolutionary change. The West was rebuilt on the ruins of an empire and emerged from a state of crisis and collapse to dominate the world. Every sphere of human life and activity was transformed in the thousand years covered by Powers and Thrones. As we face a critical turning point in our own millennium, Dan Jones shows that how we got here… (more)
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Setting the context of the Middle Ages in Europe, Jones initially discusses the Roman Empire, with a succinct
The second chapter on the “Barbarian” invasions is masterly, keeping sufficiently high level to describe the overall movement of “tribes”, whilst providing an explanation of the causes of the movement. This is a period of history which I previously only knew from its impact upon the British and north European stories. Necessarily an overview, this should provide me with excellent context for more detailed histories.
Jones then moves on to early Byzantium, the Eastern Mediterranean, which summarises more detailed histories I have read, again highlighting issues which would shape the later Middle Ages, especially in terms of the “closing of the mind” to Socratic questioning.
Retaining focus on the large trends, Jones provides chapters illuminating:
• the explosion of the Arabian Empire around the Mediterranean with the Muslim faith
• the building of larger kingdoms in the West, with Charlemagne and the Franks
• the monks, who both protected and limited learning, providing literacy for kings and bureaucrats
• the knights, who provide one defining image of the Middle Ages, but also provided the military muscle of rulers
• with both monks and knights “crusading” to push back Arab rule in the Levant (Outremer), Spain and the pagan Baltic states
• new forms of warfare and long distance trade arising from the Mongol invasion
• the creation of wealth by Merchants, allowing the funding for larger armies and buildings
• the transition of learning from religious knowledge to broader secular enquiry with Scholars and then universities
• the creation of castles, abbeys and cathedrals with Builders, using finance from Merchants and the mathematical knowledge of Scholars
• the watershed in the Middle Ages created by the Black Death, changing society for the Survivors
• the blooming of culture from Renewers in the Renaissance, with literary and artistic masterpieces which are still referenced directly today
• the expansion of the European trading network by Navigators, who “discover” the Americas and the route to India around Africa, starting colonialism and globalisation
• the breakdown of Roman Christendom with the Protestants
Some chapters covered subjects I have previously read about in greater detail, providing a useful refresher and also fitting the subject into the larger developments of the Middle Ages. However, for me the best chapters were about the Barbarians, which provided an understandable overview of whole movement, and the Merchants, where I was left wanting to read more. What I really appreciated was Jones’s ability to remain focused on the big issues whilst making these live with the judicious use of actual events and people.
I love Jones’s occasional colloquialisms and deprecating humour, including his closing words, “For it is now late. I have written a lot, and it is time to go.”