Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Barcelona Crítica 2017
Description
"The millennium between the breakup of the western Roman Empire and the Reformation was a long and 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, and 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 and 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, and the appalling devastation of the Black Death. He provides illuminating vignettes that underscore how shifting social, economic, and political circumstances affected individual lives and international events. Wickham offers both a new conception of Europe's medieval period and a provocative revision of exactly how and why the Middle Ages matter"--… (more)
Media reviews
This is a very stimulating and enjoyable book. Wickham is not much interested in intellectual and cultural history which are so in vogue nowadays. Instead he portrays European development based on political and socio-economic factors. His Europe is vibrant and dynamic, even at times almost
Show More
anarchic, an untidy mass of competing peoples, states, and cities whose variety is difficult to encompass. This book sketches the changing structures of medieval Europe with great clarity. Much of it is fairly conventional, but the author's emphases and omissions will act as a valuable stimulus to historical debate. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member motorbike
This take on medieval Europe focuses on the impact of centralized taxation, or the lack of it, on a civilization. There's little of the usual serf/lord relationships and feudal obligations as the driving momentum of the medieval era.
Whickam's thesis is that the medieval period is best understood
The legacy of Rome looms large over Medieval Civilization. The would-be kings of the new era valued the civics and authority of old Rome, but as the centralized taxation system that made the Roman Empire successful a few centuries earlier had withered and replaced by a feudal-type arrangement that gave more power and resources to local lords, limiting the flow of resources to the top and their ability to wield absolute power. It also meant that the speed of socio-economic development was slowed. He frequently compares the medieval world to the Byzantine and Arabian Empires where centralized taxation was maintained.
The inability to wield centralized power meant that local systems that were originally outside the Roman world (Germanic, Celtic, Viking) were able to leave their marks in some way on society - in particular the role of Assemblies in the governing of society and its lasting impact. Also, it gave a chance for independent cities to emerge where conditions were favourable. The homogeneity of the old Roman world could not be re-established; not even the adoption of Christianity with its central Pope in Rome could overcome these developments.
He sees around the year 1100 AD the turning point for Medieval Civilization, as kings have now achieved authority with themselves clearly above other large landholders, and give them the opportunity to take advantage of the long economic boom now underway and the expansion of populations, to start the process of re-establishing some form of a centralized taxation system and reinforce the power structure that has them at the top.
Medieval civilization was now in its strongest position in its 1,000 year history to confidently make the transition to the next major epoch, with a socio-political structure very different to its start and to its aspirations.
Whickam's thesis is that the medieval period is best understood
Show More
from this centralized taxation perspective. In the end he concludes that at the close of the Medieval period, rather than the society being anxious and concerned about the future, it has overcome difficulties of its earlier period and well placed to take advantage of the new opportunities emerging. The legacy of Rome looms large over Medieval Civilization. The would-be kings of the new era valued the civics and authority of old Rome, but as the centralized taxation system that made the Roman Empire successful a few centuries earlier had withered and replaced by a feudal-type arrangement that gave more power and resources to local lords, limiting the flow of resources to the top and their ability to wield absolute power. It also meant that the speed of socio-economic development was slowed. He frequently compares the medieval world to the Byzantine and Arabian Empires where centralized taxation was maintained.
The inability to wield centralized power meant that local systems that were originally outside the Roman world (Germanic, Celtic, Viking) were able to leave their marks in some way on society - in particular the role of Assemblies in the governing of society and its lasting impact. Also, it gave a chance for independent cities to emerge where conditions were favourable. The homogeneity of the old Roman world could not be re-established; not even the adoption of Christianity with its central Pope in Rome could overcome these developments.
He sees around the year 1100 AD the turning point for Medieval Civilization, as kings have now achieved authority with themselves clearly above other large landholders, and give them the opportunity to take advantage of the long economic boom now underway and the expansion of populations, to start the process of re-establishing some form of a centralized taxation system and reinforce the power structure that has them at the top.
Medieval civilization was now in its strongest position in its 1,000 year history to confidently make the transition to the next major epoch, with a socio-political structure very different to its start and to its aspirations.
Show Less
LibraryThing member P1g5purt
Not an easy read but, then again, a 250 page survey of Europe from 500 -1500 is never going to be. A book to return to.
LibraryThing member CarltonC
A necessarily engaging and demanding overview of trends in European medieval history from about 500-1500, complemented by a useful set of maps at various points in time, and some relevant photos of buildings and artworks.
As Wickham says : “my intention is to concentrate on the moments of change
I read this in concentrated bursts, as it is fairly dense, and for me needs to be read a chapter or two at a time this way, as I only have a general knowledge of most of the period, with detailed reading of English history. Nevertheless I found Wickham’s book excellent in providing a largely understandable overview and explanation of the significant changes during this long period.
The strength of the book is also its weakness, in that by seeking to successfully show overall trends in the period (with repeated caveats over the “bumps in the road” of events that create temporary divergence from the trend), the book also demands prior knowledge of the period (or at least aspects), and interest and concentration on the overall trend, rather than the interesting particulars. One’s natural interest in the particular stories of national history have to be held in abeyance, to pursue the arguments for the overarching trends.
As the book cannot provide a narrative story, except with specific examples to make the author’s points to illustrate significant changes, it leaves me wanting to read more. I view this as success and will try to remember to revisit the arguments of this book once I have read more about specific histories.
As Wickham says : “my intention is to concentrate on the moments of change
Show More
and the overarching structures, to show what, in my view, most characterised the medieval period and makes it interesting”.I read this in concentrated bursts, as it is fairly dense, and for me needs to be read a chapter or two at a time this way, as I only have a general knowledge of most of the period, with detailed reading of English history. Nevertheless I found Wickham’s book excellent in providing a largely understandable overview and explanation of the significant changes during this long period.
The strength of the book is also its weakness, in that by seeking to successfully show overall trends in the period (with repeated caveats over the “bumps in the road” of events that create temporary divergence from the trend), the book also demands prior knowledge of the period (or at least aspects), and interest and concentration on the overall trend, rather than the interesting particulars. One’s natural interest in the particular stories of national history have to be held in abeyance, to pursue the arguments for the overarching trends.
As the book cannot provide a narrative story, except with specific examples to make the author’s points to illustrate significant changes, it leaves me wanting to read more. I view this as success and will try to remember to revisit the arguments of this book once I have read more about specific histories.
Show Less
LibraryThing member brett.sovereign
Short, but hard to finish. There isn't much detail, unsurprisingly for a 258 page book covering a thousand years of history, but generalities about political change from the Byzantine Empire to Scotland aren't really engaging.
LibraryThing member Ailurophile
Quite an interesting book. It presents an analysis of the entire medieval period, across all of Europe, with a strong focus on socio-economics. The intense focus on the fine details, region by region and historical period by historical period, did make the book a bit of an effort to wade through. I
I suppose the main lesson that I took from it is that one should be cautious about generalizations about the "dark ages." There was much more variation from one locality to the next, and over time, from the early to the mid to the late medieval period, than I had realized.
Show More
suspect that a reader who was better versed in the basic history of medieval Europe would have gotten a good deal more from it than I did. It struck me more as a scholarly text than as a "popular" account of the period. That said, many books that present a bit of difficulty as one reads them are nonetheless rewarding, and I am glad to have read this one. I suspect that it will be worth a re-read in a few years, when I have learned more about the subject.I suppose the main lesson that I took from it is that one should be cautious about generalizations about the "dark ages." There was much more variation from one locality to the next, and over time, from the early to the mid to the late medieval period, than I had realized.
Show Less
LibraryThing member George_Stokoe
Great book. Fascinating. But it's going to very difficult to review. There's so much in it. I'm going to just make start, and edit to add more when I can over the next week or so. (Starting this review Wednesday 14 September, 2022.) So please check back later, if you want to know more about this
COMING SOON IN THIS REVIEW - - Saint Catherine of Sienna, Christian mystic given to extreme asceticism, drinking pus and going without food or sleep. Advisor to Pope Gregory XI.
Show More
book. But one of the things to say straight away about the book is the author uses the years 500-1500 CE for the medieval period consciously as arbitrary cut off years, rather than end it say the medieval period at the Renaissance, or Reformation. This is so as not to look at it in terms of well the medieval period was leading up to the these. Or would have led up to industrial capitalism, had it not been for e.g. the Black Death / the restrictive policies of medieval guilds / the Hundred Years' War / the early fifteenth-century silver famine getting in the way. Those are other arguments by historians. The authors view is that these approaches take away from the interest to be had from the internal characteristics and complexities of the medieval period itself. (With the example of industrial capitalism, the author says it wasn't really medieval trade or banking that was its basis, anyway. It was small towns and small- scale exchange slowly and splutteringly introducing low-cost products to a mass market.)COMING SOON IN THIS REVIEW - - Saint Catherine of Sienna, Christian mystic given to extreme asceticism, drinking pus and going without food or sleep. Advisor to Pope Gregory XI.
Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Просветитель.Перевод (Shortlist — 2020)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
509 p.; 24 cm
ISBN
9788417067007