Medieval Europe Hardcover – November 29, 2016

Great midieval history, stressing continuity with the Roman empire, as is now fashionable. The central argument is that the "feudal revolution" that made power highly devolved starting in the eleventh century made possible a more "engaged" (democratic, though that word is never used) polity when centralized power reemerged after 1350. Centralized power itself was not new, as it existed with the Carolingians, Byzantines, and Romans before then, but the ability of local communities to push back was new.To truly evaluate the argument, you would need to compare to the Muslim and Asian empires, which would be interesting to do but that I haven't seen anyone do. Interesting thought regardless.

The author is brilliant and has a depth of understanding of the age. Unfortunately, it seems as though he wants to punish the reader. Perhaps, he thinks that he has worked so hard to decipher the age that his readers must pay penance. Otherwise, I don’t see how he could create a maze of a sentence such as: “We do not have the remarkable early notarial registers for Pisa that we have for Genoa, its sister city and rival, from the 1150s onwards, which show the complexity of the contracts which ship-owners made by now, and the density of funding of sea commerce engaged in by traditional élite families, stretching again, very visibly, all over the Mediterranean.”He seems to take perverse pleasure in jamming as many ideas as possible in each sentence. As a result, the reader is left holding a disappearing rope of an idea. By the end of a paragraph, I had to return to the beginning just to remind myself of the original thesis.Wickham has a pure historian’s sense. He refuses to bow to the popular or established interpretation. Sadly, I was only able to glean a third of his brilliance due to his writing.

A wonderful book for a lay history buff, thought provoking, introducing new perspective and insights, comprehensive and revealing.Reading this book opened my eyes for how narrow history was taught in schools (during my school days, a while back).News for me were: Rome did not collapse, popes, emperors and kings had to consult, negotiate, make deals, bargain, with a wide array of stakeholders, adversaries and supporters. And - as today - money matters, most notably taxes (I don't recall having heard about their importance in school).The later economic rise of European nations was not an accident either or, as the current mainstream narrative would have it, based mostly on exploitative colonialism or imperialism. While reading this book, I realized that the later European accomplishments in the development of technology, complex economies and military strength were to a large extent the result of a gradual development of a culture of allowing diverse ideas and innovations to flourish and putting then to the test in public discourse or practical application. This process, I learned, started already in the early middle ages and survived all the mayhem caused by wars, climate change and the black death as the driver of economic development from the renaissance, through the enlightenment, the industrial revolution all the way to the collapse of the old world order in 1914.Lastly, much to learn for observers of current day politics, and lessons to be learned that are still valid - if they were applied.

Very much enjoyed this book. A fairly dense read but a good flow of concepts and drivers of cultural development of polities within the period of 500-1500 AD. One bone to pick, the author rightly notes the substantial increase in population and production during the period beginning with roughly 900 AD and ending with the Plague breakout of the 1340s. What Mr. Wickham failed to mention is the Little Optimum or Medieval Climate Optimum which warmed the earth during 950 AD to 1250 AD, providing for an increase in arable land which substantially contributed to these increases. The subsequent cooling of the earth post-1250 AD compressed much of the northern European population, producing a cauldron of health issues perfectly suited to accelerate the mortality rates associated with the Plague. A big miss there.

This is a truly magnificent summary of what is known about the Middle Ages in Europe, where Europe is broadly conceived: the Byzantine Empire to Andalus, Iceland to Russia, although inevitably, in the current state of research, most attention focuses on developments in Western Europe. Wickham summarizes with great clarity the developing scholarly consensus on how Europe developed during this era; broad trends are visible, almost century by century, but with major differences between particular areas and considerable interaction especially during the later period. Nothing significant is omitted. Political developments take pride of place, but Wickham devotes ample space to the economy as it gradually revived after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and also to social and religious conflicts. The culture of the Middle Ages, by contrast, is given relatively short shrift since many other surveys cover it. I read this book in preparation for a trip to see French Gothic cathedrals, and I now feel much better equipped to place them in a proper historical context. Wickham's writing, furthermore, is engrossing, often pointed and always precise. The author intervenes more than occasionally to give his personal views, which, coming from such an accomplished scholar, are more than welcome. The maps and illustrations are excellent. In short, it would be hard to better this volume.

This most certainly is not a popular history book. The book focuses on the sociological and political aspects of the development of post-Roman societies within and outside the sphere of influence of the former Roman Empire. The reader is assumed to be fully familiar with the historical background facts, events and developments over that 1,000 year period. Nothing wrong with that of course, but I'm just saying that this has to be your expertise and field of interest.If it's not, you will find this book a struggle to get through. The academic style in which it is written doesn't help. The text is full of forward and back references , a thing that my teachers always firmly taught me to avoid when I was still writing papers. And personally, I found little of "the great wit and style" that the book's liner notes tell us the book was written in. Luckily for the serious but lazy student, the last chapter is a summary of the book's contents. The really serious student however might well decide that 1,000 years of sociological and political development in around 250 pages means that this book is not digging deep enough to their taste.As an introductory textbook for University level history students this book certainly is useful and informative. The general reader looking for more popular history and more accessible writing should look elsewhere.

Nice book for a lay history enthusiast like me, well written and very well structured. It's also surprisingly short for a period that covers a 1000-years. Must say that I expected a more colourful account of life, culture and practices in the middle ages. Instead it’s a high-level chronological narrative/interpretation of what drove key changes throughout the period, with not too much detail.Having said that, the writer uses interesting scholarly tools like the source of taxes to explain differences in development and isn’t shy to take a more controversial view. It’s also refreshing that he mostly ignores the chewed-out lives and deeds of well-known rulers.Aside from this there weren’t that many new things for me and I found that a lot of important topics were only dealt with in summary.

This is a brilliant summary of 1000 years of European history. It's also very well written. Wickham’s pithy way of packing ideas into single sentences is sometimes breathtaking. So is his forthright approach to teleological and other commonly perpetuated myths about the period. If I've given it four stars rather than five, this is because the emphasis is too much on political history at the expense of the economic and social background, leaving many questions which I suspect could be answered, particularly given the wealth of recent new archaeological material. But for the general reader seeking to get developments across the continent in this difficult-to-understand period into perspective, this is an excellent book. I particularly appreciated that unlike so many books claiming to be histories of Europe, this one deals with the whole continenet, not just its south-west corner.

This is a very helpful book especially if you are studying history at university level. Would recommend.

This is a brilliant book, a true replacement for Richard Southern's 'Making of the Middle Ages' and Maurice Keen's 'Penguin History of Medieval Europe'.Actually, its more than this, because its focus is wider, both geographically and temporally. It deals with the whole of Europe - West, East, South and North, and including Scandinavia and the Ottoman Empire (traditionally neglected). It describes the entire thousand years from 500 to 1500. But none of the depth of previous studies is lost, because Professor Wickham bases his narrative and analysis on a myriad of sources, and the latest research.It is not only a very complete history. It is in some ways a radical interpretation. Amongst other things, he re-habilitates the later Middle Ages as period worthy of study in its own right, though it was at one time seen as a period of decline, or else as a harbinger of better things to come. The description of the Carolingians made me realise for the first time what they were all about, as did his explanation that there was a 'feudal revolution' between c 1000 and c 1150.Tour de force, I say.