Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800The Roman empire tends to be seen as a whole whereas the early middle ages tends to be seen as a collection of regional histories, roughly corresponding to the land-areas of modern nation states. As a result, early medieval history is much more fragmented, and there have been few convincing syntheses of socio-economic change in the post-Roman world since the 1930s. In recent decades, the rise of early medieval archaeology has also transformed our source-base, but this has not been adequately integrated into analyses of documentary history in almost any country. In Framing the Early Middle Ages Chris Wickham combines documentary and archaeological evidence to create a comparative history of the period 400-800. His analysis embraces each of the regions of the late Roman and immediately post-Roman world, from Denmark to Egypt. The book concentrates on classic socio-economic themes, state finance, the wealth and identity of the aristocracy, estate management, peasant society, rural settlement, cities, and exchange. These give only a partial picture of the period, but they frame and explain other developments. Earlier syntheses have taken the development of a single region as 'typical', with divergent developments presented as exceptions. This book takes all different developments as typical, and aims to construct a synthesis based on a better understanding of difference and the reasons for it. |
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Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800 Chris Wickham Limited preview - 2006 |
Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800 Chris Wickham Limited preview - 2005 |
Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800 Chris Wickham No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
Africa agrarian amphorae Anglo-Saxon Aphrodito Aquitaine Arab archaeology Aredius argued aristocratic army artisanal autonomy Berber bishop Byzantine Carolingian centre ceramic certainly Chapter church coast complex Constantinople continued documents dominated Dorestad early medieval East eastern economic Egypt Egyptian eighth century elites elsewhere England estates evidence example excavations exchange fifth fiscal Francia Frankish Gaul Gregory Gregory of Tours hierarchies idem important Italy JeŻme kingdom kings labour land landowning late Roman later least less linked Lombard Lucca major Mediterranean Merovingian microregional military ninth northern owners Palestine parallels patronage patterns peasant peasantry period political post-Roman pottery probably production region relatively Roman empire Rome royal rural scale seen senatorial settlement seventh century sixth century social society Spain structures sub-region substantial survey surviving Syria taxation tenants territory texts Umayyad unfree urban Vandals village Visigothic Vita wares wealth West western