Author:
Blockmans, Wim, 1945- author.
Edition Statement:Third edition.
ImprintLondon ; New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.
Descriptionxvii, 497 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm
Note:The Middle Ages as a period in European history --From scarcity to hegemony --Medievalism --The book's arrangement --pt. I The early Middle Ages, 300 --1000 --1.The end of the Roman Empire in the West --Governing an empire --Taxation and fiscal policy --The Roman army and the frontier --Economic structure and prosperity --The barbarian world of the North --The collapse of the Roman order in the West --The later Migration Period --Migrations and ethnogenesis --The barbarian kingdoms in the West --Balance: the end of Roman civilisation? --The survival of the Roman Empire in the East --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --2.The establishment of two world religions: Christianity and Islam --The Christian Church in the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages --The relationship between emperor and pope --Material wealth, accumulation and distribution --Church organisation --Monasticism Orthodoxy and heterodoxy --Saints and miracles --Spreading the faith --The Arab conquests and the establishment of Islam --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --3.The powerful and the poor: society and economy in the Frankish kingdoms and beyond --Warlords and landlords --Trade and gift-exchange --Early medieval politics: the Carolingian core --Dynamic peripheries --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --pt. II The central Middle Ages, 1000 --1300 --4.Early kingdoms and principalities --Charlemagne's legacy --The making of England --Iberia --The institutionalisation of the state --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --5.Accelerated growth --Population growth --Volume and nature of agricultural production --New types of local lordship --Knights and peasants: image and reality --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --6.Religious reform and renewal Aspirations to reform --The papal monarchy --Reformation and renewal in monastic life --The faithful become visible --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --pt. III Expansion and maturation, 1000 --1500 --7.The beginnings of European expansion --The West becomes more aggressive --Clashes of civilisations: crusaders, Muslims and Mongols --Take-off to a commercial revolution --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --8.Thinking about man and the world --The medieval view of the world and mankind --The higher education programme of Late Antiquity and its survival in the early Middle Ages --The formation of universities --The humanism of the late Middle Ages --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --9.Towns and the urbanisation of medieval society --The phenomenon of the pre-industrial town --The beginnings of urban society --Autonomy and liberty Urban society and economy in the later Middle Ages --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --pt. IV The late Middle Ages, 1300 --1500 --10.Between crisis and contraction: population, economy and society --War, famine and pestilence --Demographic decline and economic development --Characteristics of late medieval society --Social contrasts and social conflicts --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --11.The consolidation of states --From suzerainty to sovereignty --The course of events --Driving forces in the formation of states --State institutions and social order --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --12.Crisis in the Church and the reorientation of the faithful --Who leads Christendom? --The popes in Avignon and the bureaucratisation of the Curia --The Great Schism and the conciliar movement --Religious life --Points to remember --Suggestions for further reading --Epilogue Acceleration --The medieval roots of modern culture.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (pages 450-474) and index.
Note:"Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1500 provides a comprehensive survey of this complex and varied formative period of European history, covering themes as diverse as barbarian migrations, the impact of Christianization, the formation of nations and states, the emergence of an expansionist commercial economy, the growth of cities, the Crusades, the effects of plague, and the intellectual and cultural life of the Middle Ages. The book explores the driving forces behind the formation of medieval society and the directions in which it developed and changed. In doing this, the authors cover a wide geographic expanse, including Western interactions with the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic World."--Provided by publisher.
Note:Recommended in Resources for College Libraries.
