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At its height, the Carolingian empire spanned a million square kilometres of western Europe - from the English Channel to central Italy and northern Spain, and from the Atlantic to the fringes of modern Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. As the largest political unit for centuries, the empire dominated the region and left an enduring legacy for European culture. This comprehensive survey traces this great empire's history, from its origins around 700, with the rise to dominance of the Carolingian dynasty, through its expansion by ruthless military conquest and political manoeuvring in the eighth century, to the struggle to hold the empire together in the ninth. It places the complex political narrative in context, giving equal consideration to vital themes such as beliefs, peasant society, aristocratic culture and the economy. Accessibly written and authoritative, this book offers distinctive perspectives on a formative period in European history.
At its height, the Carolingian empire spanned a million square kilometres of western Europe - from the English Channel to central Italy and northern Spain, and from the Atlantic to the fringes of modern Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. As the largest political unit for centuries, the empire dominated the region and left an enduring legacy for European culture. This comprehensive survey traces this great empire's history, from its origins around 700, with the rise to dominance of the Carolingian dynasty, through its expansion by ruthless military conquest and political manoeuvring in the eighth century, to the struggle to hold the empire together in the ninth. It places the complex political narrative in context, giving equal consideration to vital themes such as beliefs, peasant society, aristocratic culture and the economy. Accessibly written and authoritative, this book offers distinctive perspectives on a formative period in European history.
1. Introduction; 2. The creation of Carolingian kingship to 800; 3. Belief and culture; 4. Inventing the Carolingian empire: politics and government, 800–840; 5. Villages and villagers, land and landowners; 6. Elite society; 7. Exchange and trade: the Carolingian economy; 8. Sustaining the Carolingian empire: politics and government, 840–888; 9. Epilogue.
A comprehensive and accessible survey of the great Carolingian empire, which dominated western Europe in the eighth and ninth centuries.
Marios Costambeys is Senior Lecturer in the School of History at the University of Liverpool. His previous publications include Power and Patronage in Early Medieval Italy: Local Society, Italian Politics and the Abbey of Farfa, c.700–900 (Cambridge University Press, 2007). Matthew Innes is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London. His previous publications include State and Society in the Early Middle Ages: The Middle Rhine Valley, 400–1000 (Cambridge University Press, 2000). Simon MacLean is Senior Lecturer in the School of History at the University of St Andrews. His previous publications include Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the End of the Carolingian Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
'This book is to be welcomed. It is the Carolingian synthesis for a
new generation; everyone from students to established academics
will need to read it. It is highly sensitive to the transformation
of approaches of the last generation of political/cultural
historians, and it moves seamlessly into a welcome new analysis of
the non-aristocratic majority as well.' Chris Wickham, Chichele
Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford
'Costambeys organizes his material both thematically and
chronologically … a major contribution to the history of Italy in
the eighth and ninth centuries and an important complement to the
other books about the history of Farfa. This is a very well
researched and thought-provoking book.' Speculum: A Journal of
Medieval Studies
'Costambeys, Innes and MacLean are to be commended for having
fulfilled their task [to provide a new synthesis taking into
account the insights of the most recent scholarship] admirably,
surveying and synthesising a vast body of source material and
scholarship and presenting it with elegance and clarity … heartily
to be recommended as a one-volume introduction for students and a
useful work of reference for seasoned scholars.' Shami Ghosh,
Reviews in History (history.ac.uk/reviews)
'Costambeys, Innes, and MacLean have provided an accessible and
up-to-date survey to specialists and students of the period, as
well as to interested lay readers.' Hans J. Hummer, H-Net Reviews
(h-net.org)
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