Early Medieval Europe 300-1000

Palgrave History of Europe

by Roger Collins

This book offers a fascinating account of Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire through to the end of the tenth century. In its wide-ranging coverage of the period, it takes into account social, economic and political changes as well as the important cultural changes, including the rise of Islam and the recreation of a western empire under the Cardingians.

Genres: History, Medieval History, Nonfiction, Medieval, European History, Roman, Politics

533 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 1991

About the author

Roger J. H. Collins (born 1949) is an English medievalist, currently an honorary fellow in history at the University of Edinburgh.

Reviews

[WarpDrive · Rating 5 out of 5]

Providing a nice example of excellent scholarship of great precision, quality and conciseness, this is a university textbook of great value and interest.
Probably not suitable as an introductory book to this extremely interesting historical period; however it is a highly informative text, and a pleasant and highly rewarding read for the committed reader interested in a serious and rigorous treatment of this subject. Also great for future reference, definitely a book to own and treasure rather than to borrow.
Definitely not dull nor dry, notwithstanding the complaints by some readers.
5 stars.

[Antonomasia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read years ago; I don't give 2 stars often, but this was particularly dry and dull even by textbook standards - so frustrating as the Dark Ages / early Middle Ages is an exciting and chaotic period of history.

It is telling that the book is out of print. Chris Wickham's The Inheritance of Rome (2009), variously subtitled "A History of Europe from 400 to 1000" and "Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000" is more up to date, more interesting to read, and widely recommended academically.

[Miroslaw Aleksander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, though somewhat dry. The author often goes on to discuss issues with sources, which is a bit of a tedious digression at times, particularly when it is not associated with any historical information.

[Mark Merritt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good general survey of a difficult and wide ranging topic. The remit included the Fall if Roman Empire, Barbarian invasions, the beginnings of the Arab Islamic Empire, Western European Kong’s and empowers, the Vikings and the speed of Christianity. For a 700 year period. As the author points out again and again, there just isn’t much of any hard historical documents to go on. There is much after the fact face saving writing that purports to be history, so there are many minefields to deal with as well.

The book tends to get a bit tedious as he describes the numerous revolts, family backstabbing, usurpations of power etc that beset this time in all the kingdoms. But it’s not his fault, there just much else to hang your hat on. The scanty documentation leaves only the archeological record which is often devoid of the people who made the items.

All in all, it kept my interest.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roger Collins' account of European history from the the third century crisis of the Roman empire to the emergence of the Ottonian dynasty is impressive both in terms of the range of the material under consideration and the level of detail in which it is covered. The author is meticulous about setting out the evidence, or lack of it, from which he draws his conclusions and examining its reliability. The result is the most lucid and coherent study of the period I've come across in my reading so far.

[Vojtěch Doležal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neumný překlad překladatele Martina Hořáka naprosto pokazil celkový prožitek z této informacemi nabité knihy. Co překladu vytýkám? 1) Celá řada vět byla napsána tak, že začala dávat smysl, až když jsem si je v hlavě přeložil do angličtiny - jazyku, z nějž bylo překládáno. 2) Souvětí byla mnohdy přetížená s vyšším obsahem vět, což vedlo k horší orientaci v textu jak pro čtenáře (některá souvětí jsem pochopil až tehdy, když jsem zavzpomínal na studium na gymnáziu a nakreslil si jejich graf), tak pro samotného překladatele (v knize se vyskytuje pestrá paleta odchylek od větné výstavy v čele s anakolutem). 3) Kniha obsahuje vysoký počet překlepů, což co o to, občasné vypadnutí písmenka např. váda/vláda by se dalo s mrknutím oka pominout, leč je to skoro na každé stránce a nejen takovéto roztomilé překlepy, nýbrž i například časté překlepy v dataci (například občas se stává v této knize, že panovník vládne proti proudu času, někdy dokonce vládne více než jedno století), což je poněkud závažnější problém.

[Tomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Úctyhodná dějepisecká práce, která popisuje na prameny "temné" evropské období přechodu ze starověku do středověku. Kniha nerozebírá do detailu společenské dění, jedná se spíše o politické dějiny. Čtenář milující historii si v této knížce jednoduše přijde na své. Střízlivý a kritický Collins se nenechává zatáhnout do zaběhlých explikací základního školství 20. století a populární historické literatury a smiřuje se s tím, že pohnutky za spousty událostí z tohoto období prostě a jednoduše nikdy neodhalíme.
Co bych této knize rozhodně vytknul, je český překlad. Čeština je velmi nešikovná po stylistické stránce a je vidět, že každou kapitolu překládal někdo jiný. Co je ale ještě horší, je občasné totální nepochopení anglického originálu - viz kapitola o Merovejcích.

[Jason Bray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great and detailed overview of a complex period of history. My only beef with it is that it, in attempting to be comprehensive gets bogged down in a sea of dates and names. However, it does set a great background for future reading. I only hope I was able to absorb a decent amount of this information, and it does not go immediately out of my head.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dry— mostly focused on the politics of the period with a couple chapters of exception. I had a really hard time getting through this for a class. Wasn’t a huge fan of the writing either. However, it did provide a good overview of the era.

[Igor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Дочитавши серію про античну історію, вирішив закінчити книжкою про те, як пізня античність переходить у раннє середньовіччя. Здебільшого політична історія, нічого надзвичайного, але і не так сухо чи нудно, як описують деякі коментатори.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry

[Old-Barbarossa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A huge subject covered in a densely written book which still only manages to cover most things fairly shallowly.
But it’s a general Hx, so it does what it sets out to do I suppose, giving a broad picture over a 700 year span. At times written in a very academic style, occasionally paragraphs that in essence are just lists of who did what to who with little context. I think as a course text book this would work, but tricky at times for a general reader.
One thing that really lets it down is the lack of maps, just a handful of small and basic rough maps when the whole of Europe is being discussed is, I think, a major flaw. Also, the complex dynastic interconnections are only illustrated by a couple of family tree type diagrams. A couple more would have helped keep track of which Pope or Emperor was related to who.
The author takes pains to explain the reliability and motives behind most primary sources that are cited, emphasising that even when we have large amounts of texts covering a period they may be written many years or generations after the event.
But having said all that, it does cover a huge subject and shows it to be almost overwhelmingly complex, yet has an extensive bibliography that points in the direction for further reading to help shed more light on any area that interests.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me about a year to read this, I think. It is quite dry and poorly written (with many sentences containing numerous embedded clauses. A nightmare to untangle). However, I am glad I read it because I knew next to nothing about medieval europe before reading this book, and now I feel better prepared to find a better, more interesting book about the subject (this book is on loan- thanks Ben Anderson!) At the ends of the chapters there was usually a pretty interesting conclusion where the author introduced a new idea that had not been discussed thoroughly. I think this is because it wasn't really the scope of the book to list the author's theories but to give a synopsis of what records and research currently tell us and the concensus of most historians regarding history's less definitive events and periods. And the author did a good job of this, but it was dry and poorly written.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would call this a so-so book on the topic. It covers some of the basics and relates lots of facts but misses on themes. It spends much time telling what is wrong with the existing information but adds little beyond that. I do understand the author is trying to cover a vast amount of time and geography and he does a good job of that, but again he leaves out so much that would help explain events. For example, he mentions the Morrish rulers of Cordoba but never really gives an idea of what happened to them and what led to their divide. He mentions the Vikings but never quite gets into answering questions like why did they start settling instead of raiding, or why did they convert to Christianity eventually. I would say the book is ok, but there is better.

[Rindis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is meant as a serious classroom textbook overview on a very broad subject. Seven centuries of history are not easy to pack into a book of any size, but it is done very well here.

It is necessarily an overview, but Collins does a very good job presenting the main themes and giving a basic understanding of the sources and (conflicting) theories surrounding a very hard to study period in history. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who would like to get a basic grasp of the period between the Roman Empire and the beginnings of the modern European states.

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, if a little dry. Never have I been able to get such a wealth of information on the early Church much less the various barbarians in proto-Europe. A must read for one interested in this field of history.

[Nick Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting developments here and there, but very tedious. Much like early medieval Europe.

[BasziK]

not finished

[David Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and up to date on the latest, but dense and unforgiving. Probably intended as a university textbook rather than for the armchair historical.

[Jeanie Wallenstein]

"The resources are few from this period...." But, really good management of those resources from the period of the change from Roman to Christian Europe.