The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 Hardcover - 2009

by Chris Wickham

An ambitious and enlighteninglook at why the so-called DarkAges were anything but that

Prizewinning historian Chris Wickham defies theconventional view of the Dark Ages in European history witha work of remarkable scope and rigorous yet accessiblescholarship. Drawing on a wealth of new materialand featuring a thoughtful synthesis of historical andarchaeological approaches, Wickham argues that thesecenturies were critical in the formulation of Europeanidentity. Far from being a middle period between moresignificant epochs, this age has much to tell us in itsown right about the progress of culture and the developmentof political thought.

Sweeping in its breadth, Wickham's incisive historyfocuses on a world still profoundly shaped byRome, which encompassed the remarkable Byzantine,Carolingian, and Ottonian empires, and peoples rangingfrom Goths, Franks, and Vandals to Arabs, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings. Digging deep into each culture,Wickham constructs a vivid portrait of a vast and variedworld stretching from Ireland to Constantinople,the Baltic to the Mediterranean. The Inheritance ofRome brilliantly presents a fresh understanding of thecrucible in which Europe would ultimately be created.