Early Medieval Europe 300–1000

560 Pages·1999·58.994 MB·English

by  Roger Collins (auth.)

Early Medieval Europe
300-1000
HISTORY OF EUROPE
PUBLISHED
Early Medieval Europe 300-1000 (Second edition)
Roger Collins
Sixteenth-Century Europe
Richard Mackenney
Seventeenth-Century Europe 1598-1700
Thomas Munck
Eighteenth-Century Europe 1700-1789
Jeremy Black
FORfHCOMING
Nineteenth-Century Europe 1789-1914
Alan Sked
Twentieth-Century Europe
Richard Vinen
Early Medieval Europe
300-1000
Roger Collins
Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies
University ofE dinburgh
Second Edition
Macmillan Education
EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE 300-1000
ISBN 978-0-333-65808-6 ISBN 978-1-349-27533-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-27533-5
Copyright © 1991, 1999 by Roger Collins
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 2nd edition 1999
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
For information, address:
St. Martin's Press, Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Published in the United States of America
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and
made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.
ISBN 978-0-312-21885-0 clothbound
ISBN 978-0-312-21886-7 paperback
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Collins, Roger, 1949-
Early medieval Europe, 300-1000 I Roger Collins. - 2nd ed.
p. em. - (History of Europe)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-21885-0 (cloth).- ISBN 978-0-312-21886-7 (pbk.)
I. Europe-History-476-1492. 2. Europe-History-To 476.
3. Civilization, Medieval. 4. Middle Ages-History. I. Title.
II. Series: History of Europe (St. Martin's Press)
Dl2l.C65 1999
940.1-dc21 98-38110
CIP
Contents
Chronology of main events, 238-1000 vm
Preface to the first edition XIX
Preface to the second edition xxn
Introduction xxm
1 Problem-solving emperors 1
A dynamic age: the Roman Empire, 235-285 1
The reign of Diocletian, 285-305 8
2 The age of Constantine 16
Imperial rivals, 305-312 16
The emperor and his new religion 17
Constantine's heirs, 324-350 25
3 Frontier wars and civil wars, 350-395 31
Imperial defence, 350-361 31
Reactionary rebel: the emperor Julian, 361-363 36
Internal conflicts, 363-395 42
4 The battle of Adrianople and the sack of Rome 4 7
The coming of the Huns 4 7
The Goths and the Empire, 376-395 51
Stilicho or Honorius? The conflict of two
strategies, 395-410 54
5 A divided city: the Christian Church, 300-460 61
Christianity and the Empire 61
The primacy of Peter 68
The rise of monasticism 7 5
6 The disappearance of an army 80
Shrinking the western Empire, 410-454 80
An age of military dictators, 455-480 87
The fall of Rome? 96
7 The new kingdoms 100
War lords and kings 100
Theoderic and the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy 105
Clovis Ill
v
vt Contents
8 The twilight of the West, 518-568 116
Prelude: Constantinople and Rome 116
Justinian I and Africa, 527-533 120
The Italian wars, 535-553 129
9 Constantinople, Persia and the Arabs 135
The Roman Empire and Iran 135
Islam and the Arab conquests 143
10 Decadent and do-nothing kings 153
Visigothic Spain, c. 589-711 153
Merovingian Gaul, c. 511-687 161
11 The re-creating of Britain 173
Entrepreneurial rulers, 410-597 173
Christian kingdoms, 598-685 179
The Mercian hegemony, 633-874 186
12 The Lombard achievement, c. 540-712 196
The acquisition of Italy, 540-572 196
Dukes and kings, 572-584 201
The kingdom of the Lombards, 5 84-712 207
13 The sundering of East and West 218
Survivals of cultural unity 218
Iconoclasm: divisions in the East 223
Rome between Constantinople and Francia 228
14 Monks and missionaries 234
Western monasticism: Augustine to Gregory the Great 236
The making of the Irish Church 240
Spreading the word 249
15 Towards a new western Empire, 714-800 262
Charles 'the Hammer' 262
Pippin 'the Short' 271
Charles 'the Great' 278
16 The new Constantine 291
The meaning of Empire 291
The machinery of government 298
The ideological programme 301
Contents vn
17 Frontier societies: Christian Spain, 711-1037 309
The Christians of Al-Andalus 309
The kingdoms of northern Spain, c. 718-910 314
The kingdom of Leon and the county of
Castille, 910-1037 323
18 'The dissension of kings' 333
Chroniclers in an age of war 333
The reign of Louis the Pious, 814-840 336
Kings and emperors in the West, 840-911 349
19 'The desolation of the pagans' 364
Traders and raiders 364
The Vikings and Francia 370
The Vikings and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms 378
Conversion and expansion 385
20 The Ottonian Age 390
The problems ofltaly, 875-961 390
Germany: the kingdom and the duchies, 911-962 394
Germany, Rome and Constantinople, 962-983 404
Otto III (983-1 002) and the eastwards expansion
of Europe 409
Abbreviations 423
Notes 424
Bibliography 501
Index 514
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