Merovingian Worlds (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks) - Softcover

Palmer, James T.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108737595 ISBN 13: 9781108737593

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2024

Synopsis

The Merovingian Kingdoms (c. 450–751) dominated much of what is now France, Belgium, and Germany, and were the most powerful and long-lived of the states that transformed the inheritance of Rome after the Crisis of the Fifth Century. Yet they often remain representative of an imagined 'Dark Age', in which civility was eroded by migration, violence, illiteracy, superstition, and a retreat from globality. Through a deep exploration of manuscripts, charters, and burials, Merovingian Worlds offers a fresh account of the period, outlining its complexities, diversity and creativity. This was a world built on dynamic political, socio-economic, cultural, and religious interactions, and shaped by its wide-ranging connections from Britain and Ireland to Byzantium and beyond. The book provides a critical introduction to the rich source material and the modern debates that shaped our perception of Western Europe after the Fall of Rome.

About this title

About the Author

James T. Palmer is Professor of History at the University of St Andrews. His previous books include Anglo-Saxons in a Frankish World 690–900 (2009), The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages (2014), and Early Medieval Hagiography (2018).

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108737595
• ISBN 13: 9781108737593
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 314