Medieval European society and state formation
A gap in the curriculum
Medieval European society and state formation
ScopeBroad enough for its own sub-branch
AfterThe Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from 400 to 1000 · The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization
Leads toScotland: A History from Earliest Times · A World Lit Only by Fire · The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations · Before the Revolution: America's Ancient Pasts · Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: A Cultural History #1)
Lineage18 books back to the Big Bang
The development of medieval European society and its states is another gap. I understand the basic concepts of feudalism, but I am not entirely clear about what was happening between roughly 900 and 1300 or how medieval society actually functioned during this period.
Claude’s take
The tree leaps from the fall of Rome toward the Reformation; the centuries of manorial society, the Church, and emerging monarchies are the connective tissue.
Candidate reading
- The Making of the Middle Ages — R. W. Southern
- Framing the Early Middle Ages — Chris Wickham