Medieval Europe: A Short History

Citation

Bennett, J. M., & Bardsley, S. (2020). Medieval Europe: A Short History (12th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Chapter Summary

The twelfth edition has sixteen chapters preceded by a preface and an introduction. The front matter also lists abbreviations and conventions, biographical sketches, a feature called "Medieval Myths", maps and a list of figures, and the back matter has a glossary and an index. Oxford University Press describes the edition as new, affordable and streamlined, with Sandy Bardsley joining Judith Bennett as coauthor, increased coverage of race and ethnicity, and more incorporation of archaeological data. The chapters run chronologically from the late Roman world to about 1500 and give separate chapters to the Byzantine and Islamic empires.

Chapter 1: Romans, Christians, and Barbarians

The opening chapter covers the early Middle Ages, the Roman peace and what followed, Christianity, the barbarians and the western empire, and the decline of the western empire.

Chapters 2–4: Early Western Christendom, c. 500–700; The Byzantine Empire, c. 500–1000; The Islamic Empires, c. 571–1100

Chapter 2 treats early medieval society, politics, the church and intellectual life. Chapter 3 turns to Byzantine government, Christianity, economy and society, culture and the course of Byzantine politics. Chapter 4 begins with Arabia and Muhammad (c. 571–632) and goes on to the Islamic empires, Islamic culture, and religion, race and difference.

Chapters 5–6: Carolingian Europe, c. 700–850; Division, Invasion, and Reorganization, c. 800–1000

Chapter 5 covers the early Carolingians, Charlemagne (r. 768–814) and the intellectual revival. Chapter 6 covers the later Carolingians, the invasions of Muslims, Magyars and Vikings, and the new polities that emerged.

Chapters 7–8: Economic Takeoff and Social Change in the Countryside, c. 1000–1300; Economic Takeoff and Social Change in Town and Court, c. 1000–1300

The pair examines the central Middle Ages through an agricultural revolution and rural society, then through the commercial revolution, urban society, the landholding aristocracy, feudal society and the expansion of education.

Chapters 9–11: Popes and the Papacy, c. 1000–1300; New Paths to God, c. 1000–1300; Conquests, Crusades, and Persecutions, c. 1100–1300

Chapter 9 follows popes, clergy and laity from about 1000 to 1122, the reformed papacy, Innocent III and the papacy after 1250. Chapter 10 covers Judaism, the evolution of Christian piety, orthodoxy and heresy, changes in monastic life and the mendicant orders. Chapter 11 takes up conquests and territorial expansion, the crusades and persecutions.

Chapters 12–13: States Made and Unmade, c. 1000–1300; Literature, Art, and Thought, c. 1000–1300

Chapter 12 surveys the Holy Roman Empire, England, France, Iberia and northern and eastern Europe. Chapter 13 treats Byzantine and Islamic influences, intellectual trends, literature, and architecture and sculpture.

Chapters 14–16: Famine, Plague, and Recovery, c. 1300–1500; Toward the Sovereign State, c. 1300–1500; Diversity and Dynamism in Culture, c. 1300–1500

Chapter 14 covers economic and demographic crisis (1300–1350), adjustment and recovery (1350–1500) and late medieval Christianity. Chapter 15 follows England, France and the Hundred Years' War, the Iberian states, new powers on the periphery and the heritage of the Holy Roman Empire. Chapter 16 treats literacy and vernacular languages, humanist education, literature, art and architecture, philosophy and political thought.

Key Concepts

Early Middle Ages (Chapters 1–6)

• Barbarians and the western empire: the opening setting of the book's story.
• Byzantine and Islamic empires: treated in chapters of their own, not only as neighbours.
• Carolingian revival: the intellectual revival associated with Charlemagne, a named section of Chapter 5.

Central Middle Ages (Chapters 7–13)

• Agricultural and commercial revolutions: the economic takeoff of the period after 1000.
• Feudal society: a section of Chapter 8, set alongside the landholding aristocracy.
• Orthodoxy and heresy, mendicant orders: religious change in Chapter 10.
• Crusades and persecutions: grouped with conquests and expansion in Chapter 11.

Later Middle Ages (Chapters 14–16)

• Famine, plague and recovery: the demographic and economic cycle of 1300–1500.
• Sovereign state: the political direction named in the title of Chapter 15.
• Vernacular languages and humanist education: cultural developments in Chapter 16.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Even attention to politics, economy, religion and culture. The chapters pair political narrative with economy, society, religion and culture, and the central period is organized thematically as well as chronologically.
• A wider frame than Western Europe. Separate chapters on the Byzantine and Islamic empires, and a section on religion, race and difference, set the West among its neighbours.
• Aids to study. The front matter lists maps, figures, biographical sketches and a "Medieval Myths" feature, and the back matter has a glossary.
• A revised edition. The publisher highlights increased coverage of race and ethnicity, more archaeological data and a streamlined text.

Limitations

• Short by design. At sixteen chapters and about 476 pages, the book is a short history in its own title, so most topics receive summary treatment; sustained argument is the job of more specialized books.
• Weighted toward the central Middle Ages. Seven of the sixteen chapters (7–13) cover c. 1000–1300, against three for the later Middle Ages (14–16), so students of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries will want further reading.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is a long-established American survey textbook in the medieval history course, narrating Europe from the late Roman world to about 1500. Rosenwein's A Short History of the Middle Ages is a compact survey that likewise treats Western Europe, Byzantium and the Islamic world together and adds maps and genealogies, so the two are close alternatives. Rubin's The Middle Ages: A Very Short Introduction is a much briefer thematic introduction, useful before or after a textbook, and Wickham's Medieval Europe is a concise, argued history of the millennium that can be read next, for an interpretive account of the same ground.

For specific topics, Moore's The Formation of a Persecuting Society is a focused study of authority and deviance between 950 and 1250 that goes deeper into the "Orthodoxy and Heresy" and "Persecutions" sections of Chapters 10 and 11, and Wickham's Framing the Early Middle Ages is a large comparative social and economic history of the centuries 400–800, the period of Chapters 1 and 2.

How to Use This Book

The book is written for students in a survey course on the European Middle Ages. No prior study is needed.

A practical plan:

• Read in order. The chapters build chronologically, and the dates in the titles help keep the sequence clear.
• Core: Chapters 1, 5, 7–10 and 12 give the arc from the end of Rome to the central Middle Ages; Chapters 14–15 cover the late medieval crises and states.
• Optional by interest: Chapters 3 and 4 (Byzantium and Islam), Chapter 13 (literature, art and thought) and Chapter 16 (culture after 1300).
• Use the apparatus: the maps, the biographical sketches, the "Medieval Myths" feature and the glossary.
• Move on to more specialized books for argument: Wickham for an interpretive overview and Moore for persecution.