Medieval Europe

Citation

Wickham, C. (2017). Medieval Europe. Yale University Press.

Chapter Summary

The book is a single-author interpretive history of Europe from the end of the western Roman Empire to the Reformation, in thirteen chapters followed by notes, a bibliography and an index. Yale lists the paperback at 352 pages, and reviewers quoted on its page give the text as about 250 pages, with the remainder taken up by notes, bibliography and index (the notes begin on p. 258). According to the publisher, Wickham concentrates on important changes century by century, and the moments it names include the fall of the western Roman Empire, Charlemagne's reforms, the feudal revolution, the challenge of heresy, the destruction of the Byzantine Empire, the rebuilding of late medieval states and the devastation of the Black Death. Illuminating vignettes show how shifting social, economic and political circumstances affected individual lives.

Chapter 1: A New Look at the Middle Ages (p. 1)

The opening chapter, "A New Look at the Middle Ages", introduces the approach behind what the publisher calls a new conception of Europe's medieval period.

Chapters 2–4: Rome and Its Western Successors, 500–750; Crisis and Transformation in the East; The Carolingian Experiment, 750–1000

Chapter 2 deals with the western successor states of Rome. Chapter 3 is titled "Crisis and Transformation in the East". Chapter 4 covers the Carolingian experiment.

Chapters 5–6: The Expansion of Christian Europe, 500–1100; Reshaping Western Europe, 1000–1150

Chapter 5 follows the expansion of Christian Europe over six centuries, and Chapter 6 turns to the reshaping of the west in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries.

Chapters 7–8: The Long Economic Boom, 950–1300; The Ambiguities of Political Reconstruction, 1150–1300

Chapter 7 is about the long economic expansion across the central Middle Ages, and Chapter 8 about the uncertainties of rebuilding political authority between 1150 and 1300.

Chapters 9–10 (pp. 170–209)

Chapter 9 begins at p. 170 and its title ends with "the failure of alternatives"; Chapter 10 begins at p. 186 and its title ends with "gender and community in late medieval Europe".

Chapters 11–12: Money, War and Death, 1350–1500; Rethinking Politics, 1350–1500

Chapter 11's title names money, war and death; the publisher lists the Black Death among the book's pivotal crises. Chapter 12 reconsiders politics in the same two centuries.

Chapter 13: Conclusion (p. 252)

The final chapter draws the argument together before the notes, bibliography and index.

Key Concepts

Early and Central Middle Ages (Chapters 2–8)

• Carolingian experiment: the Carolingian attempt at reform and rule, named in the title of Chapter 4.
• Feudal revolution: one of the pivotal moments listed by the publisher.
• The long economic boom: the title of Chapter 7, covering c. 950–1300.
• Political reconstruction: the rebuilding of authority treated in Chapter 8.

Later Middle Ages (Chapters 9–13)

• The failure of alternatives: a phrase from the title of Chapter 9.
• Gender and community: named in the title of Chapter 10.
• Money, war and death: the three themes of Chapter 11.
• Rethinking politics: the title of Chapter 12.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• An argued interpretation. Robert Sutherland-Harris, in Renaissance and Reformation, wrote that Wickham sees the Middle Ages as a series of major turning points knit together by structural forces. Mayke de Jong of Utrecht University, quoted by Yale, said the book engages readers in its arguments, choices and interpretations.
• Compression with learning. Katherine Harvey in the TLS found that it combines brevity with deep learning, compelling argument and an authoritative, even-handed tone. Dominic Green, in Minerva, called it remarkably detailed and readable at about 250 pages.
• Attention beyond elites. John Arnold of Cambridge, quoted by Yale, praised its inclusion of cities, peasants, merchants and the material experiences of the many, with the economic and structural framework underneath.
• Geographic reach. Kirkus (starred review) called it a far-ranging survey of the continent, and the contents include a chapter on the east.

Limitations

• Short and selective. By the publisher's own description it moves century by century to the important changes, so a reader looking for a reign-by-reign narrative will find it selective.
• A single author's view. Because it is an interpretation, students may need a conventional survey to supply the detail against which to test it.
• Compression. A thousand years of European history in about 250 pages of text means that many regions and episodes can receive only brief treatment.

Where It Fits in the Course

Wickham's Medieval Europe is the short interpretive survey in the medieval history course. Rosenwein's A Short History of the Middle Ages and Bennett and Bardsley's Medieval Europe: A Short History are textbooks that narrate the period with more factual detail and teaching apparatus, and the latter gives separate chapters to the Byzantine and Islamic empires. A student might read one of them for the narrative and Wickham for the argument, or the reverse. Rubin's The Middle Ages: A Very Short Introduction is the briefest thematic starting point.

Two books go deeper on parts of the story: Moore's The Formation of a Persecuting Society, an argued study of heresy and persecution between 950 and 1250, and Wickham's own Framing the Early Middle Ages, a large comparative social and economic history of the regions of the former Roman Empire from 400 to 800, which overlaps the period of Chapter 2.

How to Use This Book

The book suits readers new to medieval history, including general readers; no prior study is required, and a rough sense of the Roman Empire and early modern Europe helps. The reviewers quoted by Yale stress its clarity and accessibility.

A practical plan:

• Read it straight through, since at about 250 pages of text it is short, beginning with Chapter 1 for the approach.
• Note the turning points each chapter names, and ask how the structural forces linking them are described.
• Pair it with a textbook (Bennett and Bardsley or Rosenwein) for names, maps and fuller narrative.
• Continue with Moore for persecution, or Wickham's Framing for the early centuries, once the overview is secure.