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Contents List of illustrationsList of boxes Illustration acknowledgements Introduction The Middle Ages as a period in European history From scarcity to hegemony Medievalism The book’s arrangement Part I: The early Middle Ages, 300–1000 13 Chapter 1 The end of the Roman Empire in the West Governing an empire Taxation and fiscal policy The Roman army and the frontier Economic structure and prosperity The Barbarian world of the north The collapse of the Roman order in the West The later Migration Period Migrations and ethnogenesis The barbarian kingdoms in the West Balance: the end of Roman civilisation? The survival of the Roman Empire in the East Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Chapter 2 The establishment of two world religions: Christianity and Islam The Christian Church in the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages The relationship between emperor and pope Material wealth, accumulation and distribution Church organisation Monasticism Orthodoxy and heterodoxy Saints and miracles Spreading the faith The Arab conquests and the establishment of Islam Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Chapter 3 The powerful and the poor: society and economy in the Frankish kingdoms and beyond Warlords and landlords Trade and gift-exchange Early medieval politics: the Carolingian core Dynamic peripheries Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Part II: The Central Middle Ages, 1000-1300Chapter 4 Early kingdoms and principalities Charlemagne’s legacy The making of England The institutionalisation of the state Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Chapter 5 Accelerated growth Population growth Volume and nature of agricultural production New types of local lordship Knights and peasants: image and reality Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Chapter 6 Religious reform and renewal Aspirations to reform The papal monarchy Reformation and renewal in monastic life The faithful become visible Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Part III: Expansion and maturation, 1000-1500Chapter 7 The beginnings of European expansion The West becomes more aggressive Shifting Centres of Gravity The Multicultural Near East Crusades, Crusader States and Western Colonies in the East The Later Crusades The Spread of Faith and Colonisation East Meets West Colonising Central and Eastern Europe Take off to a commercial revolution The transport revolution Progress in organisation A negative balance of payments The commercialisation of the countryside Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Chapter 8 Thinking about man and the world The medieval view of the world and mankind The higher education programme of Late Antiquity and its survival in the early Middle Ages The formation of universities The humanism of the late Middle Ages Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Chapter 9: Towns and the urbanisation of medieval society The Phenomenon of the pre-industrial town The beginnings of urban society Urban society and economy in the later Middle Ages Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Part IV: The Late Middle Ages, 1300-1500 Chapter 10 Between crisis and contraction: population, economy and society War, famine and pestilence Economic crisis or contraction? Characteristics of late medieval society Social contrasts and social conflicts Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Chapter 11 The consolidation of states Types of state: sovereignty versus suzerainty The course of events The Holy Roman Empire and Italy: stalemate Driving forces in the formation of states State institutions and social order Points to remember Suggestions for further reading Chapter 12 Crisis in the Church and the reorientation of the faithful Who leads Christendom? The popes in Avignon and the bureaucratisation of the Curia The Great Schism and the conciliar movement Religious lifePoints to remember Suggestions for further reading Epilogue Acceleration The medieval roots of modern culture Timeline Glossary Bibliography of secondary literature Index