Chris Wickham’s acclaimed history shows how this period, encompassing peoples such as Goths, Franks, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs. Review: The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe from to by Chris WickhamIan Mortimer finds a gallop from Rome to the. The Inheritance of Rome has ratings and reviews. Justin said: Just to be clear: Chris Wickham does not believe that he can explain anything. He.
| Author: | Yozshusida Kazrazragore |
| Country: | Andorra |
| Language: | English (Spanish) |
| Genre: | Technology |
| Published (Last): | 28 November 2015 |
| Pages: | 364 |
| PDF File Size: | 6.25 Mb |
| ePub File Size: | 15.30 Mb |
| ISBN: | 569-8-89877-739-7 |
| Downloads: | 91959 |
| Price: | Free* [*Free Regsitration Required] |
| Uploader: | Taulrajas |
Be the first to ask a question about The Inheritance of Rome.
The Inheritance of Rome by Chris Wickham – review
Digging deep into each culture, Wickham constructs a vivid portrait of a vast and varied world stretching from Ireland to Constantinople, the Baltic to the Mediterranean. If you want a layman’s introduction to current thinking about the ‘Dark Ages’ of Europe AD this is it. Well here yer go I’m in megahistory mode, apparently. The Inheritance of Rome brilliantly presents a fresh understanding of the crucible in which Europe would ultimately be created.
This should have been three or four volumes, not one, and by compressing such a vast period into one study, the series editor has fallen into the trap of reflecting one of the “grand narratives” which Wickham eschews, that of a vast period of “otherness”, or pre-Renaissance darkness.
The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000
View all 3 comments. Then, rampaging hordes of Germanic tribes swept across the wickhwm of Europe, tearing down the decadant Empire as they went. Jul 14, Justin Evans rated it it was ok Shelves: Germans and Romans are portrayed as antagonists in a clash of cultures, pitting free-spirited, vigorous Germanic tribes against the imperial oppression of Rome and in some cases the Church.
For grandiloquent rhetoric, savage wit and narrative drama there is still nobody to touch Gibbon. There were some strong continuities between the society and institutions of the Roman Empire and the post-Roman polities that succeeded it. The Ottonians tried to continue this legacy, but Kf, under attack from Vikings, Arabs, and others was less inclined to see itself as a whole towards the end of this period. In Wickham’s asides, he often hints at things he’d rather not get bogged down in matters of opinion or conjecture.
Add all three to Cart Add all three to List. At the very least, you don’t need to focus on Every. After this romanticizing folly, you’ll be surprised to find that the final chapter is called ‘Trends in European History.
Instead, he lets the evidence speak for itself, discarding ideology in favor of careful examination. Want to Read saving…. Chris Wickham does not believe that he can explain anything. As wealth became more roe through land rents, so the Empire gradually broke up into separate kingdoms whose elites had barbarian roots. Customers who bought this item also bought.
The author uses maps, illustrations, diagrams, and photographs to illustrate points about the constant trade, migration and commingling of societies, cultures, and kingdoms that continued to thrive during this period and were instrumental in setting a foundation for the eventual High Middles Ages and beginning of the renaissance.
Wickham is a very active historian specializing in the post-Roman world up to about CE 1, Dec 14, Ian Mapp rated it it inhreitance ok Shelves: It was a bit difficult to keep in memory all differences and inheritancr in political, economic and religious models of all discussed states and empires. No wockham could have guessed that the western half of the empire would soon be overrun by invaders within 80 years would be gone. Wickham introduces his work with a good overview of where the scholarship in the Early Middle Ages has gone in the last few decades.
At one point he states: The book contains maps at critical dates, a page by th reference at the back contains all sources as well as an index.
The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages, by Chris Wickham
Europe The Penguin History of Europe. He does like to introduce chapters with entertaining stories, but those stories do give an excellent hook to the reader. If you want to read further, try The Rise of Western Christendom: Hardcoverpages. Cultures like those of the Slavs, the Northmen I refrain from the term “Viking” yhe, the Huns, the Khazars,the Magyars, the Avars and also the peoples of pre-Frankish Germany not in any chronological order, of course should be much better covered given their overall interest to the History of the period and the fact they covered most of the continent.
Let’s be very, very clear: Whilst some of that was at least partially the fault of my daily life becoming increasingly demanding and therefore not yielding up half as much reading time as I’d had before, it’s also due to the staggering amount of information imparted. The question is not whether scholarship at this level has ths place; it is rather whether a series such as The Penguin History of Europe should confine itself to academic questions and display scant regard for literary technique or addressing the key questions which people have of the past.
In summary we are told This comes off as more a desire to say that the truth is in the middle than an actually tenable historiographical argument. No timeline in this book which is a shame.
Buy the selected items together This item: Illuminating the Dark Ages” is a very good and witty survey of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages that shatters many kinds of misconceptions on the period, even if I think it’s at some points overrated.
Lists with This Book. Wickham covers much more than this in his book, which is probably of more interest to medievalists than to Heathens. The page limit does not allow for detailed discussion of standards of living, or private wuckham. He manages to be entertaining without losing the inheritancs. Don’t have a Kindle? Generally, this work has already a great scope and, considering it was written by a single man with wickhan limited expertise regional rather than continental, which would be practically impossible due to the impossibility of tye having a very deep knowledge of such vas a subject as late antique and early medieval Europeit’s a work of tremendous overall erudition and a monument of knowledge, that gives to the reader a very different picture from that promoted by popular culture.
Jul 27, Stephen rated it it was ok.
Although it is the grand sweep that really inheritanve this book, Wickham has a sharp eye for a revealing anecdote, illuminating even the murkiest corners of the so-called Dark Ages. There is a chapter by chapter bibliography.