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Print Price: $137.99

Format:
Paperback
320 pp.
26 illus. & 9 maps, 231 mm x 152 mm

ISBN-13:
9780195156942

Copyright Year:
2005

Imprint: OUP US

Medieval Europe and the World

From Late Antiquity to Modernity, 400-1500

the late Robin W. Winks and Teofilo F. Ruiz

Medieval Europe and the World: From Late Antiquity to Modernity, 400-1500 examines the development of western European social, political, economic, and cultural institutions during one of the most complex and creative periods the world has ever known. The book looks at the history of Medieval Europe in relation to its links with the rest of the world, exploring the interaction of western Europe with Islam, the Far East, Africa, and such outlying areas as Scandinavia, Iberia, and Eastern Europe. It considers the genesis and shaping of distinct western ideals, social affairs, economic patterns, and new cultural forms in relation to Islam and Byzantium--two other great civilizations that deeply influenced the growth of western Europe's unique history. Placing emphasis on medieval Europe's social and economic transformations and the diversity of social orders, the book analyzes the ways in which these elements interconnected during the formation of medieval society. It also gives special consideration to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, an era that serves as a bridge between the cultural developments of the early and central Middle Ages and the emergence of new patterns of thought and social organization in the late medieval period.
Featuring nine maps, numerous illustrations, a chronological table, and a detailed list of suggested further readings, this brief but comprehensive narrative is an ideal text for undergraduate courses in medieval history.

Chapters 1-8 end with a Summary.
Maps and Boxes
Preface
Introduction: The Middle Ages
1. The End of the Ancient World: Christianity and the Western Empire
The Crises of the Ancient World
Christianity: The Importance of Religion in the Later Roman World
The Development of Christianity in Late Antiquity
Thought and Letters in the First Christian Centuries
The Christian Triumph as a Historical Problem
The Aftermath of the Empire in the West
2. Byzantium and Islam, 500-1000
Byzantium
Byzantine Christianity and Relations with the West
The Fortunes of Empire, 330-1081
Byzantium and the Slavs and the Turkic people
The World of Islam, c. 570-1096
Islam in the West
Islamic Civilization
3. Medieval Society in the West: From Late Antiquity to the Central Middle Ages
The Breakdown of Roman Civilization
The Germans
The Franks: The Building of an Empire
After Charlemagne: The Northmen or Vikings
Society and Culture in the Early Medieval West
Culture
The Spread of Christianity
4. Medieval Society: Warriors, Peasants, and Merchants
Introduction
Europe and the World Around 1000
Feudal Europe: The Structures of Everyday Life
Urban Societies
On the Margins of Society
The Changing Status of Women
5. Those Who Pray: Priests, Monks, and Crusaders
The Investiture Controversy
The Crusades
The Church in Society
6. Culture and Learning in Late Medieval Europe
Culture in the Medieval West, 1000-1400
Literature
The Arts
7. Politics and Society: The Origins of Kingdoms and Communities, 1000-1300
The Early Construction of the State in the West
The Emergence of Centralized Kingdoms in the West
8. Political Communities: Center and Periphery
Byzantium 1081-1453
Russia, Poland-Lithuania, and the Politics of Eastern Europe
The World of Islam
Scandinavia
Germany, Italy, and the Low Countries
Italy: Despots and Condottieri, 1268-1513
The Low Countries
9. The Late Medieval Crisis and the Transition to the Early Modern Period
The Crisis of Late Medieval Society
The Structural Crises
The Challenge of Crisis: Famine, War, Plaque, and Rebellion
The Answers of Late Medieval Society
The Final Genesis of the Nation State
Into the Modern Period
Chronology
Suggested Readings
Index

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Robin W. Winks is at Yale University. Teofilo F. Ruiz is at University of California, Los Angeles.

Writing History - William Kelleher Storey and Towser Jones

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