Table Of ContentA HISTORY OF EUROPE
H.G.Koenigsberger & Asa Briggs
Medieval Europe 400-1500 H. G. Koenigsberger
Early Modern Europe 1500-1789 H. G. Koenigsberger
Modern Europe 1789-1980 Asa Briggs
Frontispiece (overleaf) Durham Cathedral.
Built mainly between 1093 and 1130, the cathedral is one of the largest
medieval buildings in Europe, 400 ft (c. 120 m) in length. Since the
vast majority of people at the time lived in small cottages, the visual
and psychological impact of buildings such as this must have been
even greater than it is now. Durham was certainly meant to represent
the might and magnificence of the new Norman monarchy and its
Church in the north of England. (For a view of the interior see Plate
3.9.)
A HISTORY OF EUROPE
I LG. Koenigsberger & Asa Briggs
H.G. KOENIGSBERGER
First published 1987 by Pearson Education Limited
Published 2013 by Routledge
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© H. G. Koenigsberger 1987
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Koenigsberger, H. G.
Medieval Europe 400-1500. — (History of Europe)
1. Europe — History — 476-1492
I. Title II. Series
940.1 D117
ISBN: 978-0-582-49403-9 (pbk)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Koenigsberger, H. G. (Helmut Georg)
Medieval Europe, 400-1500.
(History of Europe)
Includes index.
1. Europe - History - 476-1492 2. Middle Ages -
History. I. Title II. Series: Koenigsberger, H. G.
(Helmut Georg). History of Europe.
D117.K62 1986 940.1 87.6459
Set in Linotron 202 10/ 12pt Palatino
Contents
List of maps viii
List of plates X
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 The End of the Ancient World and the
Beginning of the Middle Ages, 400-700 9
The Roman Empire in AD 400 9
The resources of the Roman Empire 12
Theories of the fall of the Roman Empire
in the west 21
The German barbarians 23
The division of the Roman Empire 24
The first sack of Rome 25
Attila and the empire of the Huns 28
The German kingdoms in the Roman
Empire 29
The end of the Roman Empire in the west 30
The Ostrogoths in Italy 31
The Roman Empire in the east: Justinian 31
The reconquest of the western
Mediterranean 36
Byzantium and Persia 38
The barbarian successor states 40
The christianization of the Empire 50
The visual arts 60
Conclusions 64
Chapter 2 The Carolingian Empire and the Invasions
of Europe, 700-1000 67
The climate 67
Population and settlements 68
Family structure and settlements 69
Agricultural yields and mortality rates 72
V
CONTENTS
Economic structure 73
The kingdom of the Franks 80
Charlemagne (768-814) 82
Britain and England 89
The Vikings 93
The Danish Empire 98
The development of feudalism 98
New principalities in the west 102
Germany 102
Eastern Europe 106
Islam and the Arab conquests 110
Byzantium 117
Ecclesiastical organization and monasticism 124
The Carolingian Renaissance 126
Conclusion 133
Chapter 3 The Recovery of the West, the Crusades
and the Twelfth-Century Renaissance,
1000-1200 136
The first Christian millennium 136
The European kingdoms in the eleventh
century 148
Central and eastern Europe 159
The Church and the papacy in the
eleventh century 164
Western Europe in the twelfth century 168
Empire and papacy in the twelfth century 172
Russia 175
The Islamic world 179
Byzantium 180
The western counter-offensive 184
The intellectual Renaissance of the
eleventh and twelfth centuries 197
Conclusion: Europe in 1200 210
Chapter 4 The High Middle Ages, 1200-1340 213
The climate 213
Population 213
Agricultural expansion 215
Manufactures: the craft guilds 221
Capitalism and new techniques in trade 225
Royal government 229
The decline of internationalism 230
vi
CONTENTS
Conquests 230
Governments: law and community 232
Papacy, empire and state 234
Religious life 243
The fourth crusade and the fall of
Byzantium 251
The Mongol invasions 262
Intellectual life, literature and art 269
Conclusion 278
Chapter 5 The Later Middle Ages: Transalpine
Europe, 1340-1500 281
The Black Death 1348-50 281
Agriculture: the end of serfdom 284
Towns and trade 291
The European kingdoms 299
Central, eastern and northern Europe 315
The papacy at Avignon 324
New forms of religious life 328
Catholic Europe and the outside world 333
Byzantium and the Ottoman Turks 336
Conclusion 340
Chapter 6 Medieval City Culture: Central Europe,
Italy and the Renaissance, 1300-1500 343
The cities of the Later Middle Ages 343
The Renaissance: intellectual life 362
Music from the Middle Ages to the
Renaissance 379
Conclusion 385
Index 388
vii
List of maps
1.1 The Roman Empire in AD 400 , showing
the directions of fifth-century barbarian
invasions. 27
1.2 The sixth-century Byzantine Empire and
the western successor states. 41
2.1 The spread of Christianity. 71
2.2 The Carolingian Empire and the Treaty of
Verdun. 88
2.3 The Viking invasions. 97
2.4 The expansion of the Slavs. 108
2.5 The spread of Islam. 113
3.1 The Kingdom of France in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries. 153
3.2 France and England in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries. 156
3.3 The medieval German Empire. 160-61
3.4 Byzantium and the Crusades. 186
4.1 The Empire and Italy, c. 1300. 240-41
4.2 The Jewish Diaspora. 250
4.3 The reconquest of Spain 258-59
4.4 The Mongol invasions. 264-65
viii
