Chris Wickham is Chichele Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford. He lives in Birmingham, UK.
"A dazzling race through a complex millennium."—Publishers
Weekly
"A timely consideration of an oft-considered subject . . .
Wickham has managed to produce a volume which combines brevity with
deep learning, compelling argument and an authoritative and
even-handed tone."—Katherine Harvey, TLS
"This bold, sweeping narrative covers the entire sweep of European
history between the years 400-1500, focusing on important changes
century by century, accompanied by illuminating vignettes which
underscore how shifting events affected individual
lives."—Bookseller
"Medieval Europe is a remarkably detailed and readable book, and,
at only 250 pages in length it is, unlike the Middle Ages, both
brief and clear."—Dominic Green, Minerva
"Writing with great wit, style and clarity, Chris Wickham presents
to us a powerful account of the middle ages as a period of
considerable dynamism and massive change. Emperors, popes,
theologians, knights and mystics are found herein, but so too are
cities, peasants, merchants, and the material experiences of the
many and not just the few. Above all else, Wickham shows us the
economic and structural bones beneath the skin. This is the middle
ages that the twenty-first century needs to know about – not the
gaudy antithesis of 'modernity' but the centuries of human toil,
ingenuity and compromise in which real people made choices, albeit
not in circumstances of their own choosing."—John Arnold, Professor
of Medieval History, University of Cambridge
"Medieval Europe is a model of clarity and accessibility, the
superlative answer to a challenge taken up by an eminent and
wide-ranging historian: to interpret the history of a millennium in
250 pages. This yields a sense of intellectual adventure that
remains compelling throughout, as Chris Wickham engages his readers
in his arguments, choices and interpretations, and keeps them on
their toes."—Mayke de Jong, Utrecht University
"This is tremendously good. Chris Wickham has an outstandingly keen
and understanding eye for the diversities of life across a
broadly-framed Europe, and for changes over time. Impressive
geographic reach is combined with nuance, and a keen sense of the
particularities of different historical landscapes. The author
continually makes illuminating connections and comparisons, and
does not flinch from offering clear judgments or nailing his own
colours to the mast. Indeed, he has a consistently refreshing
ability to get the reader away from predictable or ingrained ways
of thinking about and judging things."—Len Scales, University of
Durham
"Fascinating, judicious, authoritative: by far the best single book
about the Middle Ages. I wish this had been around earlier in my
teaching career. Perhaps Wickham's most unusual accomplishment is
that this survey never seems hurried. Without apparent strain,
details and examples of historical trends are related to grand
themes and changes."—Paul Freedman, author of Out of the East:
Spices and the Medieval Imagination
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