The evolution of the medieval world

This ambitious book is designed to meet the need for a comprehensive and sophisticated one-volume survey of medieval Europe that respects the complexity and richness of its subject while opening it up to the student and non-specialist reader. Throughout, David Nicholas stresses the evolutionary continuity that characterises this long period, and is to be found even in those times of change and dislocation by which the succeeding phases of Western history are conventionally divided: particularly, here, between the late Roman world and the 'tribal' Europe of the sixth and seventh centuries, and between the late Middle Ages and the sixteenth century. No single area is emphasised in the treatment: while, inevitably, France and England figure largely in the total picture, detailed attention is also given to Germany, Italy and Spain - and there are extended sections on Byzantium and Islam, the powerful and influential neighbours of the medieval West. The treatment is broadly comparative, looking at regional differences in the discussions of intellectual life, political and social institutions, governance, and economic developments. Although David Nicholas considers political ideas, he is