State and Society in the Early Middle Ages
The Middle Rhine Valley, 400–1000

A detailed analysis of the workings of society at the heart of Charlemagne's empire during the 'Dark Ages'.

Matthew Innes (Author)

9780521594554, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 April 2000

336 pages, 9 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.62 kg

'It is highly sophisticated … Specialists will applaud the treatments of land-holding, charter terminology and its implications, and the letters of Einhard.' Early Medieval Europe

This book, first published in 2000, is a pioneering study of politics and society in the early Middle Ages. Whereas it is widely believed that the source materials for early medieval Europe are too sparse to allow sustained study of the workings of social and political relationships on the ground, this book focuses on a uniquely well-documented area to investigate the basis of power. Topics covered include the foundation of monasteries, their relationship with the laity, and their role as social centres; the significance of urbanism; the control of land, the development of property rights and the organization of states; community, kinship and lordship; justice and dispute settlement; the uses of the written word; violence and the feud; and the development of political structures from the Roman empire to the high Middle Ages.

List of figures
List of abbreviations
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Monasticism, spiritual patronage and social structure
3. Land, kinship and status
4. Local power: collective action, conflict and consensus
5. Locality and centre: mechanisms of extraction
6. Political power from the fifth to the eleventh century
7. Conclusion: state and society in the early medieval west
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]