Chris Wickham

The world known as the 'Dark Ages', often seen as a time of barbarism, was in fact the crucible in which modern Europe would be created. This book shows how this period, encompassing peoples such as Goths, Franks, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, was central to the development of our history and culture. Meer

Amid the disintegration of the Kingdom of Italy in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a new form of collective government--the commune--arose in the cities of northern and central Italy. Meer