More on Dark Age Europe
355915
"Goodbye to the Vikings" is a collection of essays by Richard Hodges that updates the pioneering work that he did in the 1980s in applying archaeological data and economic anthropological theory to issues in the history of early medieval Europe.  The essays were originally published as articles in various venues between 1991 and 2005.
Hodges is a major contributor to the emerging picture of early medieval Europe as an economically active and prosperous time, particularly in certain local areas such as 10th-century England.  This volume is aimed at readers who already are familiar with the "conversation" on the subject of early medieval economic and political development.  However, it might possibly serve also as an introduction to some of the key issues for readers who are ready to move from a more popular to a more scholarly approach to medieval history.
1103466
Whoever decides to read this work on prehistoric dolmens in south-east Sicily probably has some notions regarding prehistory, especially the Bronze Age, though may not know the characteristics of the authors specific investigations in detail. In fact the research deals with monuments that are little known in Sicily but better accredited to other areas of Europe and the Mediterranean.
  Salvatore Piccolo set himself to explain the dolmen phenomena in Europe in the prehistoric Megalithic context, reaching a finely detailed description of the ancient stones to be found in the south-east of the island of Sicily.
It presents a lot of new material, much of it the work of the author himself.
  Apart from some special and isolated examples, which somehow seem to escape the cultural matrix, for example the lithic slab sepulchre identified towards the beginning of the twentieth century at Monte Racello, it would seem the phenomena of dolmens, to use the correct word, in Sicily are specific sepulchral monuments of the early Bronze Age. Piccolo presents an updated map of their distribution in Sicily: a little number are found in western island, but the major concentrations are in eastern, and the author argues that there was at least many migration of northern people into Sicily. This volume highlights one thing, a greater understanding on the human travel in the course of the centuries. The attractively produced book is a very welcome addition to the literature on bronze Age in Sicily.
  The greatest among its many strengths is the author's demonstration how some monuments, not considered till all of time, can be investigated through close examination of specific archaeological evidence and how such an investigation can help us understand what life was like for people who lived in the past.
  The anthropological remains and ceramic fragments, found by the author in one of these sites, are the most significant features: they show tombal characteristics of these small monuments and their dating to the end of the 3rd and the first half of the 2nd millennium B.C.
We need more like this!
Anthony B. (Archaeologist)
4169849
This is an absolute essential guide for Dark Ages: Vampire players.  It has info on Medieval life, history of the time, religion of the time period, and fictional info on more obscure DA:Vampire bloodlines and disciplines, including the frightening Baali and the mysterious and doomed Salubri.  Definitely recommended, excellent reading..... If you're going to play a Dark Ages Vampire game, get this!
3168826
I am not sure whether I only received the first volume of a two-volume book. Despite the title, the book I read only related the history of the late Roman Empire from Arcadius to Phocas, that is, from around 400-600. I won't complain, however. J. B. Bury's history is still interesting to read even it only covered about half the period I expected. Actually, 600 seems to be a logical place for ending the story of the late Roman Empire. In the year AD 600, the Eastern Roman Empire was still recognizably the same state that had existed two centuries earlier. The western provinces had been lost, although Justinian made a great effort to recover them. The capital was no longer Rome, but New Rome or Constantinople. Still, all of the institutions of the late empire had survived.
In the following century, however, the Roman Empire of late antiquity had changed into the medieval Byzantine Empire. The invading armies of Islam, and Slavic migrations stripped away all but the core of the empire in Greece and Asia Minor. The empire was fighting for its life and every institution had to be changed to defend the empire from its enemies. Although they still called themselves Romans, right up to the end,  this was no longer the empire of Caesar or even Constantine. Even the official language of government was changed from Latin to Greek, by the Emperor Heraclius just after this book closes,  in recognition of the fact that there were few, if any, native Latin speakers left in the domains of the Roman Empire.
I should say, though, that this is not just a history of the Eastern or early Byzantine Empire.  Bury also covers the last decades of the Western Empire and the establishment of the Germanic kingdoms that succeeded it.  He made an important point that the conquest of the Western half of the Roman Empire was more a matter of slow demographic movements, than conquering armies. When the Germans were a small segment of the population, as the Ostrogoths in Italy or the Vandals in North Africa, their kingdoms did not last, while the Frankish kingdom in Gaul endured because there were already a large number of Germans who had emigrated there.
Despite a few flaws, I highly recommended A History of the Later Roman Empire, as a good guide to a period of history not often studied.
1545226
For those who truly want to understand the ideas that shaped
Western herbalism. Mr. Wood has read his sources well and
thought deeply about how those concepts inform the whole. The
Western 4-Element System did survive the Dark Ages, it just had to go
underground for a long time.
3329445
I read this book to satisfy my curiosity about what seems to me to be a much neglected period in History. Even though the book is only a brief summary, I was surprised to know how much is known about this period.

Today many modern countries claim historical grievances against neighbouring countries. However, it is apparent from the book that the medieval period was a continuous revolving period of invasion, conquest and subjugation of the strong over weaker peoples, and that current national boundaries are unnatural and arbitrary. For nearly a thousand years countries became stronger and then took their turn to dominate and create empires. The religious affiliation of the empire bound its people together and spread with its political machine.

To me this sheds light on modern nationalism and makes it very questionable.

The book is easy to read. It can be read a chapter at a time without much loss of situational awareness. There is a considerable amount of religious history in the book, but this is only natural as it was a fundamental factor in the daily life and political systems of the times.

Please note that the book contains a large amount of information on eastern Asian history, plus material on the history of the Americas during this period. I was not expecting this and feel that it should have only been included were it had some bearing on European history. It would have been better to include more detail on Europe as to me the medieval period refers only to Europe.

I think that the author might have been better not to make personal comments about Richard Dawkins. Her opinion on him is irrelevant Medieval History. Also I believe that most people would believe that he is not a radical, but a well-respected scientist.
13620
The First Great conflict of the Reformation era was the German Peasants Revolt,the war was actually not one seamless event,but a series of essentially uncoordinated regional revolts inspired by radical preachers, many peasants bands across southern Germany rose up becoming small armies sometimes with the help of some Landsknechts,disaffected knights and mercenary soldiers, at the end the ill-equipped and the short of mounted men help the Swabian League to suppress the revolt.
Excellent plates by Angus McBride of the Peasant Banners as well of the League,photographs of costume and armour, it's all here,this is a useful addition to the library of anyone interested in the "BUNDSCHUH" conspiracy(the shoe was the symbol of the Rebels),this is a simply wonderful book, small but the content by Mr. Miller is an excellent introduction, this is a most interesting and rewarding read of a less know Revolt of the Renaissance,highly informative.
Related Books "Landsknecht Soldier 1486-1560"(Warrior 49)by John Harald Richards for tactics of the Renaissance are check "Pavia 1525,The Climax of the Italian Wars"(Campaign 44)by Angus Konstam, another one is "The Renaissance At War" by Thomas Arnold is a look into the major conflicts,wars,tactics and a little bit of everything fron the series Cassell's History of Warfare, more campaign books by Osprey treat Renaissance Warfare like "Fornovo 1495,France's Bloody Fighting Retreat"(Campaign 43).
215266
Subtitled, Journeys Through the Dark Ages, this book  details ten journeys taken by the author over seventeen months.  It is part a travel book and part a history of Britain from the end of Roman Britain to the death of Alfred the Great.  Max Adams begins his journey at Hadrians Wall, the entrance to Birdoswald Fort  the place where he suggests the Dark Ages began, with the gradual removal of the troops stationed there.  Although, of course, nobody really noticed the beginning of the Dark Ages in Britain  it started, as Adams tells us, in different ways, at different times in different places

What is certain is that the Roman Empire changed and gradually lost touch with Britannia.  In the fifth century there was virtually no narrative history for the British Isles.  So, the author began to walk the country and to try to rediscover this enigmatic time through its monuments and remains.  He also makes the important point about the influence of Rome that remained; the Roman Empire retained a presence in the monuments, the landscape and roads and in the presence of towns,  whose role, as central places, where literate, thoughtful people might gather and debate the nature of the world survives and thrives.

This book took Max Adams, and vicariously the reader, from Scotland to Ireland, from Anglesey to York and Whitby and many, many other places; mostly by foot but also by boat around  the coastline.  At times I was reading about places I had no knowledge of, at others I was reading about areas that were very familiar to me, but made unfamiliar by seeing them through new eyes.  The author examined the landscape and the remains left behind from the Dark Ages; along the way he muses about the Saints, Kings, myths, sacred places and beliefs of that time.  He makes parallels with the past  for example, saying that the lines of cars lined up in a campsite, cared for and gleaming as signs of conspicuous wealth, are the modern version of cattle  by which people in those times measured their prosperity.  He suggests there is no better way to insinuate yourself into the Dark Age mind than to camp close to the ramparts of an ancient fort on the edge of the sea and he asks what those people ate, how they survived the hardship of subsistence living?

Although this is the story of more than a year of long walks and travel, ironically I found this a relaxing and extremely informative read.  The pace of the book, mostly being done on foot, helps you to slow down and concentrate and to see things through the authors eyes.  What is clear is that the past infiltrates the fabric of the landscape.  Although the Dark Ages are a period buried in obscurity, with few written records, the author brings the period to life with his obvious enthusiasm and his desire to make the world those people inhabited make sense to non archaeologists and non historians.  Adams says that out of the Dark Ages came light and he certainly shed light on this historical period for me and has inspired me to look more deeply at the way the past has left its mark on the world around us.  Lastly, I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
779924
This book provides a great but brief overview of the Age of African exploration by Europeans. If you're already familiar with the high points, other books that go into detail about a particular area might be better for you.
2726299
Like it or not, the Post-Roman World is called the Dark Ages for a reason.  And Bryan Ward-Perkins makes sure we know why.  Trade collapsed, travel decreased and the standard of living, for both the rich and the poor, went down the toilet.  Well, the toilets that still worked.
Waves of barbarians, over the centuries, came to share the wealth and comfort of the Roman Empire.  And they, in the end, destroyed it.  There are many reasons for this, which are examined, but this book isn't about why it fell but HOW it fell.  It didn't change or absorb new cultures.  It fell to invasion.  People died, governments fell about, and only a few places survived with anything we would call a standard of living.
The book is great, tracing the changes of life as it changed from the Pre-Roman World to the Roman World and, then, into the Post-Roman World.  Pots, taxes, and cattle are just some of the subjects the book deals with.  A must for ANY library!
711935
I'm getting ready to visit Egypt and was pointed towards these books.  They are a little dated having been written in the 70s I think, and the story takes place at the turn of the last century, but I really enjoy them!  Just kinda put the European Supremacy in the "back in the day" bucket. It helps that our main character is more enlightened than her compatriots!
4164545
Good over view of the age in western Europe and the eastern kingdom of Constantinople. Since the chronicles deal with the nobility there is very little mention of the impact on the common people.
Over all a good read.
2214660
This was a good book if you are interested in a social history of the middle ages. There is a little bit of the book devoted to the political history of the middle ages , but most chapters deal with areas such as middle age art, the Church, what is was like to be a noble, a serf etc. There is a chapter on the black plague
2376977
Small city states, military expansionist empires and a general long term state of anarchy as seen on maps of territory from the fall of the Roman empire about 500 ad to the rise of the new cultures of the post middle ages.
With small periods of some stability, the history is one of a lot of aimless wars of conquest where power and wealth seem more important than the welfare of the humanity involved. Wars that were supposed to be about religious ideals mostly in reality seem to have been efforts for the maximum of territory to be conquered.
I think this is one of the best ways to see how these systems worked.
The horse and the sailing ship seemed to be a limiting factor to these empires and help to the smaller sane city states.
I like the book very much.
1087547
I was able to check out this book but missed some of the earlier volumes. But, the author does a good job of giving background and enough information that the reader doesn't feel lost. Interesting to read about this time in history and from a unique perspective.
70741
The spirits covered are not exactly the same as those in The Lesser Key but they are more relevant to modern readers. There is something very old about these spirits. I would think they go back 2000 years or more to one of the Elysian Rites of the Greeks to Hady or Pluto.
1713073
It is the 8th century and Europe has plunged into the brutality of the Dark Ages.  Maeniel and Regeane, the shapeshifting lovers first introduced in THE SILVER WOLF and NIGHT OF THE WOLF, have returned for another adventure.  This time around the story begins with a bang when an escaped Saxon slave rescues Regeane during a blizzard and seeks shelter from a monastery.  What they find is an abbot possessed by a demon spirit called the Bear and zombies all over the place.  With Maeniel's timely rescue, they manage to destroy the monastery, but the Bear's spirit follows them determined to find a better "host."

Maeniel and Regeane soon find themselves embroiled in political intrigue when they make a pilgrimage to Charlemagne.  Maeniel is given the mission to spy on Desiderus of Lombardy in preparation for invasion.  Meanwhile, Regeane's greedy cousin Hugo meets up with the Bear spirit and sells his soul.  Together, the man and demon ingratiate themselves into Desiderus's inner circle by telling the Lombard king of Maeniel's special powers.  When Maeniel's life is put in jeopardy, it's Regeane and the rest of the pack to the rescue.

With a rich cast of characters, both historical and literary, Ms. Borchardt has written a decadent feast of a tale.  Blending sometimes humorous dialogue with excellent historical details, Alice Borchardt proves that she is not only a master at research but also one who can appeal to many genres.  My only problem with THE WOLF KING was the seeming abruptness of the story's end.  However, I'll take that a sign that this series will forge ahead.  Long live the pack!

TheSchemer