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Medieval Europe
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
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Medieval Europe
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Summary
The millennium between the breakup of the western Roman Empire and the Reformation was a long and hugely transformative period - one not easily chronicled within a single volume. Yet distinguished historian Chris Wickham has taken up the challenge in this landmark book, and he succeeds in producing the most riveting account of medieval Europe in a generation.
Tracking the entire sweep of the Middle Ages across Europe, Wickham focuses on important changes century by century, including such pivotal crises and moments as the fall of the western Roman Empire, Charlemagne's reforms, the feudal revolution, the challenge of heresy, the destruction of the Byzantine Empire, the rebuilding of late medieval states, and the appalling devastation of the Black Death. He provides illuminating vignettes that underscore how shifting social, economic, and political circumstances affected individual lives and international events. Wickham offers both a new conception of Europe's medieval period and a provocative revision of exactly how and why the Middle Ages matter.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- di9girl
- 16-08-22
Well narrated history of medieval Europe
Enjoyed the history and tidbits about medieval Europe. The narrator does a great job, he’s easy to listen to.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Richard Tol
- 20-10-21
Superficial
This book covers a large area over a long time. Coverage is superficial with the occasional error. Similarities and trends are forced.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- JCM
- 03-06-24
A very good overview
I covered this period for A-level, nearly thirty years ago now, and this was a great refresher. A good balance of thematic and chronological.
I think, though, I'd have preferred this as a physical book - it's one of those where jumping back and forth, using the index to remind who's who and what's what would make the reading experience far more rewarding. I have a copy of Wickham's The Inheritance of Rome (which is excellent, and probably needs a re-read), but that only covers the period 400-1000, rather than all the way up to 1500 as here. That latter 500 years of the middle ages proper is, from this book, where Wickham sees real developments start to emerge - the argument throughout is largely that the medieval period wasn't as backwards as traditional accounts would have us believe - but the period after 1250 or so is one I'm less familiar with, so I found this bit a little harder to follow.
Of course, it may also just have been because I was listening to this while walking the dog, so frequently getting distracted...
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 05-02-23
Dry but informative
Subject matter is interesting and the author knows his topic but the writing is boilerplate. Narrator is good.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Keith
- 23-10-17
Concise and complex
Enjoyed this history of a period I have read a number of books on over the years. It’s quite concise in that it gets broadly the 1000 years from 500 - 1500 in a not significant length. However, it is very complex, especially when dealing with the political arrangements of the period, even has he makes these complex points well and interestingly. I did find the political chapters harder to take in while listening as opposed to reading. The social, religious and conflict chapters were excellent.
PS: the use of the phrase ‘that is to say’ is overused.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Sudo
- 10-10-22
Basically a textbook
More of a textbook for students rather than a listenable story, incredibly dense on dry subject matter. It's not digestible by Audiobook if you plan on listening while doing other things. Nothing wrong with the book itself, it's just not suitable for the morning commute!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- BookWorm
- 20-09-21
Superb comparative history
I loved this bird's eye overwiev of medieval European history. Some ideas were fresh to me and I really liked that the author argued with the established tenets.
Reading was really easy to listen to.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr. T. M. Lazarus
- 10-01-22
Accessible, well-read and informative
I gave up History as soon as I could at school, not very interested in the learning of dates or How We Lived Then. Only in adult life did I discover this genre of history book - an overall picture of an era with an overall story unfolding. The tale of how Europe went from post-Roman empire around 500 to something very much like its current configuration by 1500 is a fascinating one. Going to investigate further I reckon.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sergio Fontana
- 09-09-22
very nice book
free of preconceptions that so often are present in similar books.
rather detailed but still enjoyable from a non specialist.
highly recommended
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Reluctant Sceptic
- 13-10-21
Overall, a bit of a struggle if I'm honest.
Interesting in areas and a struggle elsewhere Seemed to flip around Europe focusing on medieval politics rather than the daily lives of people and how it differed across the continent or changed across the period. Perhaps a book for study more than general interest.
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