Overview

The Early Middle Ages, which marked the end of the Roman Empire and the creation of the kingdoms of Western Europe, was a period central to the formation of modern Europe. This period has often been drawn into a series of discourses that are more concerned with the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries than with the distant past. In The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages, Ian Wood explores how Western Europeans have looked back to the Middle Ages to discover their origins and the origins of their society. Using historical records and writings about the Fall of Rome and the Early Middle Ages, Wood reveals how these influenced modern Europe and the way in which the continent thought about itself. He asks, and answers, the important question: why is early-medieval history, or indeed any pre-modern history, important? This volume promises to add to the debate on the significance of medieval history in the modern world.

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9780198767497

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Reviews

The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages is a splendid survey, full of new and interesting things. It will enlighten the young and infuriate their elders, not least those of Marxist persuasion. It is a pleasure to read. Nicolas Vincent, Times Literary Supplement In this excellent book Wood employs an impressive range of primary and secondary sources to provide fascinating insights into the origins of the Middle Ages. As Wood remarks in his preface, the book responds to the recent tendency to consider medieval studies as superfluous and exotic by demonstrating the significant role that reflexions on the Middle Ages and their origins have played in European politics and culture from the beginning of the early modern period until today. Hans-Werner Goetz, Sehepunkte Systematically reviewing the social context of individual scholars and the reception of their work, Wood demonstrates not only the inseparability of these two historical periods but also the importance and cultural implications of the historian's task. Recommended. M. Rautman, Choice The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages is thoroughly researched and written with the great clarity that comes from an unparalleled knowledge and understanding of the subject ... Ian Wood's book will have a long shelf life because it is near authoritative and surely no-one for a long time to come will have such a command of the detail. Reviews in History This is an outstandingly searching and illuminating examination of how historical debate has shaped, and been shaped by, cultural horizons and political conflict ... no historian, and certainly no medievalist, should be allowed out of graduate school without having read it. R.I. Moore, English Historical Review

`The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages is a splendid survey, full of new and interesting things. It will enlighten the young and infuriate their elders, not least those of Marxist persuasion. It is a pleasure to read.' Nicolas Vincent, Times Literary Supplement `In this excellent book Wood employs an impressive range of primary and secondary sources to provide fascinating insights into the origins of the Middle Ages. As Wood remarks in his preface, the book responds to the recent tendency to consider medieval studies as superfluous and exotic by demonstrating the significant role that reflexions on the Middle Ages and their origins have played in European politics and culture from the beginning of the early modern period until today.' Hans-Werner Goetz, Sehepunkte `Systematically reviewing the social context of individual scholars and the reception of their work, Wood demonstrates not only the inseparability of these two historical periods but also the importance and cultural implications of the historian's task. Recommended.' M. Rautman, Choice `The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages is thoroughly researched and written with the great clarity that comes from an unparalleled knowledge and understanding of the subject ... Ian Wood's book will have a long shelf life because it is near authoritative and surely no-one for a long time to come will have such a command of the detail.' Reviews in History `This is an outstandingly searching and illuminating examination of how historical debate has shaped, and been shaped by, cultural horizons and political conflict ... no historian, and certainly no medievalist, should be allowed out of graduate school without having read it.' R.I. Moore, English Historical Review `Ian Wood's long-awaited survey of early medieval historiography offers a broad panorama of approaches to and understandings of the late Roman Empire and Germanic migrations by Western European scholars between the eighteenth century and the present ... It is difficult to do justice in this short space to Wood's careful reading of the primary sources over more than three-and-a-half centuries.' Bonnie Effros, American Historical Review

Ian Wood's long-awaited survey of early medieval historiography offers a broad panorama of approaches to and understandings of the late Roman Empire and Germanic migrations by Western European scholars between the eighteenth century and the present ... It is difficult to do justice in this short space to Wood's careful reading of the primary sources over more than three-and-a-half centuries. * Bonnie Effros, American Historical Review * This is an outstandingly searching and illuminating examination of how historical debate has shaped, and been shaped by, cultural horizons and political conflict ... no historian, and certainly no medievalist, should be allowed out of graduate school without having read it. * R.I. Moore, English Historical Review * The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages is thoroughly researched and written with the great clarity that comes from an unparalleled knowledge and understanding of the subject ... Ian Wood's book will have a long shelf life because it is near authoritative and surely no-one for a long time to come will have such a command of the detail. * Reviews in History * Systematically reviewing the social context of individual scholars and the reception of their work, Wood demonstrates not only the inseparability of these two historical periods but also the importance and cultural implications of the historian's task. Recommended. * M. Rautman, Choice * In this excellent book Wood employs an impressive range of primary and secondary sources to provide fascinating insights into the origins of the Middle Ages. As Wood remarks in his preface, the book responds to the recent tendency to consider medieval studies as superfluous and exotic by demonstrating the significant role that reflexions on the Middle Ages and their origins have played in European politics and culture from the beginning of the early modern period until today. * Hans-Werner Goetz, Sehepunkte * The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages is a splendid survey, full of new and interesting things. It will enlighten the young and infuriate their elders, not least those of Marxist persuasion. It is a pleasure to read. * Nicolas Vincent, Times Literary Supplement *

`The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages is a splendid survey, full of new and interesting things. It will enlighten the young and infuriate their elders, not least those of Marxist persuasion. It is a pleasure to read.' Nicolas Vincent, Times Literary Supplement `In this excellent book Wood employs an impressive range of primary and secondary sources to provide fascinating insights into the origins of the Middle Ages. As Wood remarks in his preface, the book responds to the recent tendency to consider medieval studies as superfluous and exotic by demonstrating the significant role that reflexions on the Middle Ages and their origins have played in European politics and culture from the beginning of the early modern period until today.' Hans-Werner Goetz, Sehepunkte `Systematically reviewing the social context of individual scholars and the reception of their work, Wood demonstrates not only the inseparability of these two historical periods but also the importance and cultural implications of the historian's task. Recommended.' M. Rautman, Choice `The Modern Origins of the Early Middle Ages is thoroughly researched and written with the great clarity that comes from an unparalleled knowledge and understanding of the subject ... Ian Wood's book will have a long shelf life because it is near authoritative and surely no-one for a long time to come will have such a command of the detail.' Reviews in History `This is an outstandingly searching and illuminating examination of how historical debate has shaped, and been shaped by, cultural horizons and political conflict ... no historian, and certainly no medievalist, should be allowed out of graduate school without having read it.' R.I. Moore, English Historical Review `Ian Wood's long-awaited survey of early medieval historiography offers a broad panorama of approaches to and understandings of the late Roman Empire and Germanic migrations by Western European scholars between the eighteenth century and the present ... It is difficult to do justice in this short space to Wood's careful reading of the primary sources over more than three-and-a-half centuries.' Bonnie Effros, American Historical Review

Author Information

Ian Wood is Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Leeds.

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