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Length:592 pages
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Publisher:Penguin Books (1970)
Culture:British

Le Morte D’Arthur (Volume 2) by Sir Thomas Malory, Edited by Janet Cowen, with an Introduction by John Lawlor. NOTE: We have 100,000 books in our library, over 10,000 different titles. Odds are we have other copies of this same title in varying conditions, some less expensive, some better condition. We might also have different editions as well (some paperback, some hardcover, oftentimes international editions). If you don’t see what you want, please contact us and ask. We’re happy to send you a summary of the differing conditions and prices we may have for the same title. DESCRIPTION: Softcover: 592 pages. Publisher: Penguin Books; (1970). Dimensions: 7¾ x 5¼ inches; 1¼ pounds. Edited and first published by William Caxton in 1485, Sir Thomas Malory’s unique and splendid version of the Arthurian legend tells an immortal story of love, adventure, chivalry, treachery, and death. The legends of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table have inspired some of the greatest works of literature; from Cervantes’s Don Quixote to Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. Although many versions exist, Malory’s stands as the classic rendition. Malory wrote the book while in Newgate Prison during the last three years of his life; it was published some fourteen years later, in 1485 A.D., by William Caxton. The tales, steeped in the magic of Merlin, the powerful cords of the chivalric code, and the age-old dramas of love and death, resound across the centuries. CONDITION: VERY GOOD. Unread (and “new” in that sense, but shelf-worn) oversized softcover. Penguin Classics (1970) 592 pages. Clearly and unambiguously unread. Inside the pages are pristine; clean, crisp, unmarked, unmutilated, tightly bound, unambiguously unread. HOWEVER the covers and corners of the covers do exhibit modest shelfwear. With respect to the front cover, if you hold the book up to a light source and scrutinize it intently (yeah, we’re nitpicking), you can make out mild wrinkling or half-formed creases to the cover corners. They are not really sharp creases, more along the line of half-formed creases or wrinkles formed when the cover corners are bent but not folded over. The back cover on the other hand has a well-delineated and long corner crease at the bottom open corner. No missing it, you need not hold the book up to a light source. It’s fairly prominent, purely cosmetic, but extant nonetheless. There’s also mild all-over edge wear to the covers, again, not something you’d discern unless again, you hold the book up to a light source and scrutinize it intently. Just typical shelf wear for an unsold softcover book. In fact the condition of the book is not too far distant from what might otherwise pass as “new” stock from a traditional open-shelf bookstore environment (such as Barnes & Noble, Borders, or B. Dalton for example) wherein new books might show modest shelfwear, consequence simply of the ordeal of being constantly being shelved, re-shelved, and shuffled about. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE-FREE PACKAGING! Meticulous and accurate descriptions! Selling rare and out-of-print ancient history books on-line since 1997. We accept returns for any reason within 30 days! #1644c. PLEASE SEE IMAGES BELOW FOR SAMPLE PAGES FROM INSIDE OF BOOK. PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW. PUBLISHER REVIEW: REVIEW: Volume II of “Le Morte D’Arthur”, Sir Thomas Malory’s powerful and elegiac version of the Arthurian legend, recounts the adventures of Sir Tristram de Liones and the treachery of Sir Mordred, and follows Sir Lancelot’s quest for the Holy Grail, his fatally divided loyalties and his great, forbidden love for the beautiful Queen Guinevere. Culminating in an account of Arthur’s final battle against the scheming, deceitful Mordred, this is the definitive retelling of the Arthurian myth, weaving a story of adultery, treachery, and ultimately, in its tragic finale, death. Edited and published by William Caxton in 1485, Malory’s moving prose romance looks back to an idealized medieval age of chivalry, drawing on French and English verse sources to create an epic masterpiece of passion, enchantment, war and betrayal. The text of this edition is based on Caxton’s original printed edition, with modernized spelling and punctuation. This volume also contains notes and a glossary. History is not certain of the identity of the author of “Le Morte D’Arthur” and several theories have been advanced as to its historical circumstances. However the theory put forward by an American scholar, that the author was a Sir Thomas Malory, or Maleore, of Newbold Revell in Warwickshire, has gained widest acceptance. Sir Malory was born in the first quarter of the fifteenth century, and spent the greatest part of his last twenty years in prison. Contemporary accounts accuse him of a number of crimes, including attempted murder, rape, and armed robbery. He is also credited with a couple of dramatic escapes from prison. However other records exist that suggest that he was a fighting man rather than a criminal. He was certainly in the service of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and fought with him in the siege of Calais in 1436. It is not surprising that some scholars have found it difficult to reconcile this violent man with the author of these moral tales. Another possible candidate might be a Thomas Malory of Studley and Hutton in Yorkshire, and it has been suggested that the language of the tales points to an author living north of Warwickshire. Whomsoever he was, it is generally accept that the author was a member of the gentry and a Lancastrian who deeply mourned the passing of the age of chivalry. He describes himself as a “knight-prisoner”, and it is clear that he spend many years in prison and “Le Morte D’Arthur” was probably written while the author was incarcerated. It would also seem that he had seen service in south-western France, and it is possible that some of this book was written which he was held captive by Duke Jacques d’Armagnac, who had an extensive Authurian library and had served against the English under Charles VII of France in Normandy in 1449-50. A favorite and son-in-law of Louis XI, he was caught conspiring against the French Monarch – three times! After twice pardoning him, the king’s patience became exhausted, and he besieged the duke’s chateau and took him prisoner, and confined him to a cage. He was finally condemned to death by the parliament and beheaded in 1477. Meanwhile Sir Malory is thought to have died around 1471. PROFESSIONAL REVIEWS: REVIEW: An immortal story of love, adventure, chivalry, treachery, and death. Edited and first published by William Caxton in 1485, “Le Morte d’Arthur” is Sir Thomas Mallory’s unique and splendid version of the Arthurian legend. Mordred’s treason, the knightly exploits of Tristan, Lancelot’s fatally divided loyalties and his love for Gueneviere, the quest for the Holy Grail; all the elements are there woven into a wonderful completeness by the magic of his prose style. The result is not only one of the most readable accounts of the knights of the Round Table, but also one of the most moving. As the story advances toward the inevitable tragedy of Arthur’s death, the effect is cumulative, rising with an impending sense of doom and tragedy towards its shattering finale. REVIEW: According to tradition, a rogue knight of the fifteenth century collated all the legends and songs surrounding the pre-Christian Welsh chieftain Arthur into a fascinating, rambling prose narrative. Since then it has inspired numerous artists while becoming the principal source for today’s notions of chivalry and the Knights of the Round Table. Yet, for modern Americans, it’s difficult to read, and in this edition it has been tastefully edited for comprehension, but the values and literary conventions have not. The modern reader can now enjoy the tales which once inspired the fantasies of young boys. All the psychological and moral complexities that are the author’s chief concern are present, as well as the vigor and sonority of the writing. This edition’s editing smooths out the unevenness of the original and gives more life to the characters than Malory did, and brings out the full tragedy of Arthur’s death and the dissolution of the Camelot ideal. REVIEW: The stories of King Arthur, Lancelot, Queen Guenever, and Tristram and Isolde seem astonishingly moving and modern. Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur endures and inspires because it embodies mankind’s deepest yearnings for brotherhood and community, a love worth dying for, and valor, honor, and chivalry. The epic story of King Arthur never fails to stir the imaginations of readers everywhere, and this outstanding version creates a unique vision of Camelot. These legends have always been a treat for the mind. READER REVIEWS: REVIEW: Knights and dragons, sorcerers and kings, romance and betrayal, blood and guts…there’s something of interest for everyone in Malory’s story. This book is about the legendary life and acts of King Arthur and the life and struggles of his active family of chivalrous knights. While enjoying the frenetic adventures of Lancelot, Galahad, King Arthur, and Guinevere, many aspects of everyday life in early medieval times are glimpsed, in particular an absorbing overview of the code of chivalry. It’s a fascinating journey of knightly heroes struggling to follow the dichotomy of the code of chivalry that calls for heroic military strength balanced by Christian ideals. Lancelot, as the main catalyst of the story, and the ‘flower of all knights,’ is a symbol of every human; flawed, yet struggling to better himself despite outside temptations. Arthur, on the other hand, is the ultimate symbol of goodness, loyalty, and bravery within the code of chivalry. His Round Table is called the ‘flower of chivalry,’ although as a result of his total faith in loyalty and honor Arthur is all too trusting of his friends and family. He and his Round Table are the heart of the story, but his fellowship of knights is shaken because of the loss of trust resulting from the adultery of Lancelot and Guinevere. Malory utilizes an effective, yet simple technique of grouping short prose stories with unusual titles such as ‘How at night came an armed knight, and fought with Sir Gareth, and he, sore hurt in the thigh, smote off the knight’s head,’ into a sequential story line. The brevity of each story and the eye-catching titles break up the tediousness of interpreting the old Anglo-Saxon vocabulary. Words such as ‘brain-pan’ (skull), ‘orgulity’ (pride), and ‘gramercy’ (many thanks), are difficult to interpret, but the reader is assisted by a short glossary of terms found at the end of each volume. These stories are grouped into twenty-one books, ranging from the marriage of Arthur and Guinevere, to the story of Lancelot and his search for the Holy Grail, to the final book, detailing the death of King Arthur and the lamentable collapse of the Round Table. REVIEW: “Le Morte D’Arthur” (“The Death of Arthur”) was written by Sir Thomas Malory while he was imprisoned for some number of years. It was one of the very first times that the Arthurian legend was penned in English. There were some older Latin fragments of the myth floating around, but it’s thru Malory’s account by which we know the stories most thoroughly. The most successful movie adaptation of the legend, “Excalibur”, is based on elements taken from Malory’s epic. This is an absolute must-read for all persons who have even a remote interest in the Arthurian fantasy. It contains all of the most famous characters and episodes from the legend. Within these pages, one will encounter Arthur, Gwynevere, Sir Lancelot, Sir Galahad, Sir Modred, Sir Bors, Sir Percivale, Merlin and all the rest. The purity of Galahad is contrasted with the sinful nature and temporary madness of Lancelot. The memorable allegory of Sir Percivale’s duel with Satan, as well as so many other knightly adventures, are all recorded for us here. This book is highly recommended to all fans of medieval times, medieval literature, the history of Great Britain and the idea of Chivalry. The codes of honor, the rules of fair play and the heroic ideals conceived by the knights of the middle-ages have followed us down thru the centuries and are still as relevant to the best of us today as they were 500-1500 years ago. The story ends with one of the most memorable Latin phrases in literary history, “here lies King Arthur, the once and future King”. REVIEW: I typically am not a fan of classic literature. There are a few books, however, that I have really enjoyed. This is one of them. As one would expect it’s a high reading level. However, it’s definitely worth it. Malory does an excellent job at telling the stories of King Arthur, and develops his characters very well. I enjoy medieval-themed stories and I recommend this to anyone who likes this genre. REVIEW: I have not come to analyze Malory’s great work. I’ve not even come to praise it. I’ve come to stand and stare at it in awe. “Le Morte D’Arthur” is the continent of our hearts. The slow and constant testing of human nature which this book portrays with its heart breaking finale sings with the kind of pain that only joy and the failure of joy can offer. Whoever the real Arthur was is immaterial compared to the moral vision of this right old book and shows with utmost psychological acuity the Catholic visionary landscape of the Middle Ages fall, shatter, and finally fade. Logre was an impossible glory, something unattainable. The mere Britain that succeeds it is only politics. There is a lost world at the bottom of the book that is best revealed in the denial of the Sangreal to Lancelot. Lancelot was the greatest man who ever lived but that wasn’t great enough. And so, Logre fell. “Le Morte D’Arthur” is necessary. It is seated at the core of Western humanity – being an authentic Catholic myth – along with only a handful of other core works: “Hamlet”, “Faust” by Goethe, “The Comedy” of Dante, the Essays of Montaigne, and “Don Quixote”. But suggesting it as mandatory reading for the schools would probably destroy the million bright strands of deed and thought and feeling that compose its high and lost glory. REVIEW: I have wanted this book for close to a whole decade. I rented the movie Excalibur when I was like 13 years old and loved it. I watched it over and over again, finally getting a new VHS edition of what has to be easily the best sword and sorcery movie ever made. As I watched the credits in the movie Excalibur, I noticed it said it was based on Malory’s novel Le Morte D’Arthur. I thought the book would be really expensive and hard to find. Finally one day last summer I was able to get third paperback edition and I found it even lower the cover price of $7.99. I read the book and was surprised. It did have some of what was based in the movie Excalibur, but it was a large collection of individual stories of the legendary characters. I was expecting something more in line exactly with the script of the Ezcalibur movie. After initial surprise, I read the book and liked it, if only for sentimental value. It was written in the 1500s! I like really old gothic and occult literature and now can read them very fast. I usually read 10 pages a sitting and at multiple sittings a day and sometimes reading more than 10 pages you can through books even long 500 page ones like this fast. It is a classic that stands the test of time. This is a savage and barbaric book, this is what it has in common most with the movie Excalibur. When most people think of King Arthur they think like A Kid in King Arthur’s Court. Well Excalibur is more realistic and this book if King Arthur really existed this is what it would’ve been more like. Though it borders on cheese- knights in armor getting limbs severed, etc, but the special effects in Excalibur, the script, the acting, everything made up for that is regarded amongst even mainstream movie fans as a masterpiece. I would recommend this if you want to know the real story of King Arthur, not a childish fantasy…surprise…Arthur dies! ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES: In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages. Population decline, counter-urbanization, collapse of centralized authority, invasions, and mass migrations of tribes. All of these had begun in Late Antiquity and continued in the Early Middle Ages. The large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East which were once part of the Byzantine Empire fell. These regions came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate. The Caliphate was an Islamic empire founded by Muhammad’s successors. Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire, Rome’s direct continuation, survived in the Eastern Mediterranean and remained a major power. The empire’s law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or “Code of Justinian”, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions. Monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianize pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th and early 9th centuries. It covered much of Western Europe but later succumbed to the pressures of internal civil wars combined with external invasions: Vikings from the north, Magyars from the east, and Saracens from the south. During the High Middle Ages, which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly. Technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish. The Medieval Warm Period climate change allowed crop yields to increase. The Medieval Manor System involved the organization of peasants into villages. The villages in turn owed rent and labor services to the nobles. The Feudal System encompassed a political structure whereby knights and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rent from lands and manors. The Manor and Feudal systems were two of the ways society was organized in the High Middle Ages. First preached in 1095 AD the Crusades were a series of military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralized nation-states. This reduced crime and violence but made the ideal of a unified Christendom more distant. Intellectual life was marked by scholasticism. Scholasticism was a philosophy that emphasized joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. The theology of Thomas Aquinas, the paintings of Giotto, the poetry of Dante and Chaucer, the travels of Marco Polo, and the Gothic architecture of cathedrals such as Chartres are among the outstanding achievements toward the end of this period and into the Late Middle Ages. The Late Middle Ages were marked by difficulties and calamities including famine, plague, and war. All of these combined to significantly diminish the population of Europe. Between 1347 and 1350, the Black Death killed about a third of all Europeans. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the interstate conflict, civil strife, and peasant revolts that occurred in the kingdoms. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages and beginning the early modern period. The term “Middle Ages” first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or “middle season”. In early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or “middle age”, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or “middle centuries”, first recorded in 1625. The adjective “medieval” derives from medium aevum. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the “Six Ages” or the “Four Empires”, and considered their time to be the last before the end of the world. When referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being “modern”. In the 1330s the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua (or “ancient”) and to the Christian period as nova (or “new”). Leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use three periods in his 1442 AD “History of the Florentine People”. He described a middle period “between the fall of the Roman Empire and the revival of city life, sometime in late 11th and 12th centuries”. The reference to three periods of time “tripartite periodization” became standard after the 17th century German historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods: ancient, medieval, and modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is around 500 AD, with the date of 476 first used by Bruni (the year the last [Western] Roman Emperor was deposed). For Europe as a whole, 1500 AD is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. Depending on the context, events such as the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas in 1492, or the Protestant Reformation in 1517 are sometimes used. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period. For Spain, dates commonly used are the death of King Ferdinand II in 1516, the death of Queen Isabella I of Castile in 1504, or the conquest of Granada in 1492. Historians from Romance-speaking countries tend to divide the Middle Ages into two parts: an earlier “High” and later “Low” period. English-speaking historians, following their German counterparts, generally subdivide the Middle Ages into three intervals: “Early”, “High”, and “Late”. In the 19th century, the entire Middle Ages were often referred to as the “Dark Ages”. However with the adoption of the “Early”, “High”, and “Late” subdivisions, use of the term “Dark Ages” term (at least among historians) was restricted in its sense to refer specifically to the Early Middle Ages. The Roman Empire reached its greatest territorial extent during the 2nd century AD. The following two centuries witnessed the slow decline of Roman control over its outlying territories. Economic issues, including inflation, and external pressure on the frontiers combined to create the “Crisis of the Third Century”. A rapid succession of emperors came to the throne only to be almost immediately replaced by new usurpers. Military expenses increased steadily during the 3rd century. The military expenditures were mainly in response to the war with the Sasanian Empire, which revived in the middle of the 3rd century. The army doubled in size, and cavalry and smaller units replaced the Roman legion as the main tactical unit. The need for revenue led to increased taxes. There was a decline in numbers of the curial, or landowning, class. And from that diminished population there were decreasing numbers willing to shoulder the burdens of holding office in their native towns. More bureaucrats were needed in the central administration to deal with the needs of the army. This led to complaints from civilians that there were more tax-collectors in the empire than tax-payers. The Emperor Diocletian reigned from 284-305 AD. In an effort to better organize and increase efficiency he split the empire into separately administered eastern and western halves in 286. The empire was not considered divided by its inhabitants or rulers. A legal and administrative promulgation in one division were considered valid in the other. Constantine the Great (reigned from 306–337 AD. After a period of civil war Constantine refounded the city of Byzantium as the newly renamed eastern capital, Constantinople in 330 AD. Diocletian’s reforms strengthened the governmental bureaucracy, reformed taxation, and strengthened the army. All of this bought the empire time but did not resolve the problems it was facing: excessive taxation, a declining birthrate, and pressures on its frontiers, among others. Civil war between rival emperors became common in the middle of the 4th century, diverting soldiers from the empire’s frontier forces and allowing invaders to encroach. For much of the 4th century Roman society stabilized in a new form that differed from the earlier classical period. There was a widening gulf between the rich and poor, and a decline in the vitality of the smaller towns. Another change was the conversion of the empire to Christianity. This was a gradual process that lasted from the 2nd to the 5th centuries. In 376 AD the Goths, fleeing from the Huns, received permission from Emperor Valens (who reigned from 364 to 378) to settle in the Roman province of Thracia in the Balkans. The settlement did not go smoothly, and when Roman officials mishandled the situation, the Goths began to raid and plunder. Valens was killed fighting the Goths at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 attempting to put down the disorder. It was not the threat from such tribal confederacies from the north that was destabilizing Rome. Internal divisions within the empire caused problems as well, especially within the Christian Church. In 400, the Visigoths invaded the Western Roman Empire. Though they were briefly forced back from Italy, in 410 the succeeded in sacking the city of Rome. In 406 the Alans, Vandals, and Suevi crossed into the Roman Province of Gaul (France). Over the next three years they spread across Gaul and in 409 crossed the Pyrenees Mountains into modern-day Spain. Thus the “Migration Period” began. Initially largely Germanic peoples, but eventually many populations began moving across Europe. The Franks, Alemanni, and the Burgundians all ended up in northern Gaul while the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes settled in Britain/ The Vandals went on to cross the strait of Gibraltar after which they conquered the Roman Province of Africa. In the 430s the Huns began invading the Roman Empire. Their king Attila (reigned from. 434–453) led invasions into the Balkans in 442 and 447, Gaul in 451, and Italy in 452. The Hun to the empire threat remained until Attila’s death in 453. With Atilla’s death the Hun confederation he led fell apart. The Hun invasions however completely changed the political and demographic nature of what had been the Western Roman Empire. By the end of the 5th century the western section of the empire was divided into smaller political units, ruled by the “barbarian” tribes that had invaded in the early part of the century. The deposition of the last emperor of the west, Romulus Augustulus in 476 AD has traditionally marked the end of the Western Roman Empire. By 493 the Italian peninsula was conquered by the Ostrogoths. The Eastern Roman Empire was often referred to as the Byzantine Empire after the fall of its western counterpart. However the Byzantine Empire had little ability to assert control over the lost western territories. The Byzantine Emperors maintained a claim over the territory. But while none of the new kings in the west dared to elevate himself to the position of emperor of the west, Byzantine control of most of the Western Empire could not be sustained. A brief reconquest of the Mediterranean periphery and the Italian Peninsula (sometimes referred to as the “Gothic War”) in the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian (who reigned from 527 to 565) was the sole, exception. The political structure of Western Europe changed with the end of the united Roman Empire. The movements of peoples during this period are usually described as “invasions”. However they were not just military expeditions but migrations of entire peoples into the empire. Such movements were aided by the refusal of the Western Roman elites to support the army or pay the taxes that would have allowed the military to suppress the migration. The emperors of the 5th century were often controlled by military strongmen such as Stilicho who were of non-Roman background. When the line of Western emperors ceased, many of the kings who replaced them were from the same background. Intermarriage between the new kings and the Roman elites was common. This led to a fusion of Roman culture with the customs of the “invading” tribes. This included popular assemblies that allowed free male tribal members more say in political matters than was common in the Roman state. Material artifacts left by the Romans and the invaders are often similar, and tribal items were often modeled on Roman objects. Much of the scholarly and written culture of the new kingdoms was also based on Roman intellectual traditions. An important difference was the gradual loss of tax revenue by the new polities. Many of the new political entities no longer supported their armies through taxes, instead relying on granting them land or rents. This meant there was less need for large tax revenues and so the taxation systems decayed. Warfare was common between and within the kingdoms. Slavery declined as the supply weakened, and society became more rural. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, new peoples and individuals filled the political void left by Roman centralized government. The Ostrogoths, a Gothic tribe, settled in Roman Italy in the late 5th century under Theoderic the Great (died 526 AD). At least until the last years of Theodoric’s reign the Ostrogoth Kingdom was noteworthy for its cooperation with the Italians,. The Burgundians settled in Gaul after an earlier realm was destroyed by the Huns in 436. They formed a new kingdom in the 440s. Between today’s Geneva and Lyon, it grew to become the realm of Burgundy in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. Elsewhere in Gaul, the Franks and Celtic Britons set up small polities. Francia was centered in northern Gaul, and the first king of whom much is known is Childeric I (died in 481). His grave was discovered in 1653 and is remarkable for its grave goods. The grave goods included weapons and a large quantity of gold. Childeric’s son Clovis I (who reigned from 509 to 511) was the founder of the Merovingian dynasty. The Frankish kingdom expanded and converted to Christianity. The Britons were related to the natives of Britannia, modern-day Great Britain. They settled in what is now Brittany. Other monarchies were established by the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, the Suebi in northwestern Iberia, and the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa. In the 6th century, the Lombards settled in Northern Italy. The Lombards replaced the Ostrogothic kingdom with a grouping of duchies that occasionally selected a king to rule over them all. By the late 6th century, this arrangement had been replaced by a permanent monarchy, the Kingdom of the Lombards. The “invasions” or migrations brought new ethnic groups to Europe, although some regions received a larger influx of new peoples than others. In Gaul for instance, the invaders settled much more extensively in the north-east than in the south-west. Slavs settled in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula. The settlement of peoples was accompanied by changes in languages. Latin, the literary language of the Western Roman Empire, was gradually replaced by vernacular languages which evolved from Latin, but were distinct from it. These were collectively known as Romance languages. These changes from Latin to the new languages took many centuries. Greek remained the language of the Byzantine Empire, but the migrations of the Slavs added Slavic languages to Eastern Europe. As Western Europe witnessed the formation of new kingdoms, the Eastern Roman Empire remained intact and experienced an economic revival that lasted into the early 7th century. There were fewer invasions of the eastern section of the empire. Those that did occur typically occurred in the Balkans. Peace with the Sasanian Empire, the traditional enemy of Rome, lasted throughout most of the 5th century. The Eastern Empire was marked by closer relations between the political state and Christian Church. Doctrinal matters assumed an importance in Eastern politics that they did not have in Western Europe. Legal developments included the codification of Roman law. The first effort was the Codex Theodosianus, which was completed in 438. Under Emperor Justinian (who reigned from 527 to 565) the Corpus Juris Civilis was compiled. Justinian also oversaw the construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. On the military front the Byzantines under Belisarius (who died in 565) reconquered North Africa from the Vandals and Italy from the Ostrogoths. The conquest of Italy was not complete. A deadly outbreak of plague in 542 resulted in the balance of Justinian’s reign concentrating on defensive measures rather than further conquests. At Justinian’s death the Byzantines had control of most of Italy, North Africa, and a small foothold in southern Spain. Justinian’s reconquests have been criticized by historians for overextending the Byzantine realm and setting the stage for the early Muslim conquests. However many of the difficulties faced by Justinian’s successors were due not just to over-taxation to pay for his wars, but to the essentially civilian nature of the empire. That civilian nature of the empire made raising troops difficult. In the Eastern Empire the slow infiltration of the Balkans by the Slavs added a further difficulty for Justinian’s successors. It began gradually, but by the late 540s Slavic tribes were in Thrace and Illyrium. The Slavs had defeated an imperial army near Adrianople in 551. In the 560s the Avars began to expand from their base on the north bank of the Danube. By the end of the 6th century the Avars were the dominant power in Central Europe. The Avars were routinely able to force the Byzantine emperors to pay tribute. The Avars remained a strong power until 796. An additional problem to face the empire during the reigned from 582 to 602 reign of Emperor Maurice. This was as a result of the involvement of Emperor Maurice in a Persian political succession dispute. This led to a period of peace. But when Maurice was overthrown, the Persians invaded. During the reign of Emperor Heraclius (who reigned from 610 to 641) the Persian controlled large chunks of the empire. These included Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia until Emperor Heraclius’ successful counterattack. In 628 the empire secured a peace treaty and recovered all of its lost territories. Meanwhile in Western Europe some of the older Roman elite families died out while others became more involved with ecclesiastical than secular affairs. Values attached to Latin scholarship and education mostly disappeared. While literacy remained important, it became a practical skill rather than a sign of elite status. In the 4th century, St. Jerome dreamed that God rebuked him for spending more time reading Cicero than the Bible. By the 6th century, Gregory of Tours had a similar dream. However instead of being chastised for reading Cicero, he was chastised for learning shorthand. By the late 6th century, the principal means of religious instruction in the Church had become music and art rather than education, reading, and reason. Most intellectual efforts went towards imitating classical scholarship. Aristocratic culture focused on great feasts held in halls rather than on literary pursuits, changes also took place among laymen. Clothing for the elites was richly embellished with jewels and gold. Lords and kings supported entourages of fighters who formed the backbone of the military forces. Family ties within the elites were important, as were the virtues of loyalty, courage, and honor. These ties led to the prevalence of the feud in aristocratic society. Examples of such feuds included those related by Gregory of Tours that took place in Merovingian Gaul. Most feuds seem to have ended quickly with the payment of some sort of compensation. Women took part in aristocratic society mainly in their roles as wives and mothers of men. The role of mother of a ruler was especially prominent in Merovingian Gaul. In Anglo-Saxon society the lack of many child rulers meant a lesser role for women as queen mothers. However on the other hand women had an increased role in society as abbesses of monasteries. Only in Italy does it appear that women were always considered under the protection and control of a male relative. The characteristics of peasant society are much less well documented than that of the nobility. Most of the surviving information available to historians comes from archaeology. Few detailed written records documenting peasant life remain from before the 9th century. Most of the descriptions of the lower classes come from either law codes or writers from the upper classes. Landholding patterns in the West were not uniform. Some areas had greatly fragmented landholding patterns. In other areas large contiguous blocks of land were the norm. These differences allowed for a wide variety social characteristics of peasant society. Some peasants were dominated by aristocratic landholders, others experienced a great deal of autonomy. Land settlement also varied greatly. Some peasants lived in large settlements that numbered as many as 700 inhabitants. Others lived in small groups of a few families. Still others lived on isolated farms spread over the countryside. There were also areas where the pattern was a mix of two or more of those systems. Unlike in the late Roman period, there was no sharp break distinction the legal status of the free peasant and the aristocrat. It was possible for a free peasant’s family to rise into the aristocracy over several generations through military service to a powerful lord. Roman city life and culture changed greatly in the early Middle Ages. Although Italian cities remained inhabited, they contracted significantly in size. Rome, for instance, shrank from a population of hundreds of thousands to around 30,000 by the end of the 6th century. Roman temples were converted into Christian churches and city walls remained in use. In Northern Europe, cities also shrank, while civic monuments and other public buildings were raided for building materials. The establishment of new kingdoms often meant some growth for the towns chosen as capital. Although there had been Jewish communities in many Roman cities, the Jews suffered periods of persecution after the conversion of the empire to Christianity. Officially they were tolerated, if subject to conversion efforts. At times they were even encouraged to settle in new areas. Religious beliefs in the Eastern Roman Empire and Iran were in flux during the late 6th and early 7th centuries. Judaism was an active proselytizing faith. At least one Arab political leader converted to it Judaism. Christianity had active missions competing with the Persians’ Zoroastrianism in seeking converts. This was especially true among residents of the Arabian Peninsula. All these strands came together with the emergence of Islam in Arabia during the lifetime of Muhammad (who died in 632). After his death Islamic forces conquered much of the Eastern Empire and Persia. The Islamic conquests started with Syria in 634–635, continuing with Persia between 637 and 642, reaching Egypt in 640–641. North Africa followed in the late 7th century and the Iberian Peninsula in 711. By 714 Islamic forces controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula in a region they called Al-Andalus. The Islamic conquests reached their peak in the mid-8th century. The defeat of Muslim forces at the Battle of Tours in 732 led to the reconquest of southern France by the Franks. However the main reason for the halt of Islamic growth in Europe was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate and its replacement by the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids moved their capital to Baghdad and were more concerned with the Middle East than Europe, thus losing control of significant portions of what had been Umayyad territory. Umayyad descendants took over the Iberian Peninsula. The Aghlabids controlled North Africa, and the Tulunids became rulers of Egypt. The migrations and invasions of the 4th and 5th centuries had disrupted trade networks around the Mediterranean. African goods stopped being imported into Europe, first disappearing from the interior and by the 7th century found only in a few cities such as Rome or Naples. By the end of the 7th century, under the impact of the Muslim conquests, African products were no longer found in Western Europe. The replacement of goods from long-range trade with local products was a trend throughout the old Roman lands that happened in the Early Middle Ages. This was especially marked in the lands that did not lie on the Mediterranean, such as northern Gaul or Britain. Non-local goods appearing in the archaeological record are usually luxury goods. In the northern parts of Europe, not only were the trade networks local, but the goods carried were simple, with little pottery or other complex products. Around the Mediterranean, pottery remained prevalent and appears to have been traded over medium-range networks, not just produced locally. However by the middle of the 8th century new trading patterns were emerging in the Mediterranean. Trade between the Franks and the Arabs replaced the old Roman economy. Franks traded timber, furs, swords and slaves in return for silks and other fabrics, spices, and precious metals from the Arabs. The various Germanic states in the west all had coinages that imitated existing Roman and Byzantine forms. Gold continued to be minted until the end of the 7th century in 693-94 when it was replaced by silver in the Merovingian kingdom. The basic Frankish silver coin was the denarius or denier, while the Anglo-Saxon version was called a penny. From these areas, the denier or penny spread throughout Europe from 700 to 1000 AD. Copper or bronze coins were not struck, nor were gold except in Southern Europe. No silver coins denominated in multiple units were minted. Christianity was a major unifying factor between Eastern and Western Europe before the Arab conquests. However the Islamic conquest of North Africa sundered maritime connections between those areas. Increasingly the Byzantine Church differed in language, practices, and liturgy from the Western Church. The Eastern Church used Greek instead of the Western Latin. Theological and political differences emerged. By the early and middle 8th century issues such as iconoclasm, clerical marriage, and state control of the Church had widened. Eventually the cultural and religious differences were greater than the similarities. The formal break, known as the East–West Schism, came in 1054 when the papacy and the patriarchy of Constantinople clashed over papal supremacy and excommunicated each other. This led to the division of Christianity into two Churches. The Western branch became the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern branch the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Empire survived the movements and invasions in the west mostly intact. However the papacy was little regarded. Few of the Western bishops looked to the bishop of Rome for religious or political leadership. Many of the popes prior to 750 were more concerned with Byzantine affairs and Eastern theological controversies. Of the more than 850 archived copies of the letters of Pope Gregory the Great (pope from 590–604) surviving, the vast majority were concerned with affairs in Italy or Constantinople. The only part of Western Europe where the papacy had influence was Britain, where Gregory had sent the Gregorian mission in 597 to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. Irish missionaries were most active in Western Europe between the 5th and the 7th centuries. They went first to England and Scotland, and then on to the continent. They founded monasteries, taught in Latin and Greek, and authored secular and religious works. The Early Middle Ages witnessed the rise of monasticism in the West. The shape of European monasticism was determined by traditions and ideas that originated with the Desert Fathers of Egypt and Syria. Most European monasteries were of the type that focuses on community experience of the spiritual life, called cenobitism, which was pioneered in the 4th century. Monastic ideals spread from Egypt to Western Europe in the 5th and 6th centuries through hagiographical literature such as the Life of Anthony. Benedict of Nursia (who died in 547) wrote the Benedictine Rule for Western monasticism during the 6th century. The rule detailed the administrative and spiritual responsibilities of a community of monks led by an abbot. Monks and monasteries had a deep effect on the religious and political life of the Early Middle Ages. They acted as land trusts for powerful families. They were centers of propaganda and royal support in newly conquered regions. And they were the base for missions and proselytizing efforts. They were oftentimes the main and sometimes only outposts of education and literacy in a region. Many of the surviving manuscripts of the Latin classics were copied in monasteries in the Early Middle Ages. Monks were also the authors of new works. These included works on history, theology, and other subjects. Great Britain was divided into small states dominated by the kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and East Anglia which descended from the Anglo-Saxon invaders. Smaller kingdoms in present-day Wales and Scotland were still under the control of the native Britons and Picts. Ireland was divided into even smaller political units, usually known as tribal kingdoms, under the control of kings. There were perhaps as many as 150 local kings of varying importance in Ireland. The Frankish kingdom in northern Gaul split into kingdoms called Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy during the 6th and 7th centuries. All of them ruled by the Merovingian dynasty, who were descended from Clovis. The 7th century was a tumultuous period of wars between Austrasia and Neustria. Such warfare was exploited by Pippin, the Mayor of the Palace for Austrasia who became the power behind the Austrasian throne. Later members of his family inherited the office, acting as advisers and regents. One of his descendants, Charles Martel, won the Battle of Poitiers in 732, halting the advance of Muslim armies across the Pyrenees. The Carolingian dynasty, as the successors to Charles Martel are known, officially took control of the kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria in a coup of 753 led by Pippin III. A contemporary chronicle claims that Pippin sought and gained authority for this coup from Pope Stephen II (pope from 752 to 757). Pippin’s takeover was reinforced with propaganda that portrayed the Merovingians as inept or cruel rulers, exalted the accomplishments of Charles Martel, and circulated stories of the family’s great piety. At the time of his death in 768, Pippin left his kingdom in the hands of his two sons, Charles and Carloman. When Carloman died of natural causes, Charles blocked the succession of Carloman’s young son and installed himself as the king of the united Austrasia and Neustria. Charles, more often known as Charles the Great or Charlemagne, embarked upon a program of systematic expansion in 774. Eventually Charlemagne unified a large portion of Europe, controlling modern-day France, northern Italy, and Saxony. In the wars that lasted beyond 800, he rewarded allies with war booty and command over parcels of land. In 774, Charlemagne conquered the Lombards, which freed the papacy from the fear of Lombard conquest and marked the beginnings of the Papal States. The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor on Christmas Day 800 is regarded as a turning point in medieval history. His coronation was regarded as a return of the Western Roman Empire, since the new emperor ruled over much of the area previously controlled by the Western Roman Emperors. It also marked a change in Charlemagne’s relationship with the Byzantine Empire. Charlemagne’s assumption of the imperial title by the Carolingians asserted their claim of equivalence to the Byzantine state. There were several differences between the newly established Carolingian Empire and both the older Western Roman Empire and the concurrent Byzantine Empire. The Frankish lands were rural in character, with only a few small cities. Most of the people were peasants settled on small farms. Little trade existed and much of what little existed was with the British Isles and Scandinavia. This was anemic in contrast to the Roman Empire with its extensive trading networks centered on the Mediterranean. The Carolingian Empire was administered by an itinerant court that traveled with Emperor Charlemagne. The entourage also included approximately 300 imperial officials called counts, who administered the counties the empire had been divided into. Clergy and local bishops served as officials, as well as the imperial officials called missi dominici. The missi dominciwho served as roving inspectors and troubleshooters. Charlemagne’s court in Aachen was the center of the cultural revival sometimes referred to as the “Carolingian Renaissance”. Literacy increased, as did development in the arts, architecture and jurisprudence, as well as liturgical and scriptural studies. The English monk Alcuin was invited to Aachen and brought the education available in the monasteries of Northumbria. Charlemagne’s chancery (writing office) made use of a new script today known as Carolingian minuscule. This allowed for a common writing style that advanced communication across much of Europe. Charlemagne also sponsored changes in church liturgy. The Roman form of church service was imposed throughout Charlemagne’s domains. The Gregorian chant was imposed as liturgical music for the churches. An important activity for scholars during this period was the copying, correcting, and dissemination of basic works on religious and secular topics. This was done with the aim of encouraging learning. New works on religious topics and schoolbooks were also produced. Grammarians of the period modified the Latin language. It was changed from the Classical Latin of the Roman Empire into a more flexible form to fit the needs of the Church and government. By the reign of Charlemagne, the language had so diverged from the classical Latin that it was later called Medieval Latin. Charlemagne planned to continue the Frankish tradition of dividing his kingdom between all his heirs. However he was unable to do so as only one son, Louis the Pious was still alive by 813. Just before Charlemagne died in 814, he crowned Louis as his successor. Louis’s reign of 26 years was marked by numerous divisions of the empire among his sons. After 829 civil wars broke out over the control of various parts of the empire. The civil wars were between various alliances of father and sons. Eventually Louis recognized his eldest son Lothair I as emperor and gave him Italy. Louis divided the rest of the empire between Lothair and his youngest son Charles the Bald. Lothair took East Francia comprising both banks of the Rhine and eastwards. This left Charles West Francia with the empire to the west of the Rhineland and the Alps. The middle child Louis the German had been rebellious to the last. He was allowed to keep Bavaria under the suzerainty of his elder brother. The division was disputed. The emperor’s grandson Pepin II of Aquitaine rebelled in a contest for Aquitaine. Louis the German tried to annex all of East Francia. When Louis the Pious died in 840 the empire still in chaos. A three-year civil war followed the death of Louis the Pious. By the 843 AD Treaty of Verdun a kingdom between the Rhine and Rhone rivers was created for Lothair to go with his lands in Italy. And his imperial title was recognized and acknowledged. Louis the German was in control of Bavaria and the eastern lands in modern-day Germany. Charles the Bald received the western Frankish lands, comprising most of modern-day France. Charlemagne’s grandsons and great-grandsons divided their kingdoms between their descendants, eventually causing all internal cohesion to be lost. In 987 the Carolingian dynasty was replaced in the western lands, with the crowning of Hugh Capet as king. In the eastern lands the dynasty had died out much earlier in 911 with the death of Louis the Child and the selection of the unrelated Conrad I as king. The breakup of the Carolingian Empire was accompanied by invasions, migrations, and raids by external foes. The Atlantic and northern shores were harassed by the Vikings, who also raided the British Isles and settled there as well as in Iceland. In 911 the Viking chieftain Rollo received permission from the Frankish King Charles the Simple to settle in what became Normandy. The eastern parts of the Frankish kingdoms were under continual Magyar assault. This was especially true for Germany and Italy. The assaults continued until the Magyar defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. The breakup of the Abbasid dynasty meant that the Islamic world fragmented into smaller political states as well. Some of these began expanding into Italy and Sicily, as well as over the Pyrenees into the southern parts of the Frankish kingdoms. Efforts by local kings to fight the invaders led to the formation of new political entities. In Anglo-Saxon England King Alfred the Great came to an agreement with the Viking invaders in the late 9th century. This resulted in Danish settlements in Northumbria, Mercia, and parts of East Anglia. By the middle of the 10th century Alfred’s successors had conquered Northumbria, and restored English control over most of the southern part of Great Britain. In northern Britain Kenneth MacAlpin united the Picts and the Scots into the Kingdom of Alba. In the early 10th century the Ottonian dynasty had established itself in Germany and was engaged in driving back the Magyars. Its efforts culminated in the coronation in 962 of Otto I as Holy Roman Emperor. In 972 Otto secured recognition of his title by the Byzantine Empire. Otto sealed the recognition with the marriage of his son Otto II to Theophanu, daughter of an earlier Byzantine Emperor Romanos II. By the late 10th century Italy had been drawn into the Ottonian sphere after a period of instability. The western Frankish kingdom however was more fragmented. Although kings remained nominally in charge, much of the political power devolved to the local lords. Missionary efforts to Scandinavia during the 9th and 10th centuries helped strengthen the growth of kingdoms such as Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The kingdoms gained power and territory. Some kings converted to Christianity, although as late as 1000 AD, not all. Scandinavians also expanded and colonized throughout Europe. Besides the settlements in Ireland, England, and Normandy, further settlement took place in what became Russia and Iceland. Swedish traders and raiders ranged down the rivers of the Russian steppe, and even attempted to seize Constantinople in 860 and 907. Christian Spain had initially driven by Islamic invaders into a small section of the peninsula in the north. During the 9th and 10th centuries Christian Spain expanded slowly south establishing the kingdoms of Asturias and León. In Eastern Europe Byzantium revived its fortunes during the 9th and 10th centuries. This occurred under Emperor Basil I and his successors Leo VI and Constantine VII, all members of the Macedonian dynasty. Commerce revived and the emperors oversaw the extension of a uniform administration to all the provinces. The military was reorganized. This allowed emperors John I and Basil II during the late 10th and early 11th centuries to expand the frontiers of the empire on all fronts. The imperial court was the center of a revival of classical learning, a process known as the Macedonian Renaissance. Writers composed new hymns, poems, and other works. Missionary efforts by both Eastern and Western clergy resulted in the conversion of the Moravians, Bulgars, Bohemians, Poles, Magyars, and Slavic inhabitants of the Kievan Rus’. These conversions contributed to the founding of political states in the lands of those peoples. These included the states of Moravia, Bulgaria, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and the Kievan Rus’. Bulgaria founded around 680 at its height reached from Budapest to the Black Sea, and from the Dnieper River in modern Ukraine to the Adriatic Sea. However by 1018 the last Bulgarian nobles had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire. Few large stone buildings were constructed between the Constantinian basilicas of the 4th century and the 8th century, although many smaller ones were built during the 6th and 7th centuries. By the beginning of the 8th century, the Carolingian Empire revived the basilica form of architecture. One feature of the basilica is the use of a transept, or the “arms” of a cross-shaped building that are perpendicular to the long nave. Other new features of religious architecture included the crossing tower and a monumental entrance to the church, usually at the west end of the building. Carolingian art was produced for a small group of court figures and the monasteries and churches they supported. It was dominated by efforts to regain the dignity and classicism of imperial Roman and Byzantine art. However it was also influenced by the Insular art of the British Isles. Insular art integrated the energy of Irish Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Germanic styles of ornament with Mediterranean forms such as the book. It established many characteristics of art for the rest of the medieval period. Surviving religious works from the Early Middle Ages are mostly illuminated manuscripts and carved ivories. These were originally made for metalwork that has since been melted down. Objects in precious metals were the most prestigious form of art. Almost all of these treasures have unfortunately been lost to time. A few crosses such as the Cross of Lothair and several reliquaries are the surviving exceptions. Then there have been notable archaeological finds such as the Anglo-Saxon burial at Sutton Hoo, the hoards of Gourdon from Merovingian France, Guarrazar from Visigothic Spain, Nagyszentmiklós near Byzantine territory. There are also survivors from the large brooches in fibula or penannular form that were a key piece of personal adornment for elites, including the Irish Tara Brooch. Highly decorated books were mostly Gospel Books. These have survived in larger numbers. They include the Insular Book of Kells, the Book of Lindisfarne, and the imperial Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram. The latter is one of the few to retain its “treasure binding” of gold encrusted with jewels. Charlemagne’s court seems to have been responsible for the acceptance of figurative monumental sculpture in Christian art. By the end of the period near life-sized figures such as the Gero Cross were common in important churches. During the later Roman Empire, the principal military developments were attempts to create an effective cavalry force as well as the continued development of highly specialized types of troops. The creation of heavily armored cataphract-type soldiers as cavalry was an important feature of the 5th century Roman military. The various tribes invading the Roman Empire tribes had differing emphases on types of soldiers. These ranged from the primarily infantry Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain to the Vandals and Visigoths who had a high proportion of cavalry in their armies. During the early invasion period, the stirrup had not been introduced into warfare. This limited the usefulness of cavalry as shock troops. The lack of a stirrup made it impossible to put the full force of the horse and rider behind blows struck by the rider. The greatest change in military affairs during the invasion period was the adoption of the Hunnic composite bow in place of the earlier, weaker, Scythian composite bow. Other developments included the increasing use of long-swords, and the progressive replacement of scale armor by mail armor and lamellar armor. The importance of infantry and light cavalry began to decline during the early Carolingian period. This was due to the growing dominance of elite heavy cavalry. The use of militia-type levies of the free population declined over the Carolingian period. Much of the Carolingian armies were mounted. However a large proportion of those during the early period appear to have been mounted infantry rather than true cavalry. One exception was Anglo-Saxon England. There the armies were still composed of regional levies led by the local elites known as the fyrd. In military technology, one of the main changes was the return of the crossbow. The crossbow had been known in Roman times and reappeared as a military weapon during the last part of the Early Middle Ages. Another change was the introduction of the stirrup, which increased the effectiveness of cavalry as shock troops. A technological advance that had implications beyond the military was the horseshoe. The horseshoe allowed horses to be used in rocky terrain. A famous surviving medieval French manuscript (“Li Livres dou Sante”) illustrated the three classes of medieval society. First were those who prayed (the clergy). The second class were those who fought (the knights). Last those who worked (the peasantry). The relationship between these classes was governed by feudalism and manorialism. The High Middle Ages was a period of tremendous expansion of population. The estimated population of Europe grew from 35 to 80 million between 1000 and 1347. Although the exact causes remain unclear, improved agricultural techniques, the decline of slaveholding, a more clement climate, and the lack of invasion have all been suggested by historians. As much as 90 per cent of the European population remained rural peasants. Many were no longer settled in isolated farms but had gathered into small communities. The communities usually took the form of manors or villages. The peasants were often subject to noble overlords. The peasants had to pay the nobles rent and labor in a system known as “manorialism”. There remained a few free peasants throughout this period and beyond. Free peasants were more common in regions of Southern Europe than in the north. The practice of assarting, or bringing new lands into production by offering incentives to the peasants who settled them, also contributed to the expansion of population. The open-field system of agriculture was commonly practiced in most of Europe. This was especially the norm in northwestern and central Europe. Such agricultural communities had three basic characteristics. Individual peasant holdings in the form of strips of land were scattered among the different fields belonging to the manor. Crops were rotated from year to year to preserve soil fertility. Common land was used for grazing livestock and other purposes. Some regions used a three-field system of crop rotation, others retained the older two-field system. Other sections of society included the nobility, clergy, and townsmen. Nobles, both the titled nobility and simple knights not own lands outright but were granted rights to the income from a manor or other lands by an overlord through the system of feudalism. The key to a noble’s economic success was the exploitation of the manor and its peasants. During the 11th and 12th centuries these lands or “fiefs” came to be considered hereditary. In most areas they were no longer divisible between all the heirs as had been the case in the early medieval period. Instead, most fiefs and lands went to the eldest son. The dominance of the nobility was built upon many factors. These included control of the land, its military service as heavy cavalry, control of castles, and various immunities from taxes or other impositions. Castles were built initially in wood but later in stone. They began to be constructed in the 9th and 10th centuries in response to the disorder of the time. They provided protection from invaders as well as allowing lords defense from rivals. Control of castles allowed the nobles to defy kings or other overlords. Nobles were stratified. Kings and the highest-ranking nobility controlled large numbers of commoners and large tracts of land, as well as subordinate nobles. Beneath the highest nobility lesser nobles had authority over smaller areas of land and fewer people. Knights were the lowest level of nobility. Knights they controlled but did not own land, and had to serve other nobles. The clergy was divided into two types. There were the secular clergy, who lived out in the world. Then there were the regular clergy, who lived isolated under a religious rule and usually consisted of monks. Throughout the period monks remained a ver

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