The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe 400-1000

Rome fell in 476. What replaced it? Most people’s answer — ‘the Dark Ages’ — is the answer this magnificent book exists to correct. Between 400 and 1000 AD, Europe was not dark. It was different — transformed, complex, and in many ways more interesting than the empire it replaced.

Chris Wickham is one of the world’s leading medieval historians, and The Inheritance of Rome is his definitive account of those six transformative centuries. Ranging across the entirety of post-Roman Europe — from the Frankish kingdoms of France and Germany to Byzantium, the Islamic world, and Scandinavia — he traces what was lost when Rome fell, what was preserved, and what was genuinely new. Particular attention goes to the material reality of everyday life: how ordinary people farmed, traded, worshipped, and organised their communities.

Written with the authority of a specialist and the clarity of a gifted teacher. Part of the Penguin History of Europe series and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand where Europe came from and why it looks the way it does. Published by Penguin.