Back cover copy, Davis, A History of Medieval Europe". His well-known and well-loved, "A History of Medieval Europe", was originally written to introduce students to the study of early medieval history. It explains to them why something so seemingly distant remains important to an understanding of our modern world. Most importantly, the book shares with them, and the general reader, the author's own fascination and excitement with the subject. The breadth and authority of the book is to be expected in the work of such a major scholar, but the acute selection of vivid detail and the vigour of his writing are those of a born communicator. Published in its first edition in 1957, and in its second edition in 1988, the book rapidly established itself as the standard introductory survey of the period and is a bestseller to this day. Front flap, "A History of Medieval Europe" is in two parts. The first, The Dark Ages, examines the impact of the Barbarian invasions on Constantine's Christianized empire, and the gradual emergence, by the end of the ninth century, of a new social, economic and political order. There are important chapters on the Church and the Papacy, the coming of Islam, and the rise and fall of the Frankish Empire. The second part, The High Middle Ages, takes the reader from the Saxon Empire through to an examination of the European economy in the mid-thirteenth century. Important topics covered in this period include the spread of monasticism, the reform of the Papacy, the crusades, and feudal monarchy. The author, late R H C Davis was Professor of Medieval History at the University of Birmingham, from 1970 to 1984, and Emeritus Professor until his death in 1991. He was also Emeritus Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He wrote many successful and scholarly works, and in 1985 was honoured by the publication, 'Studies in Medieval History presented to R H C Davis', edited by Henry Mayr
Harting and R I Moore, and published by Hambledon Press.
