The Origins of Modern Europe

This is a book for all those who believe, with the author, that an understanding of the origins of western European civilisation, to which the nations on both sides of the Atlantic belong, is crucial to an understanding of modern society, and begins with the study of the middle' ages. Western civilisation derives from western Europe, which was Latin Christendom, and this begins in the fifth and sixth centuries AD with the amalgamation and the fusion of the classical culture of the declining Roman Empire, the Germanic customs, habits and attitudes of the invading barbarian' races, and Christianity, subsequently Latin Christianity. From these elements derive nearly every aspect of daily life today. ABOUT THE AUTHORR. ALLEN BROWN was Professor of History at King's College, London. His other books include The Normans, The Normans and the Norman Conquestand The Norman Conquest of England. CONTENTS The Roman Empire: Decline and SurvivalThe Franks and Charlemagne's EmpireThe Church and the Papacy to the Time of CharlemagneMonasticism and the Religious OrdersVikings, Magyars and MoslemsFeudal SocietyReform in the ChurchGermany and the German EmpireFranceNormandy and EnglandExpansion and Consolidation