It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
The Inheritance of Rome

The Inheritance of Rome

A History of Europe from 400 to 1000

Summary

'The Penguin History of Europe series ... is one of contemporary publishing's great projects' New Statesman

The world known as the 'Dark Ages', often seen as a time of barbarism, was in fact the crucible in which modern Europe would be created.

Chris Wickham's acclaimed history shows how this period, encompassing peoples such as Goths, Franks, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, was central to the development of our history and culture. From the collapse of the Roman Empire to the establishment of new European states, and from Ireland to Constantinople, the Baltic to the Mediterranean, this landmark work makes sense of a time of invasion and turbulence, but also of continuity, creativity and achievement.

Reviews

  • A work of tremendous authority and breadth. With this book, as with Charlemagne's empire, one feels that an extraordinary range of things have been brought together
    Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph

About the author

Chris Wickham

Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more