This ambitious and wide-ranging study of the European Middle Ages stresses the long-term factors of continuity, evolution and change. David Nicholas discusses the social and economic aspects of medieval civilization, and examines their links with political, institutional and cultural development.

Part One The Precursors of a Civilisation; Chapter One The Roman Heritage of Medieval Civilisation; Chapter Two Forging a Christian Synthesis; Chapter Three Tribal Europe before the Eighth Century: The Germans and the Celts; Chapter Four The Eastern Heritage; Part Two The Birth of a Civilisation: Early Medieval Europe, c. 700-920; Chapter Five The Carolingian West: Europe in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries; Chapter Six Changes on the Land; Part Three The Maturity of a Civilisation: Europe in the Central Middle Ages c. 920-1270; Chapter Seven Government and Politics: Emperors and Popes; Chapter Eight Government and Politics: England and France in the Central Middle Ages; Chapter Nine Nobles and Crusaders; Chapter Ten The Social and Economic Changes of the Central Middle Ages; Chapter Eleven The Intellectual Awakening of Medieval Europe; Chapter Twelve The Spiritual Life of the Central Middle Ages; Part Four The Old Age of a Civilisation: The Late Middle Ages, 1270-1500; Chapter Thirteen Economic Reorientation and Social Crisis in the Late Middle Ages; Chapter Fourteen Government and Politics in the Late Middle Ages; Chapter Fifteen State, Mind and Spirit in Later Medieval Europe; Chapter -bm1 Maps;