Making Sense of Medieval History
A new book about 10th-century Europe brushes past evidence that might complicate its narrative.
“The early tenth century dawned in volence and disorder,” Collins writes. “All effective government had broken down. People lived in fear and chaos. Vikings launched raids with impunity, Saracen Muslim pirates terrorized the Italian coastline seeking slaves, the Magyars (Hungarians) terrorized much of Germany and over the alps into Italy, and the breakdown of central government meant that ordinary people across Western Europe, but particularly in France, often lived in terror of local nobles, who were really just thugs....Yet by the end of the century, order had been restored in Germany, owing almost entirely to the recently converted Saxons, who were the first to bring some political organization to the heartland of Europe. In fact, this book’s subtitle might well have been ‘How the Germans Saved Civilization’ by restoring a working central government.”Mais
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