Analyzing the collapse of the pan-European Carolingian Empire in 888 (as seen through the reign of its last ruler, Charles the Fat), this study argues against the generally pessimistic views of the vitality of late ninth-century politics. Its conclusions suggest a new way of looking at the political history of the period, and offer new interpretations of aspects of early medieval kingship, government and historical writing.

This wide-ranging study of the court of Guelders in the Low Countries provides an excellent vantage point for the study of late medieval court culture. Despite being surrounded by the vast territories of the dukes of Burgundy, and the growing power of the Valois dukes, the court managed to remain independent until 1473. Archival sources convey the striking cultural and political richness of the court, poised between French and German spheres of influence, and demonstrate how Guelders can be considered as representative of Europe's many medium-sized courts.

Chrodegang of Metz (c. 712-766) was one of the leading figures of the late Merovingian and early Carolingian Church. As bishop of Metz, Chrodegang became one of the foremost churchmen in Francia and undertook the reform of the lives of canons of the Metz cathedral. This book is an examination of the life and rule of Chrodegang of Metz and explores his attempts to transform his see into a hagiopolis, a holy city that would provide a model for later Carolingian reform.

The civilized world witnessed massive political, social and religious change from the fifth century to the eighth century. Geographical and historical thought, long rooted to Roman ideologies, had to adopt new perspectives of late antiquity. Taking their lead from Orosius in the early fifth century, Latin historians turned increasingly to geographical description, as well as historical narrative, to examine the world around them. This book explores the interdependence of geographical and historical modes of expression in four of the most important writers of the period: Orosius, Jordanes,...

John Wyclif was the fourteenth-century English thinker responsible for the first English Bible, and for the Lollard movement--persecuted widely for its attempts to reform the church through empowerment of the laity. This study argues that John Wyclif's political agenda was based on a coherent philosophical vision ultimately consistent with his earlier reformative ideas. Several of Wyclif's formal, Latin works proposed that the king should take control of all church property and power in the kingdom, a vision close to what Henry VIII was to realize 150 years later.

This collection of eighteenth-century British utopias shows how the image of the ideal society was used as a form of social criticism, particularly as a means of focusing on ideas of progress and commercial development. The texts chosen reveal important trends in the development of liberal rights theories, of proto-socialist concepts of property distribution, and of conservative notions of the ideal hierarchical community. The introduction examines their relationship to the key issues and developments in the political thought of the period.