Economic & Social Hist Medieal Eur Pa

I agree with the other reviewers, this history book is a real page turner if you are at all interested in Medieval Europe and the roots of modern Europe. Very engaging and well written. The footnotes do include much foreign language, but they are not required to understand the text.

Book was fine. Of course I was horrified to find that I had paid nearly $90 for a book I had already purchased some years back for about $10. Is the book now out of print, and hence the price?

Pirenne's book first appeared in print in 1933, so I have to admit I was a little leery about reading it even though I have an interest in feudal economics. I was concerned that it would be a stuffy tome that was written in a dense and archaic academic style. To my surprise, this book is an extraordinarily good read, most interesting, and very informative. And unlike many books on this subject, a casual reader can be assured that a master's level background on the subject is not necessary to read this book. Picking up at the end of the Roman Empire and running through approximately the middle 1500s, Pirenne tackles the full spectrum of economic and sociological issues as they evolved throughout the Middle Ages in Europe. Specifically, he relates how commerce was revived after the break-up of the economic and cultural stability that existed in the ancient world. Concepts such as the re-issuance of a currency, the rebirth of a money economy, rediscovery of credit, and how urban industry developed are covered and explained in detail. This is a very complete picture of economic and sociological circumstances that existed during the middle ages, as you are likely to see.Pirenne takes the reader on a journey that attempts to plug the Medieval Period knowledge gap with a detailed explanation of economic development. Geographically (and culturally) he is able to discuss developments throughout all of Europe, from the Mediterranean to the North Sea. If you are interested in learning more about conditions in Europe during the Middle Ages and want a fuller understand of how the western economic system developed, pick up this book

Pirenne's book first appeared in print in 1933, so I have to admit I was a little leery about reading it even though I have an interest in feudal economics. I was concerned that it would be a stuffy tome that was written in a dense and archaic academic style. To my surprise, this book is an extraordinarily good read, most interesting, and very informative. And unlike many books on this subject, a casual reader can be assured that a master's level background on the subject is not necessary to read this book. Picking up at the end of the Roman Empire and running through approximately the middle 1500s, Pirenne tackles the full spectrum of economic and sociological issues as they evolved throughout the Middle Ages in Europe. Specifically, he relates how commerce was revived after the break-up of the economic and cultural stability that existed in the ancient world. Concepts such as the re-issuance of a currency, the rebirth of a money economy, rediscovery of credit, and how urban industry developed are covered and explained in detail. This is a very complete picture of economic and sociological circumstances that existed during the middle ages as you are likely to see.Pirenne takes the reader on a journey that attempts to plug the Medieval Period knowledge gap with a detailed explanation of economic development. Geographically (and culturally) he is able to discuss developments throughout all of Europe, from the Mediterranean to the North Sea. If you are interested in learning more about conditions in Europe during the Middle Ages and want a fuller understand of how the western economic system developed, pick up this book

This wonderfully readable book provides, in a little more than 200 pages no less, a concise summary of economic development and social history during the much derided, abused and forgotten Middle Ages and also summarizes Pirenne's radical views about the real cause of the Dark Ages (he proposes that the Arab Conquest of the Mediterranean basin and Spain and not the Germanic invasions caused the collapse of European Civilization). He also explores, in outline, the general economic rise of Europe after the year 1000, culminating in medieval high point of the mid-Fourteenth Century and the sort of stability that lasted from that period (1350) until the Age of Exploration began and radically altered everything again. It was in the Low Countries and Italy that "capitalism" and the first industrial revolution really began and Pirenne shows how and why this occurred.In this day and age where most people's image of the Middle Ages, if they have one, is based on movies like Kevin Costner's godawful "Robin Hood" and the fun, but totally make-believe, "A Knight's Tale" this book sets forth, concisely, the fascinating complexity of the age that established Christianity as the faith of Europe and the political-social system that ruled 3/4s of the Earth's surface until 1918 and whose vestiges we can still see in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, et al.Educated people have taken Gibbon's dismissive derision of the Middle Ages as a period of nothing but violence, superstition and stagnation. Pirenne demolishes Gibbon's amazingly shallow view with a wealth of detail and vivid, easily readable narrative. Although not the masterpiece of literature that Gibbon produced, this volume avoids the joyful boredom that so many writers of economic history seem to delight in inflicting upon their readers. The translation from the French by I.E. Clegg is smooth and idiomatic. Pirenne, who apparently spoke English fluently, helped to prepare the translation.The only irritating part of the book is the presence of several large blocks of untranslated Latin and Old French. Given the general ignorance of Latin (and I am one of the ignorant, I am ashamed to say), Clegg or Pirenne should have translated it for the benefit of the Latinless. Although I read French with some ability, the Old French (pre-1300) uses spellings and some words that I simply can't understand. Modern French dictionaries are useless. Harcourt-Brace should find some present-day academic to "edit" a new edition and translate these passages! A smoother typeface than the ancient "Times-Roman" would also be nice.All in all, if you have any interest in medieval history (especially if you are of European descent) or wish to understand how the market system of economics took form, I highly, highly recommend this book!