
Medieval Rome
Stability and Crisis of a City, 900-1150
Chris Wickham(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 7. September 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
536 pages
978-0-19-881122-0 (ISBN)
Description
Medieval Rome analyses the history of the city of Rome between 900 and 1150, a period of major change in the city. This volume doesn't merely seek to tell the story of the city from the traditional Church standpoint; instead, it engages in studies of the city's processions, material culture, legal transformations, and sense of the past, seeking to unravel the complexities of Roman cultural identity, including its urban economy, social history as seen across the different strata of society, and the articulation between the city's regions.
This new approach serves to underpin a major reinterpretation of Rome's political history in the era of the 'reform papacy', one of the greatest crises in Rome's history, which had a resonance across the entire continent. Medieval Rome is the most systematic analysis ever made of two and a half centuries of Rome's history, one which saw centuries of stability undermined by external crisis and the long period of reconstruction which followed.
This new approach serves to underpin a major reinterpretation of Rome's political history in the era of the 'reform papacy', one of the greatest crises in Rome's history, which had a resonance across the entire continent. Medieval Rome is the most systematic analysis ever made of two and a half centuries of Rome's history, one which saw centuries of stability undermined by external crisis and the long period of reconstruction which followed.
Reviews / Votes
a breathtaking book... Wickham is the most ambitious and provocative of medieval historians. * Peter Thonemann, Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2014 * This book is quite revolutionary in reframing the study of medieval Rome as a social history of its people and their places, with the pope as the bishop of diocese. * Caroline Goodson, The Times Literary Supplement. * inspiring ... a masterly example of comparative history, in which similarities and differences between Rome and other Italian cities are carefully weighed and interpreted ... [a] marvellous book * Antonio Sennis, History Today * Certainly this book is an achievement. It is very learned and refers equitably to a huge amount of scholarship about Rome ... Moreover, Wickham is more methodologically self-conscious than most medievalists, and aware of why and how historiographies have developed. * Paolo Squatriti, The Medieval Review * the sophistication of his arguments will appeal to a specialist audience, but the clear, conversational style and lack of jargon, coupled with his obvious grasp of the evidence and historiography, make both of these volumes accessible to nonspecialists. Wickham's passion for medieval Italian urban history comes across on every page. * Corinne Wieben, H-Net * Wickham sets out to tell the history of medieval Rome from scratch, starting with landscape and geography and determining the relationship between city and countryside. He has reviewed every document from the period, re-examining property transactions, legal cases, chronicle accounts and letters. In so doing, he has revealed some not-unforeseen biases in the state of our knowledge and set out to correct them ... Wickhams book makes clear that medieval Rome should not be taken as exceptional; it must be analysed like any other city, with attention to its economy, aristocracy and intellectual life and how the confines of the urban environment charged alliances and enmities. * Caroline Goodson, Urban History * offer[s] impressive contributions to the field of medieval Italian history. Wickham's careful reading of and deep insights into a vast and complex historiography make these two works required reading ... form[s] a new foundation for Italian medieval studies. * Louis I. Hamilton, American Historical Review * a work that offers a mine of evidence and rich interpretation on one of the most complex cities imaginable. * Paul Oldfield, Medieval Mediterranean * this book is a model for the socio-political history of a premodern city, written in a direct and enjoyable manner. * Frances Muecke, Parergon *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
13 black and white halftones, 9 maps
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
799 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-881122-0 (9780198811220)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
11/2014
Oxford University Press
€86.10
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Chris Wickham taught at Birmingham for nearly thirty years before coming to Oxford as Chichele Professor in 2005. He has travelled to Rome for short and long research visits over a hundred times.
Author
Chichele Professor of Medieval HistoryChichele Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford
Content
1: Grand Narratives
2: The Countryside and the City
3: The Urban Economy
4: Urban Aristocracies
5: Medium Elites and Church Clienteles: The Society of Rome's Regions in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
6: The Geography of Ritual and Identity
7: The Crisis, 1050-1150
Bibliography
2: The Countryside and the City
3: The Urban Economy
4: Urban Aristocracies
5: Medium Elites and Church Clienteles: The Society of Rome's Regions in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
6: The Geography of Ritual and Identity
7: The Crisis, 1050-1150
Bibliography