Presents the early Medieval period as a lost world, far removed from our current age, which had risen from the smoking rubble of the Roman Empire, but from which we are cut off by the great plagues and famines that ended it.

'The most accessible, up-to-date introduction to its subject ... does full justice to the multifarious forces at work in high gothic Europe' Daily Telegraph

The years from AD 1000 to the beginning of the fourteenth century were the most formative period in European history: a time of intense social, political, cultural and religious change. In this definitive work one of the world's leading medievalists explores a confident, dynamic age, far removed from our own.

'Jordan writes elegantly and ironically, giving the reader a broad but not dumbed-down view of medieval society and its complexities. A splendid start to Penguin's History of Europe series and a first-rate work in its own right' Kirkus Reviews

'The Penguin History of Europe series is one of contemporary publishing's great projects' New Statesman