Cereals, Cities and the Birth of Europe

The First European Revolution c. 970–1215 by R. I. Moore, Professor of History at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, challenges traditional understandings of the twelfth century, which have accorded perhaps undue significance to religious developments. Placing the period under study in a global chronological and geographical context, the book is very up to date but presents a generally difficult line of argument, an oblique rather than a descriptive reference to key events and developments, and displays a tendency to overemphasise French socioeconomic and political circumstances. Moore’s book is nevertheless a landmark contribution, and no one will be able to say anything about European development in the timespan chosen without taking into account everything its author has argued. If convinced, the reader will go away satisfied that the period 970–1215 in European history was a decisive one, if not the most decisive one

Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Context (archaeology) · Economic history · Newcastle upon tyne · Period (music) · Political science · Politics · Sociology · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History