FINAL HONOUR SCHOOL OF MODERN HISTORY GENERAL HISTORY II. The Post-Roman World. Bibliography

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1 FINAL HONOUR SCHOOL OF MODERN HISTORY GENERAL HISTORY II The Post-Roman World Bibliography www

2 GENERAL HISTORY II The Post-Roman World GENERAL For an overview of events R. Collins, Early Medieval Europe, (2nd edn., 1999) and for the geographical setting C. McEvedy, The Penguin Atlas of Early Medieval History (3rd edn., 1991). Key features of West European history in the period are brought out by J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Barbarian West (4th edn., 1985) and P.H. Sawyer and I.N. Wood (eds.), Early Medieval Kingship (1977) which contains several important articles (e.g. P. Wormald, Lex Scripta and Verbum Regis: Legislation and Germanic Kingship for the genesis of legal records, and Sawyer on Kings and Merchants for economic history). For a basic introduction to Byzantium, which homes in on its principal structural features, G. Ostrogorsky, A History of the Byzantine State (2nd edn., 1968), recently supplemented by M. Whittow, The Making of Orthodox Byzantium, (1996). For a general history of ideas and religion, P. Brown, The Rise of Western Christendom (1996) and J. Herrin, The Formation of Christendom (1987). SOURCES (GENERAL) See individual sections below. Interesting selections of excerpts are presented by D. Herlihy, Medieval Culture and Society (1968), E. Peters, Monks, Bishops and Pagans (1975), and J.N. Hillgarth, Christianity and Paganism, : the Conversion of Western Europe (1986). BYZANTIUM Sources (General): The best-known historian of the sixth century is Procopius: H.B. Dewing (ed. & tr.), Procopius, Wars, Secret History (Anecdota), Buildings (Loeb, vols I V ( ), VI (1933) and VII (1940)).

3 - 2 - For a biography and analysis of his writings see Averil Cameron, Procopius (1985). Other important texts are also available in translation: E. Jeffreys, M. Jeffreys and R. Scott (tr.), John Malalas (1986); J.D.C. Frendo (tr.), Agathias (1975) (cf. A. Cameron, Agathias [1970]); R.C. Blockley (tr.), History of Menander the Guardsman (1985); and Michael and Mary Whitby (tr.), The History of Theophylact Simocatta (1986). Much has been written recently about the output of these and other authors at the end of classical antiquity: for example, M.M. Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past (1992); E. Jeffreys, B. Croke & R.Scott (eds.), Studies in John Malalas (1990); Michael Whitby, The Emperor Maurice and his Historian (1988); and Michael Whitby, Greek Historical Writing after Procopius: Variety and Vitality, in A. Cameron and L.I. Conrad (eds), The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, I, Problems in the Literary Source Material (1992). G.T. Dennis, The Strategicon of the Emperor Maurice (1984) is important not only for military tactics but for empire-barbarian relations. For the seventh/eighth centuries, the main narrative sources are C. Mango and R. Scott (tr.), The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor (1997) and C. Mango (tr.), Nikephoros Patriarch of Constantinople, Short History (1990). C. Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire (1972), chapters 3 4 presents a set of useful texts on art and architectural history. Justinian: The best general studies of the reign are to be found in E. Stein, Histoire du Bas-Empire, II (1949) and A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire (1964). A concise and readable survey is provided by J. Moorhead, Justinian (1994). Many aspects of the culture are discussed in P. Allen and E. Jeffreys (eds.), The Sixth Century - End or Beginning? (1996). The codification of Roman law commissioned by the emperor has been translated by S.P. Scott, The Civil Law (1932) and is discussed by A.M. Honoré, Tribonian (1978). For the chief religious issue of the day, see W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of the Monophysite Movement (1972), which combines a useful overview with a forceful interpretation of his own. Much has recently been written on relations with Persia, of which the following may be singled out: Whitby, Emperor Maurice (as above); G. Greatrex, Rome and Persia at War, (1998); and E.K. Fowden, The Barbarian Plain (1999).

4 - 3 - A more detached view of international relations, focussing on the impact of ideology, is presented by G. Fowden, From Empire to Commonwealth. Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity (1993). Heraclius and the Seventh Century: Further to Theophanes (see above), the main accessible sources for the crises of the period are Michael and Mary Whitby (tr.), Chronicon Paschale (1989) and R.W.Thomson and J. Howard-Johnston (tr.), The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos (1999), with a commentary which includes a summary account as well as some detailed studies of Near Eastern history from the 570s to the 650s. George of Pisidia, the chief contemporary source, is not as yet available in English, but see the discussion by Mary Whitby, A New Image for a New Age: George of Pisidia on the Emperor Heraclius, in E. Dabrowa (ed.), The Roman and Byzantine Army in the East (Proceedings of a Colloquium Held at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow in September1992) (1994), a volume which also contains Michael Whitby, The Persian King at War. On Iran in general, see E. Yarshater (ed.), The Cambridge History of Iran, III (2 vols, 1983), J. Wiesehöfer, Ancient Persia (1996), and papers by Z. Rubin and J. Howard-Johnston in A. Cameron (ed.), Byzantium and the Early Islamic Near East, III States, Resources and Armies (1995). For Byzantium after Heraclius, Ostrogorsky and Whittow (see above) and J.F. Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century (1990). On developments in the Balkans, see, above all, D. Obolensky, The Byzantine Commonwealth (1971); still valuable is S. Runciman, A History of the First Bulgarian Empire (1930), supplemented by J.D. Howard-Johnston, Urban Continuity in the Balkans in the early Middle Ages, in A.G. Poulter (ed.), Ancient Bulgaria (1983). ITALY: OSTROGOTHS The principal sources are three: Cassiodorus selection of Theoderic s official correspondence, translated by T. Hodgkin, The Letters of Cassiodorus (1886) see also J. Barnish (tr.), Cassiodorus, Variae (1992) for a convenient selection of these documents;

5 - 4 - a short and interesting account of Theoderic s reign given by the Anonymus Valesianus, ed. and tr. J.C. Rolfe in vol. III of his Loeb edn. of Ammianus Marcellinus; and Procopius, Wars, bks. V VIII (see above). Much can be learned about the world-view of Theoderic s court from Jordanes Getica, tr. C.C. Mierow, The Gothic History of Jordanes (1915), together with the commentary of W. Goffart, The Narrators of Barbaian History (1988), chapter II. The changing views of an important political and intellectual figure are illuminated by V.E. Watts (tr.), Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy (Penguin Classics, 1969), also ed. and tr. H.F. Stewart (Loeb, 1973). Secondary: There is a very large literature here. Besides W. Goffart, Barbarians and Romans The Techniques of Accommodation (1980), H. Wolfram, History of the Goths (tr. T.J. Dunlap, 1988), the most recent and most useful study is that of P. Heather, The Goths (1996). Profit may still be had from T. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders (8 vols., ), vols. III IV. The condition of Italian cities and the impact of Ostrogothic rule upon them is analysed by B. Ward-Perkins, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Urban Public Buildings in Northern and Central Italy AD (1984). There are important papers by A. Momigliano, Cassiodorus and the Italian Culture of his Time, Proc. Brit. Acad. XLI (1955), repr. in his Studies in Historiography (1966), and by A.H.M. Jones, The Constitutional Position of Odoacer and Theoderic, Jnl. Rom. Stud. LII (1962), repr. in his The Roman Economy (1974). Much of this is reflected in the modern study by J. Moorhead, Theoderic in Italy (1992), of which there is an important review by B. Ward-Perkins, Early Medieval Europe 4 (1995). P. Amory, People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy (1997) questions many assumptions about Goths. See also LITERARY AND ARTISTIC CULTURE, below.

6 - 5 - ITALY: LOMBARDS The standard narrative is W.D. Foulke (tr.), Paul the Deacon, History of the Lombards (1912, repr. 1974), with the commentary of Goffart, Narrators of Barbarian History, ch.v (above, OSTROGOTHS) which raises many questions about its value as a source; see also D.A. Bullough, Ethnic History and Carolingians: Paul the Deacon s Historia Langobardorum, in C. Holdsworth and T. Wiseman (eds.), The Inheritance of Historiography (1986). Some further light is cast by O.J. Zimmermann (tr.), St Gregory the Great, Dialogues (Fathers of the Church 39, 1959), and by J.M. Wallace-Hadrill (ed. and tr.), The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar and its Continuation (1962). The major documentary sources are K. Fischer Drew (tr.), The Lombard Laws (1973). Secondary: Much the best modern work is C. Wickham, Early Medieval Italy, Central Power and Local Society (1980). A full history of events is given by Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, V VI (above, OSTROGOTHS). See also N. Christie, The Lombards (1995), which has a mainly archaeological perspective and G. Tabacco, The Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy (tr.r. Brown Jensen, 1989). The vexed problem of urban continuities can also be approached through Ward-Perkins, From Classical Antiquity (above, OSTROGOTHS) and his article, The Towns of Northern Italy: Rebirth or or Renewal?, in R. Hodges & B. Hobley (eds.), The Rebirth of Towns in the West (1988). Excellent on non-lombard Italy is T.S. Brown, Gentlemen and Officers. Imperial Administration and Aristocratic Power in Byzantine Italy (1984).

7 - 6 - FRANKISH GAUL L. Thorpe (tr.), Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks (1974); the translation by O.M. Dalton, Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks (vol. II, 1926) is better, but the introduction (vol. I) should be ignored. Gregory s hagiography is available in E. James (tr.), Life of the Fathers (1985), R. van Dam (tr.), Glory of the Martyrs (1988), and R. van Dam (tr.), Glory of the Confessors (1988). Goffart, I.N. Wood, Narrators of Barbarian History (above, OSTROGOTHS) has a chapter on Gregory; but see also Gregory of Tours and Clovis and The Secret Histories of Gregory of Tours, Revue Belge de Philologie et d Histoire 63 (1985), 71 (1993), and a useful pamphlet, Gregory of Tours (1994) where Wood gathers together many ideas. J. George, Venantius Fortunatus: a Poet in Merovingian Gaul (1992) gives text and translation of selected poems as well as discussion. For the seventh/eighth century, see Jonas Life of Columbanus, in Peters, Monks, Bishops and Pagans (above, SOURCES [GENERAL]); Wallace-Hadrill, Fourth Book of Fredegar (above, LOMBARDS); and R. Gerberding and P. Fouracre, Late Merovingian France. History and Hagiography, (1996); for commentary on the latter, see R. Gerberding, The Rise of the Carolingians and the Liber Historiae Francorum (1987). T.J. Rivers (tr.), Laws of the Salian and Ripuarian Franks (1986) collects the legal records; K. Fischer Drew, The Laws of the Salian Franks (1990) is a better translation of a slightly different selection. For archaeology, see below. General Problems: E. James, The Origins of France: Clovis to the Capetians, (1982), and The Franks (1988) make splendid introductions, especially to the archaeology. I.N. Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, (1994) may be the best book in any language on a post-roman kingdom.

8 - 7 - A useful collection of papers on ethnicity (see especially those of Halsall, Wood, Loseby and Fouracre) has just appeared, I.N. Wood (ed.), Franks and Alamanni in the Merovingian Period. An Ethnographic Perspective (1998). P. Geary, Before France and Germany (1988) is an idiosyncratic study by an originally-minded scholar. J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Long-Haired Kings (1962) began rehabilitation of the Merovingians: beside classic papers on The Work of Gregory of Tours in the light of modern research, and The Bloodfeud of the Franks, there is the eponymous essay on Merovingian kingship. Other key studies are I.N. Wood s pamphlet, The Merovingian North Sea (1983), together with R. Collins, Theodebert, rex magnus Francorum, in P. Wormald et al. (eds), Ideal and Reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Society. Studies presented to J.M. Wallace-Hadrill (1983). A. Murray, Germanic Kinship Structure (1983) is important for Frankish law and society. For the Gallo-Frankish Church, see below, POPES AND OTHER BISHOPS. On the Archaeology: Much work has been published. Little of it, though, is easily accessible to anglophone historians. Points of entry are provided by several essays in L. Webster and M. Brown (eds.), The Transformation of the Roman World AD (1997) and E. James, Cemeteries and the Problem of Frankish settlement in Gaul, in P.H. Sawyer (ed.), Names, Words and Graves (1979), together with a critique of James argument by G. Halsall, The Reihengräberzivilization forty years on, in J. Drinkwater and H. Elton (eds), Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity (1992). SPAIN AND THE VISIGOTHS K.B. Wolf, Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain (1990) translates the main narrative sources. S.P. Scott (tr.), The Visigothic Code (1912) is antiquated but still serviceable. J.N. Garvin (ed. and tr.), The Vitae Patrum Emeretensium (1946) is a most important account of a city and its Church; for the Church and monasticism in the countryside see

9 - 8 - C.W. Barlow (tr.), Martin of Braga (Fathers of the Church, 62, 1969), and Works of Fructuosus of Braga (Fathers of the Church, 63, 1969); the former volume also contains Leander of Seville s celebration of the crucial Third Council of Toledo (589). The great Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville can be sampled in E. Bréhaut, An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages (1912), and his pupil, Braulio of Saragossa, is on hand in Fathers of the Church, 63 (1969). Secondary: L. Musset, The Germanic Invasions. The Making of Europe (1975) is good for archaeology and place-names; but see also E. James, Septimania and its frontier, in E. James (ed.), Visigothic Spain: New Approaches (1980), which has wide implications. R.J.H. Collins, E.A. Thompson, P.D. King, Early Medieval Spain. Unity in Diversity, (1983) is a superb introduction to the field; see too his Merida and Toledo, in James (ed.), Visigothic Spain, and his Julian of Toledo and Visigothic Kingship, in Sawyer and Wood, Early Medieval Kingship (above, GENERAL). The Goths in Spain (1969) has a point of view, as always. Law and Society in the Visigothic Kingdom (1972) is essentially an analysis of the Law-code, the origins of which he discusses in his King Chindasvind and the first territorial law-code, in James (ed.), Visigothic Spain. M. McCormick, Eternal Victory: Triumphal Rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium and the Early Medieval West (1986) is good on the Visigoths; on the liturgical dimension generally, see M. Diaz y Diaz, Literary Aspects of the Visigothic Liturgy, in James (ed.), Visigothic Spain. Among now rather old-fashioned approaches to the Visigothic Church, see (e.g.), A.K. Ziegler, Church and State in Visigothic Spain (1930). The great study of Isidore is J. Fontaine, Isidore de Séville et la culture classique de l Espagne wisigothique (2 vols, Paris, 1959). The collapse of the Visigothic kingdom is examined by R.J.H. Collins, The Arab Conquest of Spain, (1989).

10 - 9 - POPES AND OTHER BISHOPS R. Davis, The Book of the Popes (1989) is the central source for the Papacy. The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Letters of Gregory the Great are translated by J. Barmby (Select Library of the post-nicene Fathers, 2nd series, XII XIII); his Dialogues are translated as above, LOMBARDS. The most articulate non-papal bishop of the sixth century is translated by M. Mueller, Sermons of Caesarius of Arles (3 vols, Fathers of the Church, 31, 47, 66, 1956, 1964, 1972), and W.E. Klingshirn, Caesarius of Arles: Life, Testament, Letters (1994). A. Louth, Maximus the Confessor (1996) translates and discusses a key figure in Byzantine and papal history. See also Martin, Leander and Braulio, as above, SPAIN AND THE VISIGOTHS. C.H. Talbot (tr.), The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany (1954) is essential for Boniface and eighth-century developments in the Roman and Frankish Churches. Papal History: J.N.D. Kelly, The Oxford Dictionary of Popes (1986) is very useful. Three books differing greatly in style and approach are W. Ullmann, The Growth of Papal Government in the Middle Ages (1955); P. Llewellyn, Rome in the Dark Ages (1970); and J. Richards, The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages (1979). The most important recent study of the greatest Pope of the period is R. Markus, Gregory the Great and His World (1997); P. Llewellyn, The Roman Church in the Seventh Century: the legacy of Gregory the Great, Jnl. Eccl. Hist. 25 (1974) is also a significant contribution. Important for the eighth century are W. Levison, England and the Continent in the Eighth Century (1946), and T.F.X. Noble, The Republic of St Peter. The Birth of the Papal State, (1984); and cf. Brown, Gentlemen and Officers (above, OSTROGOTHS). On papal building, see Ward-Perkins, From Classical Antiquity (above, OSTROGOTHS).

11 Provincial Churches: J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church (1983) was the valedictory study by the last generation s leading scholar. W. Klingshirn, Caesarius of Arles. The Making of a Christian Community in Late Antique Gaul (1994) is an important new study; see also R. van Dam, Saints and their Miracles in late Antique Gaul (1993), Brown, Rise of Western Christendom (above, GENERAL), chs. 6 and 8: and Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms (above, FRANKISH GAUL), chs. 5 and 18. For SPAIN see above. MONASTICISM For the fourth/fifth-century background, see Period I, RELIGION: THEODOSIUS. J. McCann (ed. and tr.), The Rule of St Benedict (1952) is the standard text; but A. de Vogüé (ed.), La Règle de Saint Benôit (6 vols., Sources Chrétiennes, ) vols. I II (intro. and text/french translation) is really indispensable, above all for the Rule of the Master problem. Benedict s Life is Book II of Gregory s Dialogues (above, POPES). He is profitably compared with the Irish Columbanus: G.S.M. Walker (ed. & tr.), Sancti Columbani Opera (1954); and for Columbanus Life, see above FRANKISH GAUL. For Spanish monasticism, see the Leander and Fructuosus dossiers in Fathers of the Church (above, SPAIN AND THE VISIGOTHS). Secondary: D. Knowles, The Regula Magistri and the Rule of St Benedict, in his Great Historical Enterprises (1963) is a superlative induction into this controversy. P. Riché (tr. J. Contreni), Education and Culture in the Barbarian West (1976) is the best account of the spread of the Rule. For Caesarius Rule, see Klingshirn (above, POPES); and on Columbanus, the papers in H.B. Clarke and M. Brennan, Columbanus and Merovingian Monasticism (1981). Important for the English, Boniface and the eighth century is Levison s England and the Continent (as above, POPES); see also

12 H. Mayr-Harting, Bede, the Rule of St Benedict and Social Class (Jarrow Lecture, 1976); and C. Holdsworth, Boniface the Monk, in T. Reuter, The Greatest Englishman: Essays on St Boniface (1980). Important contributions on the development of hagiography and the cult of saints are made by P. Hayward, Demystifying the Role of Sanctity in Western Christendom, and P. Fouracre, The Origins of the Carolingian Attempt to Regulate the Cult of Saints in J. Howard-Johnston and P. Hayward (eds.), The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (1999). ISLAM The Koran exists in many translations, e.g. by N.J. Dawood (Penguin Classics, 1956). The earliest Life of Muhammad is A. Guillaume (tr.), Sirat Rasul Allah of Ibn Ishaq (1955); the best among earlier histories of the Conquests is P.K. Hitti and F.C. Murgotten (tr.), Al Baladhuri, Origins of the Islamic State (1916, 1924), and the relevant sections of a vast history compiled by al-tabari ( ), translated as The History of al-tabari, ed. E. Yar-Shater ( ). Much recent research has, however, cast doubt on the historical value of early Muslim historical traditions: the best introductions are (1) A.A Duri (tr. L.I. Conrad), The Rise of Historical Writing among the Arabs (1983) which presents a lucid case for the defence, (2) R.S. Humphreys, Islamic History: a Framework of Enquiry (1991), chapters 1 4, S. Leder, The Literary Use of the Khabar: A Basic Form of Historical Writing and L.I. Conrad, The Conquest of Arwad: a Source-Critical Study in the Historiography Cameron (ed.), of the Early Medieval Near East, both in Byzantine and Islamic Near East, I (above, BYZANTIUM, Sources [General]), and A. Noth and L.I. Conrad, The Early Arabic Historical Tradition. A Source-Critical Study (2nd ed., 1995) who between them form a powerful prosecution team, and (3) F.E. Peters, The Quest for the Historical Muhammad, International Jnl. Mid. East Stud. 23 (1991) who resists the lure of extreme scepticism. The most useful control on Islamic accounts is The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos (above, BYZANTIUM, Heraclius and the seventh century).

13 Secondary: Historians of Islam have usually swallowed their doubts and done their best to make historical sense of the voluminous extant Islamic material on the life of the Prophet, the Arab conquests and the Umayyad Caliphate. H. Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates (1986) makes an excellent introduction to the whole subject. More traditional accounts of Muhammad s career, such as W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad, Prophet and Statesman (1961) and M. Rodinson (tr. A. Carter), Mohammad (1971), are offset by M. Cook, Muhammad (1983) and P. Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam (1987). The subsequent expansion and institutional development of the Muslim community is best approached through F.M. Donner, The Early Islamic Conquests (1981) and G.R. Hawting, The first dynasty of Islam: the Ummayad Caliphate AD (1986). For more probing investigations into a whole range of important topics, recourse should be had to the published proceedings of successive Workshops on the Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East: I The Literary Source Material (above, BYZANTIUM, Sources [General]), II Land Use and Settlement Patterns, ed. G.R.D. King & Averil Cameron (1994) with important papers by H.A. MacAdam ( Settlements and Settlement Patterns in Northern and Central Transjordania, ca 550-ca 750 ) and A. Northedge ( Archaeology and New Urban Settlement in Early Islamic Syria and Iraq ), III States, Resources and Armies (above, BYZANTIUM, Heraclius and the seventh century) with important papers by F. McG. Donner ( Centralized Authority and Military Autonomy in the Early Islamic Conquests ) and H. Kennedy ( The Financing of the Military in the Early Islamic State ); volumes IV Patterns of Communal Identity, V Trade and Exchange, and VI Elites Old and New should appear in the near future. There is thought-provoking discussion of early Islamic monuments in O. Grabar, The Formation of Islamic Art (1973) and the two volumes of Bayt al-maqudis, Jerusalem and Early Islam, I ed. J. Raby and J. Johns (1992) and II ed. J. Johns (2000). THE MEDITERRANEAN ECONOMY AND ITS HINTERLANDS R.S. Lopez and I.W. Raymond, Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World (1955) is a useful set of documents, and can be eked out by a dossier for the old course on Northern Peoples kept in the History Faculty Library.

14 Secondary, the Pirenne Thesis: What is still to a surprising degree the dominant model for this subject is most clearly set out in H. Pirenne (tr. B. Miall), Mohammed and Charlemagne (1938). A.F. Havighurst, The Pirenne Thesis. Analysis, Criticism and Revision (Heath pamphlet, 2nd edn., 1968) is a digest of the first generation s criticism. R. Hodges and D. Whitehouse, Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe (1983) is an archaeological reassessment. Recent reconsiderations by R Hodges, P. Delogu, S.T. Loseby and C. Wickham are gathered conveniently together in R. Hodges and W. Bowden (ed.), The Sixth Century. Production, Distribution and Demand (1998). Another collection of important and relevant papers will appear shortly S.A. Kingsley and M. Decker (ed.), Economy and Exchange in the East Mediterranean during Late Antiquity (2001). Other problems: R. Latouche (tr. E.M. Wilkinson), The Birth of the Western Economy (1961) is a classic; likewise G. Duby (tr. H.B. Clarke), The Early Growth of the European Economy: Warriors and Peasants, seventh to twelfth centuries (1974). R. Doehaerd (tr. W.G. Deakin), The Early Middle Ages in the West (1978) is a useful and wideranging survey. P. Grierson, Commerce in the Dark Ages. A Critique of the Evidence, Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. 5th series 9 (1959) was an important caveat, not all of whose conclusions are now generally accepted. P. Grierson and M. Blackburn, Medieval European Coinage, 1 The Early Middle Ages (1986) is the basic study of the coinages of early Germanic states. Much detailed investigation of urban life across the full extent of Europe and the Near East has been undertaken recently. The following recently published volumes are well worth scanning for articles on a region or regions of your choice: J. Rich (ed.), The City in Late Antiquity (1992); N. Christie and S. Loseby (ed.), Towns in Transition (1996); G.P. Brogiolo and B. Ward-Perkins (ed.), The Idea and Ideal of the Town between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (1999); N. Gauthier (ed.), Towns and their Hinterlands between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (1999); and, perhaps the best of all, due out shortly, L. Lavan (ed.), Late Antique Urbanism.

15 LITERARY AND ARTISTIC CULTURE For Boethius and Isidore, see above, ITALY: OSTROGOTHS, and SPAIN AND THE VISIGOTHS; for documents on Byzantine Art, see Mango, above BYZANTIUM. Another key text is L.E. Jones (tr.), Cassiodorus, Divine and Human Readings (1966). Secondary: M.L.W. Laistner, Riché, Thought and Letters in Western Europe, (1947) remains a thoroughly useful textbook; Education and Culture (above, MONASTICISM) is the chief modern authority. See also E. Auerbach (tr. R. Manheim), Literary Language and Its Public in Late Latin Antiquity and in the Middle Ages (1965) and Fontaine, Isidore (above, SPAIN AND THE VISIGOTHS). On Boethius, see M.T. Gibson (ed.), Boethius, His Life, Thought and Influence (1981), and H. Chadwick, Boethius. The Consolations of Music, Logic, Theology and Philosophy (1981). R. Wright, Late Latin and Early Romance (1982) is an important, though technical, study of what was happening to ordinary Latin. Visual Arts: J. Beckwith, Early Medieval Art (2nd edn., 1969) makes a good introduction; P. Verzone, From Theoderic to Charlemagne (1965) is rather more substantial; D. Talbot Rice (ed.), The Dark Ages (1966), and D. Wilson (ed.), The Northern World (1980) give the best illustrations. For architecture, see R. Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture (1965), R. Milburn, Early Christian Art and Architecture (1988), R.Krautheimer, Rome: Profile of a City (1980) and C. Mango, Byzantine Architecture (1978). The best short introduction to Byzantine art is T.F. Mathews, The Art of Byzantium (1998).