| Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World | 
 enlarge | Author: Patrick J. Geary
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $32.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 181810
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.5
ISBN: 0195044584
Dewey Decimal Number: 943.01
EAN: 9780195044584
ASIN: 0195044584
Publication Date: February 25, 1988
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Product Description
In this innovative study, Patrick Geary rejects traditional conceptions of European history to present the Merovingian period (ca. 400-750) as an integral part of Late Antiquity. Mapping the complex interactions of a volatile era, he formulates an original interpretation not only of Merovingian history but of the Romano-barbarian world, tracing the Romanization of barbarians and the barbarization of the Romans which ultimately made these populations indistinguishable.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 A dry account of the Merovingian Dynasty May 21, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was very hopeful when I started reading this, hopeful that I would finally find a book that could shed some light on an area of history shrouded in shadows. I must say that it fulfilled my hopes only partially, leaving me still wanting more on the subject.
The plus is that Geary certainly knows his history and we get a thorough account of the Merovingian dynasty and, later, the onset of the Carolingian dynasty. His knowledge of the period and the ruling aristocracy and how they affected change and policy is very thorough.
The negatives. First is that his account of this important time in European history is very dry with hardly any narrative. Just a little narrative would have injected much needed life into this history book. Second is that at times it seems that Geary is simply listing off names of people and places, which is very hard to keep straight on who they are. Name after name is paraded by and the relevance of who they are is lost in the combination of the dry account and the recital of facts. And finally the book is not chronological. To that I should say that history books don't have to be chronological, and I have read many books that aren't and they were great books. This is not the case here. In one chapter we read about a king, and by the end of the chapter he dies. Then the next chapter and several chapters down the road, this king keeps reappearing not in reference but as the subject. Add this to the other negative points and everything is hard to keep track of.
In regards to the body of the book, the first chapter is a boring read as Geary talks about taxes and burial sites and so on, not adding much to the overall history except as filler. The middle sections of the book are full of facts and if you carefully dissect them you could seemingly form a coherent timeline of events that took place. Finally, the final two chapters are what saved the book as these are the two that were the most coherent and straightforward. They still recited facts but this time there is a narrative added to it that helps explain and illustrate. It is because of these final two chapters that I give this a four star. I would recommend for the amount of facts listed, but I would look elsewhere for a good narrative history of the time period, one that has a little life to it.
3.75 stars.
 From Late Antiquity to Mediaeval Europe in a Nutshell November 25, 2004
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
The transformation of the Roman Empire of the West into the barbarian kingdoms and thence into Mediaeval Europe was a process of interaction and assimilation between Rome and the barbarians during which both refashioned the other.
Geary examines the Roman and barbarian worlds before the 5th century AD. In the West, the Roman world was faced with depopulation of rural areas, low tax revenues, and the stratification of society as occupations became hereditary - the distinction between free labourers and slaves all but vanished while the senatorial aristocracy enjoyed vast agricultural holdings. The barbarian 'tribes', somewhat loose confederations of peoples, vacillated between fighting against and for the Empire, while absorbing by one means or another the material benefits Rome could provide. Thus the Visigoths entered the Eastern Empire as foederati, or allies, after which followed a period of turbulent relations - in AD 410 they sacked Rome; three years the Visigoths were an official Roman army in Gaul.
After this overview, the emphasis is on the kingdom of the Franks (consisting of large parts of what are now France, Germany, Switzerland and the Low Countries) and the interaction amongst the Frankish barbarians and the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, in particluar the role played by the Church through the bishops (largely an aristocratic preserve) and different monastic traditions. The appearance of the Franks and their expansion of their authority was not a direct displacement of the Roman world, rather a gradual merging of two societies. Despite the disappearance of the political power of the Empire in the West, the lives of the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, with their vast wealth, changed slowly.
The authority of the Merovingian kings suffered from serious obstructions - the several partitions and unifications of the kingdom amongst different heirs; royal succession passing to minors; the centrifugal tendencies of outlying regions; and the desire of the aristocracy for autonomy. Finally the Merovingians became mere figureheads as real power passed to the maiores domus (majors of the palace) until finally Pippin III assumed kingship in 751 with papal approval and the Carolingian dynasty was established. The church in Francia also changed with bishops becoming essentially secular magnates dependent on royal patronage and no longer drawing on the tradition of classical learning, which latter was relegated to the monasteries as lay literacy also faded.
This is an introductory work which offers a synthesis of research, much of which is in German or French. It maintains a balance by not delving too deeply into intricacies (although even a short account of Merovingian history is necessarily somewhat complicated) while distinguishing important participants and trends. It is a good starting point before proceeding to more specialist and detailed works and provides a practical historical background useful not only to those studying history, archaeology or historical linguistics, but also the reader interested in what bridged the gap in the West between late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
Unique; Narrow Focus August 7, 2003
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
In his own words, Geary's purpose was "not to launch some new theory about the origins of European civilization, but to make available the vast literature on late antiquity and the early Middle Ages which has, for a variety of reasons, seldom been presented in a manner accessible to a broader audience, particularly to an English-reading one."Understanding that the intent was to synthesize a much larger body of work, it is important to also understand that Geary's focus is laser-beam tight on the Merovingian dynasty within the Frankish kingdoms of the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries. For those without some familiarity to the period, I would suggest reading a couple of chapters from a more general work such as "Medieval Europe" (Hollister & Bennett) even if just not to be surprised when the early Carolingians start showing up on the page. (Geary assumes you'll instantly know who "Pippin" was.) My one reservation about the book lies in the torrent of names that take up about forty pages towards the end. That is probably a curse of writing about Merovingians in the 8th century, period, but I found it impossible to keep my Nantechildis separate from my Flaochad while keeping a mental finger on Clothar II, Grimoald, and Childebert (along with many more). Otherwise, I found the book quite engaging, particularly with respect to the early merger of the Franks into Roman-Gallo society and its reporting on the differing roles and influences that the bishops, monks, and eventually the Roman Benedictines assumed and exercised within the early Frankish kingdoms.
Enlightening September 15, 2002
21 out of 21 found this review helpful
Geary's work is an enlightening look at the transformation from the Roman to the medieval in the transalpine Roman provinces. Geary easily dispels the myth of barbarian invasions and the "fall" of Rome. A complex and weary narrative is turned into a simple and intersting one. Geary does not waste his time (and ours) in pointless name-dropping. He gets right down to the core of the social, economic, and political story. Additionally, Geary quietly, but effectively, addresses one of the major controversies in early medieval studies: what was the economic impact of the Germanic migrations? This book is a must have for anyone interested in the classical or medieval periods and goes a long way to clearing up a lot of misconceptions.
A must-have. July 15, 2001
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
Paints an entirely plausible picture of life after the putative "fall of Rome". Scholarly and in-depth treatment of the time period make this an absolute must-have in any history maven's collection. I haven't ever seen a better treatment of this time period. What is nicest, it's not terribly long or dry. It says what it needs to say with knowledgability and wit, and then it gets out of there, leaving you lots of places to take up study. To the person just seriously delving into this period (this history is not for the casual reader), this is the perfect book to get you started. It definitely was for me. Also an excellent bridge between "fall of Rome" period history and the "Middle Ages". You don't see a lot about that period. It's largely a mystery how it all went from togas to braies. This dispels many notions of pseudo-history and once-cherished errors, and effectively explains how we got from there to here. There's a very sweeping sense of history about this book. When I finish reading it, I get a sense that Charlemagne wouldn't have happened if this period hadn't happened the way it did, and see the whole time period in a different light -- the light of perspective. Definitely recommend it.
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