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Categories: Science fiction Fantasy Mystery Romance Business Classic Sports Young adult Humor Memoirs See all categories... |
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Categories: Science fiction Fantasy Mystery Romance Business Classic Sports Young adult Humor Memoirs See all categories... |
Interesting read and pretty good overview of the Franks. Edward James wrote this book for a series focusing on 'Peoples of Europe,' and so he frames his argument around different conceptions of what it meant to be a 'Frank' at different periods in French (and Belgian, and German) history.The heart of the book, though, focuses on the Franks from the 4th to the 7th centuries, especially focusing on the Merovingians from Childeric to Dagobert. James does the best he can with the political narrative in a short space (I'd imagine it's nearly impossible to write a short, coherent, and enjoyable-to-read summary of all the Merovingian's family dramas), but he's generally more effective in his argument with he's addressing thematic issues. He's a good myth debunker, questioning archaeological techniques, iconographical assumptions, and too-heavy emphases on literary texts, legal texts or names of the period, and this caution helps out his treatment of the Franks quite a bit. I would make the argument that his picture of Merovingian society can edge a bit too close to the rosy - evidence in drops in the quality of life for most people between Rome and the Carolingians are brushed over a bit too hastily - but on the whole it's a fair, level picture of the Merovingians and a nice introduction to the time.