Europe - Hierarchy and Revolt

This book provides a classic introduction to a key period in thehistory of Europe - the transition from medieval to RenaissanceEurope.

In this updated edition, Professor Holmes traces the main politicalevents as well as describing broader changes in social structureand culture. He reveals the interactions between politics, societyand ideas that contributed to the problems and changes of thisperiod.

The book addresses the crises of the medieval world. At the startof the period, Europe was dominated by the institutions of thechurch, monarchy, armies of knightly cavalry and Gothic art. By theend, the Papacy had been drastically weakened, the Hussite movementwas heralding the social and religious changes to come in the nextcentury, the armoured knight was no longer a formidable force, andthe cultural movement of the Italian Renaissance was beginning tounfold. The author shows how economic forces, including the BlackDeath and the fall in population threatened the power of thelandowners, church and monarchy and how such changes promptedinteraction not only between political powers but between differentcommunities and divergent ways of life and thought.

Throughout the book, Professor Holmes relates his strong politicalnarrative to the social and ideological movements of the period andexplains the legacy of this period for the centuries that followed.For this edition, he has included updates to the text andbibliography.