Chris Wickham
Chris Wickham is a renowned historian specializing in the medieval period, particularly known for his work on medieval Italy and the social and economic history of Europe.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
-
1. The Inheritance Of Rome
A History of Europe from 400 to 1000
The book provides a comprehensive exploration of the transformation of Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire to the dawn of the Middle Ages, spanning roughly from 400 to 1000 AD. It examines the political, social, and economic changes that occurred during this period, highlighting the interactions between emerging kingdoms, the influence of the Byzantine Empire, and the role of the Church in shaping medieval Europe. Through detailed analysis and a wide array of sources, the book challenges traditional narratives about the so-called "Dark Ages," presenting a nuanced view of a dynamic and formative era in European history.
-
2. Sleepwalking Into A New World
The Emergence of Italian City Communes in the Twelfth Century
An account of how twelfth-century Italian towns gradually became self-governing communes through pragmatic, piecemeal decisions by local elites rather than a planned revolution. Drawing on charters, court records, and administrative documents, it reconstructs everyday politics—dispute settlement, taxation, office-holding, and military organization—that slowly displaced older hierarchies. The narrative shows participants improvising solutions to immediate problems and only gradually realizing they had created a new political order. It offers a ground-level view of institutional innovation, social conflict, and the emergence of civic identity in a formative century.
Purchase from Bookshop.org -
3. Framing The Early Middle Ages
Europe and the Mediterranean, 400–800
A comparative analysis of Europe and the Mediterranean between 400 and 800, tracing how the decline of Roman imperial structures produced varied regional paths shaped by landholding, taxation, aristocratic power, peasant production, urban change, and trade. Using documentary and archaeological evidence, it emphasizes structural explanations over narrative, highlighting both continuity and transformation, and showing why some regions developed resilient fiscal states and monetized economies while others fragmented into localized authority and subsistence. The result is a reframing of the social, economic, and political foundations of the early medieval world.