gesang reviewed Transformation of the Roman West by Ian Wood (Past Imperfect)
Terse, dry assembly of facts
3 stars
Essentially a two-part book. The first part of the book, from the 1st to the 3rd chapter, is a compact summary of studies and positions conducted by others regarding the transformation of the Roman West. From the 4th chapter onward, it concentrates on religion, or the impact of the rise of Christianity on the Roman West, how it transformed the Roman West. The study is largely fact and evidence driven, with little speculative efforts. Nothing really new is in the book for a non-researcher. The main point of the book may be exemplified by the following passage:
Rather than seeing the Carolingians as rejuvenating a religiously and culturally impoverished Age, we need to ask rather if Charles Martel and Pippin III temporarily undermined an essentially religious socio-political system. While we tend to see the Carolingian Age as marking a major development in the Christian ideology of rule, we should perhaps …
Essentially a two-part book. The first part of the book, from the 1st to the 3rd chapter, is a compact summary of studies and positions conducted by others regarding the transformation of the Roman West. From the 4th chapter onward, it concentrates on religion, or the impact of the rise of Christianity on the Roman West, how it transformed the Roman West. The study is largely fact and evidence driven, with little speculative efforts. Nothing really new is in the book for a non-researcher. The main point of the book may be exemplified by the following passage:
Rather than seeing the Carolingians as rejuvenating a religiously and culturally impoverished Age, we need to ask rather if Charles Martel and Pippin III temporarily undermined an essentially religious socio-political system. While we tend to see the Carolingian Age as marking a major development in the Christian ideology of rule, we should perhaps see it also as marking a reconstitution of a religious system that the Arnulfing ancestors of the Carolingians themselves had broken through the secularization of Church property by Charles Martel—a policy necessitated by the need for military reform following the arrival of the Islamic forces.