This book, first published in 2000, is a pioneering study of politics and society in the early Middle Ages. Whereas it is widely believed that the source materials for early medieval Europe are too sparse to allow sustained study of the workings of social and political relationships on the ground, this book focuses on a uniquely well-documented area to investigate the basis of power. Topics covered include the foundation of monasteries, their relationship with the laity, and their role as social centres; the significance of urbanism; the control of land, the development of property rights and the organization of states; community, kinship and lordship; justice and dispute settlement; the uses of the written word; violence and the feud; and the development of political structures from the Roman empire to the high Middle Ages.

Winner of the Royal Historical Society's Gladstone Memorial Prize (2000)

‘… what … makes his work outstanding is his grasp of the big picture, and his preparedness to address and resolve questions of structure and theory. Seldom can a young scholar’s first book be greeted with superlatives. This is such a book.’

Source: Journal of Ecclesiastical History

’It is highly sophisticated … Specialists will applaud the treatments of land-holding, charter terminology and its implications, and the letters of Einhard.’

Source: Early Medieval Europe