Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more

Recommended product

Popular links

Popular links


The Making of Medieval Rome

The Making of Medieval Rome

The Making of Medieval Rome

A New Profile of the City, 400 – 1420
Hendrik Dey , Hunter College, City University of New York
July 2025
Not yet published - available from June 2025
Paperback
9781108971560

Looking for an inspection copy?

This title is not currently available for inspection.

    Integrating the written sources with Rome's surviving remains and, most importantly, with the results of the past half-century's worth of medieval archaeology in the city, The Making of Medieval Rome is the first in-depth profile of Rome's transformation over a millennium to appear in any language in over forty years. Though the main focus rests on Rome's urban trajectory in topographical, architectural, and archaeological terms, Hendrik folds aspects of ecclesiastical, political, social, military, economic, and intellectual history into the narrative in order to illustrate how and why the cityscape evolved as it did during the thousand years between the end of the Roman Empire and the start of the Renaissance. A wide-ranging synthesis of decades' worth of specialized research and remarkable archaeological discoveries, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in how and why the ancient imperial capital transformed into the spiritual heart of Western Christendom.

    • Synthesizes four decades' worth of medieval archaeology in Rome, showing readers how modern archaeology has changed our understanding of Rome's urban development over the full medieval millennium
    • Presents a sweeping urban panorama that combines the cityscape with the lives of the people who shaped and animated it
    • Includes a rich illustration program that brings Rome's material environment vividly into focus

    Reviews & endorsements

    'Through this refined and thorough research, Dey conveys an image of Rome which is not just a shallow background in the portrait of the pope (or of a few aristocratic families): quite the opposite, Medieval Rome is a composite mosaic of diverse social entities, each of them contributing with their individual stories to breathe its never-ending life in the lungs of the eternal city.' Paolo Tedesco, H-Soz-Kult

    'Clear, organized, and enlivened by the occasional vivid rhetorical flourish, Dey's writing is a pleasure to read. … [The book] offers an excellent overview of Rome's history and physical transformation over a millennium that provides important correctives to Richard Krautheimer's influential account. It should serve us well for many years to come.' Ann van Dijk, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

    See more reviews

    Product details

    September 2021
    Adobe eBook Reader
    9781108985574
    0 pages
    This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.

    Table of Contents

    • Introduction
    • 1. The eternal city on the brink: Rome in 400 AD
    • 2. 401-552: from imperial metropolis to provincial town
    • 3. 552-705: Byzantine Rome
    • 4. 705-882: a papal 'republic of the Romans'
    • 5. 882-1046: the long twilight of the early middle ages
    • 6. 1046-1230: church reformed, senate reborn, Rome renascent
    • 7. 1230-1420: Barons, babylonian captivity, and black death. The apogee and agony of late medieval Rome.
      Author
    • Hendrik Dey , Hunter College, City University of New York

      Hendrik Dey has spent years living and teaching in Rome, where he also held a two-year Rome Prize at the American Academy. His books include The Aurelian Wall and the Refashioning of Imperial Rome, AD 271-855 (2011), and The Afterlife of the Roman City: Architecture and Ceremony in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (2015).