The Charles Oman classic history of the Dark Ages, re-edited and re-formatted with new illustrations and maps.
Combined with copious illustrations, maps and images, the newly revised Dark Ages is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand a critical period in Western history that saw the transition from Roman Imperial rule to conquest-driven tribal rule and, ultimately, a flowering into the High Middle Ages.
Oman provides one of the best historical examinations and explanations about the period widely known as the Dark Ages, when the end of total and complex Roman Imperial rule over Europe and the Mediterranean collapsed, taking the institutions that provided so much cultural sophistication and stability with it.
The Dark Ages has been split into three books, mainly for ease of reading; the original book published in 1893 was a massive tome that covered the period from 476 CE to 918 CE. This second book in the new edition covers the period from 561 CE to 743 CE:
THE SUCCESSORS OF JUSTINIAN 565-610
DECLINE AND DECAY OF THE MEROVINGIANS 561-656
THE LOMBARDS IN ITALY, AND THE RISE OF THE PAPACY 568-653
HERACLIUS AND MOHAMMED 610-641
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE VISIGOTHS A.D. 603-711
THE CONTEST OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE AND THE CALIPHATE 641-717
THE HISTORY OF THE GREAT MAYORS OF THE PALACE 656-720
THE LOMBARDS AND THE PAPACY 653-743
CHARLES MARTEL AND HIS WARS 720-741
