The government of the Roman Empire had been supported by a large civil service, and an even larger army, both sustained by a pervasive system of taxation. With the withering of the cross-Mediterranean trade, the surpluses on which all this had depended vanished. In the new order, governments would be supported not by taxation but by services rendered in return for grants of land, a system which weakened Europe’s rulers and rapidly fragmented their territories. It is true that these rulers spoke Latin, or at least employed secretaries who did; and that most of the great figures of the Latin Church saw themselves as Roman noblemen for generations after the last Roman Emperor in the west was deposed. But their Roman-ness would have seemed skin-deep to Augustus or Cicero. The change may have been gradual, but it was fundamental.

Wickham covers these momentous changes with great skill, deftly mixing narrative and analysis, and explaining much that is difficult or unapproachable in this fascinating period. This is a serious book, a long book, and at times a dense one. But it is also intensely rewarding. The author has a broad vision, an easy wit and an engaging style. He rarely loses the reader’s attention, and then only in the sections about outlying areas (such as the British Isles) which I suspect he felt obliged to add in order to maintain the comprehensive coverage required by the ‘Penguin History of Europe’, of which it forms part. In his introduction, he makes a plea for us to forget our Whiggish obsession with progress and study the period for its own intrinsic interest, not just as the prelude to Europe’s later, greater fortunes. This is asking a lot. Most of us are covert Whigs. But it is hard to imagine the job being done better.

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