The Birth of Europe (Making of Europe Book 2) 1st Edition by Jacques Le Goff (PDF)

Description

In this ground-breaking new study,Jacques Le Goff, arguably the leading medievalist of his generation, presents his view of the primacy of the Middle Ages in the development of European history. “[A] superb and necessary book. This provocative assessment from a lifetime of scholarship might help us to place ourselves, not just territorially, but in that other precious element of history: time.” The Guardian “A book that never fails to be informative, readable and provocative. Le Goff… has been the bravest and best of champions for medieval history. This book… is in every sense an inspiration.” BBC History Magazine Praised by prominent figures in Europe and history including: Rt Hon Christopher Patten, CH, Former Member of the European Commission, and Neil Kinnock, Vice-President, European Commission.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Jacques Le Goff is a renowned scholar with a gift of coherent explaination. He helped me to understand the time between the decline of Rome and the advent of the Renaissance in a new way. He brought color and life to what had been a landscape with few discernible features.Charlemagne’s reign formed just a part of the labor. Feudalism, chivalry, the rise of the university all played dynamic parts in a complex society before the idea of Europe really came to full form.Just like the ideas of the Roman Empire, the ideas accompanying the birth od Europe continue to influence and shape us.

⭐I have always heard of LeGoff and his books, but I had never read one. I finally broke down and read The Birth of Europe, and I congratulated myself for this being my first (and last) Le Goff. It is a superficial book, in which Le Goff has put together well known facts about Europe from about 500 CE to 1300, there is no insight on the developments and there are glaring omissions (no mention, for instance, of the emergence of the Italian communes about the year 1000, that were really the forerunners of the Renaissance. Venice, Genoa, Milano and Florence most prominent, but do not forget Amalfi, Pisa and others). No mention either of the influence of Muslim states on the developments of Europe (that is why Venice and Genoa are so important in the year 1000). Le Goff is now dead, and de mortuis nisi sed bonum, so I will stop my review here. Requiescat in pace….

⭐A rich panorama of the formation and evolution of European societies throughout the Middle Ages. Insightful and highly readable. The fact that if was my first book on the subject turned out not to be a problem – quick Internet searches were enough to provide basic context whenever a character or event was mentioned without being described.

⭐This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for ten years until I picked it up and began reading some weeks ago. As an East Asian living in Canada which has European roots for all of its institutions, I think I should at least know something of its roots. And all along in my reading I try to see similarities and differences between European and East Asian cultures. Apparently, it is natural to speak of an European culture and perhaps, within limits, to speak of an East Asian culture – for example, the use of chopsticks and, to some extent, Confucian ethics and Chinese characters – but it is very difficult to speak of an “Asian culture”, since “Asia” as such is pretty much a geographical term only.The word Christendom appears frequently in the text. The impact of religion is really great on Europe. In East Asia, to my knowledge China does not have a state religion, although its emperors or empresses did pay homage to Heaven, which I think is but a vague idea of “The overarching power of the Unknown called Heaven”. Any ruling imperial family in China could justify its sovereignty with the claim of having received the so-called “Mandate of Heaven” (“Tian ming” in Chinese). On the other hand, its neighbour Japan always has the Shinto gods who are the ancestors of the royal family from Day One. Shinto is also the indigenous religion of Japan whose people have been nurtured by it probably from the beginning of their civilisation. I sense more historical and cultural continuity in Europe and Japan, much more than in China.

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