Monasticism, spiritual patronage and social structure -- Land, kinship and status -- Local power: collective action, conflict and consensus -- Locality and centre: mechanisms of extraction -- Political power from the fifth to the eleventh century
Summary
"This book is a study of politics and society in the early middle ages, based on the middle Rhine valley." "Although a local study, the book offers persuasive and challenging generalisations about the nature of power in the early middle ages. It places its findings in an explicitly comparative perspective, identifying the peculiarities of the early medieval west and their implications for the broader sweep of European history."--Jacket
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 268-306) and index
