Böcker av Marios (University of Liverpool) Costambeys

At its height, the Carolingian empire spanned a million square kilometres of western Europe as the largest political unit for centuries. This comprehensive survey traces the empire's history from its origins around 700, through its expansion in the eighth century, to the struggle to hold it together in the ninth.

Offers a perspective on central Italy, an area of early medieval Europe where political developments held most significance for the future, and where the power and aspirations of Lombard kings, Byzantine emperors, the rising dynasty of Charlemagne and the popes overlapped.