The inner workings of early medieval societies cannot be understood without also studying their links - religious, cultural, economic and political - with their neighbours. In this collection Karl Leyser shows how Ottonian and Salian Germany both influenced and was influenced by the societies with which it came into contact. While the author's central interest is in Germany, his work is of value for the study of medieval European society as a whole.

Karl Leyser's intuitive and imaginative historical writing drew on deep reading in the primary sources and, above all, on an intimate knowledge of the major historians of the period displayed in this collection of his work. It was his contention that only through an understanding of the minds of such historians as Nithard, Regino of Prum, Widukind of Corvey and Thietmar of Merseburg, and a reconstruction of their outlook on the world, can we appreciate the aristocratic worlds which these historians depicted in their works.

In the first half of this collection of Karl Leyser's studies on the high middle ages, two themes are especially explored. The first is the European aristocratic world of the early eleventh century; the second is the fragmentation of this world in the course of the revolution set in motion by Gregory VII. The essays in the second half stress the importance of communications for the new forms of warfare and government developing in the twelfth century.>