As a global perspective grows and Eurocentricism wanes, it becomes more important, not less, to see where Europe came from. In this fascinating study, Lynette Olson explores the original formation of Europe from the fall of Rome to the First Crusade, and covers every European region, including the British Isles. From a family trying to find out what happened to their missing kinswoman to Khan Boris negotiating the entry of Bulgaria into the club of civilised nations, vivid case studies provide supporting detail in a coherent analysis of a period of great cultural change and weak social organisation. The Early Middle Ages - adopts an easy-to-follow century by century format - gives due attention to the female half of the population and the secular side of life - demonstrates how, out of the triad of Islam, Byzantium and the West, the latter was considered the 'Third World' of its day - features numerous maps, illustrations and a comprehensive Glossary. Authoritative and approachable, this essential introduction to a formative era of European history will engage scholars and students alike.

The fifth volume in this acclaimed paperback series covers a wide range of topics, including Celtic Cornwall, Cornish politics, the Cornish economy, Cornish genetics, constructions of language and race in contemporary Cornwall, Cornish rugby, and education in Cornwall.

Contributions by
Rob Burton, Dick Cole, Bernard Deacon, Amy Hale, F. L. Harris, David Harvey, Lynette Olson, Philip Payton, Ronald Perry, F, Roff Rayner, Andy Seward and Garry Tregidga

This is the first study for more than seventy years to consider the early monasteries of Cornwall through a combination of evidence --written sources (the first hagiography of Brittany and Cornwall, ecclesiastical documents, Anglo-Saxon charters, Domesday Book), place-names and material remains. The main emphasis is on identifying the sites of these monasteries, and tracing their survival to later periods; Dr Olson also considers the origin and progress of monasticism in south-west Britain, and looks at the monasteries' characteristics and, in a broader context, their place in Church and society.

New essays shed light on the mysterious St Samson of Dol and his Vita. The First Life of St Samson of Dol (Vita Prima Samsonis) is a key text for the study of early Welsh, Cornish, Breton and indeed west Frankish history. In the twentieth century it was the subject of unresolved scholarly controversy that tended to limit its usefulness. However, more recent research has firmly re-established its significance as a historical source. This volume presents the results of new, multi-disciplinary, assessment of the textand its context. What emerges from the studies collected here is a context of greater plausibility for the First Life of St Samson of Dol as an early and essentially historical text, potentially at the centre of early British Christianity and its influence on the Continent. The landscape of that Christianity is gradually emerging from the shadows and it is a landscape in which the career of St Samson, the first Insular peregrinus, is shown to be of considerable importance. LYNETTE OLSON is an Honorary Associate of the Department of History, University of Sydney. Contributors: Caroline Brett, Karen Jankulak, Constant J. Mews, Lynette Olson, Joseph-Claude Poulin, Richard Sowerby, Ian N. Wood, Jonathan M. Wooding.

Prophecy, Fate and Memory in the Early and Medieval Celtic World brings together a collection of studies that closely explore aspects of culture and history of Celtic-speaking nations. Non-narrative sources and cross-disciplinary approaches shed new light on traditional questions concerning commemoration, sources of political authority, and the nature of religious identity. Leading scholars and early-career researchers bring to bear hermeneutics from studies of religion and literary criticism alongside more traditional philological and historical methodologies. All the studies in this book bring to their particular tasks an acknowledgement of the importance of religion in the worldview of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Their approaches reflect a critical turn in Celtic studies that has proved immensely productive across the last two decades.

As a global perspective grows and Eurocentricism wanes, it becomes more important, not less, to see where Europe came from. In this fascinating study, Lynette Olson explores the original formation of Europe from the fall of Rome to the First Crusade, and covers every European region, including the British Isles. From a family trying to find out what happened to their missing kinswoman to Khan Boris negotiating the entry of Bulgaria into the club of civilised nations, vivid case studies provide supporting detail in a coherent analysis of a period of great cultural change and weak social organisation. The Early Middle Ages - adopts an easy-to-follow century by century format - gives due attention to the female half of the population and the secular side of life - demonstrates how, out of the triad of Islam, Byzantium and the West, the latter was considered the 'Third World' of its day - features numerous maps, illustrations and a comprehensive Glossary. Authoritative and approachable, this essential introduction to a formative era of European history will engage scholars and students alike.