[books 2014] The Restoration of Rome
23. The Restoration of Rome: Barbarian popes and imperial pretenders by Peter Heather.
Got this from the library because I wasn't sure about it. I needn't have worried - it's very good indeed and the fact that it's taken me nearly two months to read says more about my state of mind recently than about the book.
Heather, who has written a lot about the aftermath of Rome, examines here three "pretenders" who attempted to resurrect the Roman Empire in the West - Theoderic, Justinian and Charlemagne. I have an intellectual blind spot for all things Carolingian, but I found the first two sections fascinating. The final section is about how the Church finally took on the power of the Roman empire in the west. Important, but I also have a blind spot for canon law (there's a reason my career was in the early middle ages).
Anyway, I highly recommend this book, and will definitely be looking for his other work. And just about anything on the western European successors peoples to the Romans, and the migration age... my main focus of interest is definitely moving back in time.
Got this from the library because I wasn't sure about it. I needn't have worried - it's very good indeed and the fact that it's taken me nearly two months to read says more about my state of mind recently than about the book.
Heather, who has written a lot about the aftermath of Rome, examines here three "pretenders" who attempted to resurrect the Roman Empire in the West - Theoderic, Justinian and Charlemagne. I have an intellectual blind spot for all things Carolingian, but I found the first two sections fascinating. The final section is about how the Church finally took on the power of the Roman empire in the west. Important, but I also have a blind spot for canon law (there's a reason my career was in the early middle ages).
Anyway, I highly recommend this book, and will definitely be looking for his other work. And just about anything on the western European successors peoples to the Romans, and the migration age... my main focus of interest is definitely moving back in time.