The Origins of the Early Medieval State

Paul Fouracre looks at the states that formed after the Fall of Rome and the early historians who questioned whether the barbarians were oppressors or liberators.

Charlemagne has a statue of the Saxon god Krodo torn down, while a church is built in its place. Engraving by Matthäus Merian the Elder, 1630.Historians, it seems, like to complicate things.

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