Early Medieval Spain (New Studies in Medieval History) [Paperback]

Roger Collins (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 031212662X | ISBN-13: 978-0312126629 | Publication Date: July 15, 1995 | Edition: 2nd

In Spain the 1980s and 1990s have seen a dramatic revival of regional aspirations towards greater self-expression and increased political autonomy, following a period of rigid centralisation of government in Madrid and the attempted imposition of cultural uniformity. This tension between the ethnic and cultural diversity of the different regions of the Iberian peninsula and the attempts of various rulers to impose political and 'national' unity goes back to at least the time of the Roman Empire. In the period covered in this book there occurred many of the major events that shaped the subsequent history of Spain: the unification of the peninsula under Rome, the attempted imposition of a unitary Christian culture under the Visigoths, and the shattering of both of these by Arab conquest in 711. At the same time the Basque and Catalan national identities began to take shape, and the resistance to the Arab conquest by the Asturians, Galicians, Leonese and Castillians formed these and other distinctive components of the Hispanic cultural mix. In this fully corrected, revised and partly rewritten version of this authoritative study, first published in 1983, account has been taken of the substantial new research undertaken on all relevant periods of Spanish history since the first edition. In particular, the discussion of the Arab conquest and its impact has been entirely reconsidered. The bibliography and notes have been fully updated. Some challenging new interpretations are also presented here for the first time. This volume forms a companion to Angus MacKay's Spain in the Middle Ages: From Frontier to Empire, 1000-1500, from the same publishers, and contains maps, genealogical tables, alist of rulers, full references and bibliographies.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Roger Collins is at the Department of History, University of Edinburgh.

Anthony Goodman is at the Department of History, University of Edinburgh.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 2nd edition (July 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031212662X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312126629
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,343,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It should be "Iberia", not "Spain", December 19, 1999

By 

M. Ramos "macoram" (Funchal, Madeira Island Portugal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Early Medieval Spain (New Studies in Medieval History) (Paperback)

Although I found the book very useful and reliable for research of early medieval Iberia, I must emphasize the following: The use of "Spain" to indicate the Iberian Peninsula (and vice-versa) is not correct since in our times it refers only to one of the countries located there. Living in the Iberian Peninsula throughout the whole timespan covered by this book there were NOT ONLY the ancestors of the Spanish but also of the Portuguese people. Everybody knows (and obviously also the authors of the book) that until the XV century there was NOT a single country named "Spain" (just a series of kingdoms which would unite under such name)! Even Portugal, one of the oldest countries in Europe still mantaining its original borders, was not a independent country until the XII century, just three centuries before Spain...