As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate disclosure.

Home / Periods / Medieval Period / Early Medieval

Period

Early Medieval

c. 476–1000 CE

The Early Medieval period is dated here from the conventional end of western Roman imperial rule in 476 to about 1000. Across these centuries former Roman provinces, Germanic kingdoms, the Byzantine Empire, the expanding Islamic world and new Christian polities developed alongside one another.

Merovingian and Carolingian rule, Lombard Italy, the early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, monastic networks and the opening centuries of Viking expansion all belong to this changing political landscape. Authority was often regional and personal, while conversion, migration, warfare, trade and dynastic competition reshaped institutions inherited from antiquity.

Related people for Early Medieval

Abd-ar-Rahman III891–961 Alfred the Great849–899 Antoninafl. 6th century; died after 565 Attilac. 5th century–453 Belisarius505–565 Cadwallon ap Cadfand. 634 Charles the Bald823–877 Cnut the Great994–1035 Constantine II of Scotlanddied 952; reigned 900–943 Edith of Wessexdied 1075 Edward the Confessordied 1066 Eric Bloodaxe895–954 Godwin, Earl of Wessexdied 1053 Harold Godwinson1022–1066 Irene of Athensc. 750/756–803 Justinian Ic. 483–565 Louis IV of France920–954 Odoacer433–493 Offa of Merciadied 796 Olaf Guthfrithsonc. 9th century–941 Procopiusc. 5th century–565 Robert of Jumiègesc. 11th century–1055 Romulus Augustusc. 460–after 507 Theodorac. 500–548 Theodoric the Great454–526 Thorfinn Turf-Einarsson910–977 William the Conqueror1028–1087 Zeno425–491 Æthelred the Unready967–1016 Æthelstan895–939

Series

Series about Early Medieval (1 series)

Sister Fidelma Mysteries in Order

by Peter Tremayne 36 books 4.2(56,018)

The Sister Fidelma mysteries follow Fidelma of Cashel, a seventh-century Irish religieuse and qualified dálaigh, or advocate of the Brehon courts. Working most often with the Saxon scholar Brother Eadulf, she investigates murders, disappearances and political conspiracies across the Five Kingdoms of Ireland and in Northumbria, Rome, Wales,…

Books

30 Best Novels About the Early Middle Ages

Non-Fiction

7 Best Non-Fiction Books About the Early Middle Ages

Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.