Towns and Trade in the Age of Charlemagne (Duckworth Debates in Archaeology)
by Richard Hodges
Category: History

This book examines the important continuing discussion about the rebirth of urbanism in Carolingian Europe. Drawing upon new archaeological evidence from southern and northern Europe, Richard Hodges looks at the end of towns in Roman antiquity, the phenomenon of the Dark Age emporium, and the hotly disputed mechanisms which led to the inception of market towns during the age of Charlemagne. Much use is made, in particular, of recently excavated evidence from the Mediterranean, as well as from England. Towns and Trade in the Age of Charlemagne is an accessible introduction to a crucial debate about urban continuity or discontinuity during the Dark Ages, which has been running throughout the twentieth century. It is an essential guide for all students of the archaeology and history of the period.