Those are all great points, and illustrates that history is an interpretive and analytical art. While I certainly hve no objections to your agruments, regardless I still see the final Byzantine emperors as inheritors of old Roman authority, and besides which, having commonly accepted dates are very useful for a frame of reference.
> While we're talking about history, I have a question for you: if I am > only going to read five books about the Middle Ages, which five should > they be to gain the greatest understanding? I would definitely start with a general, broad overview of the period. There are several books of this type, but I prefer Hollister's _Medieval_ Europe for accessability, scholarship, and ease of reading (Hollister can sometimes be a little humorous, believe it or not). Second, I would look at something about feudalism to understand how tis functioned in larger medieval society. I reccommend Carl Stephenson's _Medaeval Feudalism_, which is simply written and very clear (and designed for beginning students). Perhaps you might want to follow up with Bloch's _Medieval Society_, which is altogether excellent (Bloch is a big name in the field, and is very influential along with his colleagues in the _Annales_ school of historical methodology) 3rd, I would look at something that deals with church history in a broad way.A good title to look at is _Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages_ by Southern. After that, you can really branch out into a number of different directions, in whatever really interests you. If you're interested in daily life, picking up a number of Gies & Gies' _Life in a Medieval (Village, Castle, City, etc) would be interesting. If you have an interest in military history, currently Contamine's _Medieval Warfare_ is still the standard. Oh yes, picking up a copy of Haskin's _The Rennaisance of the 12th Century_ is good too. I always reccommend picking up a primary source to read at the end to get an idea as to the "mentality" of people during this age. I like Galbert of Bruges _The Murder of Charles the Good_ since its in a period I'm very interested in (early 12th C), has lots of action, and is insightful in a number of ways. But other books, such as _The Book of Margery Kempe_ and anything by Christian de Pisan would be good. Damon. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
