First in a new Cambridge textbook series on the history of Europe, this volume is unique in offering a complete overview of the key themes and developments from the end of antiquity to the twelfth century. Matthew Innes examines and links the extant research on two pivotal sections of history, early middle ages and the 'long twelfth century', and, by doing this, reshapes the established frameworks of interpretation for the period, offering new viewpoints for further debate. This undergraduate textbook has a thematic approach and provides individual and comparative analyses of developments throughout Europe in an easily accessible, student-friendly format complete with explicit cross-references and subheads to enable swift access to relevant information. It is also linked to a website, which has documents and sources, tables, music examples, continually updated bibliographies and links to other relevant sites.