Dan Jones, Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages (Head Zeus / Apollo Books, 2021)
Dan Jones' new 700 page popular history of the
Middle Ages, Powers and Thrones, covers more than 1000 years and every
continent except Australasia and Antarctica.
Jones promises it is going to be fun, both
entertaining and informing.
He calls his lengthy tome hopelessly short
considering its vast scope. Endnotes and a bibliography allow the reader to
follow up themes of interest.
Jones traces the term "middle age"
(between antiquity and the modern Reformation era) to the Protestant historian John
Foxe of Book of Martyrs fame.
The story is going to include climate change, mass
migration, a pandemic, technological change and powerful global networks.
Epigram: Ecclesiastes 1:9-10.
An opening chapter
considers Rome as the foundation of the Medieval West. Slavery is prominent in
this story. A fit young human being imported from Gaul across the British Sea
and sold in Londinium might have fetched 600 denarii (about twice the annual
wage of an ordinary soldier), if he or she was hard working or good looking.
The elite lived in luxury
with their silver ear wax scrapers.
The amazing Hoxne Hoard (now
displayed in the British Museum) was discovered in 1992 by metal detectorists looking
for a lost hammer.
The unique extent / shape of
the Roman empire (p16)
Rome’s most striking feature
was an extraordinary and enduring military strength. A warrior culture infused
politics (p17). 2 to 4% of GDP was spent on the military but this was well over
half the state budget. The US today spends around 3.1% but this is only 15% of
the federal budget. Both Rome and the USA could bring a rocket launcher to a
fist fight so it was best not to mess with them (p17). Soldiers who failed to
stand their ground in battle might be cudgelled or stoned to death by their
fellows and decimation was used to promote discipline (p18)
The golden age of stability
and prosperity Pax Romana lasted for 200 years following Augustus’ accession in
27 BC (p21).
Non-ethic Romans could
join the army and be assimilated to the empire. Values mattered more than birthplace
and multiple identities could be tolerated (p25).
The Year of the Four
Emperors (p25)
Vespasian, a former slave
trader, was known as the mule driver. He had castrated young boys so as to sell
them at a premium. Casual brutality was all pervasive. Slaves were socially
dead. Rome (like ancient Greece, Brazil, the colonial Caribbean and the
antebellum South) was one of the few true slave states. In Augustus’ time,
there may have been 2 million slaves in the Italian peninsular, about ¼ of the
population, performing every imaginable role except ruling. Slaves could be
worked as hard as the owner saw fit, bred and beaten like pigs or cattle and
eventually set free or merely abandoned. No one really questioned slavery and
Hadrian and Constantine I made rare attempts to limit the most gross abuse.
Rome would remain a potent
cultural brand (p30).
The importance of Latin
(p32f) and Law (p33f).
Eusebius on the torture of
Christians (p36)
The term Diocese (the area
ruled by a bishop) ironically owes its name to the arch persecutor the Emperor Diocletian
who divided the Empire into secular diocese for ease of administration.
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