Paul J. E. Kershaw . Peaceful Kings: Peace, Power, and the Early Medieval Political Imagination . New York: Oxford University Press. 2011. Pp. xvii, 313. $120.00.
Eric J. Goldberg
“After the end of Rome's control over its western provinces in fifth century, thoughts peace occupied many minds. This book is about changing character that engagement and place formulation post-Roman political ideas” (p. 1). With these words Paul J. E. Kershaw introduces central theme his important book: how ideas shaped kingship royal ideology during early Middle Ages. While earlier generations historians often assumed endemic violence warfare characterized so-called Dark Ages, demonstrates “the sheer pervasiveness peaceful rulership across medieval period” 269). Kershaw's study makes significant contributions to scholarship on culture by such as Janet L. Nelson, Gerd Althoff, Timothy Reuter, it also adds recent work neglected topic peacemaking Nicolas Offenstadt Jenny Benham....
The American Historical Review