This history of Germany in the Dark Ages and Medieval eras chronicles the birth and progress of the nation through a series of short biographies of Frankish and Teutonic kings.
The area which spans modern Germany is the author's main concern, with foreign policy and events outside this geography mentioned only sparingly. We are led through centuries of development beginning with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the subsequent rise of the Frankish people. Most notably under King Charlemagne, the Franks restored order to the continent and began to organize their territories in a manner that would eventually result in feudalism.
This process of social, economic and organizational change is charted through a long line of kings who ruled during and after the Frankish Empire. Their most noteworthy accomplishments, and their costliest flaws, are chronicled in a manner which strives to be even-handed: we are shown how the development of the Germanic society from tribal to feudal was long, complex and riddled with bloody conflict and setbacks.
As a professor of history in Oxford University, William Stubbs was among the foremost authorities of his generation. A special chapter is devoted to comparing the author's native England with Germany; the social and hierarchical differences of the two nations in the Middle Ages are set out in a thought-provoking fashion.