"R.H.C. Davis was one of the finest historians of his generation, and A History of Medieval Europe: From Constantine to Saint Louis has been recognized for fifty years as the clearest, most authoritative and most approachable introduction to medieval history. Davis's exploration of the Dark Ages examines the impact of the Barbarian invasions on Constantine's Christianized empire, and the gradual emergence of a new social, economic, and political order. He discusses the Church and the Papacy, the coming of Islam, and the rise and fall of the Frankish Empire. In his consideration of the High Middle Ages, Davis takes the reader from the Saxon Empire through to an examination of the European economy in the mid-thirteenth century, addressing the spread of monasticism, the papal reform, the crusades, and feudal monarchy."--Back cover.