This wide-ranging study explores the emergence of the idea of Europe and its transformation over time. Geremek shows how, in the Middle Ages, the term "Europe" first came to be used to indicate a geographical place. It was only towards the end of this period that the concept of a cultural and historical entity called "Europe" began to take shape, and the term was used more and more widely in historical and philosophical works. He argues that "Europe" was now no longer synonymous with the word "Christianity": it had become something more specific. Geremek claims that, in Western Europe today, the sense of belonging to European civilization is felt less strongly than in the countries of Central Europe. He suggests that it is in everyone's interest to understand Europe in a wider sense, not just as a geographical concept, but as a political and cultural one too. He discusses unity, variety and collective identity in medieval Europe, social and economic structures in East and West, and the continuity and change in European identity in the intervening centuries.
The book should be useful to students and researchers in medieval history, European Studies, and to anyone interested in the social and cultural history of Europe.
- ISBN10 0745611214
- ISBN13 9780745611211
- Publish Date 22 August 1996
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 1 April 2003
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Polity Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 180
- Language English