Challenging the Boundaries of Medieval History

How is the history of medieval Europe written? What national discourses shape the editing of medieval texts and their interpretation in historiography? And how can medieval historians confront these questions by reintegrating their fragmented field through the use of comparison and critiques across national boundaries? In his work, Timothy Reuter regularly posed these challenges to his colleagues, acting as a bridge between the historians of England and Germany, working on an edition of the letters of Wibald of Stavelot (whose own career took him to many of the power centres of medieval Europe), and positioning medieval Europe in the wider discourses of world history. The essays collected here provide a response to this challenge. Dedicated to Prof. Reuter's memory and in some cases directly continuing his work, all are explicitly comparative in their approach. All of the authors take as their starting point the need to be conscious of the situation from which they themselves are writing and to be sensitive to the training traditions which have shaped their own interpretations. This book shows medieval historians at work, questioning and reflecting on their practice. As well as being of value to specialists in the field, the essays are written in an approachable style and will therefore be of value as a teaching tool to undergraduate and graduate students.