The Early Medieval World: From the Fall of Rome to the Time of Charlemagne is a comprehensive two-volume reference work that provides 250 in-depth introductory entries discussing the rich social and material culture of early medieval Europe. The encyclopedia depicts the era from the fall of the western Roman Empire to the fall of the Carolingians as a transformative period, in clear contrast to the traditional image of the period as the “Dark Ages”—a time of general barbarity and ignorance.

The work begins with an introductory essay on the historiography of the early medieval world and includes an accessible historical overview of this period. A comprehensive 13-page chronology follows, starting at 305 CE with the retirement of Emperors Diocletian and Maximian and ending with the writing of Beowulf in 1000 CE

The alphabetically arranged entries, all of which were written by Frasetto, detail the laws and governments, barbarian peoples and dynasties, leaders, religions, major battles, and cultural and intellectual trends of this influential period. Almost all entries are 2–8 pages in length and include cross-references and a bibliography of print and online sources for further reading. Frasetto presents a remarkable breadth of topics ranging from marriage in the early medieval world, barbarian art, monasticism, to dozens of entries describing key personalities and groups of people, such as Clovis, the Visigoths, and Gregory I. The encyclopedia concludes with dozens of primary document excerpts, an appendix listing the rulers of early medieval Europe, an extensive 20 page bibliography, and an index.

The Early Medieval World compares favorably with other works in the field, such as John M. Jeep’s Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia (Garland, 2001), E. Michael Gerli’s Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia (Routledge, 2003), Sean Duffy’s Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia (Routledge, 2005), and Paul Szarmach’s Medieval England: An Encyclopedia (Garland, 1998), however The Early Medieval World is a unique offering because of its broad geographical and specific focus on the early medieval period. Libraries that already own Frasetto’s previously published work, Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe (ABC-CLIO, 2003) may not want to purchase The Early Medieval World because much of the content is duplicated. Recommended for the reference collections of public and academic libraries as well as for high school libraries.