Sky here with another episode of the History and Plug podcast.

Europe's borders in the Middle Ages were created by one man, and he wasn't even born in the

Middle Ages, nor was a Christian. It was Emperor Diocletian, who ruled Rome from 284 to 305.

His reforms chained tenant farmers to land, which created the blueprint

for feudalism. He split the empire, which established the East-West divide. Lastly, he shifted

from static Roman legions to mobile armies, which set the stage for the warrior kingdoms that would

dominate the early Middle Ages. Today, new genetic analysis of skeletal and tooth remains is revolutionizing how we understand

this transformation.

For example, we found that a high status woman buried around 550 at Bombur, England,

was born in Norway, according to her childhood tooth animal, proving the barbarian invasions

were actually century-long migrations averaging just a few miles per day.

We're going to look at the geography of medieval Europe from 500 to 1,000, which is a very poorly understood period of history.

Today's guest is John Haywood, author of The Making in the Middle Ages, an Atlas of Europe.

We discuss how Europe from 500 to

700 was ruled by warrior kingdoms with mobile courts that constantly traveled, and only shifted

to fixed courts and proper imperial administration after Charlemagne established counties, libraries,

and trading centers. We also look at how the density of churches and monasteries north of the

Alps exploded between 600 and 1,200,

as the Catholic Church consolidated power across formerly pagan Germanic territories.

Most of all, we see that there was incredible continuity with the Roman Empire after its collapse,

and Europe only became what we understood the Middle Ages to be after centuries and centuries and centuries of transformation.

Hope we enjoyed this discussion with John Haywood.

...