Ten Lifetimes

Psalm 90:10 teaches: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten ...." Taking 70 years as a hypothetical lifetime, this book divides the period 395-1095 CE into ten lifetimes; that is, ten successive lifetimes in which one hypothetical person is born just as her predecessor turns 70 years old and dies. It focuses primarily on Western Europe, although it occasionally reaches out to Eastern Europe, Western Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa to pick up stories that are...
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Psalm 90:10 teaches: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten ...." Taking 70 years as a hypothetical lifetime, this book divides the period 395-1095 CE into ten lifetimes; that is, ten successive lifetimes in which one hypothetical person is born just as her predecessor turns 70 years old and dies. It focuses primarily on Western Europe, although it occasionally reaches out to Eastern Europe, Western Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa to pick up stories that are particularly important or interesting. The book does not pretend to be a comprehensive history of any region or era, nor does it break new ground. With the exception of a short description of feudalism, it is not an analysis of social, economic, cultural, technological, or political trends or institutions, nor is it a study of the rhythms and structures of medieval daily life. Instead, as its subtitle indicates, it is a collection of brief stories about people who lived, or events that occurred, within each 70-year lifetime. These stories provide insight into the Early Middle Ages, while the "lifetime" format provides a way to structure that insight. Ten Lifetimes is the second book of the Lifetimes trilogy: Six Lifetimes: Stories from the Roman Empire; Ten Lifetimes: Stories from the Early Middle Ages; and Five Lifetimes: Stories from the High and Late Middle Ages.