Europe: The Emergence of an Idea

by Denys Hay

. 1957, bright clean copy, with dustjacket, ex school lib plate on endpaper, no other markings, Professional booksellers since 1981

Genres: History, Nonfiction

151 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Denys Hay was a historian specializing in medieval and Renaissance Europe, and notable for demonstrating the influence of Italy on events in the rest of the continent. He taught at the University of Edinburgh from 1954, eventually becoming Professor of Medieval History until he retired in 1980, and is remembered with the "Denys Hay Seminar" there. His final posting was to the European University Institute in Florence, where he was Professor in the History Department.

Reviews

[Freddie Bishop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, but the narrative and points are scattered and the book doesn’t really ever tie up all the loose threads of arguments.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

While heavily dated and occasionally politically incorrect by modern standards, this is a very fascinating series of essays in the origins of "Europe " written at a time when modern European unity was in its infancy.

[Candace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating discussion of the development of a notion of place. Very worthwhile read.

[Cameron Climie · Rating 2 out of 5]

a book that posits a number of interesting historical reasons for the emergence of europe - particularly the gradual disengagement of Catholicism from extra-European christianity and the decentralization of religious power to the state - but never really succeeds in tying them all together. Consequently, it reads as a somewhat disjointed series of historical treatises on Christendom and Europe that lacks a coherent narrative or argument to it.