The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages

“A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year”
“Bobrycki has devoted himself to a blessedly old-fashioned kind of scholarship, digging through ever-finer shades of meaning, sifting through all the Latin terms that refer to crowds and mobs and gatherings. If you have long wanted to discern the subtle differences in medieval Europe between vulgus, plebs, turba, populus, and rustici, here at last is the book to assist you. And these differences do indeed have weight and significance.”—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
“A superb study.”—Levi Roach, History Today
“Excellent… . A fascinating window into an often-misunderstood period of Western European history.”—Anthony Webb, Popular History Books
“Highly recommended for readers seeking a more comprehensive perspective on the early medieval world. It highlights the significant, yet often overlooked, role of crowds during this period.”—Daniëlle Slootjes, American Historical Review
“A richly informed tour de force that compellingly brings the early Middle Ages into a larger historical discourse.”—Rory Naismith, Early Medieval Europe
“Bobrycki makes a very good case for the distinctiveness of the ‘crowd regime’ of the early Middle Ages, distinct both from what came before and what would come after… . [A] convincing, thought-provoking, and readable monograph.”—Lucy Grig, Medieval Review
“Sure to become the starting point for advanced students and scholars wanting to understand gatherings in Western and Central Europe… . Highly recommended.” * Choice *
“It is an important book, valuable work, with deep and mature reflection evidenced through an engagement with a wide constellation of materials and sources. It will set the standard for a generation at least and provide a new starting point for scholars working on social and cultural movements and people and their actions and impulses when in crowds.”—Christopher Heath, Al-Masaq
“The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages is an illuminating work… . Bobrycki’s study proves crowds are a valuable window through which to observe early medieval history.”—Paolo Squatriti, Studies in Late Antiquity

Shane Bobrycki is assistant professor of history at the University of Iowa.

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