This provocative book shows that Europe in the Middle Ages was as much a product of a process of conquest and colonization as it was later a colonizer. "Will be of great interest to. . . . (those) interested in cultural transformation, colonialism, racism, the Crusades, or holy wars in general. . . ".--William C. Jordan, Princeton University. 12 halftones, 12 maps, 6 diagrams.

From our twentieth-century perspective, we tend to think of the Europe of the past as a colonizer, a series of empires that conquered lands beyond their borders and forced European cultural values on other peoples. This provocative book shows that Europe in the Middle Ages was as much a product of a process of conquest and colonization as it was later a colonizer.