Book excerpt: This first general survey of European naval and maritime history for theperiod from A.D. 300 to 1500 focuses on Western Europe, including the Baltic, NorthSea, and Atlantic traditions, and on the Mediterranean, particularly Byzantine andMoslem naval history. The authors survey a number of interconnected areas: the useof seapower in international and intercultural relations, commerce and trade routes, naval technology and design, military tactics, the physical features of seafaring, and the geography of the sea. They make accessible to the general reader verytechnical scholarship, and provide numerous maps and illustrations that explain thechanges in ship design and construction. The overall result is a powerful historicalsynthesis whiich gives students, teachers, and general readers a "feel" for theseafaring life and the place of the sea within medieval civilization.