On the pages of Wallace-Hedrill, Europe appears before the reader after the formation of the barbarian kingdoms in the period from the end of the 4th century until the beginning of the 10th century AD. And the main question that the author of this book asks is: did the barbarians really come to the place of the destroyed Roman Empire, building their states from scratch and implementing their civilizational model, or were they guided by the idea of reviving the Empire, where the Roman heritage played an important role. Even if the previous model of civilization found itself in a modified form: the Roman Empire without the Romans and even the Empire of Christians - “Imperium Christianum”. Table of contents: Preface to the Russian edition Preface • Chapter 1. Introduction • Chapter 2. Our sea • Chapter 3. Italy and the Lombards • Chapter 4. Franks (1)•Chapter 5. Franks (2)•Chapter 6. Christian EmpireBibliography