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Nowadays in France, there are hardly any signs leading to a Visigothic past, and the Frankish king Clovis who vanquished the Visigoths has been given a monumental tomb in Paris. It is that of the Visigoth kingdom of Tolosa, sandwiched in time between the Roman Empire and the Frankish kings. His first chapter is a nice starter, a nice typical story of a medieval kingdom lost in time. Not only in time, but also geographically, Davies ranges all over Europe, from the British Isles to far Eastern Europe. What’s also interesting is that many of these kingdoms arose at the edges of the Roman Empire in the times when it was falling apart. All the same, each vanished kingdom is a little human drama in and of itself. It is really interesting how these little kingdoms form the “connecting tissues” of history, tying well-known empires together in space and time, sandwiched as they are.

But the rules of history and memory still apply to it.

In fact, his final chapter is about the Soviet Union, which you could hardly call a forgotten kingdom. Davies has ordered his chapters (and kingdoms) chronologically, and not all of the kingdoms are from the Middle Ages. You can take a whole year reading the book if you want, by just reading one chapter per month.

So, while this is a doorstopper of a book, you can take it one chapter at the time. Norman Davies has collected all these histories in his book.Įach chapter deals with a new forgotten kingdom. And for a moment you are intrigued and then you slowly forget about it again because it has no bearing on your present. Maybe you know the feeling when you’re on a holiday in some corner of Europe, and you visit a castle and you read in your Lonely Planet guide about some ancient kingdom that used to exist there.