A reviewer at the University of Oxford said Wickham's analysis is potent for challenging "two of the predominant misconceptions held about the Middle Ages; firstly, that the 10 centuries or so that spanned between the fall of Rome and Renaissance were wholly unsophisticated and brutal [...] and secondly that this period acted as the birthing of what we may call a 'modern nation'".

"[2] Tyler Cowen lauded it as one of the best history books he had ever read, praising its “[fluid] integration of historical and archeological sources” and its “illuminating discussion of how family control made it incentive-compatible to invest so much wealth in monasteries”, among other things.

[3] In The Telegraph, Dominic Sandbrook dubbed The Inheritance of Rome a "worthy competitor" to Gibbon's history, commending "Wickham's awe-inspiring command of his sources" and "vast geographical and comparative range, so that we get a sense not just of one society, but of half a dozen or more".

The Guardian's Ian Mortimer praised the book for providing information that challenges common generalizations about the period and said, "The breadth of reading is astounding, the knowledge displayed is awe-inspiring, and the attention quietly given to critical theory and the postmodern questioning of evidence is both careful and sincere."

He criticized the section on the Merovingian era as "replete with names and dates, but utterly lacking in significant context, motivation, or revelation", considering this evidence the Early Middle Ages are indeed a period obscured by a dearth of reliable information despite Wickham's view.