This tenth anniversary revised edition of the authoritative text on Christianity's first thousand years of history features a new preface, additional color images, and an updated bibliography. The essential general survey of medieval European Christendom, Brown's vivid prose charts the compelling and tumultuous rise of an institution that came to wield enormous religious and secular power.
Clear and vivid history of Christianity's rise and its pivotal role in the making of Europe
Written by the celebrated Princeton scholar who originated of the field of study known as 'late antiquity'
Includes a fully updated bibliography and index
List of Illustrations ix
Preface to the Tenth Anniversary Revised Edition xi
Preface to the Second Edition xlviii
Introduction 1
Part I Empire and Aftermath: A.D. 200-500 35
1 "The Laws of Countries": Prologue and Overview 37
2 Christianity and Empire 54
3 Tempora Christiana: Christian Times 72
4 Virtutes sanctorum . . . strages gentium: "Deeds of Saints . . . Slaughter of Nations" 93
5 On the Frontiers: Noricum, Ireland, and Francia 123
Part II Divergent Legacies: A.D. 500-600 143
6 Reverentia, rusticitas: Caesarius of Arles to Gregory of Tours 145
7 Bishops, City, and Desert: East Rome 166
8 Regimen animarum: Gregory the Great 190
Part III The End of Ancient Christianity: A.D. 600-750 217
9 Powerhouses of Prayer: Monasticism in Western Europe 219
10 The Making of a Sapiens: Religion and Culture in Continental Europe and in Ireland 232
11 Medicamenta paenitentiae: Columbanus 248
12 Christianity in Asia and the Rise of Islam 267
13 "The Changing of the Kingdoms": Christians under Islam 295
14 Christianities of the North: Ireland 321
15 Christianities of the North: The Saxons of Britain 340
16 Micro-Christendoms 355
Part IV New Christendoms: A.D. 750-1000 381
17 The Crisis of the Image: The Byzantine Iconoclast Controversy 383
18 The Closing of the Frontier: Frisia and Germany 408
19 "To Rule the Christian People": Charlemagne 434
20 In gear dagum, "In Days of Yore": Northern Christendom and its Past 464
Notes 490
Coordinated Chronological Tables 573
Bibliography 578
Primary Sources 578
Secondary Sources 589
Index 632
