Peter Brown is Emeritus Professor of History at Princeton University. He is a celebrated scholar and author of numerous seminal historical works, which include Augustine of Hippo (1967, 2000), The World of Late Antiquity (1971), The Cult of the Saints (1982), The Body and Society (1988), Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire (1992), Authority and the Sacred: Aspects of the Christianization of the Roman World (1995), Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire (2002), and the forthcoming Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD (2012).

"Summing Up. Highly recommended. Especially libraries that lack the second edition; lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers." (Choice, 1 September 2013)

• List of Illustrations ixPreface to the Tenth Anniversary Revised Edition xiPreface to the Second Edition xlviiiIntroduction 1Part I Empire and Aftermath: A.D. 200–500 351 “The Laws of Countries”: Prologue and Overview 372 Christianity and Empire 543 Tempora Christiana: Christian Times 724 Virtutes sanctorum . . . strages gentium: “Deeds of Saints . . . Slaughter of Nations” 935 On the Frontiers: Noricum, Ireland, and Francia 123Part II Divergent Legacies: A.D. 500–600 1436 Reverentia, rusticitas: Caesarius of Arles to Gregory of Tours 1457 Bishops, City, and Desert: East Rome 1668 Regimen animarum: Gregory the Great 190Part III The End of Ancient Christianity: A.D. 600–750 2179 Powerhouses of Prayer: Monasticism in Western Europe 21910 The Making of a Sapiens: Religion and Culture in Continental Europe and in Ireland 23211 Medicamenta paenitentiae: Columbanus 24812 Christianity in Asia and the Rise of Islam 26713 “The Changing of the Kingdoms”: Christians under Islam 29514 Christianities of the North: Ireland 32115 Christianities of the North: The Saxons of Britain 34016 Micro-Christendoms 355Part IV New Christendoms: A.D. 750–1000 38117 The Crisis of the Image: The Byzantine Iconoclast Controversy 38318 The Closing of the Frontier: Frisia and Germany 40819 “To Rule the Christian People”: Charlemagne 43420 In geār dagum, “In Days of Yore”: Northern Christendom and its Past 464Notes 490Coordinated Chronological Tables 573Bibliography 578Primary Sources 578Secondary Sources 589Index 632