The Rise of Western Christendom (eBook)

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).

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

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

"This book remains a classic, easily the most fascinating introduction to the field for anyone new to it, and also capable of forcing experts into taking on new ideas; a summation of Peter Brown's mould-breaking work."
--Chris Wickham, University of Oxford

"Interpretations of late antiquity and of western Christendom have changed dramatically in the last decade. This anniversary edition explains the changes with Peter Brown's characteristic brilliance and range of learning."
--Gillian Clark, University of Bristol