Includes bibliographical references (pages 578-631) and index

"The Laws of Countries": Prologue and overview -- Christianity and Empire -- Tempora Christiana: Christian Times -- Virtutes sanctorum ... strages gentium: "Deeds of Saints ... Slaughter of Nations" -- On the Frontiers: Noricum, Ireland, and Francia -- Reverentia, rusticitas: Caesarius of Arles to Gregory of Tours -- Bishops, City, and Desert: East Rome -- Regimen animarum: Gregory the Great -- Powerhouses of Prayer: Monasticism in Western Europe -- The Making of Sapiens: Religion and Culture in Continental Europe and in Ireland -- Medicamenta paenitentiae: Columbanus -- Christianity in Asia and the Rise of Islam -- "The Changing of the Kingdoms": Christians under Islam -- Christianities of the North: Ireland -- Christianities of the North: the Saxons of Britain -- Micro-Christendoms -- The Crisis of the Image: the Byzantine Iconoclast Controversy -- The Closing of the Frontier: Frisia and Germany -- "To Rule the Christian People": Charlemagne -- In geār dagum, "In Days of Yore": Northern Christendom and its Past

This book offers a vivid, compelling history of the first thousand years of Christianity. For the second edition, the book has been thoroughly rewritten and expanded. It includes two new chapters, as well as an extensive preface in which the author reflects on the scholarly traditions which have influenced his work and explains his current thinking about the book's themes. New edition of popular account of the first 1000 years of Christianity. Thoroughly rewritten, with extensive new preface of author's current thinking. Includes new maps, substantial bibliography, and numerous chronological tables