Religion and Society in the Medieval West, 600-1200

Book excerpt: The papers reprinted here all have to do with the very varied ways in which religion made an impact upon, or was intertwined with, political and social life. They span the period from 600 to 1200, with particular points of focus on early Anglo-Saxon England, Charlemagne, the Ottonian empire, and 12th-century England. In these articles, the Oxford historian Henry Mayr-Harting explores the religion of secular rulers, the religion (or relative lack of it) of bishops and churches, the religion of custodians at shrines or of recluses or artists, as well as religious phenomena such as angelic apparitions, conversion, or apocalypticism.