The rise of Christianity to the dominant position it held in the Middle Ages remains a paradoxical achievement. Early Christian communities in Gaul had been so restrictive that they sometimes persecuted misfits with accusations of heresy. Yet by the fifth century Gallic aristocrats were becoming bishops to enhance their prestige; and by the sixth century Christian relic cults provided the most comprehensive idiom for articulating values and conventions. To strengthen its appeal, Christianity had absorbed the ideologies of secular authority already familiar in Gallic society.

Raymond Van Dam is Associate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

"Gracefully written and informed by anthropological and social studies, in addition to the traditional sources . . . a fine example of the 'new history' which all historians of Christianity should be noting."—Elizabeth A. Clark, Religious Studies

"An outstanding contribution. . . . Here is a fine picture of Gaul in late Roman and early medieval times. . . . I highly recommend this book."—Stephen Benko, American Historical Review