Histoire du Christianisme des origines à nos jours, volume 4: Évêques, moines, et empereurs (610-1054) Edited by Gilbert Dagron, Pierre Riche, and André Vauchez. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 421 the machinations and maneuvers within the conversion paradigm; more importantly , the article also considers (dated 1966, ahead ofits time!) the serious effects of conversion upon the later development and stability of native societies . Church historians, medieval historians, and all medieval scholars, especially those of the early Middle Ages, take note: this is a volume of well-written, expertly documented, and perceptive scholarship, well worth a close read from cover to cover. June-Ann Greeley Sacred Heart University Fairfield, Connecticut Histoire du Christianisme des origines à nos jours, volume 4: Évêques, moines, et empereurs (610-1054). Edited by Gilbert Dagron, Pierre Riche, and André Vauchez. (Paris: Desclée. 1993. Pp. 1049. FF 420.) The publication of this volume brings to a completion the medieval trilogy in the ambitious series Histoire du Christianisme des origines à nos jours. The loose chronological boundaries of the present volume are provided by the death of Gregory the Great and the final schism of the western and eastern Christian churches. It is complemented by a volume, published at the same time, on the period from the schism to the Council of Lyon {Apogée de la papauté et expansion de la chrétienté [1054—1274] [1993]) and by a previously published volume on the period down to the Council of Florence (Un temps d'épreuves [1274-1449] [1990]). Similar trilogies will eventually appear on the development of Christianity and on the reformations of the early modern period, as well as a four-volume set on the modern period. The series is marked by a self-conscious and laudable intent—indicated in a sense by the use of christianisme rather than chrétienté—to include all of the varied strands of Christian churches and practice. The present volume is perhaps most notable in its dedication to the geographical aspect of that ideal. The book is divided into four parts. The first, written (except for the section on Greek churches in Italy) by Gilbert Dagron, devotes 364 pages to Byzantine Christianity. The second consists of 228 pages on the "Oriental" churches, divided into chapters on the Islamic-dominated Near East, Armenia, and Georgia. The third, largely the work of Pierre Riche, includes 260 pages on the Latin west. Finally there are 70 pages concerning the "new Christianities" of northern and eastern Europe. The text is supplemented by an impressive apparatus: ample footnotes are included, in contrast to many works of a synthetic nature; useful bibliographies (divided between sources and studies) are placed at the end of every subsection and chapter; material appended at the end of the volume includes an excellent timeline, 422 BOOK REVIEWS lists of rulers, a thoughtful glossary, and an index (of personal names only). There are also maps and illustrations scattered throughout, which are of excellent technical quality but variable utility (there are, for example, no maps in the Byzantine section, while those of western Christendom are all reproduced from elsewhere). It is, needless to say, impossible to give an adequate review of all of the varied arguments and content of the work in the space available here. Suffice it to say that the volume is a research tool of the first order, which should (along with its companions) be included in any university library and which will also, despite the hefty price, find a welcome home on the shelves of specialists. The volume presents an extraordinary amount of information and bibliography on a staggering array of subjects, all organized in an accessible manner. As indicated by the title, the choice of the authors of this volume (in sharp contrast to those of its sister volumes) has been to present the story of Christian religious history in lockstep with the history of Europe's political development. Ifthe volume has an overarching theme, it is that ofthe Christian churches' conversion of pagan neighbors and response to Islamic conquest. The volume not surprisingly suffers from the faults inherent to any such large-scale synthesis. Throughout, both in notes and bibliographies, there is a strong emphasis on works in French, followed by works in German, with those in English placing a distant third. The works of such prominent Anglophone historians as John Contreni, Thomas Noble...