Acknowledgements . viiList of Abbreviations . ixNotes on Contributors . xiPreface . xiii1. Restless Peasants and Scornful Lords: Lay Hostility to Holy Men and the Church in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages . 1Peter Sarris2. Methodology, Authority and Spontaneity: Sources of Spiritual Truthfulness in Late Antique Texts and Life .

11Peter Turner3. The Cult of Saints and Religious Processions in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages . 36Peter Kritzinger4. Augustine, Donatists and Martyrdom . 49Collin Garbarino5. Excluded from Power? The Boundaries of Orthodoxy in the Works of Athanasius and John of Ephesus . 62Philip Wood6. The Conversion of King Caleb and the Religious and Political Dynamics of Sixth-Century Ethiopia and Southern Arabia .

77Ralph Lee7. The Emergence of Martyrs' Shrines In Late Antique Iran: Conflict, Consensus and Communal Institutions . 89Richard Payne8. Orthodox and Heretic in the Early Byzantine Cult(s) of Saints Cosmas and Damian . 114Phil Booth9. The God-Protected Empire? Scepticism towards the Cult of Saints in Early Byzantium . 129Matthew Dal Santo10. Images of Authority? Imperial Patronage of Icons from Justinian II to Leo III .

150Mike Humphreys11. Hagiography as an Instrument for Political Claims in Carolingian Northern Italy: The Saint Syrus Dossier (BHL 7976 and 7978) . 169Giorgia Vocino12. Relics and Texts: Hagiography and Authority in Ninth-Century Francia . 187Gerda Heydemann13. Conclusion: An Age of Saints? Power, Conflict and Dissent in Early Medieval Christianity . 205Matthew Dal Santo and Phil BoothSelect Bibliography . 215Index .

219.