ENGLISH

Leadership and community in late antique Gaul

By Raymond Van Dam

Book information

Publisher
University of California Press
Year
1985
ISBN
9780520078956
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
70 MB (73502374 bytes)
Series
Transformation of the Classical Heritage
Pages
368\372
Library
Fulcrum
Time added
2023-06-13 16:49:35

Description

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.

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