I must point out that my gratitude to those who have helped and encouraged me in this task of rewriting is implicit in almost every note of this book. For years now, the books of friends and colleagues have been my constant companions, my educators, and my delight. I trust that they will recognize themselves in all that is good in this book – and not in its errors, which are mine. But some have done far more. Julia Smith, in particular, has read many of its chapters. She has prompted me as much by her example as a historian of the early Middle Ages as by her generosity in offering advice and access to recent publications concerning almost every topic touched upon in the later parts of this book. Lisa Bailey (herself a student of the “applied Christianity” of the age) has performed a truly “Cassiodoran” labor in preparing the bibliographies and in helping to make the maps and chronological tables as “user-friendly” as possible. Above all, my wife Betsy has not only accompanied me undismayed on the travels which led, in part, to the writing of this book. She has read all of it with an eye to clarity and to presentation. But more than that: she has inspired all of it by her presence and by her rare joy in knowledge. It is dedicated to her.
Princeton,
January 12, 2002.