A conversation with Peter Heather (King's College, London) about his new book Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300 (New York: Knopf, 2023). Peter is one of the leading historians of the fall of the western Roman empire and the emergence there of the post-Roman, "barbarian" kingdoms. He now brings a revisionist approach to the emergence of the Church in (mostly western) Europe. This book covers a lot of ground, and so we focus on the early period, where his arguments affect the east too. We talk about the role of contingency, the near-miss of Homoian Christianity, the decisive role of secular rulers, and much more.
116. Africa and Byzantium, with Andrea Myers Achi
115. Imaginary Byzantiums in modern Russia, with Eugene Smelyansky
114. Byzantium and the early Rus’, with Monica White
113. The emperor’s clothing and public appearances, with Maria Parani
112. Crisis and resilience in late antique Rome, with Michele Salzman
111. Inheriting the mantle of the Roman empire, with Nathan Aschenbrenner
110. Justinian: statecraft, law, and self-glorification, with Peter Sarris
109. The discovery of Constantinople, with Sarah Bassett
108. Who is ‘Islamic History’ about?, with Christian Sahner
107. Shifty Greeks, Arrogant Latins: Polemical authors and the schism of the Churches, with Alessandra Bucossi
106. Medieval Europe without a “core”, with Christian Raffensperger
105. So you’re the Roman emperor... now what?, with Olivier Hekster
104. Byzantine law, its experts, and its languages, with Daphne Penna
103. About time, with Jesse Torgerson
102. Byzantium and Balkan national identities, with Diana Mishkova
101. How to de-colonize Byzantine Studies, with Ben Anderson and Mirela Ivanova
100. Our new book on the armies, and on revisionism in history, with Marion Kruse
98. Egyptian hieroglyphs in late antiquity, with Jennifer Westerfeld
97. The remarkable world of hospitals, orphanages, and leprosaria, with Tim Miller
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Everything Everywhere Daily