The rocky path to Christian dominance in Europe

Mutilated, strangled, suffocated or beaten to death: these are just some of the methods used to get rid of popes in the early medieval period. An incredible 33 per cent of all anointed popes between 872 and 1012 died in suspicious circumstances. It’s safe to say that the path to Christian dominance in Europe was rocky at times.

Peter Heather’s revisionist history of the rise of medieval Christendom directs attention to these moments. Though the subtitle is ‘The Triumph of a Religion’, his account is anything but triumphalist. In fact his argument gains momentum through the challenge it poses to simplistic accounts of Christian ascendency.

The dominant historical narratives written in 20th-century Britain went like this: Christianity spread from Palestine across Europe from the 4th century onwards, through a gradual, constant process of personal conversion, underwritten by the truth of Christian doctrine. By contrast, Heather explores the pragmatic, administrative ways in which Christianity gained power. This is not to say that he downplays the significance of individual belief, but he reminds us to consider the leap from private spirituality to an institutional, hegemonic ruling system. It is the latter which is his subject: Christendom as a political entity, with a hold across the European continent.

The link between Christianity and Europe continues to define global politics. Heather destabilises this link at its origin, showing how Christian supremacy was far from inevitable, and how state power shaped the trajectory of the religion. As such, although this is definitely a book which will be useful to anyone who wants to tell their Visigoths from their Vandals, the relevance of the author’s argument demands a much broader audience.