The Medieval Church: From the Dawn of the Middle Ages to the Eve of the Reformation addresses questions that demonstrate the pervasive influence of the past on modern piety, practice, and beliefs. For many years this period of church history has been ignored or denigrated as being the "dark ages, " an attitude fostered by Enlightenment assumptions. Yet not only does this millennium provide a bridge to the early church, it created modern Europe, its nations, institutions, and the concept of Christendom as well. The Medieval Church, introduces the reader to the fascinating interplay of authority and dissent, the birth and development of doctrinal beliefs, the spirituality of the common person and the enduring allure of Christian mysticism. The period is filled with drama (comic and tragic), loves and hates, war and peace, brilliance and superstition heroes and villains, princes and peasants - all held together by common assumptions about Jesus Christ and the church.