The Formation of Christendom

by Judith Herrin

A groundbreaking history of how the Christian “West” emerged from the ancient Mediterranean world

In this acclaimed history of Early Christendom, Judith Herrin shows how―from the sack of Rome in 410 to the coronation of Charlemagne in 800―the Christian “West” grew out of an ancient Mediterranean world divided between the Roman west, the Byzantine east, and the Muslim south. Demonstrating that religion was the period’s defining force, she reveals how the clash over graven images, banned by Islam, both provoked iconoclasm in Constantinople and generated a distinct western commitment to Christian pictorial narrative. In a new preface, Herrin discusses the book’s origins, reception, and influence.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Medieval, Church History, European History

544 pages, Paperback

First published July 21, 1987

About the author

Judith Herrin studied history at the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham, receiving her doctorate from the latter; she has also worked in Athens, Paris and Munich, and held the post of Stanley J. Seeger Professor in Byzantine History, Princeton University before taking up her appointment as the second Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King's. Upon her retirement in 2008 she became a Research Fellow in the Department.

She is best known for her books, The Formation of Christendom (London 1989), Women in Purple (London, 2000), and Byzantium: the Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire (London, 2007); she has also published widely on Byzantine archaeology and other fields. Her current research interests include women in Byzantium and Byzantium in relation to Islam and the West. In 2002 she was awarded the Golden Cross of Honour by the President of the Hellenic Republic of Greece.

Reviews

[Suzannah Rowntree · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to historical writing, there's definitely a scale reaching from "dry academic" to "readable popular" history. THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOM falls slightly toward the academic end of the spectrum. For example, you would be best served to read a good, racy history of Byzantium before tackling it (I can recommend John Julius Norwich's SHORT HISTORY OF BYZANTIUM) and even then, you might find this book somewhat chewy. However, while this is not the most accessible history book I've ever read, it's also far from being the driest. And as I kept telling everyone who would listen, it's an extremely important book.

Judith Herrin is a rare bird among medieval historians in that she seems sensitive and sympathetic about the importance of religion to the medieval world without taking sides, whether Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOM tackles history from roughly 312 to 843, tracing the dismantling of the Roman empire and its division among three main heirs: the papal-Frankish alliance in the west, the Eastern Roman empire in the east, and Islam in the south. Herrin's major focus is less on politics than it is on the theological and ecclesiastical developments that usually drove the politics; late in the book she defines medievalism as the period dominated by religion. Herrin traces a number of strands throughout this magisterial volume: the gradual urbanisation of the old Roman empire; the gradual process by which Roman culture and Byzantine culture diverged, driven by differing theological traditions; the remarkable influence in Visigothic Spain and Carolingian Francia of Isidore of Seville; and more.

This book sheds real light on the history of the period often known as the "Dark Ages". Herrin painstakingly traces the long and slow process by which Rome came to claim absolute authority over the church, the debates over icons in the sixth and seventh centuries, and exactly why ecumenical church councils ceased to be held after 787. We watch as the erstwhile Roman cities around the Mediterranean claim self-government and autonomy both in civil government and in the church. We watch the Carolingian church's uneasy relationship with Rome, sometimes appealing to them for help in liturgy and doctrine but ultimately unafraid to build their own theological traditions.

As this book shows, the monolithic institutional church unity envisaged by Rome and Constantinople was deeply problematic in practice. Not only were these two rival bishoprics unable to agree with each other long before the Great Schism of 1054, they were also split with dissent and had regular trouble convincing outsiders (such as the Franks, the Irish, Visigothic Spain or pre-conquest Carthage) to play ball. While the ecumenical pentarchy of the early centuries (Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria) claimed authority over all Christians, and while Rome claimed authority over the pentarchy, men like Isidore of Seville and the 794 Synod of Frankfurt insisted that authority in the church should stem from true faith rather than tradition, and from servant leadership rather than domination in the state: "Unlike past emperors, the new rulers share fully in the human condition and must convince their Christian subjects by counsel and good example, rather than by force." Neither Isidore nor the Carolingian clergy he inspired were slow to declare that in cases where they conscientiously believed themselves to be in the right, both Rome and Constantinople lacked authority.

THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOM is a wonderfully profound book and this review only scratches the surface. I would recommend it to everyone with an interest in church history, especially the history of authority, diversity, and unity in the church.

This book is available as a PDF from the Internet Archive.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lost the book for at least a week. It was hard to "find" where I was in the book--not in terms of what page I was on but to recall what Herrin had covered and where she was. It is a very thorough and well-researched book. The thoroughness might make for boredom in someone with minimal knowledge of the field. It was hard going for me even though I've read other books on the topic. The most interesting thing for me was the extensive discussion of the split between Rome and Byzantium and Herrin's take on the split's relationship to the iconoclasm debate. I'll come back when I have the book to give a good, incisive quote from Herrin on the topic.

"It was, therefore, the Byzantine failure to protect Ravenna and Rome from the Lombards and the ensuing military crisis that sparked off a complete reorientation of the western church's political alliances. And having decided to seek Frankish support in order to survive, successive pontiffs justified their policy in terms of eastern heresy."

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had chosen this book hoping for something a little different from what I have. Not Dr. Herrin's fault, mind you, but I am interested in the rise of Christianity as a civil religion and, by the time that the book starts, that was pretty established. What Dr. Herrin discusses is, largely, the rise of the ecclesiastical supports for the Latin West. She does it through a learned and interesting consideration of the Byzantine East and of Islam's influence, but the culmination of the book is Charlemagne and the Carolingian order. Not that that isn't a worthy subject, mind you, and I think Dr. Herrin does that analysis better than most.

It isn't her only concern, of course. The ghost of Pirenne hangs over her treatment of the 7th century as she seems to accept the basic premise that Islam shut down Mediterranean trade and forced the West to stop looking East for legitimization. Again, not a bad thing, but just as a note of where she was in the 1980s when she wrote this. The Pirenne thesis was beginning to be old hat around that time (as I recall from my university days) and it hasn't gained in acceptance in the intervening time.

Dr. Herrin writes from the standpoint of a non-believer. She is quite explicit about this in her preface, arguing that the subject was too important to be left to adherents of the religions. That sticks a little in my left-nostril because of the implication that those views from inside are deficient, but I also have to grant that the author is even-handed and, even, rather sympathetic to the subject matter. She handles her source material sensitively and takes seriously the theological discussions she treats. That is the mark of a good historian, of course, which I already knew from some of her other books.

While starting to get a bit long in the tooth, Formation of Christendom is still a good read, especially for those concerned with the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages.

[Andrew Higham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book twenty years after it was written and waited twenty more years to read it. So it is not surprising that it is now a little old fashioned. But I don't think old fashioned history is necessarily bad history. Interestingly Herrin herself described the book as a failure because it is too academic. But despite that she brings remarkable coherence to centuries of gradual change.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I think this my third from Herrin. They'll be more. Hopes to come back and add some to this review, but has some others I need to add first. Did wish though that she began this say couple hundred years earlier to cover how the books of the Bible were decided upon. In "Byzantium" she touched upon the edges of some controversies with various heretic Christian cults and we saw some of the aftermath of that here, but the story of how things were final settled in the first few hundred years still seems missing. Now we have the Nag Hammadia Scriptures out there along with some other odds and ends further to the East with their own blend of Christianity though they're considered heretical, that and along with the phase out of the older pagan religions, some of which obviously crept in some here and there and it would be nice to see one coherent book that pulls that all together. Clearly we are not getting the full picture of what must of been very interesting times. Perhaps in another book. This was not a light read as is, rather complicated, very detailed and very rewarding. Herrin clearly masters her material before setting it down to paper and you can see it in her other works as well. Meanwhile what I'm asking for could easily have doubled the size of the book. I'll just have to be patient.

[Martin White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly impressive scholarly range, and at the time of composition original. Today, with the explosion in Late Antique studies, it seems rather dated in approach.

[Roy Kenagy]

NYRB. 2/10/2022.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have to admire Ms. Herrin's careful and resourceful scholarship about an era that is shrouded in mystery. Herrin focuses on the transistion from "late antiquity" to the early middle ages, aka from about 550 AD to 850 AD. She is specifically concerned with answering the question of "what makes western europe different?" Her answer is that western is europe is unique in its division of power between temporal and spiritual authority (i.e. church and state). Does her answer sound familiar?

Herrin delves into the gradual seperation of Rome from Constantinople both in terms of theology and military force. On the former subject, you had better be prepared for a ton of information on the debate over iconclasm v. iconophilism. The later topic is a bit easier to grasp: Byzantium was pressed by Islam, which led to an abandonment of military responsibility in the area surrounding Rome, which led to the Popes soliciting assistance from the Franks, which led to the Holy Roman Empire, more or less.

It's an interesting subject, and this is a well written book, but at a nearly five hundred pages, it takes a great deal of rigor to penetrate.

[Roger Burk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big fat intimidating scholarly book, but not a bad read if you're interested in late Classical and Dark Age history. It gives a narrative history of the development of the Church and of a more or less common but divided Christian community in Europe and Asia Minor from Constantine to the mid-ninth century. Major themes: the growing influence of the Bishop of Rome, especially after the fall to the Arabs of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria, three of the five trditionally preeminent sees of antiquity; the rise and fall of the iconoclastic movement; the growth of institutional monasticism; the continuing but slowly fading influence in the West and in Italy of the nominally Roman Emperor in Constantinople. The climax of the story is the coronation of Charlemagne as a second Emperor in the West in 800.

[Tony Gualtieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully structured account of the transition from Late Antiquity to the early Medieval era. Rather than give separate histories of the rise of the papacy, the evolution of Byzantium, and the establishment of the Carolingian Empire, Herrin synthesizes these movements and shows how their interrelationships formed post-Roman Europe. For example, she discusses how rivalry between iconoclasts and iconophiles in the east helped drive the Pope and Charlemagne into an alliance that broke the hold that the emperor in Constantinople had over the western church, culminating in Charlemagne being crowned Emperor in 800 by Pope Leo III. The final chapter is a lovely meditation on the monastic libraries of the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance. It doesn't provide a grand summation so much as a lovely coda to an ongoing story.

[Luaba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judith Herrin has an uncanny ability to make history come to life, exciting, and informative all at the same time. She explore the early church's origin and explain the etymology of many canon christian now take for granted. Quite a bit seems to me to be more political driven doctrines rather than divine. But then again, that's why it's called faith...

Suggestion, a good follow up read after this one is her: "Byzantium: The Surprise Life of a Medieval Empire".

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book traces the foundations of Christendom, illustrating the transition from the Roman Empire to its inheritors (Byzantium, the Christian West and Islam). It offers in depth insight into the iconoclastic controversies that shook the Orthodox and Catholic communions. It is a fine grained description of the many Popes, Patriarchs and Kings who inhabited the time between the Empire and the stabilization of Western Institutions. Very well done.

[Mark Bahnisch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a fascinating book. Herrin very skilfully looks at the interaction between culture, state forms and religion to trace how 'Western Christendom', the world of Islam and Eastern Christianity emerged out of the Roman Ecumene. I am somewhat surprised that her text, which I think has important implications far beyond church history, is not better known.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb history of early medieval Christianity written by a non-believer, materialist, and secular scholar of the first rank. Sets a standard for rigorous and cosmopolitan appraisal of Christianity, and shows how utterly wrong and provincial most Anglo-American protestant narratives of early Christianity are.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A more enjoyable read and interesting reflections on Christianity.