’It is rare that a volume of essays by numerous contributors....is as successful as this book in fulfilling its aim.’ Journal of Ecclesiastical History ’This is a wide-ranging and eye-opening collection of case studies that examines the multifaceted role of bishops in post-Carolingian Europe. ... Historians of medieval religion will find much food for thought in this volume, which at its best invites us to reconsider our presumptions about the role of the bishop in medieval society by taking into account all of the richness and complexity of his local milieu.’ Early Medieval Europe