Ellora Bennett is a D.Phil Candidate at the Freie Universität BerlinGuido M. Berndt is a Research Fellow at the Freie Universität BerlinStefan Esders is Professor at the Freie Universität BerlinLaury Sarti is Lecturer at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

• 1 Introducing early medieval militarisation, 400–900 AD – Laury Sarti, Ellora Bennett, Guido M. Berndt and Stefan EsdersPart I: The military and society2 Soldier and civilian in the Byzantine Empire c. 600–c. 900: a militarised society? – Philip Rance3 The exercitus Gothorum in Italy: a professional army in a demilitarised society? – Kai Grundmann4 Military organisation as an indicator of militarisation (and demilitarisation) in Lombard Italy – Guido M. Berndt 5 The ‘dark matter’ evidence for Alfredian military reforms in their ninth-century context – Ryan LavellePart II: Warfare and society6 War and the transformation of society in the early Byzantine Arabia – Conor Whately7 The role of the military factor in the political and administrative shaping of the Visigothic Kingdom (sixth to seventh centuries) – Pablo Poveda Arias8 Recent archaeological research on fortifications in France, Belgium and Swizerland, 750–1000 – Luc Bourgeois9 Gens Germana gente ferocior: Lombards and warfare between representation and reality – Stefano Gasparri10 The blinkers of militarisation: Charles the Bald, Lothar I and the Vikings – Simon CouplandPart III: Ethics of war11 Manlike discipline and loyalty against the ‘enemies of God’: some observations on the militarised frontier society of eastern Francia around 600 – Stefan Esders12 Swords in Christian hands: reflections on the emergence of the ‘Schwertmission’ in the early Middle Ages – Uta Heil13 ‘Holy wars’? ‘Religious wars’? The perception of religious motives of warfare against non-Christian enemies in ninth-century chronicles – Hans-Werner GoetzPart IV: Perceptions of the warrior14 Change of habit equals change of values? Burials of ‘military men’ between 300 and 500 AD – Benjamin Hamm15 Warlike and heroic virtues in the post-Roman world – Edward James16 Military equipment in late antique and early medieval female burial evidence: a reflection of ‘militarisation’? – Susanne Brather-Walter17 The construction of the enemy in pre-Viking England – Ellora Bennett18 Warriors and warlike kings in the Gesta Karoli of Notker the Stammerer – Thomas Wittkamp19 Early medieval ‘warrior’ images and the concept of Gefolgschaft – Michel Summer20 Conclusion: militarisation: process or discourse? – Guy HalsallIndex

'The authors in this volume are seeking to understand a world remote from our ownthrough the lens of militarization, but in a way which always illuminates the broader aspectsof that society, and they have done this very creditably.'Speculum