Matthew Bryan Gillis is associate professor in history at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The author of Heresy and Dissent in the Carolingian Empire: The Case of Gottschalk of Orbais (Oxford, 2017), he studies early medieval Europe and especially the religious and intellectual history of the Carolingian Empire in the eighth and ninth centuries. His aim is to develop new and creative ways of viewing authors, texts and ideas from that period in order to challenge our understanding of the medieval past. To that end, he is currently investigating horror imagery, concepts, narratives and rhetoric in Frankish poetic, theological and historical sources. His current book project explores the links between such horror and portrayals of Christian heroism in Viking Age France.

• PrefacePART ONE. ""And The Blood of Our Brothers Drips from Our Mouths"" – King Carloman II's Monsters & Carolingian Religious HorrorPART TWO. ""Men Devouring One another Drink their Neighbors' Blood"" – Spiritual Protections against Christian MonstersPART THREE. ""Alas, Naked They Underwent the Savage Folk's Sword!"" – Heroism in Abbo of Saint-Germain's Wars of the City of ParisPART FOUR. ""O, Francia, Protect Yourself!"" – Cosmic War in Abbo of Saint Germain's SermonsAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsBibliographyIndex

Gillis has written a vital book that takes a moment of crisis in the late ninth century and transforms how we think about not just the Viking attacks but much else. The Franks were enmeshed in violence and Gillis is one of the first to really theorize what that meant, how 'horror' can help us understand not just how they thought about war, politics, and religion, but also how the centuries that followed built upon those foundation stones and further developed an idea of Christian holy war that crescendoed in the twelfth century."" - Matthew Gabriele, Professor of Medieval Studies, Dept. of Religion & Culture, Virginia Tech""Matthew Gillis is one of the most creative historians working today in any field. His application of the theories and literature of horror to Carolingian texts allows him and his readers to find new insights in the material. It will be particularly valuable for showing how the Carolingians and ideas of horror helped shape the early doctrine of holy war."" - Jay Rubenstein, Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Premodern World, University of Southern California