The Crisis of the Oikoumene

The Three Chapters and the Failed Quest for Unity in the Sixth-Century Mediterranean

Edited by Celia Chazelle Edited by Catherine Cubitt

Book cover: The Crisis of the Oikoumene

Extent: 316, 316 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Medieval Studies

Series: Studies in the Early Middle Ages

Series volume number: 14

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(May 2007)

ISBN: 9782503515205

Price: $82.00

In stock

This book presents ten chapters by an international group of scholars who examine different facets of the Three Chapters Controversy and its profound impact on these regions.


The sixth-century theological controversy over the ‘Three Chapters’, which centred on the nature of Christ, provoked one of the most serious and long-lived religious schisms of the early Middle Ages. The fault lines ran not only between the Byzantine imperial court and the papacy, but between Rome and the churches in the former western empire’s successor states. In Italy, the schism endured into the seventh century, and the repercussions were felt long thereafter. Though rooted in the complexities of christological debate, the tensions reveal the growing political as well as cultural divide between Byzantium, Rome, and the West. Thus the controversy is critical for our understanding of the late-antique and early-medieval Mediterranean world, and of the inheritance of empire in western Europe and North Africa. This book presents ten chapters by an international group of scholars who examine different facets of the Three Chapters Controversy and its profound impact on these regions.

  • Edited by Celia Chazelle
  • Edited by Catherine Cubitt