Johnston's theological treatment of this and other works by the same writer makes a conscious comparison with Oriental ways of contemplation.

    A member of the Constantinian dynasty, he became Caesar over the western provinces by order of Constantius II in 355. He campaigned successfully against the Alamanni & Franks. Notable was his victory over the Alamanni in 357 at the Battle of Argentoratum despite being outnumbered. In 360 in Lutetia (Paris) he was acclaimed Augustus by his troops, sparking civil war with Constantius. Before the two could face off, however, Constantius died, after naming Julian as his successor. In 363, he began a campaign against the Sassanid Empire. Initially successful, he was wounded in battle & died shortly thereafter. A complex character, he was "the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer & the man of letters". He was the last non-Xian ruler of the Empire. It was his desire to bring the Empire back to ancient Roman values in order to prevent its dissolution. He purged a top-heavy state bureaucracy & attempted to revive traditional religious practices. His rejection of Xianity in favor of Neoplatonic paganism caused him to be called Apostate by the church. He was the last emperor of the Constantinian dynasty, Rome's 1st Xian dynasty.

    In addition, Norman Cohn's discovery that some influential sources on European witch trials were forgeries has revolutionized the field of witchcraft, making this one of the most essential books ever written on the subject.

    Its reach extended from C�rdoba to Samarkand, and it maintained and developed the tradition of wealth, cultural and artistic achievement, and thriving urban life that it had absorbed from its predecessors, the civilizations of Greece, Egypt, and Persia, and the ancient cities of the Middle East. It is this Islamic economy and civilization that the author portrays at its height and brilliantly sets into its context of satellite, in part semi-civilized, peripheral worlds--black North Africa, the barbarian West, the region of Russian rivers, and the Byzantine Empire. The book is considered a masterpiece of the Annales school of French historians.

    Langland's work, more socially concerned and critical than Chaucer's, reflected an age of religious controversy, social upheaval, and political unrest. The World of Piers Plowman puts the reader in touch with the sources that helped shape Langland's somber vision. The representative documents included in this book, often cited in connection with the poem yet difficult to come by, disclose the background of Piers Plowman in social and economic history as well as folklore, art, theology, homilies, religious tractates, and chronicles.The seven sections into which the readings are divided illustrate ideas concerning (1) the heavens, the universal Church, England, and London; (2) material and spiritual abuses; (3) the most influential literary genres of the period; (4) exempla, moral tales from hagiography, sermon literature, and tracts on moral theology; (5) types of practical instruction available to the devout layperson; (6) the multiple meanings in many literary works; and (7) the moment of death, the judgments on the soul, and the torments and rewards of the afterlife.