A collection of essays on the relationship between property and power, a fundamental theme in medieval history. The areas studied include Wales, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Byzantium, and the essays range across the period 650-1150.

List of maps; Preface; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The ideology of sharing: apostolic community and ecclesiastical property in the early middle ages David Ganz; 2. Teutsind, Witlaic and the history of Merovingian precaria Ian Wood; 3. Eternal light and earthly needs: practical aspects of the development of Frankish immunities Paul Fouracre; 4. The wary widow Janet Nelson; 5. Lordship and justice in the early English kingdom: Oswaldslow revisited Patrick Wormald; 6. Adding insult to injury: power, property, and immunities in early medieval Wales Wendy Davies; 7. Property transactions and social relations between rulers, bishops and nobles in early eleventh-century Saxony: the evidence of the Vita Meinwerci Timothy Reuter; 8. Monastic exemptions in tenth- and eleventh-century Byzantium Rosemary Morris; 9. Property ownership and signorial power in twelfth-century Tuscany Chris Wickham; 10. Conclusion: property and power in early medieval Europe; Glossary.

'… an extremely well-edited and tightly-knit volume, which maintains a very high level of discussion, and it is going to be essential reading for anyone interested in the early medieval Church in its social and political context.' Edward James, Journal of Ecclesiastical History