This introduction presents an overview of the keyconcepts discussed in the subsequent chapters ofthis book. The story of Joan of Arc has continued toelicit an extraordinary range of reactionsthroughout almost six centuries since her death.Joan of Arc was a visionary and a holy woman whoclaimed to be guided by God through the medium ofangels and saints. Joan's enemies also tried to useher military achievements against her, denying thatGod would really condone such bloodshed and warfare,or even encourage the people of France to abandontheir oaths to support the Treaty of Troyes. Thecapture and death of Joan of Arc had little directimpact on English fortunes during the war, which hadreached deadlock. The accomplishments of Joan of Arcare remarkable, given that she had to overcome thesignificant cultural and social prejudices of amedieval society that valued men more highly thanwomen.

Queen Balthild appears in several trustworthy contemporary souces, but it is the Vita Domnae Balthildis which gives us the most information about her. The Vita Balthildis is about as contemporary a Merovingian source as has survived. The key to Merovingian high politics was co-operation between the Crown and some faction or factions of the powerful Frankish nobility. The 'slave' Balthild will play a key role in these politics. Balthild's hagiographer, of course, saw divine will as the reason for her rise to the status of queen, but providence may well have had some significant help from the contemporary politics of the British Isles. A seventh-century hagiographical work whose author is concerned about 'friends' and 'detractors' of a saintly queen, is a strong reminder of the period's intricate relationship between political power and Christian sanctity.

This introduction presents an overview of the historical context, the translated histories and their authors and a discussion of Merovingian Latin. The eight texts translated in the book represent a selection from what is in fact a far wider range of written sources for Merovingian history. The eight texts includes Liber Historiae Francorum (LHF), Vita Domnae Balthidis, Vita Audoini Episcopi Rotomagensis, Acta Aunemundi, Passio Leudegarii, Passio Praejecti, Vita Sanctae Geretrudis and the Additamentum Nivialense de Fuilano, and Annales Mettenses Priores.

The documents in this section illustrate the realities of monastic recruitment and economy in the later middle ages. They shed light on the qualifications and commitment required from new recruits to male and female monasteries; they indicate some of the economic problems faced by religious houses in the changing conditions of the period; and they also provide a flavour of the responses adopted by monasteries in the face of these difficulties.

This chapter is comprised of annotated and translatedsource texts on the trial of condemnation of Joan ofArc in 1431.

The documents in this section illustrate the nature of late medieval religious services, provided by a variety of houses, as well as the demand for them among the monasteries’ lay neighbours.

In the middle of the seventh century Aunemund held one of the most important positions in the Frankish Church: he was Bishop of Lyons. The Acta Aunemundi do display features strongly suggestive of genuinely early composition. Alfred Coville argued that the description of Aunemund as of 'Roman stock' was an indication of early composition, early because it showed that there were people around who saw themselves as 'Roman', a consciousness which scholars had thought to have hardly stretched beyond the seventh century. The story of the martyrdom of Bishop Aunemund provides us with a valuable lesson in Merovingian history. It was by the name Aunemund that the Bishop of Lyons was known to his contemporaries in the Frankish kingdom. Aunemund certainly was one of the powerful elite who frequented the Merovingian courts. His power had two sources: his family's position in Lyons, and his own position within the Merovingian Church.

This section observes comment on and criticism of monastic life in late medieval and early Tudor England, and includes not only literature, but also the political and financial manifesto of the Lollards, and an unusual but suggestive episode from fourteenth-century Exeter.

The documents in this section illustrate the social welfare responsibilities of late medieval monasteries. These social services took three main forms: hospitality, education and charity.

This section illustrates the kinds of building projects commonly undertaken in monasteries of different sizes, their cost and something of the impression they made on contemporaries.