This volume of detailed and meticulously researched essays grew out of a conference held at the Centre for Medieval Studies at York University in May 2002 organised by Catherine Cubitt, Tom Brown and Celia Chazelle. Their purpose was to investigate the consequences of the Three Chapters controversy in Africa, Italy and Gaul, while keeping in mind its impact on Justinian's policy of reunification and, in the broadest sense, on the political and religious history of Africa and Europe. These issues are set out in the introduction by the two editors of the volume.

The Three Chapters controversy emerged from disagreement concerning one of the decrees of the 451 Council of Chalcedon, in which Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Ibas of Edessa, both condemned at the 449 Council of Ephesus, were reinstated; not because their theology was now acceptable, but because their deposition was considered uncanonical. At the Fifth Council in 553, Theodoret's anti-Cyrillian writings, Ibas's letter to Mari the Persian, and the person and writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia (the so-called Three Chapters) were considered heretical and anathematised. For some, however, a rejection of certain Chalcedonian decrees undermined the whole council, while others argued that it was wrong to condemn the dead. The ambiguity of Chalcedon and Justinian's attempt to right the theological error are clearly explained by Richard Price in the opening chapter, ‘The Three Chapters controversy and the Council of Chalcedon’.

In ‘L'Afrique reconquise et les Trois Chapitres’, Yves Modéran provides an analysis of the impact of the controversy on the African Church. He explains why it reacted so strongly and sets the conflict in the recent military, political, religious and economic history of the province, explores the causes for divisions within the African Church and its relations with the papacy, and examines why resistance eventually faded. This impressively detailed chapter also manages to convey the bigger picture, providing comparison with other doctrinal schisms alongside the political context of Justinian's reconquest.

Part ii focuses upon Italy. In ‘The Three Chapters and the transformations of Italy’, Claire Sotinel traces reaction to the Three Chapters within the context of the political upheaval and the ecclesiastical schisms bubbling within the Church: principally the differences between Rome, and Aquileia and Milan. She concludes that refusal to condemn the Three Chapters was both a cause and symptom of the failure of imperial restoration in Italy. In ‘Much ado about nothing: Gregory the Great's apology to the Istrians’, Carole Straw elucidates the Istrian schism through a detailed analysis of the liber, arguably written by Gregory the Great as a response to the Istrians who, believing the Fifth Council ‘to be a scandal’, had separated from Rome. Straw outlines Gregory's arguments, thus providing a fascinating insight into the pope's character, as well as throwing light upon the schism. In ‘The Three Chapters controversy and the biblical diagrams of Cassiodorus's Codex grandior and Institutions’, Celia Chazelle provides a detailed analysis (nicely illustrated) of the use of imagery in the Christological and doctrinal debate, focusing upon the significance of the male bust, lamb and dove (the Trinity, the ‘supreme paradigm of the Bible and unity in diversity’) originally commissioned by Cassiodorus for his Codex grandior. Chazelle considers more widely Cassiodorus' views (his desire for multiplicity and harmony) and how these are reflected in the lifestyle at Vivarium and by his disappointment in Justinian's action which led to divisions within the Church.

Part iii (‘The Frankish and Lombardic response’) begins with a consideration by Claudio Azzara of ‘Il regno longobardo in Italia e i Tre Capitoli’. He takes as his starting point a letter of 591 to the Emperor Maurice from ten bishops of the province of Histria to explore the controversy in the context of the Lombard invasions. Azzara shows clearly how the issue remained important in spite of the pressures of war and investigates the involvement of the Lombards themselves in the dispute. He also looks back to the fourth century to examine relations between Rome and the north-eastern Italian churches, and forward to the ninth to discuss the 827 synod. In ‘The Franks and papal theology, 550–660’, Ian Wood provides a nice snapshot of the relationship between the Merovingian kingdom and the papacy which he explores by examining examples of Pelagius' correspondence, highlighting his careful self-defence and suggesting the Frankish bishops' commitment to the dispute and their anti-Justinianic views. Wood emphasises the difficulty of communication despite, ironically, the enthusiasm of the Church to achieve unity. Finally, Walter Pohl in ‘Heresy in Secundus and Paul the Deacon’, considers Paul's ‘patchy and ambiguous’ treatment of the controversy in his Historia langobardorum. Only in three chapters does Paul discuss the Three Chapters, and Pohl contends that the omissions and confusion in these passages stem not necessarily from a lack of understanding on Paul's part of the complexities of the schism, or from Lombard patriotism, but from a desire to follow a more cautious approach. At the end of the seventh century, the origins and arguments of the schism were hard to remember and new controversies had taken its place.

It is with the eventual dying out of the schism that the epilogue by Robert Markus and Claire Sotinel is concerned. After summing up the arguments for the impact of the controversy in the different regions, they conclude by considering its significance for the Church and Empire in the longer term. They first consider the political dimension: that Justinian's failure to secure the unity of the Church over this issue was symptomatic of his failure to achieve lasting political unity. Second, they consider the theological impact. The hazily recorded Pavia Synod of 695 seems to have brought a final end to the schism at a time when few in the west could remember its origins, and once the defenders of the Three Chapters accepted that the Fifth Council agreed with the Fourth then there was no longer anything over which to quarrel.

This collection of papers makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the complex doctrinal disputes of the fifth and sixth centuries, to our understanding of Justinian's policies and to our knowledge of local ecclesiastical politics in the regions covered.