The articles contained in this volume are indicative of a new effort, in the best of current research on the early medieval west, to examine the period from new angles that more fully illumine its vitality and creativity than has been done in the past. Contents: The End of the ' Dark Ages', by Celia M. Chazelle; Literate Authority in Bede's Story of Imma, by Seth Lerer; From Brigandage to Justice: Charlemagne, 785-794, by Thomas F.X. Noble, The Originality of Early Medieval Articles, by Lawrence Nees.