To what extent did the historians of the early Middle Ages inherit the aims and methods of Greek and Roman historiography? How far were they influenced by classical coventions about literary genre, rhetorical technique and political subject-matter? A conference held in Exeter in 1985 brought together a number of distinguished scholars to discuss these questions.This book presents nine of the contributions, on representative authors from the fourth century to the ninth. Together they provide an authorative guide to the contrasts and continuities in history-writing from Byzantium to Alfred's Wessex.