The Kindness of Strangers

Abbreviations
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
Pt. I: Ancient Patterns
1. Rome: The Historical Skeleton
2. Rome: Literary Flesh and Blood
3. Fathers of the Church and Parents of Children
Pt. II: The Early Middle Ages
4. Variations on Familiar Patterns
5. A Christian Innovation: Oblation
6. Demographic Overview
Pt. III: The High Middle Ages
7. New Demographics: 1000-1200
8. Oblation at Its Zenith
9. The Thirteenth Century: Abandonment Resumes
10. Literary Witnesses
Pt. IV: The Later Middle Ages
11. Continuities and Unintended Tragedy
12. Conclusions
Appendix of Translations
Frequently Cited Works
Index