Introduction

The ‘bottom-up’ model This shorthand label is intended to convey the idea that, if this model applies, Christianity gained its position in Western Europe not because of the political or cultural dominance of those promoting it, but rather because it was so inherently attractive to people at large that they embraced it in large numbers. Eventually this rising tide of Christianity engulfed even the rulers and the political structures of the states of Western Europe, so that the religion came to be a part of their fabric, even if it had in origin come from the people below rather than from the rulers above. We could envisage this working in a number of ways.