Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part 1: Visionary Access -- 1 Visionary Access in Christian Antiquity: The Making of Two Traditions -- 2 Daniel's Heirs: Visionary Ascetics in Gaul -- Part 2: Visions and Authority in the Merovingian Community -- 3 Gregory of Tours: A Visionary Bishop -- 4 Dreams and Visions at the Shrines of the Saints -- 5 Visionary Journeys to the Otherworld -- Part 3: Dreams and Visions in Merovingian Hagiography -- 6 Visions and the Hagiographer in Merovingian Sources -- 7 No Or inary Visionary: St. Aldegund of Maubeuge -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: Otherworld Visions and Apocalypses -- Appendix B: The Earliest Vitae of Aldegund of Maubeuge -- Selected Bibliography -- Index.