The period of Byzantine Iconoclasm remains in many ways a 'Dark Age'. With this volume Marie-France Auzépy continues her fundamental re-examination of one of the key sources for the time, the Life of Stephen the Younger. Previously in this series she has published a new edition, translation and commentary on the text; the present work aims to establish a solid methodology for reading a hagiographical text as a historical source, and includes a systematic literary analysis to illuminate how the author treated his subject matter. Amongst other conclusions, this study shows how the historical presentation of the period was consciously shaped by the patriarchate of Constantinople in the years 787-815, in order to affirm the independence of the Church from imperial power.