Abstract

This chapter summarises the state of the field regarding the two centuries following Bar ʿEbroyo’s death. First it sketches late mediaeval Middle Eastern political history and the ecclesiastical history of the Syriac Orthodox and the Church of the East. It indicates what little is known about Islamisation, an ongoing process in this period, and the complexity of the polyglot society inhabited by Syriac Christians. The extant literature of the Syriac churches, composed in Syriac and Arabic, is discussed, including a few new discoveries. Finally, it highlights aspects of the development of the liturgy of the Church of the East.