The pre-eminent historian of his day, Edward Gibbon (1737–94) produced his magnum opus in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. Reissued here is the authoritative seven-volume edition prepared by J. B. Bury (1861–1927) between 1896 and 1900. Immediately and widely acclaimed, Gibbon's work remains justly famous for its magisterial account of Roman imperialism and Christianity from the first century CE through to the fall of Constantinople and beyond. Innovative in its use of primary sources and notable for its tone of religious scepticism, this epic narrative stands as a masterpiece of English literature and historical scholarship. Volume 6 covers the period from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries CE, addressing the Arab sieges of Constantinople, the culture of the Eastern Empire at the end of the first millennium, the origins of the Bulgarian, Hungarian and Russian peoples, the rise of the Turks and the conquest of Asia Minor, and the Crusades.