This volume examines important complexes of late antique and Visigothic villas in rural areas throughout the Iberian peninsula with regard to the process of Christianization, apart from the urban centres that have been the main subject of research so far. Thus, a discriminating survey of the various ways in which a Christian cult was established in the milieu of late antique and early medieval country seats is given. It is only the presence of altars, baptismal fonts and liturgical equipment in the country houses of the potentiores that definitely indicate a utilization of these buildings for Christian worship. Additionally, the investigation of these church foundations on private property, called “proprietary churches” in earlier studies, includes an analysis of the canonical status of such ceremonial buildings in an environment of economically independent estates, the aims of the late antique founders being in clear opposition to the interests of the institutional church.