Historians of late ancient and early medieval societies are confronted with a paradox. The individuals whose actions shaped those societies frequently claimed an unquestioned (and unquestionable) legitimacy beyond the dreams even of our most disturbingly authoritarian contemporary political actors. Yet the capacity of these rulers, lords, churchmen, and saints to exercise anything like this authority was fundamentally limited. Their power was constrained, not only by the limits of control in a pre-industrial world, but also the willingness of their subjects, subordinates and congregants to challenge their claims to divine support, political consent, and moral perfection. In this module, we will use a series of case studies to explore how authority was made, contested, and un-made in late antiquity and the early middle ages.