This particular doctrinal history begins with Constantine and his conversion to Christianity. The transmutation of his beliefs begins in the first chapter as he relates the sight of the words "By This Conquer" beside a figure of a cross fashioned from a pillar of light in the sky. Constantine asks others in his company if they noticed anything, and they made a declaration of the same vision. Later the next night Constantine heard Jesus speak to him of the furtherance of Christian principle and divine purpose. Scholasticus' history proceeds with the ancestral line of kings, priests, bishops, and popes. Their doctrinal and political influence is recorded throught the ages and balanced against a more religiously primitive populace. What takes place in the church from this time on is dynamic and forceful. The spectacular events recounted from personal documents are startlingly pervasive as the history continues to Scholasticus' present day.