Frankish Kingdom Research Articles

Feudal political economy

AbstractHow is order achieved in a realm in which every elite commands both economic and military resources, and no stable institutions of power exist? We depict coalition formation in the feudal world as a series of non-binding agreements between elites who can move in and out of the coalition, through peaceful and violent means. We derive conditions under which the realm unites under one rule — a grand coalition, or remains fragmented. We motivate our analysis with key historical episodes in medieval Europe, from the Frankish Kingdom in the 5th to 10th centuries and England in the 11th to 15th centuries.

Revisiting the Murder of the Jew Priscus in Sixth-Century Paris

The murder of Priscus the Jew seems to be one of the earliest documented episodes of murder involving Jews in the European Middle Ages. The incident, described by Gregory of Tours (Gregorius Turonensis) in his great work, Decem Libri Historiarum (Ten Books of Histories) involves the murder of the Jew Priscus at the hands of Phatir, his former coreligionist and new convert to Christianity, which occurred in the Frankish Kingdom of Neustria in 581 or 582, during the reign of King Chilperic I. In this study, based on a close reading of the relevant texts I attempt to illuminate what this incident may teach us about Jewish social and political life in the Merovingian kingdoms. I suggest, contrary to previous scholarship that saw the theological aspects of the conversion as paramount, that the murder was the result of a competition among the elite in the court of the king and highlight what we may learn from this case about the sources of Jewish religious law and what Jews and Christians living in this time knew about them. Thus, after a careful reading of the primary source, I propose an interpretation of the circumstances that precipitated the violent act, as well as the manner in which it was recorded in the writings of Gregory of Tours.

Śląsk w X wieku: źle postawione zagadnienie

Researchers of the Polish past often discuss Silesia in the tenth century but the entity later referred to by this name did not exist at that time while its individual parts had different runs of history. The first evidence of establishing contacts between the middle Oder basin and the Mediterranean world after the Migration Period are three Arabic coins from 770-776, bereft of notches, graffiti or other traces of circulation, found on Trzebnica Ridge (Figures 1-3). Unlike the wave of Arabic silver coinage a quarter of a century later, these coins arrived not via the ‘Northern Arch’ but from the south, via Venice. They probably mark the attempts of slavers to penetrate the Oder basin. After 950, the route from Bohemia to the mouth of the Oder river was established, leading alongside the Neisse and the Oder but it was soon disrupted by the expansion of the Milceni to the east. Behind the Milceni, however, was the power of the East Frankish Kingdom, so the Přemyslids expanded to the north-east to bypass the Neisse. The Přemyslid expansion consisted in collecting tributes from the tribes occupying the left bank of the Oder River: Zlasane, Trebouane, Pobarane and Dedosize – and in establishing permanent military outposts in Niemcza and Wrocław. The result of including the local dwellers in the trade and tributary network was the concentration of power in the tribes and the spread of silver hoarding. After the alliance between the Boleslavs of Prague and Mieszko I of Gniezno was established in c. 964, both states met on the middle Oder line and co-operated within the great trade corridor connecting Central Asia, Scandinavia and Western Europe. Political destabilization in Germany after 983 enabled Mieszko to break off the alliance, cross the Oder to the west and spread his influence along the Kaczawa to Milceni and Meissen lands, and then in 990 to drive the Czechs out of the area between Wrocław and the Sudetes. In this way, a route from Mayence to Kyïv was created, bypassing Prague, cut off the city from contacts with the mouth of the Oder River, which led to the crisis of the Czech state.

Alcuin and his role in the preparation of the Benedictine reform in the Frankish kingdom

Alcuin and his role in the preparation of the Benedictine reform in the Frankish kingdom

프랑크 왕국의 추방 규정과 실제 사례에 나타난 특징

The exile has been with mankind for a long time since Adam and Eve’s anecdote. The Expulsion which went through Ancient Greece and Rome appeared in various terms in accordance with the political and social situations of the time. It contains the contents of deprivation of citizenship, confiscation of property and confinement to a certain area. In the early Middle Ages, the Germanic peoples accepted the Roman heritage, absorbing the customs of exile that drove out those who broke the peace of the community, and defined it as the law of the kingdom. In the Merovingian dynasty, kings chose exile rather than capital punishment and sent bishops to isolated spaces such as islands and monasteries. Meanwhile, the parties who fought fiercely in the internal conflict within the Carolingian royal family tried to solve the problem through a political choice of exile. Although it was a temporary solution, the Frankish kingdom’s expulsion method of keeping alive, sending it away, imprisoning it and returning it was remarkable compared to other periods. Exile was a punishment that punishes those who commit crimes, but its contents have changed over time. It was also, on the other hand, a politically chosen strategic weapon to strengthen or maintain the power of the ruler.

The Origins of Royal Anointing

The anointing of kings emerged as a Christian rite of passage in the early Middle Ages, although the exact circumstances and sequence of events that led to the general emergence of the rite remain controversial. This article argues that royal anointing first became a recognized and repeated practice within two separate societies: seventh-century Visigothic Spain and the eighth-century Frankish kingdom. Whereas previous work has stressed the role of Christian clerics in the emergence of this rite, the article argues that royal anointing had its origins within lay elite political culture and spoke primarily to the needs, not of the clerics who performed it, but of the laypeople who received and beheld it.

Codex Epistolaris Carolinus: Letters from the Popes to the Frankish Rulers, 739–791

Reviewed by: Codex Epistolaris Carolinus: Letters from the Popes to the Frankish Rulers, 739–791 Sam Collins Codex Epistolaris Carolinus: Letters from the Popes to the Frankish Rulers, 739–791. Translation, introduction, and notes by Rosamond McKitterick, Dorine van Espelo, Richard Pollard, and Richard Price. (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. 2021. Pp. xi, 546. £125. ISBN: 9781800348714). The tools for teaching the Carolingian age to new generations of students proliferate apace. Paul Dutton’s Carolingian sourcebook (2nd edition, 2004) stands at the head of this class, alongside the four royal biographies translated by Thomas Noble (2009), but these are but the start of the array of high-quality translations of [End Page 179] Carolingian sources now available. Given the range of Carolingian material available in recent translation, new students of this essential early medieval moment are positioned to study the period in a depth that was hardly imaginable even a few decades ago. To this formidable arsenal of accessible Carolingiana comes this very welcome and in all respects definitive translation of the Codex Epistolaris Carolinus, the latest it-eration in the series “Translated Texts for Historians” from Liverpool University Press. Between 739 and 791 a series of popes sent just shy of a hundred letters on matters great and small to the rulers of the Frankish kingdom, from Charles Martel to Charlemagne. Surviving in a single manuscript copy of the ninth century, the Codex Epistolaris Carolinus, as its contemporary preface tells us, stemmed from an initiative of Charlemagne to collect and preserve the letters sent to the rulers of his family by the Roman see. The subjects on offer in the letters are rich and varied and often right at the heart of key issues to the dynasty and papacy, both in a period of rapid and intertwined change and development. In the letters of the Codex Epistolaris Carolinus we are treated to glimpses of Carolingian mayors inching toward a coup against the Merovingians, negotiations over how to handle the shifting balance of power in Italy from Lombards to Franks, an armature of Old Testament ruler ideology in the making, canon law avant la lettre, and much more. Until now the letters have been best known to scholars through the problematic 1892 edition of Wilhelm Gundlach for the MGH. Of the editorial decisions that made that edition unsatisfactory was Gundlach’s adherence to a nineteenth-century instinct to rearrange the medieval order of the letters into a (purportedly) strict chronological sequence, as well as his banishing of the lemmata, the often-dis-cursive explanatory titles given to each letter by the Carolingian compilers of the text. To use the Gundlach edition is to encounter a Carolingian document with much of its Carolingian logic removed or hidden. All that is thankfully swept away here, and readers of this translation encounter the text as it appears in the manuscript and as its Carolingian compilers intended it to be read. This is the first complete English translation of the letters, and it is an important service to the field to make them so easily and accessibly available. Four introductory sections precede the translation. After a general introduction (Part I, pp. 1–15), individual sections set the compilation and its manuscript in context. Dorine van Espelo (Part II, pp. 16–79) considers how the eighth century went about the business of diplomatic correspondence, the tradition into which we should set the letters, and the logic of the lemmata. Richard Pollard and Richard Price explore the collection’s Latinitiy in Part Three (pp. 80–101). In Part Four (pp. 102–140) Rosamond McKitterick breaks new ground in her chapter on the Franks and the eighth-century papacy, and what role papal correspondence had to play in the interdependence of the Carolingian rulers and their papal supporters. There is a crisp introduction for each letter, which is also provided with helpful notes that send readers to parallel issues elsewhere in the letter collection and to further scholarship on issues of interest. An appendix (pp. 437–454) tracks down [End Page 180] the names and key biographical detail for all the individuals in the letters, while a glossary (pp. 463–468) assists newcomers with some of the collection...

The Pesa, a Bimetallic Unit of Account in Tenth and Eleventh-Century Catalonia

Between 957 and 1040, land purchases in Catalonia were often settled in pesas. This term denoted a unit of account equalling two ounces of gold or ten of silver. Both precious metals came to Catalonia from Al-Andalus in the form of dinars and dirhams. However, for many years these coins were traded not according to their nominal value, but according to their metal weight. Frankish regulations, requiring foreign currencies to be converted into local deniers, provided the legal framework. The pesa system, created by the Counts of Barcelona, allowed Andalusi coins to be traded in domestic transactions as well as in bilateral trade with Al-Andalus. This policy shows the degree to which the Catalan Counties had become alienated from the West Frankish Kingdom to which they officially belonged.

Black inks under examination. Part 2: a case study of Carolingian manuscripts

With this paper, we would like to contribute to the study of black writing materials by investigating the black inks used in the manuscripts from monastic production in the eastern part of the Frankish kingdom, especially in the region of Lake Constance and in Bavaria, and dated to the period between the 8th and the 10th centuries. The corpus under study contains manuscripts with formulae, i.e. model letters and charters, besides numerous other types of texts with no clear separation between them (for example by titles).Sixty-three manuscripts have been studied with the aim of reconstructing the history of both their copying and their use. To this aim, we adopted a non-invasive approach that included near-infrared imaging and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for on-site measurements, supported by historical and palaeographic analysis. The results obtained in this project are compared with several other archaeometric studies of contemporary manuscripts with the general aim of understanding the use of black ink in medieval manuscripts.

The Danube-Sava-Kupa waterway and Bulgaria’s relations with the papacy and the Eastern Franks, the mid-860s through the early 890s

The article explores the potential for the Danube-Sava-Kupa waterway and the secondary roads that ran along it to serve as an alternate route for travel, covering a sizable portion of the journey between Bulgaria and Rome or the East Frankish kingdom at a time when the Middle Danube region could not guarantee traveler safety. Although relatively sparse, written records of travel between Pliska, the ninth-century capital of Bulgaria, and Rome, or between Pliska and the migratory court of the East Frankish kings, indicate that this route was probably used from 866 to 892/93.

9세기 카롤루스 왕들의 형제애(fraternitas)

In the 9th century, there were keen competitions and political strifes among grandsons of Carolus Magnus, father of Europe, what we called, who has accomplished the frame of Frankish kingdom. Unfortunately, the political union based on ‘caritas’ and ‘fraternitas’, proposed by Ludovicus Pius, successor of Carolus Magnus, has not worked because his sons could not accept the political proposal of their father. Finally, their deep-rooted disputes met the end with the Oath of Strasbourg 842 and the Treaty of Verdun 843.
 In this way, it was ‘fraternitas’ that emerged as carolus governing principle to unit sons of Ludovicus Pius. Giving the continuity and the legitimacy of carolus royal family, it said that fraternitas was not only starting point to provide the ruling principle of Frankish kingdom but also resolve the political conflicts of carolus kings. As an observer, for the sake of his mother, Berthe, Nithardus wrote the political disputes and the military clash from Ludovicus Pius to his sons through Historiae. This historian proposed fraternitas as the carolus ruling ideology to carolus kings, his maternal cousins in his Historiae. In this article, it aims to analyze the fraternitas, carolus ruling ideology leading rough political and military disputes in 9th century.

『살리 프랑크 부족법(Lex Salica)』, 로마와 프랑크 왕국을 잇다

It is said that the ‘Lex Salica’ is the codification by the latin succeeding the Roman civilization, at the same time, bearing the traditional customs and the original culture of the Franks. From the beginning of the Frankish kingdom to the empire of Carolus Magnus, because the Lex Salica enables us to recognize the society of the Franks, the Gallo Romans and the others in the Franksh kingdom, it is very precious archives to solve the difficulties for understanding the history between the fall of Roman Empire and the opening of Frankish kingdom as well as the early medieval western civiliztion. In this article, it aims to follow the roles of the Franks leading their history and their civilization not only their original customs but also the Roman inheritance encouraging the germnination of the medieval age. Let us read the challenge and the strategy of the Frankish kings for the making the new epoch with the Lex Salica, not causing the old historic argument between the Romania and the Germania. (Gyeonsang National University)

즉위식 전통에 대한 비교사적 고찰 — 게일 전통의 아일랜드와 비잔티움 제국의 경우 —

This study examines the range of religious, cultural, and political circumstances that influenced the historical shaping of inauguration/ coronation ceremonies in different medieval societies. After the Carolingian dynasty of the Frankish Kingdom in the mid-eighth century, the so-called Latin-Catholic tradition heavily influenced the inauguration/coronation ceremony and its tradition in western Europe. However, different forms of ceremonial traditions were structured and embraced by the inhabitants of the outside world. To investigate this often overlooked issue further, this study examines the Gaelic Irish inauguration ceremony and the coronation of the Byzantine Empire. In the latter medieval world, Byzantium still retained and upheld its traditional identity as the cultural successor of the ancient Roman Empire and embraced the Eastern Orthodox faith, not Roman Catholicism. Thus, Gaelic Ireland and Byzantium still kept their pagan or Greco-Roman cultural tradition of the past; in other words, they stood on the margins of the mainstream hemisphere of the Latin-Catholic medieval European world. This study examines and analyzes these marginalized societies’ inauguration/coronation ceremonies as their historical development and embedded symbolic messages represent different religious, cultural, and political landscape of their home society.

КОНФЛИКТЫ В ЖЕНСКИХ МОНАСТЫРЯХ ПУАТЬЕ И ТУРА (вторая половина VI века)

The article discusses the causes of conflict situations in the convents of Poitiers and Tours. These incidents show that noble women of the Frankish Kingdom actively participated in the political events of the country during the second half of the 6th century. The motives that prompted Bishop Gregory of Tours to write about these events in his famous historical essay are revealed. The tendentiousness of the author, who created the images of the participants and described the course of the events based on his own goals and objectives, is noted. It is concluded that women of the Merovingian epoch could openly participate in various political events, including the use of violence. The involvement of nuns in uprisings and riots was not always assessed negatively by the contemporaries. When it was profitable, secular authorities supported the organizers of conflicts and even saved them from church punishment. The Church could also use the women’s rebellions to its advantage. Modern researchers must take into account the rhetoric of sources, as well as the motives and intentions of their authors. The causes of the uprisings were complex, with conflicts playing an important role in the struggle for political gain and influence between various branches of government.

Frankish Viticulture, Wine Presses, and wine production in the Levant: New Evidence from Castellum Regis (Miʿilyā)

ABSTRACT As the Christian population increased in the Frankish Kingdom following 1100, there was also a much-increased demand for wine. This led to a revolution in agriculture and industry related to wine production. The high number of texts mentioning vineyards is indicative of these activities. To date only 26 wine-presses identified as belonging to the Frankish period have been discovered, but they provide considerable information about the building technology, and the nature of wine production. The new discovery in Miʿilyā provides critical information about this industry; it points to a kind of monopoly on wine production during the Frankish period, but it also provided great deal of information about the production technology. The fermentation in the local Levantine technology took place under the sun, with low proportion of CO2, in a non-controlled environment, while the Franks brought with them a different technology, in which the fermentation took place inside buildings, in a quite controlled environment with high levels of CO2. In addition, it seems likely that in Miʿilyā’s factory, the fermentation place and storage were in an underground large room. This style, which is suitable to rainy regions, seems to have been introduced to the Levant during the Frankish period.

Se vêtir à Chypre sous les Lusignan (1192-1474) : l’apport de la peinture

During the Lusignan period (1192-1474), Cyprus produced precious fabrics that were highly prized in both East and West. In the absence of preserved secular material, the portraits of local donors and patrons, which appear on the religious murals and panel paintings, can be used to probe this textile production. Unlike tomb slabs, these pictures show us the colours and materials of the garments worn by Cypriots. This paper examines how, in this Frankish Kingdom of the Eastern Mediterranean, clothing may have been used as an identity marker. It also highlights how dress can furnish information on the openness of a person to another culture.

Chindasvinth, the ‘Gothic disease’, and the Monothelite crisis

Abstract Taking up important observations made by L. A. García Moreno on King Chindasvinth’s involvement in the Monothelite crisis via connections to North Africa and to Rome, this article argues that a deep division within the Visigothic episcopate on the king’s policy should already be assumed for October 646, when Chindasvinth assembled the 7th Synod of Toledo. A new reading of the synod’s first canon, usually interpreted as a mere confirmation of Chindasvinth’s law on high treason of 641/2, proceeds from the observation that the synod’s decisions must be seen as a minory vote, given the fact that the synod was not attended by more than 30 bishops and several episcopal representatives, and that it lacked any attendance or support from the ecclesiastical provinces of Tarraconensis and Septimania. As is shown, fears were expressed at the synod somewhat shroudedly that numerous clerics of every rank could find a common cause with a foreign enemy beyond the frontiers and that, as a consequence, an infringement of the orthodox faith could result. This most likely referred to the clergy of Septimania and Aquitania, whose territories the Visigothic kingdom and the Frankish kingdom neighboured. This paper argues that Frankish Aquitania, being the south-western part of the Austrasian kingdom of the Merovingian king Sigibert III, never adopted the policy of Sigibert’s brother Clovis II, who assembled a synod of the episcopate of Neustria and Burgundy at Chalon-sur-Saône in support of Pope Martin’s condemnation of Monothelitism at the Lateran synod of 649. While it is not clear whether Sigibert prevented the Aquitanian clergy from attending the synod for religious reasons or for diplomatic considerations related to Constantinople, the division of both the Frankish and Visigothic episcopates over the issue of supporting the Lateran Council fostered a constellation in which treason could become a crime with strong religious overtones.

Les aménagements liturgiques des cathédrales de Genève, du ve au ixe siècle. Étude chronologique comparative

The aim of this paper is to study the liturgical arrangements realized in the transition space between the choir and the nave of the church, in order to obtain a better understanding of the link between the cathedral and the other monuments of the cult, in particular the baptisteries. The presented data are related to the one published on other sites: the cathedrals of Aosta, Tournai, Cologne, and Trier, and other buildings in western Europe. In the southern cathedral of Geneva, we observe, with a certain precocity, the emergence of a solea and an ambo, as in Aosta (half a century earlier), in Grado and Boppard during the same period, and in Tournai a little later. During the 6th century, this type of architectural element spreads throughout western Europe, and is in competition (or in complementarity) with more opened arrangements connecting the cathedral to the baptistery, as it is the case in the northern cathedral of Aosta, recently modified. During the 7th-8th centuries, the situation became more complex in Geneva, when, on the east of the baptistery, a third church was constructed, whose liturgical arrangements were those of a martyrial church. In the Carolingian period, this building was considerably enlarged on the western side (at exactly the same place where the baptistery was disappearing) and provided with arrangements similar to those of the cathedral of Cologne at the same time. This shows that it was now used as a cathedral, at the detriment of the two ancient churches that disappeared soon after. These constructions can be seen in relation with the application of the Carolingian liturgical reform, which was inspired by the image of Rome, as it can be seen in the Ordo Romanus IV, written in the Frankish kingdom.

Eburnei nuntii: The Consular Diptychs and the Imperial Diplomacy of the 6th Century

This article deals with ivory consular diptychs dating around the first half of the sixth century. All these diptychs but one depict consuls appointed in Constantinople, but they were all found in the former Western Roman Empire, mainly in cities belonging to the Frankish Kingdom. Considering their chronology and sixth century history, this paper shows that consular diptychs were often sent by the emperor to Germanic kings or Roman senators as diplomatic gifts. A specific focus is dedicated to the Barberini Diptych, which arrived in Gaul together with a Byzantine embassy. The Frankish king Clovis is portrayed as a consul on its left panel.

Humanistic Ideas about History and Foundations of the New Chronology by Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540—1609)

The question of the development of humanistic historiography in the Renaissance and early Modern era is considered. Special attention is paid to the contribution of Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609) to the creation of a new chronology. The novelty of the research is that Scaliger’s achievements in the field of chronology are considered as an important component of the process of formation of a new historical narrative and the development of scientific principles of historical research. It is emphasized that earlier works written by Italian humanist historians used outdated calendar systems, which developed in the late Antique era and were characterized by a lack of understanding of the true significance of the change of historical epochs. The authors show that Scaliger’s achievements in the field of chronology allowed historians of the early Modern era, especially the French historians, to make significant progress in the understanding of the relevant for the history of Europe period of transition from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The article concludes that due to the achievements of Scaliger the time scale of the Roman Empire and barbarian kingdoms was able to line up in a meaningful sequence. The history of the Frankish Kingdom as the initial period of the Middle Ages was able to take its place of honor in the writings of historians.