Carolingian Studies

The reforms of Carolingian kings and emperors, and the controversies that arose from these reforms, subtly but profoundly shaped the biographies of holy men and women as they were revised during the ninth century. A number of revised saints' lives and their earlier versions survive and a close comparison of the earlier versions with their revisions reveals that the revisers made far more important changes to the content than has been recognized. This study uncovers a wealth of previously unnoticed ninth-century evidence whose deep significance emerges from comparison with contemporary sources. The rewriting phenomenon, which is explored through historical and literary approaches to rewriting and translation, appears as the embodiment of the Carolingian goal of correcting learning and behavior.

The dissertation looks at reforms from ca. 800 to ca. 870 in several areas: orthodox belief, monastic reform according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, and kingship, specifically the heightened moral expectations for rulers' behavior in the bedroom and on the battlefield. In addition to new constructions of sanctity, the revisers changed other aspects of the saints' worlds that they invented: bishops, monks, kings, queens, and even the landscape. Hagiography appears deeply influenced by the author, audience, and events at the time of revision and different retellings of the same story allow us to track changing ideals from century to century as well as decade to decade. My work sheds new light on the reform movement and on some of its most prominent exponents (Alcuin, Jonas of Orléans, Walafrid Strabo, Lupus of Ferrières, and Ado of Vienne) from the largely neglected perspective of their hagiographical work. Their revisions reveal that some are far more creative, clever, and controversial than previously thought and highlight the interests that characterized each successive generation of the Carolingian renaissance. My conclusion suggests that the study of thematic rewriting helps us to learn more about the authors of anonymous texts like those of saints Balthild and Genevieve.

Mit 21 lokalen, regionalen und überregionalen Studien bietet der Sammelband einen Querschnitt durch die Erforschung frühmittelalterlicher Zentren und Siedlungsstrukturen vornehmlich des bayerisch-ostfränkischen Raumes und benachbarter Landschaften. Das thematische Spektrum reicht dabei von überregional bedeutsamen Zentren wie Pfalzen und Bischofssitzen zu solchen ländlicher Gesellschaften, z.B. Mühlen oder Pfarrkirchen. Der zeitliche Rahmen spannt sich von der Spätantike bis in das beginnende Hochmittelalter.  Im Mittelpunkt des Interesses stehen Kriterien für Zentralität, methodische Probleme wie die Abgrenzung von Zentrum und Peripherie, Ursachen für strukturellen Wandel von Zentren sowie die räumliche Verteilung zentraler Funktionen innerhalb überörtlicher zentraler Räume.

En quelques formules définitives, concluant sa remarquable synthèse sur la fin de l'Antiquité, Henri Pirenne (m. 1935) s'est imposé comme la référence historiographique contemporaine majeure du monde méditerranéen proto-médiéval. L'Islâm, en faisant irruption sur ces rivages du VIIe au VIIIe s. aurait d’après lui si profondément bouleversé les échanges entre l'Ouest et l'Est qu'il aurait provoqué une véritable « fermeture » économique et circulatoire de la Méditerranée occidentale. L'Europe de l'Ouest, amputée de son accès à l’ancien Mare Nostrum, aurait été obligée de se réinventer pour donner naissance à l'Occident chrétien, sous l’égide de la dynastie carolingienne, issue d’ailleurs de Francie septentrionale. En somme, « Charlemagne sans Mahomet serait inconcevable » . Or cette thèse, en dépit de ses qualités, a très vite été contestée, notamment par les spécialistes du monde arabe, dès les années 1940.  A la fin du XXe s., avec la prise en compte de nouvelles sources en particulier archéologiques, elle a perdu un peu de son éclat.
L’Occident méditerranéen du haut Moyen Âge doit-il donc encore être considéré comme un lac musulman ou comme une frontière de l'Islâm ?
Sans prétendre trancher cet épineux problème en quelques pages, il nous a paru intéressant d’analyser  la controverse en elle-même pour tenter d’y voir un peu plus clair. Confronté aux assertions contradictoires d’historiens qui délaissent parfois l’habit du chercheur pour endosser celui du polémiste, on verra qu’un retour aux sources au sens littéral de l’expression s’impose, avant de proposer quelques nouvelles pistes d’analyse

This groundbreaking study reveals the distinctive impact of apocalyptic ideas about time, evil and power on church and society in the Latin West, c.400–c.1050. Drawing on evidence from late antiquity, the Frankish kingdoms, Anglo-Saxon England, Spain and Byzantium and sociological models, James Palmer shows that apocalyptic thought was a more powerful part of mainstream political ideologies and religious reform than many historians believe. Moving beyond the standard 'Terrors of the Year 1000', The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages opens up broader perspectives on heresy, the Antichrist and Last World Emperor legends, chronography, and the relationship between eschatology and apocalypticism. In the process, it offers reassessments of the worlds of Augustine, Gregory of Tours, Bede, Charlemagne and the Ottonians, providing a wide-ranging and up-to-date survey of medieval apocalyptic thought. This is the first full-length English-language treatment of a fundamental and controversial part of medieval religion and society.

Intending the Early Middle Ages as one of the most astonishing political and social laboratories in Europe's history, the main goal of this session is the study of social complexity between the 9th and 10th centuries, comparing societies and political landscapes from two European macro-regions: Northern Iberia and Central Italy, in order to investigate social, economic and political complexities on a continental scale, with the main intention of interpreting 'landscapes of social and political inequality'; to deepen the concepts of social and political inequality in the historical evolution of societies and powers, which must be always considered as processes in progress.

Videoconferenza disponibile su YouTube al link allegato. Si propone un itinerario tra le sete ispirate alla vita romanzata del re persiano Bahràm V (421-439 d.C.). Grazie a questi preziosi manufatti, l'eco di un racconto orientale si è diffusa nel cuore dell'Europa nell'età di Carlo Magno.

Svend Estridsen og prins Knud forsøgte flere gange at angribe England for at genvinde det tabte, og de havde fælles interesser med grev Robert I af Flandern, hvis forhold til Vilhelm Erobreren også var dårligt. På den måde så de St. Donatian kirken i Brügge og fik prins Knud (den Hellige) fik forbindelse med grev Robert, hvis datter, Adele af Flandern (Edel), Knud blev gift med. Ved at gifte sig med en efterkommer af Karolingerne, satsede Knud på, at det ville styrke hans position og opkvalificere hans sønners kandidatur til konge magten.

Un important épisode méconnu du partage de l'Europe carolingienne, précédant l'accord de Verdun. 
   
    The Imperial Diet at Saint-Romain-des-Iles, near Mâcon (France), 842 June 15th. 
   
    Der unerkannte Reichstag zu Saint-Romain-des-Iles, im Jahre 842.
 
N B    La carte de la page 5 se retrouve en grand format à la fin.

L'opera offre una nuova edizione critica dell'Institutio laicalis del vescovo Giona di Orléans, un trattato morale per i laici dell'impero carolingio, redatto negli anni '20 del IX secolo. L'edizione qui proposta si concentra su una delle due versioni del testo giunte sino a noi, quella più antica, espressamente progettata per il conte Matfrido di Orléans. Il particolare interesse dell'opera, uno dei più lunghi e complessi trattati morali di epoca carolingia, risiede nella varietà dei temi affrontati, che coprono l'intero arco dell'esistenza dell'individuo, dal battesimo al destino dopo la morte, e nell'attenzione per il matrimonio, la vita coniugale e domestica, il rapporto tra marito e moglie e tra genitori e figli.

AVANT-PROPOS
Martin Aurell et Blaise Royer, Les cinq sens : un certain regard sur le Moyen Âge, 449.

ARTICLES
— Lawrence Nees, L’odorat fait-il sens ? Quelques réflexions autour de l’encens de l’Antiquité tardive au haut Moyen Âge, 451.
— Elisabetta Neri, Les cloches : construction, sens, perception d’un son. Quelques réflexions à partir des témoignages archéologiques des « fours à cloches », 473.
— Carolyn Marino Malone, Les implications sensorielles de l’architecture et de la liturgie au Moyen Âge, 497.
— Adam S. Cohen, La Haggadah multi-sensorielle, 521.
— Lynley Anne Herbert, Le toucher de l’évêque. Les actes de dévotion dans les Évangiles de Sainte-Croix de Poitiers, 541.
— Geneviève Bührer-Thierry, L’oeil efficace. Voir, regarder et être vu dans le haut Moyen Âge occidental, 559.
— Francesca Dell’Acqua, Les cinq sens et la connaissance de Dieu. Marie Madeleine et Thomas dans les Ivoires de Salerne, 571.

Liste des ouvrages et articles reçus au CESCM en 2012, 599.
Table des matières 2012, 619.

With the onset of the Carolingian reforms, priests were given the important task to improve the moral lives of the laity. Whether or not regulations to this extent were an empty letter has been long debated. Manuscripts used by local priests shed new light on this matter and show how ideals of correctio did reach the Frankish countryside. It also shows how there were priests well educated enough to work with these books and teach the laity how to be good Frankish Christians.

Статья посвящена анализу социального и правового статуса раз-личных категорий зависимого населения, отраженных в «Капитулярии о поместьях» (Capitulare de villis vel curtis imperii), который был составлен
в 794–800 гг. Автор рассматривает статус и функции представителей управленческой верхушки в рамках поместья. Для различных категорий администрации в капитулярии существовало несколько обозначений:
управляющий — iudex, его помощники — iuniores, староста — maior, надсмотрщик — minister. Некоторые представители поместного управления обладали привилегированным положением. Вторая часть статьи посвя-щена рядовым обитателям королевских поместий — бывшим свободным франкам, оказавшимся под властью могущественного правителя вместе со своим имуществом, и различным категориям зависимых земледельцев (минестериалов, свободных франков, рабов, фискалинов и трибутариев,
провендариев). Автор показывает, что все эти представители социума относились к категории homines nostri (похожих по своему образу на homines regii в Рипуарской правде VII в.). Именно в «Капитулярии о поместьях» наиболее ярко прослеживается тренд, который заключался в постепенном слиянии различных категорий на протяжении VII–IX вв. в один зависи-мый слой, впоследствии ставший основой для массы сервов IX–XI вв., сидевших на землях своего господина, вносивших различные подати и исполнявших разнообразные повинности в его пользу.

The paper provides the results of the historical and textual analysis of Carolingian glosses and corrections of Greek terms and sentences in the Ars Prisciani. Firstly, combining the increased know- ledge of the manuscript tradition of the Ars with research done on the study of Greek in learned (mostly Irish) Carolingian circles, it identifies both the manuscripts bearing glosses and conjectures on Greek words, and those containing the text for which those glosses and corrections were produced (the so-called recensio Scotica). Secondly, it clarifies the relationships between marginal annotations in Priscian’s witnesses and the collections of Graeca Prisciani, transmitted by mss. Laon 444 and Wien 114. Lastly it recognises different exegetical strands which can be traced back to John Scotus and other medieval scholars. This inquiry both reveals the limited reliability of some manuscripts for the recon- struction of Priscian’s text, and contributes new material to the long-debated issue of the knowledge of Greek in the Western Middle Ages.

Les articles précédents ont montré les très nombreuses erreurs et les mensonges d'Oleg de Normandie sur les Celtes et les Vikings. L'auteur complotiste invente une histoire fantasmée des mondes celtes et vikings. dans cet article, nous mettons en avant les autres erreurs, concernant notamment sa construction d'une occultation de l'esclavage par l'Inquisition.

Trabalho feito no âmbito da cadeira de História Medieval (Economia e Sociedade) na FLUL, Lic. de História.
  Propomo-nos, aqui, analisar três textos unidos pela temática central - as relações de vassalidade nos séculos VIII e IX na Europa. Os textos são retirados da Monumenta Germaniæ Historica.

Le seul fils survivant de Charlemagne, Empereur d’Occident de 800 à 814, n’a pas souvent bonne presse dans notre pays. Il peut être décrit comme le jouet de sa deuxième femme ou de l’Eglise, ou bien comme un incapable qui a détruit l’héritage de son père.
Mais en a-t-il toujours été ainsi ? Comment le voyait-on du temps de son règne , entre 814 et 840 ? Comment fut-il perçu après sa mort dans les Franciae que créèrent ses fils ? La fin de la dynastie carolingienne modifia-t-elle son image ? Et au-delà du Moyen Age , comment fut-il traité par les historiens et ce jusqu’à notre XXIe siècle ?

When early medieval sources record the appointment of a new bishop, the authors occasionally provide extra information on the social, geographical, educational or ecclesiastical background of the appointee. These details were not randomly chosen, since they reflected ideas that emerged in the previous centuries and culminated in a disparate corpus of texts commonly referred to as 'canon law'. In this article, I shall take a closer look at the bishops in the church province of Rheims in the 'long' tenth century (between 888 and 1049). In particular, I will zoom in on one feature of the episcopal profile that frequently surfaces in narrative, diplomatic and epistolary sources: the pre-episcopal career. After a brief discussion of canonical prescriptions on the ecclesiastical career, I shall explore the functions the bishops exercised before their promotion to a see, in the secular clergy, in monastic milieus or at the royal court. Despite the traditional emphasis on a tenth-century 'church in the hands of the laity', this analysis demonstrates that canon law on the requirements for episcopal candidates was not necessarily disregarded. The sources representing the career of the studied bishops first and foremost paint a picture of continuity: deeply rooted in Late Antique, Merovingian and Carolingian developments, yet steadily transforming, pressed by local circumstances.

Un día como hoy hace 1220 años, durante la Nochebuena del 800 anno domini, Charlemagne, Charles The Great o The Magnus (Carlomagno) Rey de los Francos, Alamanos y Lombardos, vencedor de los vascones, vándalos, sajones, burgundios, eslavos y musulmanes de Hispania, se preparaba para ser coronado Imperator Augustus por el Papa León III en el Vaticano, ya siendo rey del Imperio Carolingio con la intención de recuperar en algo la grandeza que un día tuviera el Imperio Romano de Occidente, difuminado en el 476 A.D.

Highlight
• This is the most detailed account to date on the health and disease status of Charlemagne, the Father of Europe.
• Based on ancient sources, we suggest that Charlemagne suffered from mild gout and died of an infectious pulmonary disease.
• Additionally, for the first time, we present evidence of mummification of Charlemagne's remains, emphasizing his unique historical role. Abstract In this article, a complete history of Charlemagne's mortal remains is outlined, including the first publication reporting on the most recent tomb opening in 1988. Besides exclusive bioarchaeological details – namely that his body was indeed mummified-a full clinical interpretation of the Emperor's final illnesses and death is given: a likely combination of osteoarthritis, gout and a recurrent fever caused by an infectious disease.

Abstract
In this article, a complete history of Charlemagne’s mortal remains is outlined, including the first publication reporting on the most recent tomb opening in 1988. Besides exclusive bioarchaeological details – namely that his body was indeed mummified - a full clinical interpretation of the Emperor’s final illnesses and death is given: a likely combination of osteoarthritis, gout and a recurrent fever caused by an infectious disease.
See also my other publication for this time period:
https://www.academia.edu/37498085/Pope_Joan._The_covered-up_pontificate_of_a_woman_or_a_fictional_legend_2018_

Книга «Франкская империя Карла Великого» — это история о диких необузданных племенах франков и их войнах с римлянами; о создании жестоким и хитрым королем Хлодвигом франкского королевства; «ленивых королях» династии Меровингов и могущественных майордомах, а также о завоеваниях земель, дипломатии и внутренней политике коронованного императорской короной Карла Великого; о достижениях прекрасного и величественного Каролингского возрождения, оставившего глубокий след в европейской культуре.

Франкскую империю, созданную Карлом Великим, справедливо считают своеобразным «Евросоюзом» эпохи Средних веков. Именно держава Карла стала исторической основой не только современных Франции, Германии и Италии, но и многих других сопредельных им стран.