Three empires, three cities: Identity, material culture and legitimacy in Venice, Ravenna and Rome, 750-1000

Description

This book focuses on three Italian cities in the early middle ages, Rome, Ravenna and Venice, and looks at them in a new light. The unifying element linking them was their common Byzantine past, since they remained in the sphere of imperial power after the creation of the Lombard kingdom in the late 6th century, up to 750. What happened to them when their links with the Byzantine Empire were almost entirely severed in the 8th century? Did they remain socially and culturally heirs of Byzantium in the 9th and 10th centuries in their political structures, social organisation, material culture, ideological frame of reference and representation of identity? Or did they become part of the next imperial powers of Italy, the Carolingian and the Ottonian empires? A workshop in Oxford in 2014 brought together an international group of specialists to discuss these questions in a comparative context; the excitement of their debates is captured in the discussion sections linking the papers in this volume. Early medieval Italy can be seen in a new way as a result. Front Matter ("Table of Contents", "Preface", "List of abbreviations"), p. 1 Free Access Introduction, p. 13 Veronica West-Harling https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109279 1. Venice: creation of a city and its identity The formation of an early medieval community: Venice between provincial and urban identity, p. 35 Stefano Gasparri https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109280 La storia di una nuova città attraverso l’archeologia: Venezia nell’alto medioevo, p. 51 Sauro Gelichi https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109281 2. Ravenna: the city and its ruler Material culture in Ravenna and its hinterland between the 8th and the 10th century, p. 101 Enrico Cirelli https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109282 3. Rome: the reality of power Topografia del potere a Roma nel X secolo, p. 135 Riccardo Santangeli Valenzani https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109283 4. Rome: reinterpreting the city’s past To be the daughter of Saint Peter: S. Petronilla and forging the Franco-Papal Alliance, p. 159 Caroline Goodson https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109284 5-6. Empires I Romani e l’Impero (VII-X secolo), p. 191 Paolo Delogu https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109285 Les Francs à Venise, à Ravenne et à Rome: un facteur d’identité urbaine?, p. 227 François Bougard https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109286 Identità romana e l’idea dell’Imperium Romanorum nel X e nel primo XI secolo, p. 255 Hagen Keller https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109287 7. Round table discussion / Tavola rotonda Round table discussion / Tavola rotonda, p. 287 https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109288 Final observations, p. 325 Chris Wickham https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SCISAM-EB.5.109291 Back Matter ("Index of names"), p. 331