East and West in the Early Middle Ages: The Merovingian Kingdoms in Mediterranean Perspective

Description

From their crystallisation in the late fifth century to their ultimate decline in the eighth, the Merovingian kingdoms were a product of a vibrant Mediterranean society with both a cultural past and a dynamic and ongoing dialogue between the member communities. By bringing together the scholarship of historians, archaeologists, art historians, and manuscript researchers, this volume examines the Merovingian world's Mediterranean connections. The Franks' cultural horizons spanned not only the Latin-speaking world, but also the Byzantine Empire, northern Europe, Sassanid Persia, and, after the seventh century, a quickly ascendant Islamic culture. Traces of a constant movement of people and cultural artefacts through this world are ubiquitous. As simultaneous consumers, adapters, and disseminators of culture, the degree to which the Merovingian kingdoms were thought to engage with their neighbours is re-evaluated as this volume analyses written accounts, archaeological findings and artefacts to provide new perspectives on Merovingian wide-ranging relations. Title page, pp i-iii Copyright page, pp iv-iv Contents, pp v-vii Figures, pp viii-x Contributors, pp xi-xii Acknowledgements, pp xiii-xiv Abbreviations, pp xv-xvi Introduction, pp 1-6 By Stefan Esders, Yitzhak Hen Part I - Expanding Political Horizons, pp 7-64 1 - Archaeological Perspectives on Communication and Exchange between the Merovingians and the Eastern Mediterranean, pp 9-31 By Jörg Drauschke 2 - Anxiously Looking East: Burgundian Foreign Policy on the Eve of the Reconquest, pp 32-44 By Yaniv Fox 3 - Pax Inter Utramque Gentem: The Merovingians, Byzantium and the History of Frankish Identity, pp 45-64 By Helmut Reimitz Part II - Patterns of Intensification: The 580s, pp 65-126 4 - Cultural Transmission Caught in the Act: Gregory of Tours and the Relics of St Sergius, pp 67-73 By Phillip Wynn 5 - Hermenegild’s Rebellion and Conversion: Merovingian and Byzantine Connections, pp 74-86 By Wolfram Drews 6 - Early Byzantine Church Silver Offered for the Eternal Rest of Framarich and Karilos: Evidence of ‘the Army of Heroic Men’ Raised by Tiberius II Constantine?, pp 87-107 By Benjamin Fourlas 7 - Money for Nothing?: Franks, Byzantines and Lombards in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries, pp 108-126 By Andreas Fischer Part III - The Pope as a Mediterranean Player, pp 127-186 8 - The Papacy and the Frankish Bishops in the Sixth Century, pp 129-137 By Sebastian Scholz 9 - A One-Way Ticket to Francia: Constantinople, Rome and Northern Gaul in the Mid Seventh Century, pp 138-148 By Charles Mériaux 10 - The Digression on Pope Martin I in the Life of Eligius of Noyon, pp 149-164 By Laury Sarti 11 - Perceptions of Rome and the Papacy in Late Merovingian Francia: The Cononian Recension of the Liber Pontificalis, pp 165-186 By Rosamond McKitterick Part IV - Religious and Cultural Exchange, pp 187-244 12 - Relocation to the West: The Relic of the True Cross in Poitiers, pp 189-201 By Galit Noga-Banai 13 - A Generic Mediterranean: Hagiography in the Early Middle Ages, pp 202-217 By Jamie Kreiner 14 - Defensor of Ligugé’s Liber Scintillarum and the Migration of Knowledge, pp 218-229 By Yitzhak Hen 15 - Willibald in the Holy Places, pp 230-244 By Ora Limor Part V - Rethinking the Late Merovingians, pp 245-345 16 - ‘Great Security Prevailed in Both East and West’: The Merovingian Kingdoms and the Sixth Ecumenical Council (680/1), pp 247-264 By Stefan Esders 17 - In the Circle of the Bishop of Bourges: Bern 611 and Late Merovingian Culture, pp 265-280 By David Ganz 18 - Contact with the Eastern Mediterranean in the Late Merovingian Period, pp 281-296 By Ian Wood 19 - ‘Merovingian’ Illuminated Manuscripts and Their Links with the Eastern Mediterranean World, pp 297-317 By Lawrence Nees 20 - ‘Sons of Ishmael, Turn Back!’, pp 318-328 By Ann Christys 21 - Carolingian Kingship, Apostolic Authority and Imperial Recognition: Pippin the Short’s Italienpolitik and the Quest for Royal Legitimacy, pp 329-345 By Erik Goosmann Index, pp 346-360