Rome, Ravenna, and Venice, 750-1000: Byzantine Heritage, Imperial Present, and the Construction of City Identity

Description

The richest and most politically complex regions in Italy in the earliest middle ages were the Byzantine sections of the peninsula, thanks to their links with the most coherent early medieval state, the Byzantine empire. This comparative study of the histories of Rome, Ravenna, and Venice examines their common Byzantine past, since all three escaped incorporation into the Lombard kingdom in the late 7th and early 8th centuries. By 750, however, Rome and Ravenna's political links with the Byzantine Empire had been irrevocably severed. Thus, did these cities remain socially and culturally heirs of Byzantium? How did their political structures, social organisation, material culture, and identities change? Did they become part of the Western political and ideological framework of Italy? This stusy identifies and analyses the ways in which each of these cities preserved the structures of the Late Antique social and cultural world; or in which they adapted each and every element available to them to their own needs, at various times and in various ways, to create a new identity based partly on their Roman heritage and partly on their growing integration with the rest of medieval Italy. It tells a story which encompasses the main contemporary narratives, documentary evidence, recent archaeological discoveries, and discussions on art history; it follows the markers of status and identity through titles, names, ethnic groups, liturgy and ritual, foundation myths, representations, symbols, and topographies of power to shed light on a relatively little known area of early medieval Italian history. Cover Rome, Ravenna and Venice, 750–1000 Copyright Dedication Contents List of Figures List of Maps List of Tables List of Plates List of Abbreviations Preface Introduction The Context The Terminology: Some Difficult Words The Geography: Why These Cities? The Methodology: How to Articulate the Debate The Source Material Narrative Sources Documentary Sources Material Culture Art and Architecture Historiography and Current Research Presentation: the Structure of the Book 1 A Tale of Three Cities: History and Histories A Short History of Italy from Late Antiquity (Fourth Century) to 750 The Period 750 to 1000 Rome The Lombard Crises and the End of Byzantine Rule The Franks in Rome and Carolingian Rule to 888 The Regnum Italiae, Aristocratic Rule in Rome, and the Ottonians Ravenna The Autocephaly Conflict and its Afterlife Anti-Roman and Anti-papal Policies of the Church of Ravenna under the Carolingians Reconciliation with Rome and the Ottonian Alliance 2 The Actors: the Elites and the Populus, I: Rome Introduction: the Society of Byzantine Italy The Roman Aristocracy Aristocratic Families from 750 to 900 Aristocratic Families in the Tenth Century Wealth The Popes The Struggle to Control the Papacy: Contested Elections The Struggle to Control the Papacy: Conflicts, Riots, and Depositions Conclusions The Populus The Urban Clergy The Merchants, Artisans, and Other Wealth-creators Conclusions 3 The Actors: the Elites and the Populus, II: Ravenna and Venice Aristocracy and Church from the Eighth to the End of the Ninth Century The Elites in Romagna and the Archbishop of Ravenna in the Ninth and Tenth centuries Titles and Social Status Anthroponymy Wealth Church Personnel The Rest of the Clergy Merchants and Artisans Conclusions Venice The Families of the Future Doges The Other Aristocratic Families The Struggle for Control of the Duchy The Remaining Venetians The Clergy The Bishops of the Lagoon The Rest of the Clergy The Populus Merchants and Aristocrats: the Same People? Artisans Slaves Conclusions 4 The Stage: Places of Power, Instruments of Control The Places Residences of the Rulers Residences of the Aristocracy Residences of the Saints Churches Foundations and Restorations Dedications and Relics Liturgy and Ideology Homes of the Elite in this World and the Next: the Monasteries Instruments of Control Manifestations of power The first form of display was generosity to the less fortunate. Charity and the Charitable System Art and Architecture Statements of Power Titulature and Dating Coinage Objects of Power: Emblems, Symbols, and Gifts Conclusions 5 Exercising Power in the City: The Public Space Who Owns the Public Space in the City? Christianization and Appropriation of the Public Space by the Church in Rome The Cult of St Peter and the Pilgrimage ‘ad limina’ The Papacy’s Role in Running the City Appropriation of the Public Space by Laymen as a Political Arena: Rewriting Topographies in Rome, Venice, and Ravenna The Public Space: Place of Cohesion, Place of Conflict Creating Cohesion, Bringing the City Together A Space of Representation and the Creation of City Identity: A Space of Assemblies: Justice, Rulership, Defence The Public Space as a Place of Conflict: Using the Emperor: the Factions in the City In Rome In Venice and Ravenna Contested Elections Riots and Conspiracies Conclusion: the Public Space—Space of Unity, Space of Separation 6 Memory and the Construction of City Identity The Roman Past as Common Ground Anthroponymy Law and the Notariate The Saints and the Liturgy Ideology Titles and Social Status Topography and Lifestyle Preserving and/or Constructing the Past: Romanitas and Apostolic Succession Romanitas The Apostolic Succession and the Other Founding Saints Construction of the Present: Patron Saint and/or Imperial Renovatio Venice Ravenna Rome 7 Concluding Thoughts Bibliography Written sources, numismatics, and epigraphy Literature Index