The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000

by Chris Wickham

  p. 117. Saints’ lives as sources: see the important analysis of the genre by P. Fouracre, ‘Merovingian History and Merovingian Hagiography’, Past and Present, 127 (1990), pp. 3-38.

  p. 117. Pippinids: I. Wood, in L. Brubaker and J. M. H. Smith (eds), Gender in the Early Medieval World (Cambridge, 2004), pp. 234-56, shows that their (female-line) Pippinid ancestry was more important to this family after 687 than their male ancestors.

  p. 117. Childeric and Childebert: see Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms, pp. 227-38, 262-6; P. Fouracre, The Age of Charles Martel (Harlow, 2000), pp. 48-54; countered by T. Kölzer, in M. Becher and J. Jarnut (eds.), Der Dynastiewechsel von 751 (Münster, 2004), pp. 33-60.

  p. 118. Godin: Fredegar, Chronica, 4.54; Grimoald and Bodilo: Liber Historiae Francorum, partially trans. in P. Fouracre and R. Gerberding, Late Merovingian France (Manchester, 1996), pp. 87-96, cc. 43, 45.

  p. 118. Childebert as Sigebert’s adopted son: of the competing modern analyses, I largely follow R. Gerberding, The Rise of the Carolingians and the Liber Historiae Francorum (Oxford, 1987), pp. 47-66; but see also M. Becher, in J. Jarnut et al. (eds.), Karl Martell in seiner Zeit (Sigmaringen, 1994), pp. 119-47.

  p. 118. Ebroin’s king: Passio Prima Leudegarii, trans. in Fouracre and Gerberding, Late Merovingian France, pp. 215-53, c. 19.

  p. 119. Samo: Fredegar, Chronica, 4.48, 68-77; Radulf: 4.87; Aquitaine: see M. Rouche, L’Aquitaine des Wisigoths aux Arabes, 418-781 (Paris, 1979), pp. 90-129.

  p. 119. Charles Martel: see Fouracre, Charles Martel.

  p. 120. Taxation: see W. Goffart, Rome’s Fall and After (London, 1989), pp. 213-31; C. Wickham, Framing the Early Middle Ages (Oxford, 2005), pp. 102-15.

  p. 120. Gold content: see M. F. Hendy, ‘From Public to Private’, Viator, 19 (1988), pp. 29-78, at pp. 62-8.

  p. 121. Thesaurus: e.g. Fredegar, Chronica, 4.38, 42, 60, 67, 75, 85; Liber Historiae Francorum, cc. 45, 48, 52-3.

  p. 121. Writing: see I. Wood, in R. McKitterick (ed.), The Uses of Literacy in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 63-81; tax accounts: ChLA, vol. 18, n. 659, vol. 47, nn. 1404-5.

  p. 121. Royal acts: Marculfi Formulae, ed. K. Zeumer, MGH, Formulae Merovingici et Karolini Aevi (Hanover, 1886), pp. 36-106, 1.6-8, 11, 12, 20, 26-9, 40; ChLA, vol. 13, nn. 550, 565; J. Havet, ‘Questions mérovingiennes, V’, Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes, 51 (1890), pp. 5-62, at pp. 47-50; Desiderius of Cahors, Letters, ed. W. Arndt, MGH, Epistolae, vol. 3 (Berlin, 1892), pp. 193-214, letter 2.17.

  p. 122. Referendaril and other officials: see P. S. Barnwell, Kings, Courtiers and Imperium (London, 1997), pp. 23-40.

  p. 122. Bishop Praejectus: Passio Praeiecti, trans. in Fouracre and Gerberding, Late Merovingian France, pp. 271-300, cc. 23-7.

  p. 122. Assemblies: see P. S. Barnwell, in idem and M. Mostert (eds.), Political Assemblies in the Earlier Middle Ages (Turnhout, 2003), pp. 11-28; Saxons: Gregory of Tours, Histories, 4.14; sixth-century participation: ibid., 3.14, cf. H. Grahn-Hoek, Die fränkische Oberschicht im 6. Jahrhundert (Sigmaringen, 1976); Ebroin: Passio Prima Leudegarii, c. 5.

  p. 123. Legal assemblies: see P. Fouracre, in W. Davies and P. Fouracre (eds.), The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 23-43.

  p. 123. Salic law: see The Laws of the Salian Franks, trans. K. F. Drew (Philadelphia, 1991), prologue, 57; H. Nehlsen, in P. Classen (ed.), Recht und Schrift im Mittelalter (Sigmaringen, 1977), pp. 449-502, at pp. 461-83; later law: Cap., vol. 1, pp. 1-23.

  p. 124. Royal justice: Gregory of Tours, Histories, 6.73; Fredegar, Chronica, 4.58. For Chlotar and councils, see M. de Jong, in S. Airlie et al. (eds.), Staat im frühen Mittelalter (Vienna, 2006), pp. 125-7.

  p. 124. Aristocratic wealth: see Wickham, Framing, pp. 168-203.

  p. 124. Abbo: see P. Geary, Aristocracy in Provence (Stuttgart, 1985); for aristocratic identity, see F. Irsigler, in T. Reuter (ed.), The Medieval Nobility (Amsterdam, 1978), pp. 105-36.

  p. 124. Agilolfings: see Le Jan, Famille et pouvoir, pp. 387-92.

  p. 124. Administrators as having obligations to fight: see e.g. Venantius Fortunatus, Poems, 7.16; Vita Eligii, trans. J. A. McNamara, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/eligius.html, 1.10-11.

  p. 125. Counts and bishops of low-born origin: Gregory of Tours, Histories, 5.48; Vita Eligii, 1.1; Passio Praeiecti, c. 1. See, in general, P. Fouracre, in Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 57 (1984), pp. 1-14, and, for bishops in the army, F. Prinz, Klerus und Krieg im früheren Mittelalter (Stuttgart, 1971), pp. 46-72.

  p. 125. Founding monasteries: see e.g. Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms, pp. 181-202; Balthild: Vita Balthildis, trans. in Fouracre and Gerberding, Late Merovingian France, pp. 118-32, c. 9.

  p. 126. ‘Episcopal republics’: E. Ewig, Spätantikes und fränkisches Gallien (Munich, 1976-9), vol. 2, pp. 211-19.

  p. 127. Clermont: I. Wood, in Wormald (ed.), Ideal and Reality, pp. 34-57; Gregory: Histories, 5.49.

  p. 127. Arnulf of Metz: Vita Arnulfi, ed. B. Krusch, MGH, SRM, vol. 2 (Hanover, 1888), pp. 432-46, c. 16; Leudegar: Passio Prima Leudegarii, cc. 21-4.

  p. 127. Desiderius: Letters, 1.5, 9-11 (nostalgia), 1.2, 6, 8, 2.9 (patronage), 2.12, 15 (royal movements), 1.13, 15, 2.5, 21 (local politics); see further B. Rosenwein, Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages (Ithaca, NY, 2006), pp. 130-55; Vita Desiderii, ed. B. Krusch, MGH, SRM, vol. 4 (Hanover, 1902), pp. 563-602, cc. 1-8, 12-13 (career), 16, 17, 31 (building), 29, 30, 34 (huge wealth). Eligius: J. Lafaurie, ‘Eligius Monetarius’, Revue numismatique, 6th ser., 19 (1977), pp. 111-51; M. F. Hendy, ‘From Public to Private’, pp. 65-8.

  Chapter 6

  The most detailed account of Visigothic Spain in English, E. A. Thompson, The Goths in Spain (Oxford, 1969), is outdated in methodology and approach; L. A. García Moreno, Historia de España visigoda (Madrid, 1989) is also flawed. Much better are D. Claude, Adel, Kirche und Königtum im Westgotenreich (Sigmaringen, 1971), and R. Collins, Early Medieval Spain (London, 1983); the latter, which goes up to 1000, is now comprehensively updated and filled out in idem, Visigothic Spain 409-711 (Oxford, 2004), which is now the best place to start. A short and up-to-date synthesis is G. Ripoll and I. Velázquez, La Hispania visigoda (Madrid, 1995).

  For Italy, see C. Wickham, Early Medieval Italy (London, 1981), P. Cammarosano, Nobili e re (Bari, 1998), C. La Rocca (ed.), Italy in the Early Middle Ages (Oxford, 2002), all of which go up to 1000, and G. Tabacco, The Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy (Cambridge, 1989), which goes up to 1350. N. Christie, The Lombards (Oxford, 1995), and P. Delogu, ‘Il regno longobardo’, in G. Galasso (ed.), Storia d’Italia, vol. 1 (Turin, 1980), pp. 3-216, cover Lombard areas; important rethinkings are found in P. Cammarosano and S. Gasparri (eds.), Langobardia (Udine, 1990), W. Pohl and P. Erhart (eds.), Die Langobarden (Vienna, 2005), and P. Delogu (ed.), The Langobards (Woodbridge, 2009). T. S. Brown, Gentlemen and Officers (Rome, 1984) is a brilliant survey of Byzantine Italy, now to be supplemented by E. Zanini, Le Italie bizantine (Bari, 1998), for the archaeology. The basic archaeology-based survey of Italy is N. Christie, From Constantine to Charlemagne (Aldershot, 2006). For Rome, see among many J. Richards, The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1979) and T. F. X. Noble, The Republic of St Peter (Philadelphia, 1984).

  p. 130. Councils of Toledo: see J. Vives (ed.), Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos (Barcelona, 1963), XII Toledo cc. 1, 2, cf. VI Toledo c. 17, IV Toledo c. 75; for unction, Julian of Toledo, Historia Wambae, ed. W. Levison, MGH, SRM, vol. 5 (Hanover, 1910), pp. 500-535, cc. 2-4, trans. J. M. Pizarro, The Story of Wamba (Washington, 2005), pp. 179-84.

  p. 132. Ceramic production: L. C. Juan Tovar and J. F. Blanco García, ‘Cerámica comun tardorromana’, Archivo español de arqueología, 70 (1997), pp. 171-219; for a survey in English, see P. Reynolds, in K. Bowes and M. Kulikowski (eds.), Hispania in Late Antiquity (Leiden, 2005), pp. 403-10; the whole book is now the essential account of late Roman Spain.

  p. 132. Semi-autonomous
communities: John of Biclar, Chronicle, trans. K. B. Wolf, Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain (Liverpool, 1990), pp. 61-80, cc. 36, 27, 61, 32, 20, with Braulio, Life of Aemilian, trans. A. T. Fear, Lives of the Visigothic Fathers (Liverpool, 1997), pp. 15-43, cc. 18, 22, 24, 33. For Spain up to 600, see M. Kulikowski, Late Roman Spain and its Cities (Baltimore, 2004), pp. 151-309.

  p. 132. Mérida: Lives of the Fathers of Mérida, trans. Fear, Lives, pp. 45-105, 4.2.15-18, 5.3; for churches, P. Mateos Cruz, ‘Augusta Emerita’, in G. Ripoll and J. M. Gurt (eds.), Sedes regiae (ann. 400-800) (Barcelona, 2000), pp. 491-520, at pp. 506-16.

  p. 133. Northern collectivities: for a survey, see S. Castellanos and I. Martín Viso, in EME, 13 (2005), pp. 1-42.

  p. 133. Taxation: Cassidorus, Variae, ed. T. Mommsen, MGH, Auctores Antiquissimi, 12 (Berlin, 1894), 5. 39; Vives, Concilios, p. 54.

  p. 133. Leovigild and Mérida: R. Collins, ‘Merida and Toledo: 550-585’, in E. James (ed.), Visigothic Spain (Oxford, 1980), pp. 189-219.

  p. 133. Toledo: I. Velázquez and G. Ripoll, in Ripoll and Gurt, Sedes regiae, pp. 521-78.

  p. 134. Fredegar, Chronica, ed. and trans. J.-M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar (London 1960), 4.82.

  p. 135. Councils of bishops: see R. Stocking, Bishops, Councils and Consensus in the Visigothic Kingdom, 589-633 (Ann Arbor, 2000).

  p. 135. Chindasuinth: Fredegar, Chronica, 4.82; Leges Visigothorum, ed. K. Zeumer, MGH, Leges, vol. 1 (Hanover, 1902), 2.1.8; XIII Toledo c. 1; and Claude, Adel, pp. 115-33. For Eugenius, MGH, Auctores Antiquissimi, vol. 14, ed. F. Vollmer (Berlin, 1905), pp. 250-51.

  p. 135. Ervig and Egica: Leges Visigothorum, 6.5.12-14, 9.2.8-9; XV Toledo. Laws: see P. D. King, Law and Society in the Visigothic Kingdom (Cambridge, 1972); on territoriality I follow I. Velazquez, in P. Heather (ed.), The Visigoths (Woodbridge, 1999), pp. 225-59, and Collins, Early Medieval Spain, pp. 27-30, 123-5.

  p. 136. Byzantine models and victory ceremonies: see M. McCormick, Eternal Victory (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 297-327; J. Herrin, The Formation of Christendom (Princeton, 1987), pp. 227-49, brings out the ambiguities in Visigothic attitudes to the East.

  p. 136. Jews: see King, Law and Society, pp. 130-45.

  p. 137. Officium palatinum: see P. C. Díaz, in Heather, The Visigoths, pp. 321-56, at pp. 335-48; A. Isla Frez, ‘El “officium palatinum” visigodo’, Hispania, 62 (2002), pp. 823-47; Claude, Adel, pp. 198-210.

  p. 137. Ervig and Egica: XII Toledo, Tomus, in Vives, Concilios; Leges Visigothorum, 9.1.21.

  p. 137. Archaeology: C. Wickham, Framing the Early Middle Ages (Oxford, 2005), pp. 656-65, 741-58.

  p. 138. Slates: I. Velázquez Soriano (ed.), Documentos de época visigoda escritos en pizarra (siglos VI-VIII) (Turnhout, 2000); n. 75 for Toledo.

  p. 138. Army: D. Pérez Sánchez, El ejército en la sociedad visigoda (Salamanca, 1989), pp. 146-74.

  p. 138. Church and oaths: A. Barbero and M. Vigil, La formación del feudalismo en la Península Ibérica (Barcelona, 1978), pp. 53-104, 126 ff.; a very important book.

  p. 138. Isidore: see above all J. Fontaine, Isidore de Séville et la culture classique dans l’Espagne wisigothique, 2nd edn. (Paris, 1983); a neat cultural survey is in Collins, Early Medieval Spain, pp. 59-87. Braulio’s letters are trans. C. W. Barlow, Iberian Fathers, vol. 2 (Washington, 1969), pp. 15-112.

  p. 139. Strong Visigothic state: I follow R. Collins, The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-97 (Oxford, 1989), pp. 7-22; Claude, Adel, pp. 204-10.

  p. 139. Break-up of Spain: E. Manzano Moreno, Conquistadores, emires y califas (Barcelona, 2006), pp. 34-53.

  p. 140. Structural separation: F. Marazzi, in R. Hodges and W. Bowden (eds.), The Sixth Century (Leiden, 1998), pp. 119-59, at pp. 152-9.

  p. 141. Byzantine militarization: Brown, Gentlemen, pp. 39-108.

  p. 141. Queens: P. Skinner, Women in Medieval Italian Society 500-1200 (London, 2001), pp. 56-8.

  p. 142. Agilulf: see Paul the Deacon, History of the Langobards, trans. W. D. Foulke (Philadelphia, 1907), 4.1-40; cf. McCormick, Eternal Victory, pp. 287-96. For the seventh century as a whole, see P. Delogu, in idem, The Langobards.

  p. 142. Arianism: S. Fanning, ‘Lombard Arianism Reconsidered’, Speculum, 56 (1981), pp. 241-58.

  p. 142. Edict of Rothari: trans. K. F. Drew, The Lombard Laws (Philadelphia, 1973), pp. 39-130; for Lombard views of the past, see W. Pohl, in Y. Hen and M. Innes (eds.), The Uses of the Past in the Early Middle Ages (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 9-28.

  p. 143. Liutprand’s laws: trans. Drew, The Lombard Laws, pp. 144-214; cited are cc. 136, 135, 6. For eighth-century politics and the state, see P. Delogu, in NCMH, vol. 2, pp. 290-303.

  p. 144. Military culture: S. Gasparri, in Rivista storica italiana, 98 (1986), pp. 664-726; pp. 681-3 for wills.

  p. 144. Judgements: CDL, vol. 2, n. 255, vol. 3, nn. 6, 12, 13, vol. 1, nn. 19, 20; see S. Gasparri, in Cammarosano and Gasparri, Langobardia, pp. 237-305, at pp. 241-54.

  p. 145. Legislation and governmental writing: N. Everett, Literacy in Lombard Italy, c. 568-774 (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 163-96, with CDL, vol. 4.2, nn. 39, 45 for Benevento.

  p. 145. Cities: Paul, History, 5.36-41; see in general, D. Harrison, The Early State and the Towns (Lund, 1993).

  p. 146. Aristocratic wealth and identity: C. Wickham, in A. C. Murray (ed.), After Rome’s Fall (Toronto, 1998), pp. 153-70; Cammarosano, Nobili, pp. 74-83; G. Tabacco, ‘La connessione fra potere e possesso nel regno franco e nel regno longobardo’, Settimane di studio, 20 (1972), pp. 133-68.

  p. 146. Taxation: W. Pohl, in idem (ed.), Kingdoms of the Empire (Leiden, 1997), pp. 75-133, at pp. 112-31.

  p. 146. Cities in Italy: Wickham, Framing, pp. 644-56; Christie, From Constantine to Charlemagne, pp. 183-280, currently the fullest account in English; R. Meneghini and R. Santangeli Valenzani, Roma nell’alto medioevo (Rome, 2004), the basic archaeological survey of the largest Italian city.

  p. 146. Naples: P. Arthur, Naples (London, 2002), pp. 16-20; Venice: M. Pavan and G. Arnaldi, in L. C. Ruggini et al. (eds.), Storia di Venezia, vol. 1 (Rome, 1992), pp. 432-51; Istria: C. Manaresi (ed.), I placiti del regnum Italiae, vol. 1 (Rome, 1955), n. 17.

  p. 147. Sergius I: The Book of Pontiffs, trans. R. Davis (Liverpool, 1989), p. 85.

  p. 147. Roman hierarchies: Noble, Republic, pp. 212-55; P. Toubert, ‘Scrinium et palatium’, Settimane di studio, 48 (2001), pp. 57-117.

  Chapter 7

  The historiography in English on the topics covered in this chapter is, for obvious reasons, very extensive. On Wales, the least fully studied area, W. Davies, Wales in the Early Middle Ages (Leicester, 1982) is basic. On England, F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edn. (Oxford, 1971) and J. Campbell (ed.), The Anglo-Saxons (Oxford, 1982) are respectively the classic and the best (relatively) recent overview. On early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, equally basic are S. Bassett (ed.), The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms (Leicester, 1989) and B. Yorke, Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1990). For early Anglo-Saxon archaeology, see C. J. Arnold, An Archaeology of the Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, 2nd edn. (London, 1997).

  On Ireland, F. J. Byrne, Irish Kings and High-kings (London, 1973), N. Edwards, The Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland (London, 1999), and T. M. Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland (Cambridge, 2000) are the key points of reference; shorter overviews are G. Mac Niocaill, Ireland before the Vikings (Dublin, 1972) and D. Ó Cróinin, Early Medieval Ireland, 400-1200 (London, 1995). D. Ó Cróinin (ed.), A New History of Ireland, vol. I (Dublin, 2005), awaited for decades, contains valuable essays and has extensive bibliographies, but is sketchier on political structure. For the church, apart from Charles-Edwards, see K. Hughes, The Church in Early Irish Society (London, 1966) and L. Bitel, Isle of the Saints (Ithaca, NY, 1990).

  On Scotland, M. O. Anderson, Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland, 2nd edn. (Edinburgh, 1980) is the basic account; A. A. M. Duncan, Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom (Edinburgh, 1975) goes up to 1286; A
. P. Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men (London, 1984) is a well-argued alternative view. The historiographies of Ireland and Scotland in this period remain in flux, with sharply divergent basic interpretations. T. M. Charles-Edwards (ed.), After Rome (Oxford, 2003) is the only attempt to link four historiographies together; W. Davies, ‘Celtic Kingships in the Early Middle Ages’, in A. J. Duggan (ed.), Kings and Kingship in Medieval Europe (London, 1993), pp. 101-24, and in NCMH, vol. 1, pp. 232-62, links three of them.

  p. 150. Samson: R. Fawtier (ed.), La Vie de Saint Samson (Paris, 1912), pp. 92-155.

  p. 151. Economic meltdown: A. S. Esmonde-Cleary, The Ending of Roman Britain (London, 1989); for Hadrian’s Wall and the countryside, P. Dark, The Environment of Britain in the First Millennium AD (London, 2000), pp. 140-56.

  p. 151. Post-Roman polities: D. Dumville, in G. Ausenda (ed.), After Empire (Woodbridge, 1995), pp. 177-216, and C. A. Snyder, An Age of Tyrants (Stroud, 1998) are the best of many competing accounts. Gildas is trans. in M. Winterbottom, Gildas: The Ruin of Britain and Other Documents (Chichester, 1978).

  p. 151. Arthur: see T. M. Charles-Edwards and P. Sims-Williams, in R. Bromwich et al. (eds.), Arthur of the Welsh (Cardiff, 1991), pp. 15-71.

  p. 152. Ergyng, etc.: see W. Davies, An Early Welsh Microcosm (London, 1978), pp. 65-107; eadem, ‘Land and Power in Early Medieval Wales’, Past and Present, 81 (1978), pp. 3-23.

  p. 153. Hill-fort sites: E. Campbell, in K. R. Dark (ed.), External Contacts and the Economy of Late Roman and Post-Roman Britain (Woodbridge, 1996), pp. 83-96; J. Wooding, Communication and Commerce along the Western Sealanes, AD 400-800 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 41-54.

  p. 153. Cadwallon: Bede, HE, 2.20, 3.1.

  p. 154. Poems: Marwnad Cynddylan, trans. and commentary in J. Rowland, Early Welsh Saga Poetry (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 120-41, 174-8 (see also Davies, Wales, pp. 99-102); Y Gododdin, trans. K. Jackson, The Gododdin (Edinburgh, 1969), pp. 141-2 and 118 for quotes.