State and Society in the Early Middle Ages The Middle Rhine Valley, 400-1000

Matthew Innes9780521594554, 052-1594553

This book shows just how much can be discovered about the so-called “Dark Ages,” between the fall of Rome and the high Middle Ages. Whereas it is believed widely that the source materials for early medieval Europe are too sparse to allow sustained study of social and political relationships, State and Society in the Early Middle Ages offers a detailed analysis of the workings of society at the heart of Charlemagne’s empire, and suggests the need to rethink our understanding of political power in this period.

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Table of contents :
EEn
……Page 1
Cover
……Page 2
Copyright Info
……Page 8
TOC
……Page 9
Figures
……Page 11
Abbreviations
……Page 12
A Note on Nomenclature and Citations
……Page 15
Acknowledgements
……Page 16
Religion, Sources and Scope
……Page 19
Early Medieval Politics: Problems of Approach
……Page 22
Gifts to the Church: Patterns and Potential
……Page 31
Spiritual Patronage and Gifts to the Church
……Page 36
Funerary Ritual, Inheritance and Gift Exchange
……Page 52
Gifts of Land and Social Power
……Page 58
The Implications of Monastic Landholding
……Page 65
Lorsch’s Founders
……Page 69
The Family of Otakar
……Page 79
The Family of Hraban Maur
……Page 83
Land as Property
……Page 86
The Exploitation of Land and the Organisation of Estates
……Page 95
Vertical Integration: Social Status
……Page 100
Vertical Integration: Kinship and Lordship
……Page 103
The Relationship Between Land and Power
……Page 111
Patterns of Public Action
……Page 112
Cities, Monasteries and Collective Action
……Page 113
Rural Settlements
……Page 123
Scribes as Guardians of Legal Tradition
……Page 129
Counts and Public Meetings
……Page 136
Local Political Leadership
……Page 142
Violence, Ritual and Dispute Settlement
……Page 147
The Texture of Local Power
……Page 157
Approaching Early Medieval Government
……Page 159
Military Service
……Page 161
The Army Tax
……Page 171
Royal Levies
……Page 174
Roman to Merovingian
……Page 183
The Merovingian Middle Rhine
……Page 190
forging The Pax Karolina
……Page 198
Maintaining the Pax Karolina
……Page 206
The Politics of Division
……Page 213
The Zenith of Carolingian Politics
……Page 228
Crisis, Conflict and Consolidation
……Page 240
The Transformation of the Early Medieval Polity
……Page 259
Structural Characteristics of Early Medieval Polities
……Page 269
Public and Private, State and Society
……Page 272
Interpreting the Early Medieval West
……Page 277
List of Primary Sources
……Page 286
Bibliography of Secondary Works
……Page 292
Index
……Page 325
Titles in series
……Page 335