No description available.

The significance of dot patterns in Carolingian manuscripts is the subject of my research. In my investigation into the sources of these patterns I hope to show some relationship between them and metal working techniques to which could be attributed an overall development of pattern and design during the early Middle Ages. Since the art of the period reflects so strongly the social and political conditions existent during the reign of Charlemagne I have also included a brief summary of those relevant historical conditions. The adverse situation prevailing in the Frankish kingdom during the seventh century together with the weakness of its rulers enabled the Carolingian family to obtain power, and when Charlemagne became the sole ruler in 771 he continued to carry out the family policy of uniting the peoples of the West and initiated a revival of Roman culture and learning in his kingdom. This programme also included the establishment of schools, and the illumination of books; also to fit into his ambitious programme every effort was directed by both Church and state to produce a variation in the artistic world from the then available migration art. To accomplish this foreign artists and their work were readily drawn to the court of Charlemagne to contribute to the new form of artistic expression; while the Church did its part by adapting foreign and domestic styles in its newer designs and by utilizing the working methods of the monastic workshops. From my investigation I find that the dot patterns are only used in the manuscripts of some Carolingian schools notably the School of Tours, which is generally recognised as the oldest school. Examination of these manuscripts proves there are many variations in the patterns of dots used, the reason for which is sought in the influences and inspirations of the following: 1. Foreign styles, including Insular and Eastern Mediterranean art forms. 2. Applied arts. Here I find that dottings can be listed according to their origins in metal working techniques. Finally the origin is sought of the peripheral dottings found particularly in connection with Canon Tables; and references are given to various sources of influence from the Eastern Mediterranean arts together with one example from an Irish church. I reach the conclusion that the influences governing the dot patterns in Carolingian manuscripts came from many sources and that the dot patterns were ultimately combined and moulded into new designs through the working procedures developed in the Scriptorium. In my collation of all the available evidence I establish the fact that these dot patterns are presented in three main groups: 1. Dots derived from constructional details of domestic artifacts. 2. Dots derived from decoration of the above. 3. Dots derived from imported manuscripts, ivories, and so on. My final suggestion is that the dottings of foreign origin become absorbed very rapidly in the style that borrowed them, while the dottings derived from well known objects seem to disappear entirely for two apparent reasons: 1. The art from which they sprang begins to deteriorate. 2. Society changes; and with the arrival of other values the objects copied are no longer of major importance. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

À l’apogée de la Renaissance carolingienne, cinq traités exégétiques sont consacrés aux livres des Rois en l’espace étroit de quelques décennies, entre 800 et 840 environ. Deux d’entre eux, un recueil de quaestiones dit du « pseudo-Jérôme » et un florilège anonyme inédit transmis par le manuscrit Paris, BnF, lat. 15 679, rassemblent des explications assez brèves. Les trois autres, composés par de célèbres et prolixes exégètes, Claude de Turin, Raban Maur et Angélome de Luxeuil, sont de longs commentaires continus. Ces commentateurs font œuvre nouvelle, à l’intérieur de la tradition exégétique chrétienne, en recueillant la tradition patristique éparse, en l’ordonnant et en l’actualisant avec leurs propres mots pour donner une lecture suivie des livres des Rois. L’étude des variations et des interprétations nouvelles procurées par ces traités offre à l’historien un accès direct aux représentations nourrissant les débats carolingiens sur la distribution du pouvoir, l’ordonnancement de la société terrestre et ses liens avec la cité céleste. Ces commentaires donnent l’image d’une société terrestre équilibrée où sphère temporelle et sphère religieuse ne s’opposent pas : les recteurs terrestres, rois et clercs, œuvrent de conserve afin de défendre l’unité de l’Église et de la foi et de diffuser le message biblique. Le rôle primordial revient cependant au prophète qui, parce qu’il est érudit et sait déchiffrer le message divin, guide par ses paroles les recteurs et les chrétiens vers le Salut. / Within the short period of a few decades, between 800 and about 840, five exegetical treatises on the books of Kings were composed during the Carolingian Renaissance. Two of them, the one by the pseudo-Jerome and an anonymous unpublished one, which is transmitted by the manuscript Paris, BnF, lat.15 679, are a collection of brief explanations. The three others, written by the well-known exegetes, Claude of Turin, Raban Maur and Angélome of Luxeuil, are long continuous commentaries. These commentators wrote something new, within the exegetical Christian tradition, by assembling the dispersed patristic tradition arranging and updating it in their own words to present a coherent reading of the Books of Kings. A study of the variations and new interpretations given by these treatises allow the historian to have direct hold on the representations underlying the Carolingian debates on the distribution of power, the organization of the earthly society and its links with the heavenly city. These commentaries draw the picture of a well balanced earthly society where the temporal and the religious are not antagonistic towards each other : rectors on earth, kings and clerics, work together to defend the unity of the Church and the unity of faith, and to spread the Biblical message. Nevertheless, the most influential role falls to the prophet who, being a scholar and being able to decipher the holy message, through his words, guides rectors and Christians to salvation.

O objetivo desse trabalho foi compreender como se deu a construção do conceito de Grande Domínio (Grundherrschaft) e discutir os problemas e os limites do emprego desse modelo para o estudo do Período Carolíngio. Com esse intuito, analisamos, comparativamente, dois documentos: o Políptico de Saint-Germain-des-Prés e o Políptico de Saint-Bertin. Surgido no início do século XIX, esse conceito foi desenvolvido pelo historiador alemão Karl Theodor von Inama-Sternegg, algumas décadas depois. Inama-Sternegg tinha como objetivo explicar a evolução econômica alemã, desde a queda do Império Romano até a formação do Feudalismo. Apesar da pretensão de uma explicação evolutiva ter sido abandonada, esse modelo continuou a ser utilizado, com as mais diferentes abordagens, dentre os estudos sobre a história do ocidente europeu. Mesmo que diversos documentos tenham sido estudados a partir desse conceito, um assume maior relevância: o Políptico de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, seja pela edição feita em 1836, pela sua extensão com mais de 130 fólios ou pelos detalhes que suas informações trazem, como a quantidade e os nomes dos filhos de cada casal do domínio. A despeito da utilização de outras fontes, o estudo do Grande Domínio permaneceu por mais de um século atrelado à fonte de Paris. Apenas na segunda metade do século XX, com a reedição e a edição crítica de diversos Polípticos, como o de Saint-Bertin, que a relação entre o Grande Domínio e os Polípticos começou a ser debatida com profundidade. / The aim of this project is to comprehend how the concept of Manorial System (Grundherrschaft) was built and to debate the problems and limits of the use of this model in the study of the Carolingian period. To reach our objectives, two documents will be comparatively analyzed: the Polyptychs of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Polyptychs of Saint-Bertin. This concept appeared at the beginning of the XIXth century and it was developed decades later by Karl Theodor von Inama-Sternegg. This researcher wanted to explain the evolution of the Germany economy from the fall of Rome to the beginning of the feudalism. Although the pretension of an evolutional explanation was abandoned, the concept is still being used in different historical approaches. In spite of researchers having adopted this concept to study several documents, one among them was more significant: the Polyptych of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. This is due not only to its early edition of 1836, its length (more than 130 folios) but also to its detailed information about the family of the peasants, such as names and number of children from each couple. Despite the use of other sources, the study of the Manorial System kept linked to the document from Paris. It is only in the second half of the XXth century, with the re-edition and critical edition of various Polyptychs, such as the Saint-Bertin, that the relation between the Polyptychs and the Manorial System started to be deeply debated.

O objetivo desse trabalho foi compreender como se deu a construção do conceito de Grande Domínio (Grundherrschaft) e discutir os problemas e os limites do emprego desse modelo para o estudo do Período Carolíngio. Com esse intuito, analisamos, comparativamente, dois documentos: o Políptico de Saint-Germain-des-Prés e o Políptico de Saint-Bertin. Surgido no início do século XIX, esse conceito foi desenvolvido pelo historiador alemão Karl Theodor von Inama-Sternegg, algumas décadas depois. Inama-Sternegg tinha como objetivo explicar a evolução econômica alemã, desde a queda do Império Romano até a formação do Feudalismo. Apesar da pretensão de uma explicação evolutiva ter sido abandonada, esse modelo continuou a ser utilizado, com as mais diferentes abordagens, dentre os estudos sobre a história do ocidente europeu. Mesmo que diversos documentos tenham sido estudados a partir desse conceito, um assume maior relevância: o Políptico de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, seja pela edição feita em 1836, pela sua extensão com mais de 130 fólios ou pelos detalhes que suas informações trazem, como a quantidade e os nomes dos filhos de cada casal do domínio. A despeito da utilização de outras fontes, o estudo do Grande Domínio permaneceu por mais de um século atrelado à fonte de Paris. Apenas na segunda metade do século XX, com a reedição e a edição crítica de diversos Polípticos, como o de Saint-Bertin, que a relação entre o Grande Domínio e os Polípticos começou a ser debatida com profundidade. / The aim of this project is to comprehend how the concept of Manorial System (Grundherrschaft) was built and to debate the problems and limits of the use of this model in the study of the Carolingian period. To reach our objectives, two documents will be comparatively analyzed: the Polyptychs of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Polyptychs of Saint-Bertin. This concept appeared at the beginning of the XIXth century and it was developed decades later by Karl Theodor von Inama-Sternegg. This researcher wanted to explain the evolution of the Germany economy from the fall of Rome to the beginning of the feudalism. Although the pretension of an evolutional explanation was abandoned, the concept is still being used in different historical approaches. In spite of researchers having adopted this concept to study several documents, one among them was more significant: the Polyptych of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. This is due not only to its early edition of 1836, its length (more than 130 folios) but also to its detailed information about the family of the peasants, such as names and number of children from each couple. Despite the use of other sources, the study of the Manorial System kept linked to the document from Paris. It is only in the second half of the XXth century, with the re-edition and critical edition of various Polyptychs, such as the Saint-Bertin, that the relation between the Polyptychs and the Manorial System started to be deeply debated.

This thesis argues that conceptions of commerce in the Carolingian era were intertwined with the discourse of ethics, and that concepts of the Carolingian ‘economy’ may be profitably illuminated by consideration of pre-modern ethical and social categories. I explore a pre-modern pattern of personhood that framed persons in terms of political rôles, and exchange in terms of the interactions of those rôles. In moral letters addressed to counts and kings, ethical counsel about greed for each lay rôle was grounded in particular geographic spaces and historical moments, creating a rich valence of specific meanings for greed and charity. I examine letters in which Paulinus of Aquileia, Alcuin of York, Jonas of Orléans, and Dhuoda of Uzés treated the greed of counts, and those in which Smaragdus of St. Mihiel, Sedulius Scottus, and Hincmar of Rheims treated that of kings. In each letter’s definition of greed are found interactions with specific elements exchanged, and correlative meanings of greed far from limited to the ‘love of silver’, but also not wholly vague and spiritualized. Greed and largesse constituted the language in which Carolingian writers discussed economic exploitation, tyranny, plunder, investment, credit, and noblesse oblige.

This thesis is an exploration of Carolingian art within the context of religious devotion. The second chapter investigates the theoretical aspects related to the use of images by examining historical sources. These texts offer insight both into the types of anxieties images raised as well as contemporary attempts to reconcile these concerns. In order to determine how these theories were put into practice, the third chapter considers the manners in which the visual experience was orchestrated. To do so, shrines and reliquaries, as well as textual accounts describing encounters with them, are used to explore the messages that religious art conveyed and the means by which they did so. The fouirth chapter focuses on the figure of the maker of sacred art. The theories of religious art and implementation of them, as discussed in Chapters II and III, fundamentally relied on the craftsman who fashioned them.

This thesis investigates the role of queens in ninth and tenth century Italy. During the Carolingian period the Italian kingdom saw significant involvement of royal women in political affairs. This trend continued after the Carolingian empire collapsed in 888, as Italy became the theatre of struggles for the royal and imperial title, which resulted in a quick succession of local rulers. By investigating Italian queens, my work aims at reassessing some aspects of Italian royal politics. Furthermore, it contributes to the study of medieval queenship, exploring a context which has been overlooked with regard to female authority. The work which has been done on queens over the last decades has attempted to build a coherent model of early medieval queenship; scholars have often privileged the analysis of continuities and similarities in the study of queens' prerogatives and resources. This thesis challenges this model and underlines the peculiarities of individual queens. My analysis demonstrates that, by deconstructing the coherent model established by historiography, it is possible to underline the individual experiences, resources and strengths of each royal woman, and therefore create a new way to look at the history of queens and queenship. The thesis is divided into four main thematic sections. After having introduced the subject and the relevant historiography on the topic in the introduction, in Chapter 2 I consider ideas about queenship as expressed by narrative and normative sources. Chapter 3 deals with royal diplomas, which are a valuable resource for the understanding of queens' reigns. Chapter 4 analyses queens' dowers and monastic patronage. Chapter 5 examines the experience of Italian royal widows. Finally, the conclusive chapter outlines the significance of this thesis for the broader understanding of medieval queenship.

The historians writing in the Carolingian Empire, with a few important exceptions, frequently ascribed events in recent history to God. Where they have been noticed at all, these statements of God’s agency have usually been explained as political propaganda, to demonstrate God’s favour towards the reigning dynasty. Alternatively, they have been explained by the legacy of late antique Christian historians, from which this language supposedly derived. This thesis aims to demonstrate that this language was a distinctive and innovative feature of the emerging tradition of Carolingian history writing and is best explained in religious terms. It argues that Carolingian historians reflected the emphasis on God’s agency found throughout contemporary culture and that they deliberately reshaped the Christian language bequeathed by their Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Frankish predecessors. It offers a text-by-text analysis of how God’s agency functioned within each major Carolingian history, to further show the versatility of this language over the period. Taken together, these texts suggest that Carolingian historians wanted to teach their audiences about God’s agency and its implications for their own beliefs, identities, and behaviour. As a result, these histories and their depictions of God’s agency can be seen as a distinctive contribution to Carolingian religious renewal. This thesis thus aims to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between religion, history, and culture in early medieval Europe.