Thesis advisor: Robin Fleming / This dissertation charts the movement of slaves from Western Europe, through Scandinavia, and into the frontiers of the Caliphate, a movement which took shape in the early 700s and flourished into the late 800s. The victims of this movement are well attested in texts from either end of their journey, and the movement of everyday things allows us to trace the itineraries they followed. Necklace beads—produced in the east, carried to the north, and worn in the west—serve as proxies for human traffic that traveled the same routes in opposite directions. Attention to this traffic overcomes four impasses—between regional particularism and interregional connectivity; between attention to exchange and focus on production; between privileging textual or material evidence; and between definitions of slavery that obscure practices of enslavement. The introduction outlines problems of studying medieval slavery with regard to transregional approaches to the Middle Ages, the transition to serfdom, and the use of material evidence. Chapter One gathers narrative texts previously dealt with anecdotally to establish patterns for the Viking-Age slave trade, with eastward traffic thriving by the late 800s. Chapter Two confirms these patterns by graphically comparing viking violence to reports of captive taking in the annals and archival documents of Ireland, Francia, and Anglo-Saxon England. Chapter Three investigates how viking captive taking impacted Western societies and the creation of written records in Carolingian Europe. Chapter Four turns to the material record, using beads to trace the intensity and flow of human traffic that fed from early viking violence. Chapter Five establishes a corresponding demand for slaves in the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate through Arabic archival, legal, historical, and geographic texts. The conclusion places this research in the context of global history. By spanning periods, regions, and disciplines, this dissertation brings to focus people who crossed boundaries unwillingly, but whose movements contributed to epochal change. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.

The establishment of a new concept of intercessory prayer, from an activity sought of the individual holy man to an occupation characterizing an entire monastic community, has recently received much attention; historians have shown that the function of intercession had become, by the Carolingian period, the pre-eminent feature of early medieval monasticism. The role of early medieval monasteries as powerhouses of prayer has encouraged scholarly attention along two particular areas of interest: intercession within the system of medieval patronage and gift exchange, and monastic ritual elaboration. Missing in the main historiographical approaches is discussion concerning the place of intercessory prayer within the monastic ideal. This study therefore asks the central question, ‘What was the relationship between the intercessory function of monasticism and the ascetic concern for moral conversion in the time of the reforms of Benedict of Aniane, c. 750-820?’ The writings of Carolingian monastic reformers demonstrate that the chief concern of the monk was to seek and find perfection in God; it is the argument of this study that the elaborate liturgical intercession which characterized early medieval monasticism was coherent with this goal. The Introduction sets out to establish the continuity of the ascetic pursuit in the Carolingian monastic ideal with earlier monasticism. We then order our investigation by: i) proposing that monastic liturgical organization was meant to address the fundamental problem of human sin which impedes fruitful prayer, and that the additions of intercessory liturgy made by Benedict of Aniane should be seen as part of his pastoral concern for the holiness of monks (Chapter 1); ii) situating the specific intercessory performances of monastic communities – namely, the intercessory Mass and the Divine Office – within Carolingian monastic theology (Chapters 2 and 3); iii) examining how the prayer directed toward two groups of beneficiaries of intercession – fellow monks and rulers – was grounded on the the ascetic goals of moral conversion and pilgrimage toward the celestial kingdom (Chapters 4 and 5); and iv) addressing the question of what role Carolingian monastics meant for their intercessory prayers to play in society at large, and the extent to which general social concern was a priority in monastic intercession (Chapter 6). This study provides a detailed description of the ascetic ideal required for understanding the formalized ritual and patronized prayer of monasteries within its proper sphere of monastic spirituality. I conclude in particular that the increasing importance of monastic intercession was related to a heightened emphasis in Carolingian spiritual thought on the teleological theme of transformation both individual and cosmic. The intercessory function of early medieval monasticism suggests an incorporation of the spiritual pilgrimage of the wider world into the monk’s own individual discipline, and tied the monk’s ascesis to the larger story of the conversion of the world to God.

The subject of this thesis is the relationship between hagiography and cult in the early medieval west taken through the example of the Passiones of St. Kilian of Würzburg († 689) in the period from circa 700 to circa 1000 AD. Through examining a cult which developed east of the Rhine, this thesis will assess these developments taking place in a region without a strong Christian-Roman history. Thuringia produced new saints and cults in this period, yet they all operated within the overarching framework of the well-established religious phenomenon of saints' cults. In its approach, this thesis builds upon the insights of Ian Wood, James Palmer and others, in which saints' Lives are viewed as ‘textual arguments' which could operate beyond cultic contexts. This is combined with the cultural context approaches advocated in geographically specific studies by the likes of Julia Smith, Thomas Head and Raymond Van Dam. By paying particular attention to the impact of updating saints' Lives this thesis provides an in depth comparison of the relatively overlooked two earliest passiones of St. Kilian and their place in the history of the Würzburg community. It therefore addresses the nature and function of hagiography and its relationship with the institutional memory and identity of that community. The spread of cult through texts and relics is compared with the distribution of the hagiography in order to form a picture of the relationship between these different facets of cult. The question of the way in which these passiones engaged with their wider political and religious contexts is also addressed in order to demonstrate the functions of hagiography outwith an immediate cultic context.

This thesis examines the relationships between royal convents and rulers in Saxony from 852 to 1024. The spate of female monasteries founded in Saxony in the ninth and tenth centuries, alongside the close relationships of major convents to the Ottonian dynasty, has led to Saxon female monasticism being described as unique. As such, Saxony's apparently peculiar experience has been used to make comparisons with other regions about the nature of female monasticism, commemoration and the role of women in early medieval societies. This thesis interrogates these ideas by tracking the development of two major royal convents: Gandersheim and Quedlinburg. By reassessing the origins of these convents, and their later rewriting in sources produced by these monasteries, we can consider how their relationships with the rulers of Saxony developed over time, and how their identity and function as royal monasteries evolved as the tenth century progressed. In doing so, this thesis challenges the dominant understanding of these convents as homes of the Ottonian memoria and provides a detailed view of how these institutions became so prominent in Saxony. The thesis is divided into four sections. After introducing the historiographical importance of this topic in the first chapter, in chapter two I assess the origins of the convent of Gandersheim in Carolingian Saxony. Chapter three turns to the rewriting of these origins by Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim in the 970s. Chapter four reconsiders the early history of the convent of Quedlinburg from 936 to 966. Chapter five tracks how the origins of Quedlinburg evolved into a new narrative across the tenth century, culminating in the version provided by the Quedlinburg Annals in 1008. Finally, the concluding section outlines the significance of this thesis for our understanding of early medieval female monasticism and the history of the Ottonian Empire.

Esta dissertação se constitui em uma revisão bibliográfica dos Libri Carolini, tratado escrito no século VIII em nome de Carlos Magno, em resposta ao concílio de Nicéia II, que restabeleceu no Oriente o culto de imagens no ano 787. Os Libri Carolini são um tratado no qual os francos se colocam contra o culto de imagens oriental, este apoiado pelo papa Adriano I. O estudo deste tratado demanda o conhecimento das questões que cercaram as imagens nos mundos latino e bizantino ao longo dos séculos VIII e IX, bem como das relações entre os três principais poderes envolvidos nesta questão, carolíngios, império bizantino e Roma. A pesquisa buscou observar, a partir de estudos anteriores, como as imagens foram entendidas entre Oriente e Ocidente, e como estiveram no centro de questões teológicas e políticas. / This research is a bibliographic review of the Libri Carolini, treatise written during the VIIIth century under Charlemagnes name as an answer to the II council of Nicaea, 787, where the image-worship was reestablished in the East. The Libri Carolini are a work in which the Carolingians deny the decision taken on the Eastern council, that had the support of the pope, Hadrian I. This study can only be done if we consider the question about images that took place between the Latin world and Byzantium during the VII and IXth centuries, as well as the relations between the three main powers involved in this matter, Carolingians, the Eastern empire and Rome. This research had the will to observe, after the reading of other studies, how images were understood between East and West, and how they were in the center of theological and political matters.

Les Gesta Berengarii imperatoris sont un panégyrique anonyme de 1090 vers composé vers 915-916 en l'honneur de Bérenger Ier d'Italie. Le texte est conservé entièrement dans un seul manuscrit (Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Lat. XII 45), où il est accompagné de nombreuses gloses dont une partie remonte à l'auteur lui-même. Cette thèse propose une édition et un commentaire de ce panégyrique et de ses gloses, accompagnés de la première traduction en français du poème. Une attention toute particulière a été portée aux sources du texte et de ses gloses. Cette enquête révèle que le poète-glossateur des Gesta est profondément influencé par les productions des écoles de Francie occidentale, et notamment par celles de l'école d’« Auxerre ». Ces découvertes permettent de mieux connaître la culture de cet intellectuel carolingien tout en dessinant les contours du réseau intellectuel européen fréquenté par ce personnage. Une étude de trois autres manuscrits liés à ce réseau d'échanges (Paris, BNF, lat. 7900A, München, BSB, Clm 14420, Venezia, Bibloteca Nazionale Marciana, Lat. XIII 66) vient mettre en perspective ces résultats et permet de retracer l'histoire des échanges intellectuels entre Vérone, la Lombardie et le nord-est de la Francie à la fin du IXe et au début du Xe siècle. / The Gesta Berengarii imperatoris are an anonymous panegyric consisting of 1.090 verses and written around 915-916 in honour of Berengar I of Italy. The text is entirely retained in one manuscript (Venezia, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Lat. XII 45), that is accompanied by numerous glosses which can be partly attributed to the author himself. The following thesis offers an edition and a commentary of the panegyric and its glosses, along with the first translation in French of the poem. Particular attention has been given to the sources of the text and its glosses. This study reveals that the poet-glossator of the Gesta has been greatly influenced by the productions of the schools of West Francia, and more particularly the ones from the school of “Auxerre”. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the knowledge of this Carolingian scholar while outlining the author’s European intellectual network. A study of three other manuscripts linked to this intellectual exchanges network (Paris, BNF, lat. 7900A, München, BSB, Clm 14420, Venezia, Bibloteca Nazionale Marciana, Lat. XIII 66) helps bring these results into perspective and traces the history of the intellectual exchanges between Verona, the Lombardy and the north-east of France from the end of the 9th century to the beginning of the 10th century.

Esta dissertação se constitui em uma revisão bibliográfica dos Libri Carolini, tratado escrito no século VIII em nome de Carlos Magno, em resposta ao concílio de Nicéia II, que restabeleceu no Oriente o culto de imagens no ano 787. Os Libri Carolini são um tratado no qual os francos se colocam contra o culto de imagens oriental, este apoiado pelo papa Adriano I. O estudo deste tratado demanda o conhecimento das questões que cercaram as imagens nos mundos latino e bizantino ao longo dos séculos VIII e IX, bem como das relações entre os três principais poderes envolvidos nesta questão, carolíngios, império bizantino e Roma. A pesquisa buscou observar, a partir de estudos anteriores, como as imagens foram entendidas entre Oriente e Ocidente, e como estiveram no centro de questões teológicas e políticas. / This research is a bibliographic review of the Libri Carolini, treatise written during the VIIIth century under Charlemagnes name as an answer to the II council of Nicaea, 787, where the image-worship was reestablished in the East. The Libri Carolini are a work in which the Carolingians deny the decision taken on the Eastern council, that had the support of the pope, Hadrian I. This study can only be done if we consider the question about images that took place between the Latin world and Byzantium during the VII and IXth centuries, as well as the relations between the three main powers involved in this matter, Carolingians, the Eastern empire and Rome. This research had the will to observe, after the reading of other studies, how images were understood between East and West, and how they were in the center of theological and political matters.

O célebre livro de cozinha atribuído ao romano de nome Apício (século I d.C., provavelmente) e intitulado De re coquinaria pela erudição moderna do século XIX, chegou até nós unicamente por meio de três manuscritos medievais datados dos séculos VIII e IX, dois deles provenientes dos mosteiros de Fulda e Tours. Dado importante, porém pouco explorado, tendo em vista que o receituário aparece muito mais associado às cozinhas da Roma Imperial do que aquelas da Idade Média. Partindo da hipótese de que a cópia dos manuscritos apicianos por homens da Alta Idade Média esteja ancorada a aspirações particulares ao momento dinâmico do Renascimento Carolíngio, esta tese procurou traçar o enquadramento sócio-cultural que explica a reprodução e a incorporação do receituário pelos homens e pelas cozinhas de alguns ambientes sociais do período. Para tanto, foi necessário investigar o pensamento altomedieval sobre a comida, a disponibilidade e o acesso ambiental e cultural aos ingredientes apicianos e os mecanismos que possibilitaram estabelecer um locus para a sua incorporação. / The famous cookery book assigned to a Roman called Apicius (probably 1st century AD) and entitled De coquinaria by 19th century modern scholarship have come down to us only through three manuscripts dated from 8th and 9th centuries, two of them written at the monasteries of Fulda and Tours. Important aspect, although little discussed. The recipe book is normally associated to Imperial Roman cuisine than to medieval one. Assuming that the copy of apician manuscripts by men of the Early Middle Ages is anchored in the aspirations of the dynamic Carolingian Renaissance, this thesis examined the socio-cultural framework that explains the reproduction and the incorporation of the recipe book by men and by cuisines related to certain social environments of that time. For this purpose, it was necessary to investigate early medieval thought about food, environmental and cultural availability and access to apician ingredients and, finally, the mechanism that made possible to establish a locus for its incorporation.

The musical notation of the northern Italian Benedictine abbey of St Sylvester in Nonantola has hitherto been neglected by most scholarship on early music scripts, mainly because of the paucity of surviving music manuscripts and their limited geographical diffusion. A new study was needed in order to develop a full understanding of the abbey’s role and importance in the first phases of development of the writing of music in the early Middle Ages. A Lombard foundation, Nonantola acquired much of its prestige from the links with the Carolingian court as early as the late eighth century. From the first decades after its foundation, the Po Valley abbey also benefited from an active scriptorium; this shaped a local type of text script that endured until after the fall of the Carolingian empire, when the abbey, including most of its library, was destroyed by the Hungarian invasion in 899 (§1). The study of the earliest surviving notated liturgical manuscripts revealed that, by the late ninth century, Nonantola already developed an institutional type of musical notation, making it the earliest known music script ever to be written in the Italic peninsula and, thus, among the earliest in Carolingian Europe (§§2–3). The unique design and use of musical signs showed that this northern Italic notation developed, for the most part, independently from a basic repertory of graphs derived from grammatical accents (§4). Finally, observations of the influences of the central Italic nota romana, which this study only began to explore, opened up the possibility that Nonantolan notation may preserve the oldest traces of graphic conventions for the representation of sound that can be associated with the city of Rome (§5). Placed between the northern and southern fringes of the Carolingian empire, the Benedictine abbey of Nonantola played an important role in the early history of music writing, and this study contributes to the breaking of new ground for further explorations.

Notre sujet porte sur l’étude des complexes monastiques construits – ou du moins dont les constructions ont débuté ou qui ont fait l’objet de modifications de leurs structures ou de leurs dispositifs cultuels – pendant le règne de Charlemagne. Ces recherches privilégient ce qui a trait à la représentativité du pouvoir carolingien et à l’affirmation politico-religieuse de celui-ci à travers le medium du monumental. Il s’agit également de se focaliser sur le rôle et les impacts spirituels, politiques, économiques et sociaux de ces centres monastiques au sein des territoires sur lesquels ils sont implantés. Instruments au service de « la Renaissance carolingienne », ces derniers subirent des modifications structurelles et liturgiques (mutation des vocables, développement d’une liturgie stationnale et multiplication des autels ainsi que des édifices cultuels au sein d’un même complexe) et adoptèrent parfois des dimensions monumentales. Enfin, notre propos s’applique à mesurer l’implication de Charlemagne et de ses conseillers dans ces constructions ainsi que la part de nouveautés et d’emprunts qui constituèrent et caractérisèrent l’architecture monastique de son temps. / Our subject deals with the study of the monastic complexes built – or whose construction started or has been modified – during the reign of Charlemagne. This research explores how these facilities could have been conceived as a mean to advertise and strengthen the political and religious power of the Carolingian emperor. The analysis is focused on the spiritual, political, economical and social impact of these monasteries upon the surrounding lands. As instruments of the “Carolingian Renaissance”, they have underwent some structural and liturgical modifications (renaming, development of the stational liturgy, addition of several altars and churches in one complex), and sometimes grew to monumental size. Ultimately, our intention is to assess the implication of Charlemagne and his councilors in these constructions, as well as to bring to light the architectural innovations or reuses that characterize the monastic architecture of Charlemagne’s reign. / Die Dissertation behandelt die klösterlichen Gebäudekomplexe zur Zeit Karls des Großen, ob nun zu dieser Zeit erbaut oder in ihrer Struktur oder ihrem Gebrauch verändert und angepasst. Die Untersuchung betont den Repräsentationscharakter des Mediums Klosterbau für die karolingische Herrschaft und dessen politische und religiöse Umsetzung in den Bauten. Außerdem werden die Rolle und die Wirkmächtigkeit dieser monastischen Zentren in ihren jeweiligen räumlichen Kontexten auf der spirituellen, politischen, wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Ebene untersucht. Sie dienten als Vehikel der „karolingischen Renaissance“ und erfuhren strukturelle und liturgische Veränderungen (Wechsel der Patrozinien, Entwicklung einer Stationsliturgie, Vervielfachung der Altäre und der Artefakte für den Gottesdienst innerhalb eines Baukomplexes). Mitunter erreichten sie monumentale Ausmaße. Die Arbeit möchte schließlich die Beteiligung Karls des Großen und seines Beraterkreises bei diesen Baumaßnahmen erfassen und den Anteil des Neuen und des Übernommenen ermessen, der die monastische Architektur dieser Zeit charakterisiert.