Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2008. / Vita. Advisor: Amy G. Remensnyder. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 236-257).

Thesis--Bonn. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 322-352).

Habilitation - Universität, München, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [413]-437) and indexes.

The ordines romani are products of a ninth-century attempt to correct liturgy across Europe. Hitherto, scholarship has almost exclusively focused on them as sources for the practices of the city of Rome, narrowly defined, disregarding how they were received creatively and reinterpreted in a set of fascinating manuscripts which do not easily fit into traditional categories. This thesis re-envisages these special texts as valuable testimonies of intent and principle. In the past few decades of scholarship, it has been made very clear that what occurred under the Carolingians in the liturgy did not involve the imposition of the Roman rite from above. What was ‘Roman’ and ‘correct’ was decided by individuals, each in their own case, and they created and edited texts for what they needed. These individuals were part of intensive networks of exchange, and, broadly, they agreed on what they were attempting to accomplish. Nevertheless, depending on their own formation, and the atmosphere of their diocese, the same ritual content could be interpreted in numerous different ways. Ultimately, this thesis aims to demonstrate the usefulness of applying new techniques of assessing liturgical manuscripts, as total witnesses whose texts interpret each other, to the ninth century. Each of the ordo romanus manuscripts of the ninth century preserves a fascinating glimpse into the process of working out what ‘correct’ liturgy looked like, by people intensely invested in that proposition. Through them, we can reconceptualise the Carolingian achievement in liturgy, more sympathetically to the great diversity on the ground, but also to the broader goals which united all of these celebrants and intellectuals. In these texts, we can see how the Carolingians really understood the Roman practices they revered, and how they brought this special holiness to their own cathedrals and monasteries through richly creative re-enactment, not thoughtless replication.

L’analyse des trientes ou tiers de sou d’or aquitains produits de la fin du VIe à la fin du VIIe montre que ces pièces ne constituent pas une monnaie d’échange classique. Les multiples noms de lieu et les noms de monétaires qui y sont inscrits révèleraient en fait une administration des territoires : les lieux d’émission peuvent correspondre à autant de recettes fiscales, les monétaires seraient des agents administratifs en charge de la gestion de cette collecte organisée au sein des vici, districts administratifs de base hérités de l’Antiquité. Le regnum Francorum unifié sous Clotaire II puis Dagobert I perd sa cohérence après le milieu du VIIe siècle. A partir du début du VIIIe siècle, au plus tard, l’Aquitaine paraît échapper au pouvoir de la dynastie mérovingienne. Ses ducs ou principes jouissent d’une large autonomie ; ils perçoivent les revenus fiscaux et nomment les comtes. Après la vigoureuse reprise en main de Pépin le Bref, Charlemagne érige l’Aquitaine en un regnum confié à Louis le Pieux. Il agrège pour cela à l’Aquitaine proprement dite (Poitou, Berry, Auvergne, Limousin et comtés plus petits situés plus au sud), la Marche de Toulouse, la Gascogne (de la vallée de la Garonne aux Pyrénées) et la Septimanie. Afin de gérer au mieux des cités parfois très étendues, le nouveau pouvoir carolingien met en place des vicarii, probablement affectés au niveau vicinal, pour seconder les comtes ; quelques dizaines d’années plus tard, apparaissent progressivement les vicariae, dans lesquelles le vicarius, paraît jouer un rôle de médiateur entre les communautés d’habitants et le pouvoir comtal. On le perçoit à la fin du IXe siècle et dans la première moitié du suivant comme un notable, membre à part entière de ces communautés. Cette organisation vicariale paraît avoir pris appui sur les anciens vici, districts administratifs. Les vici mérovingiens pourraient avoir été aussi la matrice des grandes paroisses mises en place par le pouvoir épiscopal au sein des cités. / Analysis of trientes or "tiers de sou d'or" minted in Aquitaine, from the late 6th through the late 7th century, reveals that they were not a conventional form of currency. The various place names and monetarii names inscribed would indicate a territorial administration: emission locations appear to correspond to different tax revenue, while the monetarii could be the administrative officers in charge of managing organized tax collection within the vici, the basic administrative districts inherited from Antiquity. The regnum Francorum, unified under Clotaire II and Dagobert I, loses its coherence after the middle of the 7th century. No later than the early 8th century, Aquitaine appears to have escaped the jurisdiction of the Merovingian dynasty. Its dukes, or principes, had broad autonomy; they collect taxes and they appoint local officers. After vigorous takeover of Pepin the Short, Charlemagne creates the regnum of Aquitaine with Louis the Pious as its king. The regnum comprises the Aquitaine (Poitou, Berry, Auvergne, Limousin and smaller counties further south), with the March of Toulouse, the Gascony (from the Garonne valley to the Pyrenees) and the Septimania. In order to better manage the counties which were for some very large, the Carolingian authorities established the vicarii probably appointed at “vicinal” level to support the counts. A few decades later, gradually appear vicariae in which the vicarii, seem to play a mediating role between the local community and comtal power. From the late 9th century and the first half of the 10th, we perceive the vicarius as an elite and a member of these communities. This “vicarial” organization seems to have been constructed onformer administrative districts, the vici of the Merovingian period. These vici could also have been the origin of large parishes established by the episcopal power within the civitates.

Agobard of Lyon has usually been studied because of his writings about Jews. This dissertation likewise began from a desire to understand Agobard’s anti-Jewish writings, their content, motives, and impact. Approaching that topic from the basis of Agobard’s whole corpus of writings, however, forces an acknowledgment that Agobard cannot be reduced to simply “Agobard and the Jews,” although the subject clearly created a great amount of anxiety for him. Also, by beginning with Agobard’s own works, this dissertation discusses him on his own terms first, without relying on the historiographical tradition which defines him as a Visigoth, a tradition ultimately found wanting. This dissertation effectively dismantles the model of Agobard as a Visigoth working in the Carolingian world, and replaces it with a model of Agobard as a Carolingian. As such, this study explores his anti-Judaism in terms of his immediate historical context and links it with his other anxieties and the Carolingian desire for a perfect, Christian, society. Doing so also opens the door for a re-evaluation of the traditional interpretation of the Carolingian period as the last “golden age” of European Jews outside of Muslim Spain. At its conclusion, this study argues that the Carolingians, by deliberately attempting to create a Christian society, however “well” they treated Jews in their own time, laid some of the ideological groundwork for the later isolation and persecution of Jews in Europe. The introduction begins the exploration of Agobard’s historical context by discussing the history of both Louis’s empire and Agobard’s Lyon. The first chapter provides a quick summary of his life and works. From there, the dissertation turns to its in-depth study of Agobard in the second through fourth chapters. An analysis of his main anti-Jewish work, De iudaicis superstitionibus et erroribus in Chapter 3 is prefaced by a study of the character and possible roots of his anti-Judaism in Chapter 2. The last chapter looks at Agobard’s other concerns, how they relate to his writings on Judaism, and finally how his great amount of worry around Judaism can help shape our understanding of medieval Jewish-Christian relations.

Agobard of Lyon has usually been studied because of his writings about Jews. This dissertation likewise began from a desire to understand Agobard’s anti-Jewish writings, their content, motives, and impact. Approaching that topic from the basis of Agobard’s whole corpus of writings, however, forces an acknowledgment that Agobard cannot be reduced to simply “Agobard and the Jews,” although the subject clearly created a great amount of anxiety for him. Also, by beginning with Agobard’s own works, this dissertation discusses him on his own terms first, without relying on the historiographical tradition which defines him as a Visigoth, a tradition ultimately found wanting. This dissertation effectively dismantles the model of Agobard as a Visigoth working in the Carolingian world, and replaces it with a model of Agobard as a Carolingian. As such, this study explores his anti-Judaism in terms of his immediate historical context and links it with his other anxieties and the Carolingian desire for a perfect, Christian, society. Doing so also opens the door for a re-evaluation of the traditional interpretation of the Carolingian period as the last “golden age” of European Jews outside of Muslim Spain. At its conclusion, this study argues that the Carolingians, by deliberately attempting to create a Christian society, however “well” they treated Jews in their own time, laid some of the ideological groundwork for the later isolation and persecution of Jews in Europe. The introduction begins the exploration of Agobard’s historical context by discussing the history of both Louis’s empire and Agobard’s Lyon. The first chapter provides a quick summary of his life and works. From there, the dissertation turns to its in-depth study of Agobard in the second through fourth chapters. An analysis of his main anti-Jewish work, De iudaicis superstitionibus et erroribus in Chapter 3 is prefaced by a study of the character and possible roots of his anti-Judaism in Chapter 2. The last chapter looks at Agobard’s other concerns, how they relate to his writings on Judaism, and finally how his great amount of worry around Judaism can help shape our understanding of medieval Jewish-Christian relations.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2005. / Thesis directed by Thomas F.X. Noble for the Department of History. "July 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 274-300).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität Bremen, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [xiv]-lx) and index.

In the ninth century, the community of St Filibert, which was established on the island of Noirmoutier in the late-seventh century, relocated five times reportedly due to pressures caused by the invasions of the Northmen. The community produced texts during the period of relocations which emphasised the agency of the Northmen and whose testimony has been readily accepted in most subsequent historical analysis. The twofold aim of this thesis is to re-examine the body of literature produced by the community in order first to measure the narrative it provides against the paradigm of flight from the Northmen, and second to understand the nature of the texts themselves. It will argue that rather than being a community in flight, the Filibertines were involved in some of the most important concerns in the ninth-century kingdoms of Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald. They were not only at the centre of successive royal patronage circles, but they developed the cult of their patron, St Filibert, through the process of relocation in both architectural and devotional spheres. Moreover, their economic activity, which had always been a concern of theirs since the late-seventh century, developed through the use of salt-pans and vineyards as well as through the donation of exemptions from taxation on the transit of goods. Overall this thesis proposes that the ninth century was, for the community of St Filibert, a period largely dominated by growth on a number of levels and argues that the texts that put flight from the Northmen at their heart were written as a method of defining an identity for a community in flux.