Interest in the history of Latin monasticism in southern Italy has been stimulated in recent years due to the important excavations at the site of the monastery of S.Vincenzo al Volturno. These excavations have revealed an immensely opulent monastic complex which has reinforced Angelo Pantoni's famous statement when he referred to the site as a medieval Pompeii. Despite the importance of the excavations, and the rich historiographical and documentary tradition in southern Italy, many questions remain unanswered concerning the history of monastic development in the Lombard principalities during the ninth and tenth centuries. We still do not know why monasticism was so important in southern Italy or the exact role it played in Lombard society. There is a pressing need to address these questions because many of the historical works which have been produced in association with the excavations at S. Vincenzo have simply sustained long standing assumptions about the influence of the Carolingian and Byzantine Empires and in so doing have obscured the true history of monastic development in southern Italy. This thesis seeks to demonstrate that it is incongruous to explain the importance of monasticism in the Lombard principalities in terms of Carolingian or Byzantine influences or in comparison with developments in other regions of Europe. It will be established that the importance of monasticism in Lombard southern Italy had more to do with the immense role it played in southern Lombard society and above all its significance as a mechanism through which the Lombards expressed their ethnic identity. Part I will establish that the Lombards did indeed possess an exceptionally strong sense of ethnic identity. The genesis of this identity owed much to topographical and historical developments in the seventh century but was strengthened through contacts with external aggressors who threatened Lombard independence.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:657640 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | McQueen, Willam B. |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/20684 |
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