Roman Barbarians: The Royal Court and Culture in the Early Medieval West

ISBN-13: 9780333786666 / Angielski / Miękka / 2007 / 228 str.

Yitzhak Hen

Opis

Roman Barbarians investigates the nature of early medieval culture, and what place the royal court had in it. It explores the place of the royal court and the operation of patronage through it in several European kingdoms of the early Middle Ages, such as the Ostrogothic court of Theoderic the Great, the Vandal court of Thrasamund, the Frankish courts of Dagobert I and the Visigothic court of Sisebut. It seeks to identify the roots of later medieval developments, and especially of the so-called Carolingian Renaissance, in the centuries immediately succeeding the period of Roman rule. After all, it was in that formative period that Roman and Christian ideas and practices came together to be mingled with indigenous Germanic practices, to produce the seeds of what we now call 'the medieval civilization'.

Recenzje

'In this elegantly written series of case studies, Yitzhak Hen demonstrates the extent to which the barbarian heirs of Rome continued the Roman tradition of making their centres of political power also centres of learning, poetry, and culture. Without denying the violence of contemporary conquest and warfare, he shows how such rulers as the Ostrogoth Theoderic, the Vandal king Thrasamund, the Frankish sovereign Dagobert, and the Visigothic ruler Sisebut patronized poets, philosophers, churchmen and artists in their courts. The resulting image of court cultures between the fifth and ninth centuries both dispels the image of barbarian crudity and provides a context and prehistory of the cultural program of Charlemagne' - Professor Patrick J. Geary, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), USA

'Yitzhak Hen's excellent book on the place of the royal court and the mechanisms of cultural patronage in the early medieval kingdoms of Europe breaks new ground. He provides a nuanced comparative analysis of the literary activites that can be associated with the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks and Lombards, and thereby offers a new and convincing perspective from which to assess the subsequent Carolingian achievement' - Professor Rosamond McKitterick, University of Cambridge, UK

'Roman Barbarians is commendably short and snappy, and in its pages students and newcomers will find much useful information.' - Simon Maclean, English Historical Review

Spis treści

Introduction: A Series of Unfortunate Events Adaptation: The Ostrogothic Court of Theoderic the Great Out of Africa: The Vandal Court of Thrasamund Before and After: The Frankish Court of Chlothar II and Dagobert I Music of the Heart: The Unusual Case of King Sisebut Postcards from the Edges: A Prelude to the Carolingian Renaissance Conclusion

O autorze

YITZHAK HEN is Professor of Medieval History at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. His previous publications include Culture and Religion in Merovingian Gaul (1995); The Sacramentary of Echternach (1997); The Royal Patronage of Liturgy in Frankish Gaul (2001). He is the General Editor of the series Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.