The Merovingian kingdoms and the Mediterranean world : revisiting the sources / edited by Stefan Esders, Yitzhak Hen, Pia Lucas... [et al.]

"The book explores the place of the Merovingian kingdoms in Gaul within a broader Mediterranean context. Their politics and culture have mostly been interpreted in terms of a local phenomenon, but as this book shows, the Merovingian kingdoms had complicated and multi-layered political, religious, and socio-cultural relations with their Mediterranean counterparts, from Visigothic Spain in the West to the Byzantine Empire in the East. The papers provide new insights into the history of the Merovingian kingdoms in their late-antique and early-medieval Mediterranean context, examining subjects from the formation of identity to the shape and rules of diplomatic relations, social, legal, and religious aspects that reflect cultural transfer, as well as voiced attitudes towards the other. The perspectives of the individual sources and their contextualization are at the centre of this analysis, and each paper thus begins with a short excerpt from a relevant source text, which then serves as a jumping board to the discussion of broader issues. This innovative structuring principle ensures discussions are accessible to students and non-specialists, without jeopardizing the high standard of academic debate and diligent historical analysis"-- Provided by publisher

Bibliogr. p. 223-252

History, geography and the notion of mare nostrum in the early medieval west / Yitzhak Hen -- True differences: Gregory of Tours' account of the Council of Mācon (585) / Helmut Reimitz -- East and west from a Visigothic perspective: how and why were Frankish brides negotiated in the late sixth century / Anna Gehler-- Friendship and diplomacy in the histories of Gregory of Tours / Hope Williard -- Private records of official diplomacy: the Franco-Byzantine letters in the Austrasian Epistolar collection / Bruno Dumezil -- The language of sixth-century Frankish diplomacy / Yaniv Fox -- Mediterranean homesick blues: human trafficking in the Merovingian leges / Lukas Bothe -- The fifth Council of Orléans and the reception of the three chapters controversy in Merovingian Gaul / Till Stüber -- Reconciling disturbed sacred space: the ordo for "reconciling an altar where a murder has been committed" in the Sacramentary of Gellone in its cultural context / Rob Meens -- Imitation and rejection of eastern practices in Merovingian Gaul: Gregory of Tours and Vulfilaic the Stylite of Trier / Tamar Rotman -- Magnus et verus Christianus: the portrayal of Emperor Tiberius II in Gregory of Tours / Pia Lucas -- When contemporary history is caught up by the immediate present: Fredegar's proleptic depiction of Emperor Constans II / Stehan Esders -- Byzantium, the Merovingians, and the hog: a passage of Theophanes' chronicle revisited / Federico Montinaro