State and Society in the Early Middle Ages the Middle Rhine Valley 400
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This book is a pioneering study of politics in the early middle ages, based on the middle Rhine valley. Whereas it is believed widely that the source materials for early medieval Europe are too sparse to allow sustained study of the workings of social and political relationships on the ground, this book focuses on a uniquely well-documented area to investigate the basis of power. Topics covered include the foundation of monaster- ies, their relationship with the laity, and their role as social centres; the signiWcance of urbanism; the control of land, the development of property rights and the organisation of estates; community, kinship and lordship; justice and dispute settlement; the uses of the written word; violence and the feud; and the development of polit- ical structures from the Roman Empire to the high middle ages. Although a local study, the book oVers persuasive and challeng- ing generalisations about the nature of power in the early middle ages. It places its Wndings in an explicitly comparative perspective, identifying the peculiarities of the early medieval west and their implications for the broader sweep of European history. Matthew Innes is Lecturer in History, Birkbeck College, University of London Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought Fourth Series General Editor: d. e. luscombe Leverhulme Personal Research Professor of Medieval History,University of SheYeld Advisory Editors: christine carpenter Reader in Medieval English History,University of Cambridge, and Fellow of New Hall rosamond mckitterick Professor of Medieval History,University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Newnham College The series Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought was inaugurated by G. G. Coulton in 1921; Professor D. E. Luscombe now acts as General Editor of the Fourth Series, with Dr Christine Carpenter and Professor Rosamond McKitterick as Advisory Editors. The series brings together outstanding work by medieval scholars over a wide range of human endeavour extending from political economy to the history of ideas. For a list of titles in the series, see end of book. STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES The Middle Rhine Valley, 400–1000 MATTHEW INNES published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge cb2 1rp, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, United Kingdom http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA http://www.cup.org 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Matthew Innes 2000 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2000 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeset in 11/12pt Monotype Bembo [se] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Innes, Matthew. State and society in the early Middles Ages: the middle Rhine valley, 400–1000/Matthew Innes. p. cm. – (Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0 521 59455 3 1. Political culture – Rhine River Valley – History – To 1500. 2. Cities and towns, Medieval – Rhine River Valley. 3. Elite (Social sciences) – Rhine River Valley – History. 4. Rhine River Valley – Social conditions. 5. Church and state – Rhine River Valley – History – To 1500. 6. Local government – Rhine River Valley – History – To 1500. 7. Monasticism and religious orders – Rhine River Valley – History – Middle Ages, 600–1600. 8. Germany – History – To 843. 9. France – Social conditions – To 987. 10. Germany – Religious life and customs – Middle Ages, 843–1517. i. Title. ii. Series. dd801.r76i56 2000 306.2′09434–dc21 99–33218 cip isbn 0 521 59455 3 hardback CONTENTS List of Wgures page ix List of abbreviations x A note on nomenclature and citations xiii Acknowledgements xiv 1 introduction Region, sources and scope 1 Early medieval politics: problems of approach 4 2 monasticism, spiritual patronage and social 13 structure Gifts to the church: patterns and potential 13 Spiritual patronage and gifts to the church 18 Funerary ritual, inheritance and gift exchange 34 Gifts of land and social power 40 The implications of monastic landholding 47 3 land, kinship and status 51 The elite: kinship, land and inheritance 51 Lorsch’s founders 51 The family of Otakar 61 The family of Hraban Maur 65 Land as property 68 The exploitation of land and the organisation of estates 77 Vertical integration: social status 82 Vertical integration: kinship and lordship 85 The relationship between land and power 93 4 local power: collective action, conflict 94 and consensus Patterns of public action 94 Cities, monasteries and collective action 95 Rural settlements 105 vii Contents Scribes as guardians of legal tradition 111 Counts and public meetings 118 Local political leadership 124 Violence, ritual and dispute settlement 129 The texture of local power 139 5 locality and centre: mechanisms of extraction 141 Approaching early medieval government 141 Military service 143 The army tax 153 Royal levies 156 6 political power from the fifth to the eleventh 165 century Introduction 165 Roman to Merovingian 165 The Merovingian middle Rhine 172 Forging the pax Karolina 180 Maintaining the pax Karolina 188 The politics of division 195 The zenith of Carolingian politics 210 Crisis, conXict and consolidation 222 The transformation of the early medieval polity 241 7 conclusion: state and society in the early 251 medieval west Structural characteristics of early medieval politics 251 Public and private, state and society 254 Interpreting the early medieval west 259 List of primary sources 268 Bibliography of secondary works 274 Index 307 viii FIGURES 1 The Carolingian Rhineland page xv 2 The Carolingian middle Rhine valley xvi 3 Lorsch’s patrons, March 766 20 4 Fulda’s patrons, January–February 813 24 5 Lorsch’s founders: kinship and property 52 6 Otakar: kinship and property 60 7 The family of Hraban Maur: kinship and property 64 8 Maintaining Worms’ walls, c. 900 163 9 The middle Rhine valley, c. 500 171 10 Descendants of Lorsch’s founders 264 11 Descendants of Hornbach’s founders 265 12 Ancestors of Conrad I 266 13 The Carolingians 267 ix ABBREVIATIONS AF Annales Fuldenses, ed. F. Kurze, MGH SRG 7 (Hanover, 1891). BM Regesta Imperii I. Die Regesten des Kaiserreiches unter den Karolingern 751–918, ed. J. F. Böhmer, revised by E. Mühlbacher with J. Lechner, 2nd edn (Innsbruck, 1908). CDF Codex diplomaticus Fuldensis, ed. E. F. J. Dronke (Kassel, 1850). CL Codex Laureshamensis, ed. K. Glöckner, Arbeiten der historischen Kommission für den Volkstaat Hessen 3, 3 vols. (Darmstadt, 1929–36). DA Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters. Einhard, letters [cited by letter number] Einhard, Epistolae, ed. K. Hampe, MGH Epp. V (Berlin, 1899), pp. 105–45. I have drawn on the translation of P. Dutton, both in Carolingian Civilisation:A Reader (Peterborough, Ontario, 1993) and Charlemagne’s Courtier:The Complete Einhard (Peterborough, Ontario, 1997). EME Early Medieval Europe. Klostergemeinschaft Die Klostergemeinschaft von Fulda im früheren Mittelalter, ed. K. Schmid et al., 3 vols. in 5, Münstersche Mittelalter-Schriften 8 (Munich, 1978). MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica AA Auctores Antiquissimi, 15 vols. (Hanover, 1877–1919). Cap. Capitularia Regum Francorum, 2 vols., eds. A. Boretius and V. Krause, MGH Leges sectio III (Hanover, 1883–97). x List of abbreviations Const. Constitutiones et acta publica imperatorum et regum, vol. 1, ed. L. Weigand (Berlin, 1893). D plus ruler’s name: Diplomata [for full details see bibliography section I(b)]. Epp. Epistolae, 8 vols. (Hanover, 1887–1939). Form. Formulae, ed. K. Zeumer, MGH Leges sectio V (Hanover, 1887). PLAC Poetae Latini aevi Karolini, 4 vols. (Hanover, 1881–99). SRG Scriptores rerum Germanicarum (Hanover, 1871–1995). SRM Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum, 7 vols. (Hanover, 1884–1920). SS Scriptores, 32 vols. (Hanover, 1826–1934). MIÖG Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung. N Regesta des ehemaligen Benediktinerklosters Hornbach, ed. A. Neubauer, Mitteilungen des Historischen Vereins der Pfalz 27 (Speyer, 1904). NCMH New Cambridge Medieval History II: 700–900, ed. R. McKitterick (Cambridge, 1995). P&P Past and Present. PL Patrologia cursus completus, series Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, 221 vols. (Paris, 1841–66). Settimane Settimane di Studio del Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo (Spoleto, 1953–). TAF Traditiones et antiquitates Fuldenses, ed. E. F. J. Dronke (Fulda, 1844). TW Traditiones Wizenburgenses: Die Urkunden des Klosters Weissenburg, 661–864, eds. K. Glöckner and A. Doll (Darmstadt, 1979). UBF Urkundenbuch der Kloster Fulda, ed. E. E. Stengel, VeröVentlichungen der historischen Kommission für Hessen und Waldeck 10, 2 vols. (Marburg, 1913–58). UBH Urkundenbuch der Reichsabtei Hersfeld, ed. H. Weirich, VeröVentlichungen der historischen Kommission für Hessen und Waldeck 19 (Marburg, 1936). UBMR Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der, jetzt die Preußischen regierungsbezirke Coblenz und Trier bildenden xi List of abbreviations mittelrheinischen Territorien, eds. H. Beyer, L. Eltester and A. Goerz, vol. 1 (Koblenz, 1860). VF Vörträge und Forschungen. VMPIG