Sonderdrucke aus der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

HEIKO STEUER

The Beginnings of Urban Economies among the Saxons

Originalbeitrag erschienen in: Dennis H. Green (Hrsg.): The continental Saxons from the migration period to the tenth century : an ethnographic perspective. Woodbridge [u.a.]: Boydell Press, 2003, S. 159 - 192 THE BEGINNINGS OF URBAN ECONOMIES AMONG THE SAXONS

HEIKO STEUER

Institut fur Ur- und Friihgeschichte und Archaologie des Mittelalters der Universitdt Freiburg, Belfortstr. 22, D-79805 Freiburg

The Saxons and the Carolingian-Ottonian Empire

The war against the Saxons that Charlemagne had waged for more than thirty years showed two different things. On the one hand it appeared that this region was politically, socially, therefore also economically structured in ways quite unlike the Carolingian empire. On the other hand it also became clear that it was of utmost necessity to integrate this geographical region into the new greater economic sphere of central Europe. Proselytization of the population was, therefore, not the main reason. Missionary work through military force was, to a certain extent, only the decisive vehicle. It would not have made sense to keep this region out of the widespread network of new economic activities. The annual military expeditions and raids against the Saxons served the purpose of capturing booty in order to pay for the Carolingian military liegemen and followers. But at that time making money through pillage, booty or gifts already belonged to an earlier phase. Since the middle of the eighth century the network of long-distance trading posts had spread across the entire region of the North- and Baltic Seas, and reached far into the southeastern part of central Europe as well. Ports of trade or emporia gave access to contacts with the Scandinavian and Slav countries. The range of archaeological finds prove that certain commodities from the Carolingian empire were traded as far as northern Norway and central Sweden, as well as the southern coasts of the Baltic Sea. To some extent the Saxons were surrounded. The economic change in the Saxon territories, located between the Sla ys, Danes and Franks, corresponded to the different political situations. At the beginning of our story we find the Saxons consisting of a tribal community under a strong nobility, spreading out on all sides to the countries in the neighbourhood in such a way that their name, 'Saxons', meant warriors belonging to war bands, similarly to the name 'Vikings'. The military, political and, especially, religious integration of the Saxon territory lasted from 772 till 804. Out of a region with no clearly defined borders and without any central places, a "clearly structured imperial landscape" on the level of a regnum or comitatus with the constitution of earldoms, was born since 782 (Ehlers 1995: col. 1223-5; Lampen 1999: map fig.1). The founding of missionary stations, monasteries and diocesan sees (sedes episcopales) created a network of central places with regular distances of 20 to 30 kilometres between them, through

159 THE CONTINENTAL SAXONS © C.I.R.O.S.S. FROM THE MIGRATION PERIOD TO THE TENTH CENTURY San Marino (R.S.M.) 160 Heiko Steuer which the integration of this country as an equal among peers in the Carolingian empire was achieved (Schiefer 1999: map fig. 1; Johanek 1999: map. fig. 2). The trading centres along the Rhine in the west and those situated on the southern coast of the North Sea lost their meaning as border posts to Saxony. A new chain of such border trading posts appeared along the river Elbe on the eastern border with the Slays. These are listed, in order, in the Diedenhofener Capitulary dating from 805 (Hiibener 1989). Saxony became the central landscape of the Empire with the conversion/ rearrangement to a duchy under the Liudolfingians, the election of Henry I as king (see genealogy at page 350), and the strengthening of Ottonian rule through the erection of palaces and royal courts surrounding the Harz mountains. Different central places correspond to each phase of these political changes, from tribal community to a province of the Carolingian empire, and onward to the centre of the Ottonian empire, beginning with central residences of the nobility, to bishops' castles, royal palaces and castle-towns, the existing pre-urban centres developed into early towns. Archaeologically, the Saxon territory appeared for a long time as a separate cultural area. The burial rites can be taken as an example. They were maintained until far into the ninth century, in spite of the orders and penal laws of the Carolingians against non-Christian rites (cremations or urn-graves, burial mounds, and weapons used for grave-goods) (Laux 1987; Steuer 1999a: map fig. 1). The maps of the distribution of Carolingian-age fibulae (enamel disc-fibulae of all types) highlight the Saxon area as well. Since the fibulae became known not only as burial objects, but also through finds in castles and settlements, a sphere can be shown in which special dress customs existed (Frick 1992/1993: map 1; Giesler 1978: map fig. 4; Spiong 2001; Wamser 1992: map fig. 14; 1999: w. maps). Concentrations of such fibulae within the spectrum of finds, as are known from the sites of Dorestad, Mainz or Karlsburg, were also found in the middle of the Saxon territory in the settlement of Balhorner Feld near Paderborn. Amongst these finds are also failed casts and moulds, which confirm local production (Forst 1999). The distribution of objects and weapons decorated in the Anglo-Carolingian animal style, which were surely in use throughout the contemporary Carolingian empire, also reflects the special behaviour of the Saxons (Capelle 1998:131, map fig. 55; Wamser 1992:324 map fig. 8). Due to the specific burial rites, archaeology offers the possibility of indirectly marking the extent of the Saxon area. These objects were produced mainly outside of the Saxon area. Because of that, it is understandable that in the larger trading and production centres, as the ports of trade from Dorestad via Mainz to Karlsburg at Wiirzburg, there are not only larger accumulations of finds but also casts, moulds and half-finished products are passed down to us that allow us to trace where the trade into Saxon territory started from. The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 161

Network of pre-urban centres and circulation of goods among the Saxons

One can only describe the urban economy and early forms of urban settlements from 500 to 1000 AD in the Saxon territory from two perspectives. Firstly one has to consider the political situation of the Saxons; with the submission and integration into the empire of Charlemagne, a decisive break in the economic organization of the area ensues as well. After this, from Carolingian to Ottonian times the economic life of the Saxons did not change at a much different rate from the rest of the empire. Secondly, it is necessary to consider the qualitative change of the economy in the Carolingian empire itself, which influenced the Saxons in the same way. The beginnings of an urban economy can be characterized by the use of three decisive factors which are dependent on one another. These are the enforcement and spread of manorial systems, the organization of means of payment and the development of markets and concentrations of craftsmen who can produce surplus amounts of goods. It is not necessary to define further the meanings of urban economy or towns in order to evaluate the points mentioned above. It should be enough to point out the following criteria: links of trade and craftsmanship, larger population concentrations as well as new legal districts, often better defined by a fortification of sorts, and centralized functions. One can discuss what dynamic forces caused these changes in the economic structure, but probably one cannot decide what started the process on its way; an increase in population numbers, new needs for trade-goods and luxury items, or the introduction of the new silver currency and taxation of bonded people of large manorial systems based on coinage rather than agricultural produce and craftsmanship products. The network of early urban trading centres in the northern part of central Europe shows a noticeable increase and an intensification in almost all places around the middle of the eighth century. I think that the decisive upturn in the economy of the Carolingian empire can be shown to coincide with the introduction of the new silver currency. Recent research has shown, that not only the trading centres along the North Sea, in Dorestad and Quentovic, in Hamvic and Ribe, were in full bloom in the eighth century, but that centres like Haithabu, Birka and Grol3 StrOmkendorf (Jdns et al. 1997) were flourishing in the region of the Baltic Sea as well. It is not without reason that the Viking Age, therefore, is seen by B. Ambrosiani and others (1993), to have already begun in the middle of the eighth century rather than around 800. At the same time, one registers the emergence of a new style in the ornamentation of small objects of art, the Berdal- or early gripping-beast style (in metal and jewellery). E. Warners (1999) links its emergence with the strong influence of Carolingian styles in ornamentation, such as the Tassilo-chalice style and acanthus-ornamentation of the late eighth century, which he places before the influence of missions and trade. The decisive change in economy and society, 162 Heiko Steuer which paralleled the change from the Merovingian to the Carolingian dynasty, had an effect that reached far into the regions of the Baltic Sea, Scandinavia and the Slav countries, and was to produce momentous changes in the Saxon area as well. Urban centres do not exist by themselves, but are part of a network—this must be considered a decisive additional criterion when judging the situation among the Saxons—part of, as well as junction of links in an extended network that reached all of central, northern and eastern Europe, including Saxon territory. No trading centre, no port of trade on a border can exist by itself. One must assume that the driving forces that brought about change radiated from the Carolingian empire.

The Carolingian coinage reform as an economic revolution

The new silver currency, the denarius, was the decisive factor for the economic boom in the Carolingian age. The enlightened decision to change from a gold- to a silver-based currency, made it possible to abandon the traditional barter economy confined to nearby markets in favour of a far-reaching commerce. The coinage reform of Pepin the Short and Charlemagne allowed for fundamental changes in the structure of the economy and circulation of goods that had long been in the offing, so that they finally achieved a lasting order. Since as early as 670, silver coins, denarii and sceattas, had been in use on the continent and in England. When King Pepin monopolized the mint from 755 onward (MGH, Capitularia 1, No. 13, p. 13 f.), which before him had been scattered among hundreds of minters and minting places, the coins now showed the king's name and portrait. If the order of magnitude was that of single denarii, taxes could be paid for in coins instead of produce, and the agricultural surplus production of lords and small farmers alike was also sold for coins. After the first coinage reform of 755, many reforms were undertaken under Charlemagne, Ludwig the Pious and Charles the Bald, until the Edictum Pistense of 864 (MGH, Capitularia 2, No. 273, p. 310 ff.). Even King Offa of Mercia joined the Carolingian system, which established a rate of 12 denarii to a shilling (silver solidus) and 20 shillings to a pound (of silver). The numerous coinage reforms directly reflect the impact of the new currency on the economy. Indeed, the gold coins of Merovingian times had such a high value before their devaluation (the solidus, weighing 4.55 grams, and the triens, weighing 1.5 grams), that they were only used for military pay or as gifts. The denarii could indeed be used for bargaining, buying and as a means of payment. With a relative value between gold and silver of at least 12 to 1, the value of the denarii was less than one tenth of that of gold coins. Ownership of coins and the chance to acquire currency were now more widespread, and reached as far down as the people bound to manorial systems. Already in Karlmann's Capitulare Liptinense of 742/3 (MGH, Capitularia 1, No. 11, c. 6, p. 28), an order to leaseholders of middle scale on The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 163

Church property was issued, in which a special tax of one (silver) solidus, twelve denarii, was to be paid in order to finance coming military campaigns. The gold currency was replaced by silver currency that was needed for the growing economy, not because gold had become a scarce commodity in the late Merovingian and Carolingian empires. The records of Church and secular treasures on the one hand, and the enormous gold reserves captured in the war against the Avars on the other, prove the contrary. For some time after their integration into the Carolingian empire, it seemed that this did not appear to have any measurable effect within the Saxon territories. The silver currency did not seem to catch on there. The privilege to mint coins was granted to the imperial monastery of Corvey in 833 (BOhmer & Miihlbacher 1908: 364-1st.June 833), and not much later also to the diocesan town of Hamburg (market-, mint- and customs-privileges to the archbishops of Hamburg and Bremen are recorded for the years 845 and 888 respectively), but this remained without consequences. Coins from those mints were not found, excepting the few—rare even for Saxon territory—Christiana religio coins of Ludwig the Pious which were struck there. Around 890, for the first time in the Urbare (registers of real estate, taxes and services) of the abbey of Werden, taxes of dependent farmsteads could be paid with coinage, as well as with agricultural produce (Ilisch 1999a:388). Coins as means of exchange, therefore, appear to have been known at that time. In Saxon territory, finds of coins are rather sparse. A noticeable change only appeared with Ottonian minting in the second half of the tenth century. A few finds were made in the coastal region. Within the domain of the Frisian merchants even some discoveries of larger hoards with sceatta coins from the eighth century were made, and from time to time some Carolingian denarii—but then never more than at two dozen places, and these mostly as burial objects—were found within Saxon territory, mostly as Charon pennies or, more commonly, as pendants. The larger hoards lie along the borders of the Saxon territory (Haertle 1997; Last 1977:644; Roth & Wamers 1984:217). Here the hoard from Barthe, close to Emden, must be mentioned with its more than 750 sceattas of the Porcupine type, dating from the eighth century. Sceattas of the late seventh and eighth centuries were struck in Frisia, probably in Dorestad, in Hamvic and, perhaps, even among the Danes in the trading centre of Ribe. The distribution of these silver coins misses the Saxon area, but reaches Scandinavia (Callmer 1983; Steuer 1987:125 w. map fig. 2; Zedelius 1980). The situation of the ninth/tenth centuries is not much different. The hoard from Tzummarum, close to Dorestad in the Netherlands, buried after 840, and found in 1991, contained 2789 coins in a ceramic vessel. These were mostly mints of Lothar of Dorestad (2632 specimens) and Christiana religio coins (135 pieces), a total of 4 kilograms of silver, with an estimated value of about 20 horses or 80 cows (Ilisch 1999b:373). A corresponding find in the South is the treasure from Wiesbaden-Biebrich, found in 1922, with 4000 to 5000 coins which were buried after 793, with one north African dirhem among them. In the Saxon fringe-area, only a little north of 164 Heiko Steuer the Elbe, the hoard from Krinkberg/POschendorf was found, with Carolingian coins from mints all over the Frankish empire, the earliest of them dating to 782- 785 and the latest to 790-794, as well as one sceatta from Frisia (Wiechmann 1996:409, 415 w. map 33). In Saxony, the breakthrough only occurred during the age of the Ottonians (Brachmann 1991:123 fig. 3). The Ottonians created a tightly woven network of privileged markets. Their palaces were now added to the Carolingian monasteries and diocesan towns as central places. The rapid growth in the amount of minting during the second half of the tenth century (Brachmann 1991:126) finally included Saxony within the area of coin-based economies (Jammer 1952; Kluge 1991, maps 8 & 9 [900-936]: mints in Sachsen only in Hamburg, Osnabruck, Corvey, Marsberg, with archaeological finds also in Cologne, Mainz and Wurzburg). This seemingly backward situation appears even more so, if one looks at the neighbouring territories to the north and east. While the total number of mints that could turn out substantial amounts of coins was quite remarkable in the western Carolingian empire, the former provinces of the Roman empire, minting on the right side of the Rhine remained without impact till the age of the Ottonians. At the same time, completely different conditions were found in the North. Sceattas were minted in Ribe in the eighth century, and bracteates in Haithabu in the ninth and tenth centuries. In addition, weighed out amounts of silver as means for payment were in common use on a large scale in all of Scandinavia from the late ninth century onwards, and in the Slavic countries in the east as well. Similarly small portions of hacked silver were used for payments, the same way as coins (Steuer 1997). A functioning market appears to have existed not only in the West, but also in the North and the East, where pre-urban trading centres and emporia developed as well. If the present level of archaeological evidence does not lead to wrong conclusions, Saxony appears not to have belonged either to the area of a weight-based currency system, or to that of a coin-based monetary system, but would rather seem to have had a system based solely on barter of agricultural produce. Thus, markets and urban centres in Saxony must have functioned somewhat differently. The same development that had started in the West with the Carolingian denarii after the coinage reform of the eighth century, with the sceattas in England and the use of weighed out amounts of silver in the North and the East since the late ninth century, started in Saxony with a delay only in the tenth century under the Ottonians. Saxony was therefore surrounded by economically more developed and more diversely structured regions. The Frisian coastal zone belonged to the area with a coin-based currency system from its beginnings in the eighth century. Frisian merchants may have been considerably involved in introducing such urban structures to the countries of the North and Baltic Sea, but less so in Saxony (Lebecq 1996:338 w. map fig. 278; 1998: w. maps figs. 8-10). As for markets in the inner regions of Saxony (Hildesheim, Erfurt, Magdeburg, Braunschweig, Goslar), Frisian merchants are only recorded from the ninth/tenth centuries onwards. Along the coast, between The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 165 the two large emporia of Dorestad and Haithabu, lie numerous so-called Wure- settlements, which took over the functions of trading stations, but also of storage depots and production sites for long-distance trade.

New markets

Production, as well as circulation of all kinds of goods within the Carolingian empire and beyond its borders, was controlled by different kinds of trade, a hierarchy of market places and merchants of diverse legal statuses. The new decisive structures in society were controlled in the West by the territorial rule and property of the king, of ecclesiastical institutions and important secular figures, but no longer by the ancient civitates with their urban centres. Furthermore, since the beginning of the Carolingian age, the centre of power and trade had shifted to the north-eastern part of the Empire, not only because the Carolingians had their largest possessions there, but especially because of the strengthening of the new intense contacts in maritime trade with England and over land to Jutland and Scandinavia reaching deep into the settlement areas of the Saxons and Slays. Large estates consisted of many dozens, sometimes hundreds of farmsteads— the king himself had more than 250 residences, palaces and royal courts—often spread across the entire Empire, and the goal was to sell the surplus at a profit. For example, the monastery of Fulda annually obtained the considerable number of 855 coats from its farmsteads in Frisia, and the monastery of Werden some hundreds of Frisian cloths every year. Hence, the monasteries owned high quality long-distance goods that could be marketed at long distances and sold for coinage. The record from the beginning of the ninth century of a donation that one Sigifridus made to the monastery of St. Emmeram in Regensburg is quite informative. The donation consisted of his estate in Lauterbach, close to Regensburg, a socage farmstead with church and all appurtenances, as well as 11 farms, with a free blacksmith, 14 apprentices and 23 saleswomen (de negotio) in one of the farms (Brachmann 1991:121; Heinzelmann 1971). Clearly a production surpassing the needs of the manorial system and aimed at long-distance markets can be recognized here. One can assume that the situation must have been similar to that of the estates of other important Saxon figures. The manorial system enjoyed a certain level of autarchy made possible by the scattered ownership of farms in wine-growing regions, in areas of salt production, of sites for the production of millstones, of potteries and overseas trading posts. Merchants and craftsmen in bondage to the manorial markets, by trading and producing were decisive for the development of such pre-urban structures (Engel 1995). The fundamentals of Carolingian trade, therefore, can be found in the manorial system (Bleiber 1982:107; Brachmann 1991:121 n18; Johanek 1987:67). That is how a close distribution of markets developed, through which close-range market functions were linked with long-distance trade. More than 200 market-places 166 Heiko Steuer are recorded just for the region between the Rhine and the Loire in the ninth century alone. Some manorial systems ran multiple, systematically dispersed markets, as in the case of the monastery of St. Denis, close to Paris, which owned at least half a dozen. They had trade centres for transfering goods along the greater rivers, along which they introduced their goods into the far-reaching 'international' trade network. In line with his coinage reform that brought about the upsurge in trade, Pepin laid down in a Capitulary of Soissons of 744 (MGH, Capitularia 1, No. 12 c. 6, p. 30), that the bishops had to introduce in all the civitates, where they were still missing, a "legitimus forus et mensuras" as publicly controlled trade centres, i.e. a legal market and legal measurements. After 120 years the number of markets, including fairs, had risen to such an extent, that in the Edictum Pistense of 864 (MGH, Capitularia 2, No. 273, p. 310), Charles the Bald ordered that the counts should record them in lists and find out who had granted them their market-rights and for what period in time. Consequently there were various modes for the distribution of goods in the Carolingian and Ottonian ages: Transport of products was used for the circulation of goods within the manorial system, i.e. the network among all the farmsteads of a villicatio. On the other hand, surplus production was offered through the markets. These markets were ordered in a hierarchical manner, and according to their function: the lords of the manorial systems organized villa-markets at the farmsteads and at given production sites, quarries, mines or salt-works. Village-, vicus- and civitas-markets were higher ranking, and the ownership of the market— as it came down to us through the Edictum Pistense of 864—was in the hands of the king, of the important ecclesiastical lords of the manors, dukes and other individuals associated with the king. The large markets and meeting-points of the merchants along the borders of the Empire, the North Sea or inside the country, were new and of special importance. They served as gateways to long-distance trade. High quality goods were negotiated via these newly emerged places for long-distance trade into neighbouring countries by merchants employed by the king and other important ecclesiastical and secular lords of manors, but also by independent merchants. It must be assumed—and it is also recorded from trading centres like Dorestad—that most of the important lords who had hundreds of farmsteads at their disposal also had a farmstead as a kind of trading base inside these early towns through which they could place their surplus production into the long-distance trade network. What was the situation like in the Saxon area, before it was conquered by the Carolingians? One can assume similar patterns of manorial systems with associated markets. Until now, only a few examples have been uncovered archaeologically, while written records have delivered almost no information. Settlements concentrating on trade and region-wide production existed in the sixth/seventh centuries since the later Merovingian age. In Soest, salt was obtained on a larger scale since as far back as around 600 (Melzer 1999:365). The age of ore extraction from deposits in the Harz and other low mountain ranges is also deemed to have started long before the time of the Ottonians (Klappauf 1995:418; Klappauf The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 167

& Linke 1997; Schatze des Harzes 1994; Steuer 1993: map fig. 71). Balhom, close to present-day Paderborn, can also be shown to have been a large settlement with trade and craftsmen from the sixth century onwards (Eggenstein 1999). Within Saxon territory, hilltop settlements appear to have been central places and residences for the nobility, as they were marked by eminent buildings in the age of the Carolingians as well. According to the archaeological evidence, the first settlement of these sites would appear to have begun in the seventh century, as for example on the Gaulskopf close to HOxter (Best 1997; Best et al. 1999:340 fs.) a multiple-phased fortification with a two-phased inner development and a wooden church. In Saxon territory, the distribution of goods relied for a long time on exchange and passing on of commodities and goods based on personal unions (Personenverbande) (Steuer 1999:412, fig. 4). In all likelihood, the basic pattern of Saxon economy functioned with craftsmen concentrated at the courts of the nobility and later at the court of the duke. As dependents, they produced on demand weapons and jewellery for the nobility who had control over the mines and the precious metals. These were mostly added to the personal wealth, the thesaurus, to be handed on to liegemen and followers for services rendered, or to the farmers and warriors as pay or gifts. If these individuals lived on other farmsteads in different settlements, due to the fact that the nobility had scattered estates in various places, then the same types of weapons and fibulae were passed on over a wide area. The distribution of the finds of special types therefore reflects the network of such a personal union (Personenverband) rather than trade. The central farmsteads of the manorial systems were gathering places for surplus production, but not yet organizational forms of early towns. The discoveries of casts and moulds for the manufacture of jewellery in various Saxon settlements are evidence for the local production of valuable goods. It remains to be determined whether such production was undertaken by Frankish and other travelling craftsmen, or by local Saxon craftsmen. The problems that arise from the finds become clear when one compares the places where moulds for the production of jewellery were discovered with those places where the finished pieces were exchanged. A mould from the seventh century was found in Wetschen, in the District of Diepholz in Lower Saxony, showing four interwoven animal heads, whereas the corresponding pieces of jewellery are known from southern Germany (Cosack & Capelle 1997). The same is true for finds of moulds from Liebenau in Lower Saxony. Everyday products and luxury goods changed hands in various ways: as gifts or in exchange. Based on similar ethnographic situations this type of economy is called 'redistributive'. Barter without the use of money is recorded in Saxony until well into the ninth century. In 827, some manorial lords received eight swords, jewellery and various woolen and linen gowns from the monastery of Fulda in exchange for a large piece of land; the same monastery also gave a set of equipment, consisting of horse, shield and lance in exchange. 168 Heiko Steuer

Special ceramic vessels from the West, Tatinger pitchers from the Eifel region, and drinking glasses reached the new central places in the Saxon territories. Due to a lack of finds, one cannot determine from those central places to what extent these were then further distributed through barter or as gifts. Only the millstones that were made from Eifel-basalt and traded for centuries, found their way to other settlements in Saxon territory. Here the question remained how they were traded, whether for money or in exchange, as millstones certainly do not make for very good gifts {Steuer 1999b: fig. 3 (Tatinger-pottery and Reticella-glasses) and fig. 4 (millstones) in comparison}.

Fortresses, monasteries and episcopal sites as pre-urban centres in the conquered Saxon territory

No urban centres are known from Saxon territory before the Carolingian conquest. But there are lower level central places, i.e.: Centres of craftsmanship Central places of residence and seats of rulership are known for the Saxon elite, as is true of other tribal communities of the Merovingian age. Homes of the nobility, as in the cases of Feddersen Wierde, or FlOgeln-EekhOltjen, could be relied upon where trade and craftsmanship were concentrated. These can be proved to have already existed in the Roman Iron Age and the Migration period. Similar conditions must be assumed for the late Merovingian and Carolingian ages as well. The emerging model is that the seats of the nobility must have had a monopoly for the production of weapons and jewellery, as well as in obtaining luxury items through trade. As for redistributive chiefdoms, one must assume that the distribution of the more valuable goods was undertaken and controlled by the aristocracy. Considerable numbers of pit-houses have been uncovered in some Saxon settlements, that indicate centres for textile production, or workshops for ferrous and non-ferrous metals. This was the case in Bremen-Mahndorf, Loxstedt near Sievern in the district of Cuxhaven and in the surroundings of the long-distance trading centre of Haithabu, proven for the tenth century, where in the settlement of Kosel (Muller-Wille 1995/96) surplus was produced for the market of that centre. With the Frankish conquest a network was established in Saxon territory that was meant, on the one hand, for missionary work but, on the other, also for the concentration of craftsmanship and trade. The beginning was based on fortresses with central functions along the border with Saxony, before the country was systematically developed.

Carolingian fortresses (castra) on the borders of Saxony Some large fortresses are known from written sources and from archaeological excavations in the region of Hesse. These fortresses are more than just military The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 169

Key: x fortress El port of trade e treasure with coins A town of a bishop and/or monastery 0 other places • palace of the king Saxon area Places mentioned in the paper 17 Verden 35 Christenberg/Marburg 18 Hildesheim Port of trade: 19 Paderborn Treasure with coins 1 Dorestad (Netherlands) 20 Corvey 36 Barthe/Leer 2 Ribe (Danmark) 21 Halberstadt 37 Krinkberg (POschendorf)/Steinburg 3 Haithabu 22 Fulda 38 Wiesbaden-Biebrich 4 GroB StrOmkendort 23 Erfurt 39 Tzummarum 5 Bremen 24 WUrzburg 6 Hamburg Other Important places 7 Bardowick Palace (palatlum) of the king 40 Kosel near Haithabu 8 Magdeburg 25 Werla 41 Feddersen Wierde 9 Hallstatt 26 Grona 42 FlOgeln 10 Karlburg 27 Tilleda 43 Loxstedt/Sievern 11 Mainz 28 Helfta 44 Meppen 12 KOIn 29 Gebesee 45 Liebenau/Nienburg 46 HOxter Town/castle of a bishop and/or a Fortress 47 Marsberg monastery 30 Schieder 48 Braunschweig 13 Werden 31 Eresburg 49 Goslar 14 MOnster/Westfalia 32 Brunsburg 50 Balhorn/Paderborn 15 Osnabruck 33 BOraburg/Fritzlar 51 Soest 16 Minden 34 Amoneburg 52 Bremen-Mahndorf

Fig. 7-1: Map of central places in and connected with medieval Saxony. 170 Heiko Steuer camps. The Biiraburg close to Fritzlar, a hilltop spur of 12 hectares, shows an intensive development. Some hundreds of equally shaped houses were built alongside the 1100 metre-long wall, larger houses are known from inside the fortification. There is also a fortified suburbium with a large number of pit-houses that served as workshops. In 741/742 Boniface founded a diocese on this hill-top castle, and had a church erected in the centre of the plateau. A substantial number of residents, traces of craftsmanship and trade, and carrying out of further basic functions of a central place allow us to describe the Buraburg, still on the Frankish-Carolingian side, as an early urban centre that existed until around 850, before Fritzlar, located in the valley below, took over the functions of secular and ecclesiastical centre (Wand 1981). The list of similar installations could be lengthened (Best et al. 1999:328) for example with the Christenberg near Marburg, the AmOneburg, the Iburg (mentioned in 753) in Bad Driburg, the Brunsburg (first mentioned in 775) in 1-16xter and the Skidrioburg (first mentioned in 784/85) near Schieder-Schwalenberg, in the District of Lippe.

Carolingian royal courts An archaeologically researched example for a Carolingian royal court, as would also have been erected in Saxony, is the villa Karloburg on the banks of the river Main, close to Wiirzburg. The fiscal centre of villa Karloburg is mentioned for the first time in 822 in written sources from the ninth century, together with a monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary that already belonged to the primary estates of the diocese of Wiirzburg in 741/742. With fortifications on the summit, a central court in the valley and an elongated area for commercial activities, trade and craftsmanship are concentrated there. Numerous pit-houses have been discovered along a stretch of more than a kilometre, in which metalwork was carried out. A considerable number of pieces of jewellery from the Carolingian age was the work of craftsmen specialized in non-ferrous metals. Imported ceramics from the Rhineland, Tatinger pitchers and glasses, have been found as well as the common, archaeologically easily recognizable specialties of craftsmanship, like the iron-processing industry, textile-working and bone-carving. The large number of fibulae, known mainly from the Frisian-Saxon area and less so from the eastern Alpine and southern German regions, is remarkable and points to a local production destined for long-distance trading. A more than 1 kilometre long market on the banks of the river Main can be assumed for the eighth and ninth centuries. A further development of the settlement is likely to have taken place along the banks of the river during the early times of the diocese, allowing it to reach the status of a large trading centre with the characteristics of a so-called `one-street installation' with institutions for provision and control, areas for craftsmanship, trade and far-reaching contacts. In the meantime, harbour installations, bank reinforcements and quay-sides have been found close to the eastern edge of modem-day Karlburg. A fortification, consisting of a rampart and The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 171 pointed-base ditch, enclosing an area of 6 hectares, was erected in the midst of the extensive commercial settlement in the tenth century (Ettel & Wamser 1995). Comparable pre-urban structures that can be traced directly to royal courts or at least to the nearby surroundings must have existed in the Saxon area between Dorestad in the north, and Karlburg in the south. The above-mentioned settlement of Balhorn, close to Paderborn, developed in the Carolingian age into such an elongated river-bank market along the terrace over the river Alme, 300 metres wide and approximately 1000 metres long. The settlements along the eastern border of Saxony, mentioned in the Diedenhofener Capitular of 805 (MGH, Capitularia 1, No. 44, c. 7, p. 123) belong to this context as well. As W. Hiibener showed, the extraordinary size of these trading centres with 30 and more hectares that extend along the banks of the rivers, among which Bardowick and Magdeburg in Saxon territory can be included, is quite remarkable. In the nine border posts mentioned in the Diedenhofener Capitular, the merchants travelling to the Avars and Slays were checked and had to show their goods to the king's missi. Royal courts can be shown to have existed in each of these settlements, so that the king's rulings were decisive (Brachmann 1991:117).

Maritime trade centres Located on both ends of the Saxon-Frisian coastline, the ports of trade of Dorestad in the west, and Haithabu towards the north in Jutland to which Hammaburg, located on the estuary of the river Elbe, can be added, were of great economic importance for Saxony. Dorestad is named on numerous occasions in records from the late Merovingian age onwards. From the later part of the seventh century to the middle of the ninth century, traded goods left the Carolingian empire from here towards the north, and reached the entire coastline, as well as the interior of Saxon territory via the rivers; contact with Haithabu, located on the northern border of Saxon territory, began from there. Remarkably extensive quays and landing bridges existed both in Dorestad as well as in Haithabu. This shows that Saxon territory was surrounded by early urban settlements in which craftsmen were concentrated, and from where trade, not only to Saxony, originated. In this sense, all these early urban-type settlements were at the same time ports of trade along the borders between politically and economically different regions.

Missionary and imperial monasteries In Saxony, missions were the starting points of new pre-urban developments. Churches, monasteries and diocesan sees all fitted into a hierarchically graded network of political, religious and economic centres, that had begun to spread systematically over the entire country. The imperial monasteries of Paderborn and Corvey were the first to show signs of pre-urban structures. 172 Heiko Steuer

Corvey was the most important monastery of the early Middle Ages in Saxony. The imperial abbey was founded in 822 on the site of the villa regia huxori (HOxter). The privilege to mint and to control customs had been already granted in 833. The fact that the area had lacked a central marketplace until then is mentioned in this privilege. In 940 the district of the monastery of Corvey is described as a civitas, in later Carolingian, early Ottoman times it became a fortified district of the monastery with an inviolable castle precinct (Burgbann). The 7 to 8 hectare large and walled-in district of the monastery was the centre of the settled area from the founding of the place. Numerous workshops were set up in the district (Immunitat) alongside the church- and monastery buildings. Glassworks and metal processing can be shown to have existed as well as other production specialties (Stephan 1994). Some of the workshops were oriented towards the bank of the River Weser, perhaps towards a riverside market (Stephan 1996:389; Stephan 2000). The villa huxori lay only 2 to 3 kilometres west of the monastery and, in the Carolingian age, included extensive areas with secular buildings that were oriented toward the Hellweg, a 3 kilometre-long cluster of settlements in the area of the old part of modern-day HOxter. In 822 Abbot Adalhard of Corbie on the Somme wrote the statutes according to which the numerous specialized craftsmen, shoemakers (sutores), fullers (fullones), iron- and goldsmiths (fabri ferramentorum, aurifices), shieldmakers (scutarii), parchment makers (pergaminarii), sharpeners (sami[n]atorii, in German: Schwertfeger), casters/founders (fusarii), carpenters (fabri), and masons (mationes) lived and worked within the walls of the Benedictine monastery. The plan of the monastery of St. Gallen shows similar trends, and so do the results of the excavations in the monastery of Corvey, which was ruled by bishop Adalhard in union, therefore, suggesting similarities with Corbie (Brachmann 1991:122). The imperial abbey of Corvey was also an important landowner, complete with its own transport organization consisting of carts and ships in order to maintain communications between the socage farmsteads. From the late ninth until the twelfth century, the monastery of Corvey owned 3000 to 5000 strips of land, so- called Hufe and Mansen, in 700 to 900 different locations and approximately 100 main farmsteads (Last 1983; Stephan 1996:392). In the year 900 Corvey received even further market privileges for Horhusen (Niedermarsberg) at the foot of the Eresburg, where non-ferrous ores were mined, and in 945/46 for Meppen. That is how Corvey managed to found its own trading centres in the important conurbations within the possessions of the monastery (Stephan 1996:391). Concentrations of trade and craftsmanship, greater population density, fulfilment of basic functions concerning central places describe early city structures that distinguish the monastery of Corvey. Yet manorial market activities still dominated, as the monetary economy was not generally accepted. Paderborn, where an important exhibition on the year 799 is currently being held, shows structures similar to those at Corvey. Numerous workshops were discovered by archaeologists within the fortified area of the monastery and the The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 173 palace. These were meant for improvements and extensions to the monastery on the one hand, and for sites for the production of goods for the local trade on the other. The settlement of Balhorn, a 1 kilometre-long riverside market with numerous workshops, to a pattern similar to those of Corvey and HOxter, lies just 2 kilometres away. The situation in Hildesheim, where the oldest missionary station, Elze, lay close to a riverside market along the river Leine, and in whose close vicinity the diocesan see of Hildesheim was founded in 815, is again comparable (Brachmann 1991).

Bishops and cathedral castles At the end of the eighth and early ninth centuries, numerous diocesan sees were founded by Charlemagne, complete with cathedral, cathedral foundation, episcopal court and appropriately extensive working quarters. According to early Church law, diocesan sees could only be founded in cities/civitates. As such places did not exist within Saxon territory at this time, they were located at the centre of more populated landscapes, which also acted as infrastructures for markets and trade. Other reasons were adduced to found new episcopal sees. Erfurt was founded by Boniface as a diocese already in 741/42 in a place "qui fuit iam olim urbs paganorum rusticorum". To a great extent all these bishops' castles (Hamburg and Bremen, Verden, Minden, Osnabruck, Munster, Paderborn, Hildesheim, Halberstadt, Erfurt) resemble one another. The law issued in 816 during the imperial synod by Bishop Chrodegang of Metz laid down that monastic communities had to be "firmis munitionibus"; that may be the reason why all Saxon diocesan sees were fortified since their founding (Schluter 1999; Schluter 2002). All the fortifications enclosed approximately the same area of 100 by 200 or 200 by 300 metres. These were: Paderborn (4.9 hectares), Osnabruck (3.5 hectares, in the eleventh century 4.3 hectares), Munster (5.9 hectares), Minden (4.2 hectares), Bremen (3 hectares), Bardowick, Verden (4 to 6 hectares), Halberstadt (3 hectares around the year 800, 3.9 hectares in the ninth century), Hildesheim (4 hectares) and Hamburg (1 hectare). The missionary outpost and secondary see of the archbishops of Cologne, and centre of the saltworks, Soest, was enclosed by a rectangular fortification of 4.5 hectares, with extension of 150 by 250 metres. To go into depth with an example, the missionary cell of Osnabruck had its origin in 780, and the founding of the cathedral castle followed in 800. Within the fortified cathedral castle, numerous post-supported houses and some pit-houses existed in addition to more representative stone buildings in the ninth/tenth century. In the area in front of the cathedral castle, three planned court complexes with pit-houses, deep storage pits and one-aisle ground level post-supported houses oriented in rows towards the market street developed in the ninth/tenth centuries. The market street, that led past the cathedral castle on its west, was 5 to 174 Heiko Steuer

6 metres wide, as was the long-distance trade highway. Here merchants and craftsmen settled, and thereby formed an early city-like settlement in the vicinity of the cathedral castle. A riverside market developed as a trading centre along the terraced bank of the river Hase, 1000 metres long and 50 metres wide (Ellmers 1991). A continuous settlement of riverside merchants, who went after their profession directly along the banks of the river, existed from at least the tenth century onward. In centres of maritime trade, as can be seen in the cases of Dorestad and Haithabu, commerce was dealt with directly along the jetties, landing bridges and quays. The same can be said for Cologne and Karlburg, as well as for Constance where these structures are also provable by archaeology. Whether earlier markets were the reason for Carolingian Church organizations to found diocesan sees in these places, or if the diocesan sees drew the market business towards them, remains to be debated. There is some evidence for earlier structures before the founding of dioceses, as in Hamburg or in Magdeburg, where pit-houses of the Carolingian age are seen to cut an older double-trenched installation above the bank of the river Elbe. The elongated riverside markets of Paderborn, Corvey and Hildesheim appear to have older roots as well. In these riverside markets the surplus delivered by industrial production of the cathedral castle was traded against the surplus produce of the agrarian neighbourhood: it was done by barter, as the coin-based monetary system only caught on in the Ottonian age (Brachmann 1985; 1991:122-7; 1993).

Ottonian palaces (palatii) A change of quality set in during the Ottonian period within the character of the pre-urban structures that had seen a concentration of intensive and diversified craftsmanship in the large suburbs of their palaces, as well as their control over trade, in parallel with the incorporation of Saxony into the area of a coin-based monetary system. The excavations carried out by Paul Grimm in the palace of Tilleda, near the Kyffhduser, opened up the complex structures of the suburbs, and showed a wide range of craftsmanship specialties. The large pit-houses of the cloth-makers, with places for up to four or six looms under one roof, are remarkable. The large suburbia of the palace of Werla, situated on the northern edge of the Harz mountains, were occupied by hundreds of workshops in the form of pit-houses, although up to now only a few have been examined in the course of test excavations. The inner fortified front castle itself encloses an area of 7.5 hectares (Ring 1990). The palace of Grona, close to Gottingen, was organized in a similar way, and included a 1.7 hectare-large suburbium. These suburbia of the Ottonian palaces can be seen as planned centres of craftsmanship for trade purposes. Therefore, these palatii or castra can be seen as pre-urban centres. The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 175

Ottonian royal courts Evidence has been obtained by the excavations of Ottonian royal courts. Peter Donat did his research in the royal courts of Gebesee (Donat 1996; 1999) close to Erfurt, and Helfta near Eisleben (1988). Gebesee was a fortification of 5.6 hectares, with a main fortress and suburbia dating from the tenth to twelfth century. It is located on a spur in the landscape, at the mouth of the river Gera into the river Unstrut. A large church, as well as some representative residential buildings of stone and a few pit-houses, were located within the main fortress. Multiple phases can be discerned. The southern suburbium enclosed various large, more than 30 metre-long, post-supported houses, probably storage buildings or barns. The northern suburbium was occupied exclusively by pit-houses of various periods in time, a total of approximately 250 buildings, that were intended for craftsmanship, mainly for the production of textiles. Gebesee is mentioned for the first time in 775, when the monastery of Hersfeld received this estate from the hands of Charlemagne. But the estate was not on the spot where later the royal court was to be located. The construction of the estate followed later in the middle of the tenth century under the Ottonians. In the royal court of Helfta, a dense and multiple-phased inner development of the suburbium, with more than 130 pit-houses from the tenth to twelfth century, was investigated. Trade production, iron working, potters, non-ferrous metalworking and the manufacture of textiles were found. If up to 50 or 60 pit-houses were in use at the same time, be it in the palaces of Tilleda and Werla or in the royal courts of Gebesee or Helfta, then production must have surpassed by far domestic requirements. That is when the step was taken to an industrial settlement. The link with the privileges of market settlements is obvious and therefore the conclusion must be allowed that these were pre-urban centres. The pit-houses were workshops, not suitable for living in. The craftsmen and weavers appear to have come in from their villages to fulfil regular socage services to the royal court.

Concluding remarks

The special legal status of merchants and craftsmen in the suburbs developed only in the course of the tenth century, during which pre-urban centres arose from diocesan castles. When, for example, Osnabruck received a market privilege in the year 1002 from Henry II, it still had a pre-urban character, as a separate monasterium and an episcopus Osneburgensis are mentioned in the sources. In Magdeburg the development can be seen more clearly (Brachmann 1995; Ludowici 2000). Magdeburg took on the character of a residential town under Otto I: the cathedral was extended, a mighty palace with high apses erected {Theutonum nova metropolis —Bruno of Querfurt (Brachmann 1995:320)}. The 176 Heiko Steuer suburbium remained as a border trading post; the settlement evolved in a polycentric manner, various churches became new focal points. The suburbium of the palace of Magdeburg can be compared with those of Tilleda or Werla as to the inner development of the settlement. The considerable diversity in buildings and industries, and the ethnically and socially mixed population (multitudo populi) had constructive effects. The sources recorded the fact that merchants lived in the civitas and in the suburbium, and Saxons, Jews and Frisians are mentioned as well. Otto II granted them individual merchants' rights, and later on also special market rights for their residential- and trade districts. The topographical dualism of such castle-town, the juxtaposition of castle and merchant settlement can be shown as well by archaeology. That the revenue from the mint went to the Moritz monastery is recorded in the sources from 942 (DO I 46), and a coin-workshop is mentioned (moneta, or moneta publica). In 965, Otto I transfered the mint and customs, as well as royal immunity (i.e., a condition specially guarded by the king) and market rights to the monastery (DO I 301), through which the actual legal district was formed. Market traffic with wagons and carts, on foot and by horse, as well as by ship is recorded. This means that local trade is present as well as long-distance trade (Brachmann 1995:325). Thietmar of Merseburg (975 – 1018) reports on his stay in Magdeburg (987 – 1002), and mentions an ecclesia mercatorum, guarded by night, that also served as a warehouse. To sum up: before the integration of the Saxon territory into the Carolingian empire, the Saxon nobility had monopolized trade and craftsmanship at their courts, and taken over the distribution of goods. Saxon territory was surrounded by more developed economic structures on their way towards pre-urban forms of organization, where coin-based currencies and merchants dictated the trade. Ports of trade were not only gateways to the world of the North and East, but also to Saxon territory. However, one must remember that in Saxon territories there were no links to the ancient world with its cities and that every development of a centre of sorts in Carolingian times started anew. Saxon territory belonged to the periphery until the second half of the eighth century, and was influenced by the centre, in this case from the Carolingian empire and its economic structure. The border region between centre and periphery has been illustrated in maps by J. Herrmann and M. Miiller-Wille, similar to models for the contacts of the Germanic world in late antiquity (Herrmann 1991:323, fig.1; Muller-Wille 1999: maps figs. 1 & 2). The development went from self-sufficiency of the manorial systems, via the evolution of markets linked to the manorial systems, to the concentration of pre- urban functions. Craftsmanship and trade were connected with the goals of centralized settlements brought about by Church and king. Missions, bishops castles and monasteries, on the one hand, palaces, royal courts (curtes) and imperial monasteries, on the other, formed a network over Saxon territory and acted as an infrastructure for an expanding economy. Population density, concentration of craftsmanship and trade in secure locations, in or in front of royal or episcopal fortifications, linked with the beginnings of legal definitions, were the factors, the basic categories whereby pre-urban centres had emerged. The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 177

References

[Abbr.: DO I 46 = Otto I. No. 46; DO I 301 = Otto I. No. 301]

Textual sources: Capitularia 1: see Boretius (ed.) 1883. Capitularia 2: see Boretius & Krause (eds.) 1890-1897. Otto I: see Sickel (ed.) 1879 - 1884.

Bibliography: Ambrosiani, B., & H. Clarke 1998 Birka and the Beginning of the Viking Age. In Studien zur Archaologie des Ostseeraumes. (Festschrift fur M. Muller-Wille.) A. Wesse (ed.), pp. 33-38. Neumiinster: Wachholtz Verlag. Auf den Spuren einer friihen Industrielandschaft 2000 Naturraum - Mensch - Umwelt im Harz. Arbeitshefte zur Denkmalpflege in Niedersachsen 21, 2000. Best, W., with H. LOwen 1997 Die Ausgrabungen in der friihmittelalterlichen Wallburg Gaulskopf bei Warburg-Ossendorf, Kr. HOxter. Germania 75-1: 159-192. Best, W., R. Gensen & Ph. R. }Melberg 1999 Burgenbau in einer Grenzregion. 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Handbuch. Pp. 328-345. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. Katalog, Vol. 1 Pp. 246-251. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. Bleiber, W. 1982 Grundherrschaft und Markt zwischen Loire und Rhein warend des 9. Jh. Jahrbuch fur Wirtschaftsgeschichte. Pp. 103-135. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. BOhmer, J. F., & E. Malbacher 1908 Regesta imperil; vol. I: Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unter den Karolingern 751- 918. Innsbruck: Wagner'schen Universitats-Buchhandlung. Boretius, A. (ed.) 1883 Capitularia regum Francorum. Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Capitularia regum Francorum, 1. Hanover: Hahn. Boretius, A., & V. Krause (eds.) 1890-1897 Capitularia regum Francorum. Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Capitularia regum Francorum, 2. Hanover: Hahn. Brachmann, H. 1985 Zu einigen Aspekten der Produktionskrafte - Entwicklung im friihen Mittelalter am Beispiel und auf der Grundlage der Forschungen zu den sächsischen Bistumssitzen des 9. Jh. In Produktivkrfte und Produktionsverhdltnisse in ur- und friih-geschichtlicher Zeit. F. Horst & B. Kruger (eds.), pp. 339-354. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. 1991 Der Markt als Keimform der mittelalterlichen Stadt - Uberlegungen zu ihrer Genese im ostfrankischen Reich. In Friihgeschichte der europdischen Stadt. Voraussetzungen und Grundlagen. H. Brachmann & J. Herrmann (eds.), pp. 117-130. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. 1993 Der friihmittelalterliche Befestigungsbau in Mitteleuropa. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. 1995 Von der Burg zur Stadt - Magdeburg und die ostmitteleuropdische Friihstadt. Versuch einer Schlul3betrachtung. In Burg-Burgstadt-Stadt. H. Brachmann (ed.), pp. 317-348. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. 178 Heiko Steuer

Callmer, J. 1983 Neufunde von Wodan-Monster-Sceattas aus dem Ostseebereich. Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt 13: 507-511. Capelle, T. 1998 Die Sachsen des friihen Mittelalters. Stuttgart: Theiss-Verlag. Cosack, E., & T. Capelle 1997 Ein merowingerzeitlicher Modelfund aus einer Siedlungsgrube bei Wetschen, Rheden, Ldkr. Diepholz, in Niedersachsen. Studien zur Sachsenforschung 10: 49-65. Donat, P. 1988 Der Konigshof Helfta. I. Die friihmittelalterlichen Funde und Befunde der Ausgrabungen 1977-1981. Zeitschrift fur Archaologie 22: 103-125. 1996 Gebesee bei Erfurt. Grabung 1985-1993, erste Ergebnisse und Probleme der Auswertung. In Friihmittelalterliche Machtzentren in Mitteleuropa. [Symposion Mikuleiee 1994]. Pp. 111-126. Brno: Verlag Archaologisches Institut der Akademie der Wissenschaften der Tschechischen Republik. 1999 Gebesee - Klosterhof und konigliche Reisestation des 10.-12. Jahrhunderts. Stuttgart: Theiss-Verlag. Eggenstein, G. 1999 Balhom - ein Dorf bei Paderborn im Zentrum des Fernverkehrs. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Handbuch. Pp. 401-405. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. Ehlers, J. 1995 Sachsen. In Lexikon des Mittelalters, Vol. 7. Col. 1223-1225 and 1227-1228. Munich: LexMa-Verlag. Ellmers, D. 1991 Die Rolle der Binnenschiffahrt fur die Entstehung der mittelalterlichen Stadte. In Friihgeschichte der europaischen Stadt. H. Brachmann & J. Herrmann (eds.), pp. 137-147. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Engel, E. 1995 Wege zur mittelalterlichen Stadt. In Burg-Burgstadt-Stadt. Zur Genese mittelalterlicher nichtagrarischer Zentren in Ostmitteleuropa. H. Brachmann (ed.), pp. 9-26. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Ettel, P., & L. Wamser 1995 Neue Erkenntnisse zu Castellum, Monasterium und Villa Karloburg. Das archaologisches Jahr in Bayern 1994. Pp. 138-143. Stuttgart: Theiss-Verlag. Forst, E. 1999 Die friihmittelalterlichen Fibelfunde vom Balhorner Feld bei Paderborn. Ausgrabungen und Funde in Westfalen-Lippe, 9 C. 1999: 245-261. Frick, H.-J. 1992/1993 Karolingisch-ottonische Scheibenfibeln des nOrdlichen Formenkreises. Offa 49/50: 243-463. Giesler, J. 1978 Zu einer Gruppe mittelalterlicher Emailscheibenfibeln. Zeitschrift fur Archdologie des Mittelalters 6: 57-72. Haertle, C. M 1997 Karolingische Munzfunde aus dem 9. Jh., 2 Vol. KOln/Weimar/Wien: Bohlau-Verlag. Heinzelmann, M. 1971 Beobachtungen zur Bevolkerungsstruktur einiger grundherrschaftlicher Siedlungen im karolingischen Bayern. Friihmittelalterliche Studien 11: 202-217. The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 179

Herrmann, J. 1991 Stadtentstehung im historischen Vergleich. Zu einigen Ergebnissen und Fragestellungen. In Friihgeschichte der europeiischen Stadt. H. Brachmann & J. Herrmann (eds.), pp. 315-325. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag. Hiibener, W. 1989 Die Orte des Diedenhofener Capitulars von 805 in archaologischer Sicht. Jahresschrift fur mitteldeutsche Vorgeschichte 72: 251-266. Ilisch, P. 1999a Miinzen in Westfalen. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit, Bd. 1. Handbuch. Pp. 388-392. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. 1999b Hort Tzummarum. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit, Bd. 1. Handbuch. Pp. 373-374. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. Jammer, V. 1952 Die Anfiinge der Miinzprdgung im Herzogtum Sachsen ( 10. und 11. Jahrhundert). Hamburg: Verlag Museum fur Hamburgische Geschichte, Abteilung Miinzkabinett. JOns, H., F. Lath, M. Muller-Wille 1997 Ausgrabungen auf dem friihmittelalterlichen Seehandelsplatz von GroB StrOmkendorf, Kr. Nordwestmecklenburg. Germania 75 (1): 193-221. Johanek, P. 1987 Der frankische Handel der Karolingerzeit im Spiegel der Schriftquellen. In Untersuchungen zu Handel und Verkehr der vor- und friihgeschichtlichen Zeit in Mittel- und Nordeuropa, Teil IV. Pp. 7-68. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 1999 Der Ausbau der sachsischen Kirchenorganisation. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit, Bd. 2. Handbuch. Pp. 494-506. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabem. Klappauf, L. 1995 Montanarchaologie im Harz. In Rhythmus und Saisonalitilt. (KongreBakten des 5. Symposions des Mediaevistenverbandes in Gottingen 1993). Pp. 403- 418. Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke-Verlag. Klappauf, L., & F.-A. Linke 1997 Montanarchaologie im westlichen Harz. Nachrichten aus Niedersachsens Urgeschichte 66 (1): 21-53. Kluge, B. 1991 Deutsche Miinzgeschichte von der spdten Karolingerzeit bis zum Ende der Salier (ca. 900 bis 1125). Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke-Verlag. Lampen, A. 1999 Sachsenkriege, sdchsischer Widerstand und Kooperation. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit, Vol. 1. Handbuch. Pp. 264-272. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabem. Last, M. 1977 Niedersachsen in der Merowinger- und Karolingerzeit. In Geschichte Niedersachsens, Bd. 1. Pp. 543-652. Hildesheim: Verlag August Lax. 1983 Villikationen geistlicher Grundherren in Nordwestdeutschland in der Zeit vom 12. bis 14. Jh. In Die Grundherrschaft im spetten Mittelalter I. (Vortrage und Forschungen 27). H. Patze (ed.), pp. 369-450. Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke-Verlag. Laux, F 1987 Uberlegungen zum Reihengrdberfriedhof von Ashausen, Gem. Stelle, Kreis Harburg (Niedersachsen). Studien zur Sachsenforschung 6: 123-154. Lebecq, S. 1996 Franken und Friesen. In Die Franken. Wegbereiter Europas. Pp. 338-340. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. 180 Heiko Steuer

Lebecq, S. (cont.) 1998 Friesenhandel. In Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Vol. 10. Pp. 69-80. Berlin/New York: Verlag Walter de Gruyter. Ludowici, B. 2000 Ottonische Aula regia oder unbekannter Kirchenbau? Ein Arbeitsbericht zum Stand der Auswertung der Grabungen von 1959 bis 1968 auf dem Magdeburger Domplatz. Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt 30 (3): 445-460. Melzer, W. 1999 Soest zur Karolingerzeit. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Handbuch. Pp. 365-373. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. Muller-Wille, M. 1995/96 Archdologische Untersuchungen landlicher Siedlungen der Wikingerzeit im Umland des friihstddtischen Handelsplatzes Hedeby/Haithabu. Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica 26/27: 39-56. 1999 Das Frankenreich und der Norden. Zur Archaologie wechselseitiger Beziehungen wahrend der Merowinger- und friihen Karolingerzeit. In Volker an Nord- und Ostsee und die Franken. (Akten des 48. Sachsensymposiums in Mannheim 1997). Pp. 1-17. Bonn: Habelt-Verlag. Ring, E. 1990 Die Konigspfalz Werla. Die mittelalterliche Keramik. Braunschweig: Verlag Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum. Roth, H., E. Warners (eds.) 1984 Hessen im Friihmittelalter. Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke-Verlag. Schdtze des Harzes 1994 Archliologische Untersuchungen zum Bergbau- und Hiittenwesen des 3. bis 13. Jh. n. Chr. (Ausstellung Hannover 1994). Oldenburg: Verlag Isensee. Schiefer, R. 1999 Reliquientranslationen nach Sachsen. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Handbuch. Pp. 484-497. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. Schluter, W. 1999 Osnabruck in karolingisch-ottonischer Zeit. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Beitrage zum Katalog. Pp. 394-400. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. 2002 Archdologische Zeugnisse zur Entstehung der Stadt Osnabruck. In Stadstirchilologie in Norddeutschland westlich der Elbe. H. Steuer & G. Biegel (eds.). pp. 37-103. (Zeitschrift fur Archaologie des Mittelalters, 12). Bonn: Habelt-Verlag). Sickel, T. (ed.) 1879-1884 Die Urkunden Konrad I., Heinrich I. und Otto I. (Conradi I., Heinrici I. et Ottonis I. Diplomata). Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Die Urkunden der deutschen KOnige und Kaiser I. Hanover: Hahn. [Repr. 1997.] Spiong, S. 2000 Fibeln und Gewandnadeln des 8. bis 12. Jh. in Zentraleuropa. Eine archaologische Betrachtung ausgewdhlter Kleidungsbestandteile als Indikatoren menschlicher Identitdt. (Zeitschrift fur Archaologie des Mittelalters, 11). Bonn: Habelt-Verlag. Stephan, H.-G. 1994 Archdologische Erkennntisse zu karolingischen Klosterwerkstatten in der Reichsabtei Corvey. Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt 24: 207-216. 1996 Markte und Stadtegriindungen der Reichsabteien Corvey und Helmarshausen - Benediktinisches MOnchtum des Mittelalters zwischen Kirche und Welt. Archaeologia Historica 21: 385- 412.

The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 181

2000 Studien zur Siedlungsentwicklung von Stadt und Reichskloster Corvey (800- 1670). Eine Gesamtdarstellung auf der Grundlage archaologischer und historischer Quellen. Gottinger Schriften zur Vor- und Friihgeschichte Vol. 26, 1-3. Neumiinster: Wachholtz-Verlag. Steuer, H. 1987 Der Handel der Wikingerzeit zwischen Nord- und Westeuropa aufgrund archaologischer Zeugnisse. In Untersuchungen zu Handel und Verkehr der vor- und friihgeschichtlichen Zeit in Mittel- und Nordeuropa, Teil IV. Pp. 113-197. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 1993 Bergbau auf Silber und Kupfer im Mittelalter. In Alter Bergbau in Deutschland. H. Steuer & U. Zimmermann (eds.), pp. 75-91. Stuttgart: Jan Thorbecke-Verlag. 1997 Waagen und Gewichte aus dem mittelalterlichen Schleswig. Funde des 11. bis 13. Jh. aus Europa als Quellen zur Handels- und Wahrungsgeschichte. KOln/Bonn: Rheinland-Verlag Köln, in Kommission bei Dr. Rudolf Habelt Bonn. 1999a Bewaffnung und Kriegsfuhrung der Sachsen und Franken. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Handbuch. Pp. 310-322. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. 1999b Handel und Wirtschaft in der Karolingerzeit. In 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Handbuch. Pp. 406-416. Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. Warners, E. 1999 Zwischen Salzburg und Oseberg. Zu Ursprung und Ikonographie des nordischen Greiftierstils. In Volker an Nord und Ostsee und die Franken. (Akten des 48. Sachsensymposiums 1997). Pp. 195-228. Bonn: Habelt- Verlag. Wamser, L. 1992 Zur archaologischen Bedeutung der Karlburger Befunde. In 1250 Jahre Bistum Wurzburg. Archaologisch-historische Zeugnisse der Fruhzeit. Pp. 319-344. Wiirzburg: Echter-Verlag. 1999 Zu einer Tatinger Kanne und ausgewahlten Kleinfunden aus Karlburg am Main. Anmerkungen zu Handel und Verkehr, Weinbau und Missionierung im Nordosten des Karolingerreiches. In Dedicatio. Hermann Dannheimer zum 70. Geburtstag. (Kataloge der Prahistorischen Staatssammlung, Beiheft 5). Pp. 206-242. Kallmiinz/Opf: Verlag Michael Lassleben. Wand, N., & F. Schwind 1981 `Biiraburg'. In Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Vol. 4. Pp. 98-103. Berlin/New York: Verlag Walter de Gruyter. Wiechmann, R. 1996 Edelmetalldepots der Wikingerzeit in Schleswig-Holstein. Vom "Ringbrecher" zur Miinzwirtschaft. Neumiinster: Wachholtz-Verlag. Zedelius, V. 1980 Neue Sceattas aus dem Rheinland - Bonn und Xanten. Zeitschrift Or Archdologie des Mittelalters 8: 139-152.

Discussion

WOOD: I would like to begin by asking you to comment on the difference between your interpretation and that of Frank Siegmund. Frank's distribution maps 182 Discussion indicate a very limited set of places as being Saxon. Professor Steuer, although you also note some lacunae in the Saxon area, you come up with lots of material you regard as Saxon. As a non-archaeologist I find this an interesting conflict. STEUER: Yes, because my business is mostly the eighth and ninth centuries, not the sixth and seventh centuries. That is a chronological and archaeological problem. The ruler's rights are different. WOOD: So the real distinction between you and Siegmund is a chronological one. SIEGMUND: There is a further important one in my wish to deal with cemeteries which are not too small, that is because I am working with percentages and so on. So I had to select the largest cemeteries. Therefore, small places which could be useful to Heiko Steuer do not occur on my maps. WOOD: This is a very helpful clarification, because otherwise there seems to be a conflict between the two sets of maps. SIEGMUND: To me it seems very interesting that we both end up with similar results, even though we started from very different methodological standpoints. The results we are finally obtaining are very similar. WOOD: I merely asked my question because I thought it was a general point to establish from the start. AUSENDA: I thought that the network of central places that you mentioned (page 159), whose reciprocal distances vary between 20 or 30 km, was very interesting. I was wondering whether it would be possible to make a map of those central places and you answered affirmatively and showed it to us on the projector, so my question is superseded. MEIER: About this trading network north of the Elbe. We have only three early churches north of the Elbe in the ninth century, perhaps in the middle of the three Saxon tribes north of the Elbe. They were named around 1020 by Adam of Bremen: Meldorf in Dithmarschen, Schenefeld in Holstein, Heiligenstedten in Stormarn. It is more probable that the ecclesia mater of Stormarn was in Hamburg (Hammaburg) rather than in Heiligenstedten. In this last place there were no excavations, whereas excavations in Hamburg unearthed only a part of the Hammaburg. STEUER: North of the Elbe there it is a different situation. MEIER: A different situation indeed. In fact, if we look at this map, at times we can think that the Elbe is the border. And the region north of the Elbe was reached only by the little finger of Charlemagne. STEUER: Yes, but the first fortresses in the early ninth century are at the river Elbe: Esesfeld near Itzehoe, Hollenstedt near Hamburg-Harburg, and HOhbeck near Gorleben, three or four cases near the Elbe and not so far north. Haithabu is far north when you reach it from the sea, and later, in the late ninth and tenth centuries, it was part of this northern Saxon area. HINES: I have a general question that arises from something that you say where you talk (page 161) about the development of the trading networks, and make the particular point that certain commodities from the Carolingian empire were traded up to Norway and central Sweden as well as the southern coasts of the Baltic Sea. The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 183

To some extent the Saxons were surrounded, trade was going on all around the Saxons and the Saxons were left out. Just what did the Saxons, what did their land have to offer for a trading system? Were there special commodities that could be obtained from Saxony? Was there nothing more than agricultural produce that it might be able to trade out, or was it simply that here was a large area with people in it, and that in itself is a form of market that could be economically exploited? Was there anything special in Saxony that should bring it into that sort of trading system? STEUER: I don't think that there were special trading goods in the Saxon area at that time, for instance the mining areas for silver and copper were exploited late in the tenth century. Perhaps there was some mining industry in the late Roman Iron Age during the fourth and fifth centuries, e.g. in the Harz mountains. But then there was a break and it started again in the tenth century. We have heard of the 500 cows this morning; perhaps trade was based on cattle, other natural products, and slaves. Saxon merchants brought slaves from the Slav areas to the Carolingian border in the ninth century and later, and other merchants, mostly Jewish, took them as far as Spain. But in the eighth century itself it is a problem. But there must have been some trade, because each year the Carolingian armies made war against the Saxons and made a big haul. All the captured goods, cattle, weapons and other things that warriors could bring to the marketplace. SPRINGER: What do you understand by pre-urban (title on page 161)? STEUER: Pre-urban centres are places without (known) special town rights for citizens, which started not earlier than the twelfth century. Urban is a concentration of people, craftsmen and traders, with fortresses and so on. And pre-urban is also a step in this direction: a concentration of crafts and population and meeting points for traders and so on. It is not without special rights for the inhabitants of these areas. But we don't know what rights they did have. There is a comes vici mentioned for Dorestad and Haithabu, the same as for Birka in Sweden, but we don't know what power they had in these places. They acted in the name of a king. There were missi, who acted in the name of the king, in these places on the Elbe, mentioned in the Diedenhofener capitulary dated from the year 805. SPRINGER: Haithabu did not become a city. STEUER: Anyhow: Haithabu was a pre-urban centre; only a little distance on the other side of the river Schlei there grew the town of Schleswig with a town law dating from 1200. I think there is a continuity between the pre-urban and the urban centre. MEIER: Yes, there is a continuity. Yes, the Danes from Schleswig were earlier. STEUER: In the eleventh-twelfth century there is a new urban area in Schleswig. Haithabu existed from the eighth to the tenth century. The same as Dorestad. Dorestad was given up because the nature of the river was too complicated, not because of the Vikings. The Vikings destroyed Dorestad about ten times, but this was no reason not to start again. However, the river caused a complicated situation. Therefore, they transferred to Tiel and to other places. The same happened with Haithabu, because for bigger ships the water to Haithabu was too low and therefore they transferred the town to the other side of the Schlei, which was better for the bigger ships. 184 Discussion

DORFLER: May I come back to the last point on the possible trade to Haithabu? From investigations we know that the town was supported locally, so the food was not a problem of long-distance trade but just of regional trade. There were few luxury goods, like wine and figs, a few walnuts and items like that, but the basic food was obtained in the region. Food was not obtained by long-distance trade. Often this applies also to the later towns. But what we must keep in mind is that an army is a completely different unit that also needs a lot of food, but this is not a constant organization. Once an army is on the move it needs food from a huge area, and it does not become 'established' like a town that has been growing gradually and is supplied with food from its surroundings. MEIER: But if we compare Haithabu with Dorestad it is very interesting to see that we have in Haithabu normally only smaller houses in the area which affect it, and in Dorestad we have instead large farm buildings; they have there a trading zone near the river, the old Rhine, and there is a farming zone with these larger buildings comparable to such large ones on the Veluwe. STEUER: Well, that is also a question of chronology, because the situation in Dorestad (eighth century) was earlier than in Haithabu (ninth/tenth century). But I think it is also a question of social structure, because in Haithabu only merchants and craftsmen met, and in Dorestad great manors were built, courtyards for the `Grundherren' and the lords. The lords had such farmsteads in many central places. There might have been such manors also in Dorestad. The people of the lords lived in such houses, and from hundreds of farmsteads so far from this pre-urban centre belonging to such a manorial organization goods were collected and brought to such a place and from there directly to long-distance trade. Therefore those merchants did business there on behalf of the heads of the manorial organization. This situation of an urban centre with houses and yards in it does not differ from twelfth-century Cologne, where all the great monasteries had areas in the city for connection with the market and long-distance trade. There were also such reservations in Dorestad. Haithabu is a different situation. SIEGMUND: I want to ask Dr. DOrfler if he agrees with what is written on pages 161 and 162? That there was a remarkable intensification of agriculture at that time. DORFLER: I have no problem, because my gap in the record concerns the late fifth, the sixth and the early seventh centuries. STEUER: I think a precision is necessary if I look at the Saxon settlement of Warendorf in Westphalia. The farmstead of Warendorf in the eighth century was larger than all the farmsteads in the previous period. I believe that one such farmstead produced more surplus, beginning with the eighth century, than in the earlier times. From the Netherlands all the way to Denmark and into Saxony, we see larger houses, larger stables, larger areas fenced, more stables and granaries, three, four and five granaries on one farmstead and so on. GREEN: You talk (page 162) about bargaining, buying and means of payment. What difference do you imply between buying and means of payment? STEUER: I think only of buying and paying. With Merovingian gold coins it was not possible to buy on the market, because these coins had too high a value to The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 185 buy everyday goods. For coins they had gold solidi and tremisses, much more expensive and used only to pay soldiers and taxes. But with silver coins, the denarii or pennies, you could buy in the marketplace a knife or such a thing for a penny. On the other hand you could pay your tax, the so-called 'tenth' in coinage rather than in natural products. GREEN: You say (page 162) that the value of one denarius lay more than a tenfold lower than that of gold coins. Tenfold cannot be lower, it can only be higher. Do you mean a tenth lower. STEUER: Of course, a tenth of that of a gold coin. With that you can do something with coins. Therefore I think that the monetary reform, the step-down from gold to silver, of Charlemagne was a revolution for the economy. It was not the lack of gold, of which they had enough, that was not the problem, but they needed a different coinage for the market. My intention is to show that after the reform one could use the denarii both to pay tax and to buy everyday goods. But in the sixth century with one solidus you could do nearly nothing, perhaps you could buy a sword. Later, in the early seventh century solidi were not of good quality, because the gold content had decreased from 100% to 50, 20 and finally as low as 5%; as a result the gold content was replaced by silver and copper. The value of the solidus during the fifth and sixth centuries was too high for the new market economy. HINES: I agree with most of that, but I think that the question of the coinage reform and the availability and use to which gold is put might bear more detailed study rather than simply saying that this was a very pragmatic, utilitarian reform of the coinage economy for practical purposes. For instance, in the seventh century before the gold coin is given up, we have a progressive debasement in the West of the amount of gold that is in the coins, which doesn't seem to fit neatly with the idea that there was just a decision to switch from gold to a silver currency. I agree that it would be completely mistaken to suggest that there wasn't gold around and that it was an absolute absence of gold that caused this change in the coinage. There are signs of a shortage of gold, and a shortage of gold for certain purposes in particular. Much of this perhaps has got to do with gold being attributed a more ritual value: being used by the Church to produce ecclesiastical treasures and the like. We also have these very teasing references to gold and silver being taken from pagan shrines and temples at this time. In Scandinavia we have masses of gold hoards up to the sixth century. You can count the amount of gold in so many tens if not hundreds of kilograms, but if you count up the total weight of the 3,000 or so guldgubber of the seventh to eighth centuries that have been found, it might make one bracteate. Somehow it is necessary to make the gold go much further. These prove, I think, that the shift in coinage somehow responds to outside factors rather than simply being a practical change which then gives gold a different function. STEUER: Maybe, but it provided also coinage for expensive items. Of course, the devaluation was in reality in the hands of the monetarii not of the king. And perhaps that was a reaction to the market demand. They needed a greater number of not such high-valued coins and so they minted 'gold' solidi with a high silver 186 Discussion content. And once they decided to obtain the right to mint according to that scheme, they organized the whole system anew. AUSENDA: Wasn't there a devaluation of the solidus after the late Roman period, when the gold content in the solidus gradually decreased until at a certain point it was a fraction of what it had started with, between the fifth or the sixth century and the eighth century? STEUER: The devaluation started in the late sixth/early seventh century. The solidi from the middle of the seventh century contain only 10% gold and 90% silver. Therefore, that solidus was more or less a silver coin with a low percentage of gold. AUSENDA: So actually it was a form of devaluation. STEUER: It was a devaluation in one sense, but not in the monetary sense, because it was the solution to obtaining coins that could be used in the market. A high ranking warrior under Theoderic the Great earned 3 solidi per year, but with these 3 solidi he could buy grain, food and so on for 12 followers for a year. And you could do nothing else with those solidi. AUSENDA: I would like to note that Charlemagne's reform lasted until World War II in Italy; in fact the Lira, which is the libra, was worth 20 ' soldi' , and the ' soldo' was worth 5 centimes, as it did in Britain too. WOOD: In Britain it lasted until the 1960s. AUSENDA: Going back to this morning's discussion, you remember the difference in the Carolingian laws between the heavy solidus and the lighter solidus (page 119), could you kindly explain it, as I did not understand the implications? STEUER: I think that under Charlemagne there were two different units of account, there was a heavier and a lower pound. And, therefore, you can read in the contemporary texts different meanings. The heavier pound weighed 408 grams and the lower one weighed 327.5. AUSENDA: So the law was just relating solidi to the heavier pound and to the lighter one. WOOD: Can I just go back to the question of devaluation, because it can't be simply pragmatic, on the grounds that if it was simply pragmatic, no Merovingian ruler would have reversed it. And of course, there is the major reverse of Dagobert I, where possibly because of the massive payments of gold by the Visigoths, the gold percentage in Merovingian solidus goes up radically around 630. STEUER: Well, that is one explanation. The other explanation is that in the 670s and later, marketplaces developed everywhere. They now needed new money, new coinage which were not considered abstract things by the Merovingian kings. WOOD: I have no problem once you get into the 670s. It seems to me to be very likely that this is driven by the economy. But I think that, if you are simply looking at pragmatic issues, you have the problem of why did Dagobert revaluate the gold coin. That cannot be a pragmatic issue, because it makes the solidus less useful than before. And, as you say, if you move back to 500, a solidus can only be the equivalent of a traveller's check. There is no other way you could use it. GREEN: If Dagobert's reason was not a pragmatic one, that raises the question what was the reason? The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 187

WOOD: That is a Frankish question not a Saxon one [laughter]. STEUER: All people knew that the new coins, the late solidi, contained only 10% to 20% gold. And then one must consider that the English or Frisian sceatta silver rates in relation to the solidi and shillings needed special proportions. But those are very complicated numismatic questions. From the middle of the seventh century onwards you no longer find, for example, scales and weights in the archaeological context of burials and grave-goods because you could no longer prove only by weight how much gold was inside the coins. AUSENDA: Perhaps it had to do with the fact that it is easier to alloy gold and make it less pure, than you could do with silver. It might have been a technical question. STEUER: I don't know. You can alloy silver also and there is also enough silver. On the other hand the exploitation of silver mines in the Carolingian empire started at that time, for instance in the Central Massif in France. We can read it on some coins: when Charlemagne minted coins in Melle. Melle stands for metallum, which means 'mine'. So you can see that they mined new silver. AUSENDA: Maybe it was more difficult to procure gold than silver. Where did gold come from? Spain? STEUER: No, from the rivers Rhine and Mosel and from the Massif Central too. It was also recycled: booty from the Avar ring-fort in the year 803 when the Carolingian army conquered the Avar main camp. AUSENDA: Thank you. STEUER: We have no answer as to why the people in Corvey didn't mint coins. Why did they get the right to mint coins, but then did not use it? In the Saxon area the situation is different from the Carolingian empire because they needed no coins. In fact we do not find coins there, as shown in the map. For me that is a problem which should be clarified. SIEGMUND: Perhaps you should ask the historians whether this codex is really from that time or whether it is written much later and pre-dated. WOOD: I don't know the codex in question, so I cannot answer that one. Though a possible question goes through my mind, as to whether coin being minted in Corvey is necessarily intended in the 830s for the immediate environment. In the late 830s Corvey was also the centre for the Danish and Swedish missions. Could any of the unattributed sceattas have been minted in connection with the mission? It does seem to be an assumption that this must be a local coinage. AUSENDA: Could you explain what the Christiana religio coins were (page 163)? STEUER: These coins were named Christiana religio because this was stamped on the coins. On one side a church and the name Christiana religio. GREEN: I wanted simply to stress the fact that once again we come to the point that Saxony was surrounded by economically more diversely structured regions (page 164). It has come up several times, and it seems to me that here is a backwardness of Saxony which needs further consideration and explanation. Has it to do with another fact which has come up not quite so frequently, namely the conservative nature of Saxon society? 188 Discussion

AUSENDA: Could I try to answer? A conservative nature comes from a situation where the majority is very happy with the economy, which means that the population at large had a good life. They were not compelled to have a heavier social structure, more taxes and so forth and they just wanted to keep it the way it was before 'progress' hit them. In other words it was a completely self-sufficient society and they were content with what they were and with what they had achieved. They had a nice life, nice weather. They didn't want to go and serve in the Frankish armies and, therefore, they were conservative. HINES: This can also be put into context, the context being that there were very large areas of Europe at this time that were not coin-using and would by the same token be just as 'backward' as the Saxons. They even bordered on areas that were using coins—the West and North of the British Isles and indeed Scandinavia. Although there is a certain amount of coin-use around the margins of Scandinavia, again it is in the tenth century before Scandinavia itself starts producing its own coinage and seems to move to a coin-based economy. In that way it is not lack of appreciation of what you can do with coinage, it is simply the fact that the internal economy seems to get on perfectly nicely without these things that is determinative. It remains curious that Saxony, having been brought into the Carolingian or Frankish empire at the end of the eighth century, resolutely refuses to take up coins until the tenth. But it was not a unique oddity of Saxony at this time. AUSENDA: Not only, but I remember Ian [Wood] once talking about coins seen as a means to pay taxes. It was not only wealth but also wealth to be given back to the authorities. WOOD: That was one of its functions. AUSENDA: Why do you call them dirhem (page 163), why do you not call them denarii? I guess dirhem is the Arabic form for denarius. STEUER: Yes, the right form is denarii. Sometimes we write dinhars. HOILUND NIELSEN: 855 coats (page 165), were they fleeces from sheep? STEUER: Those were woven textiles. WOOD: I found the information here on the markets from the sixth century (page 166) very interesting. The fact that you've got a lot of sites which are central places from before the classic Carolingian era, is really very interesting. STEUER: That is a new picture based on the results of archaeological excavations during the last few years. It would be very interesting to know the value of copper jewellery in the fifth and sixth centuries. AUSENDA: You talk about barter (page 167). What kind of barter was it? What did they use as a standard means of exchange? Was it cereal? STEUER: Yes, but also landed property for weapons, weapons for horses and so on. One can say that it worked well without money. It was still so in the ninth century, because one can find some evidence in the written sources. Perhaps they had a problem due to the fact that there was no coinage. To sum up: we have enough examples of barter in the literature. The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 189

AUSENDA: You talk about Grubenhauser, pit-houses, "considerable numbers of pit houses have been uncovered" (page 168). You say that these people went home every one, two, or three days. So, when they didn't go home they must have slept in those Grubenhauser. STEUER: Perhaps in the summer time, perhaps not. In those houses there was no fireplace and only traces of looms. If they did sleep there, they must have done so without fireplaces. AUSENDA: Yes, but even if they worked there in winter they needed fireplaces. STEUER: Perhaps they only worked in the summer there two days and nights and then they went home to work in their fields. I don't know anything in the written sources; there is nothing about these hundreds and hundreds of pit houses. DORFLER: It is also hard to imagine, if they were highly specialized people for special crafts that they were normal farmers at the same time. The model that they were specialized workers like textile workers that practised their job two days a week and were running their farm the rest of the time doesn't seem very plausible. STEUER: That is only a model figure so far. We have excavated these places, we ascertained that there were no fireplaces inside. Sometimes there are fireplaces outside the houses for metalwork but, in that case, between the small houses. AUSENDA: About the river bank market along the terrace (page 170). Would the river be navigable so that people would stop along the market? Was that the reason or just the proximity of water? STEUER: Yes, the river was a place of communication with no problems for navigation and the mooring of ships. Sometimes bridges [or piers] for the ships were built on the river banks, for instance on Lake Constance. In the city of Constance they have found landing stages from Carolingian times. So if we know that it was practised in Dorestad, we have to postulate it for all other river banks. DORFLER: Do you have any idea how often these markets took place? They were not permanent markets. Four times a year or per month or were they permanent? STEUER: It varied, every half a year, every year. Periodically you could follow the merchants from one marketplace to the other with their resources and trade goods. The places they visited had markets each year, each month, each week, depending on the hierarchy of these central market places. DORFLER: But were these Grubenhauser closely connected to a market activity or to craftmanship? STEUER: To craftsmanship. DORFLER: So this is not a strong argument for temporary use. AUSENDA: You say (page 171), "In Saxony, missions were the starting points of new developments". It parallels what I wrote in my paper. SPRINGER: Can you say who named Corvey a civitas (page 172)? STEUER: I do not know it at the moment. It is not in the same source as the minting right of 833, but in 940 (Otto I, Actum in civitate Corbeiensi). SPRINGER: But Widukind denotes any castle as civitas. STEUER: That was later. 190 Discussion

SPRINGER: In 940 it was later, that is right, but it doesn't matter. STEUER: The problem is that the see of a bishop must be in a civitas. When there is no civitas you give it the name civitas. SPRINGER: Small castles are called civitates by Widukind. A civitas is to him a `Burg', a castle, a place surrounded by walls. STEUER: I think it is necessary to say that it is civitas because we have here a settled place with some special rights. Not only a fortress or so. SPRINGER: It doesn't matter, not in the sources. In 940 this district is described as a civitas. STEUER: I will look it up in the Monumenta [Otto I. 35]. SPRINGER: Are you sure that it was not a forgery? STEUER: No, they did not mint coins, not in the ninth century. Minting coins is the main point in that privilege, but they did not. In fact all historians are excited about the fact that they did not mint coins. SPRINGER: It was not a forgery. STEUER: No it wasn't, or I don't know what you mean. In these very days an important exhibition is being shown in Paderborn about the meeting of Charlemagne and Pope Leo III in the year 799. You can read about coins in Westphalia and the year 833 and Corvey on page 388 of the catalogue. I am an archaeologist, I cannot bear the criticism of historians [laughter]. WOOD: Can I just go back to Giorgio [Ausenda]'s point about missions as a starting point for developments. It is also important, though, to note that monasteries involved in mission were often founded in sites which were already important. These new monasteries may be a stimulus to making their sites more urban, but they are not de novo sites, green field sites, they are attached to royal villas or sites which are already of some significance. I wanted to know what more is known about these pre- Carolingian double-trench installations of the bank of the river Elbe in Magdeburg. Do we know anything about them other than that there was a fortress? STEUER: It is a fortification. And we don't know whether this is from early Carolingian times or still earlier. In fact we cannot date it exactly. We can only say that this whole area later had pithouses on the same place. SPRINGER: `Spitzgraben' - I know it neither in German nor in English. STEUER: Yes, that is the special term: a ditch with a V-shaped cross-section. GREEN: You say (page 175) that Osnabruck still had a pre-urban character, and a separate monasterium and episcopus Osnaburgensis. How do a separate monasterium and an episcopus point to the pre-urban character of Osnabruck? STEUER: The town at that time was not a closed area with settlement concentration, because there are three unconnected places. The special name for this pre-urban structure (after Erich Herzog) is a polycentric place, later on an eccentric place. We have many polycentric pre-urban places in Germany. WOOD: Presumably the statement "Teutonum nova metropolis" refers to Magdeburg as a whole, rather than the palace with the high apses or the cathedral. STEUER: Yes, Bruno of Querfurt means Magdeburg as a whole, not merely the palace. The Beginnings of Urban Economies Among the Saxons 191

WOOD: I know the text but I don't know the precise sentence. As it stands in your text you can't derive the phrase "a mighty palace with high apses" from the Latin which says "a new metropolis for the Germans". STEUER: Why not? In the source you can read metropolis and the archaeologists find this great palace and extraordinary architecture. I think certainly it can be compared. But now we know that it was not a mighty palace but two phases of a church building on the same emplacement (Ludovici 2000). MEIER: It is the translation of a Latin source into English. WOOD: Just where it comes in an English sentence, it sounds as if it is a very specific Latin translation of high apses. Whereas Bruno is describing a different structure. STEUER: No, that was not Bruno who described the high apses, that was I. SPRINGER: By the way Bruno, therefore, did not speak about the castle. STEUER: No. SPRINGER: He spoke about the whole place. That term "Teutonum" is Italian. Bruno used Italian expressions. He had been in Italy and he followed the usage of the Italians. AUSENDA: What would the correct Latin be? SPRINGER: That is not the problem. In Germany, one would not say "Teutonum nova metropolis". That would not have been understandable at that time, at the beginning of the eleventh century. AUSENDA: So what would they have said? SPRINGER: Ah, "nova metropolis Germaniae", for example; "nova metropolis Saxoniae" maybe. AUSENDA: So you infer that Bruno had taken up this expression in Italy. SPRINGER: Yes, the word ' Teutones to denote the inhabitants of Germany. STEUER: One of the earliest and, therefore, justified usages. WOOD: It would be interesting to see whether this precise phrase is used by John Canaparius, who was an Italian, whereas Bruno was from Querfurt. SIEGMUND: Let me try to make some general observations. I found it extremely interesting to be shown this situation where there are more developed economies around the Saxon area (page 176) than in the Saxon area itself. Therefore, my question is, "Why these wars against the Saxons by Charlemagne?" What was interesting in this area, or wasn't it the area itself, but the wish to get more quickly through the Saxon area? WOOD: If you were to look at the Carolingians of the eighth century, there seems to be a logic to the way in which the Carolingians attack everybody one by one. Yet the Saxons are the one people who, although neighbours to these Austrasian Franks, have not been subdued directly, even though Saxony may be a place like the other peripheral duchies of the Carolingian world, where families hostile to the Carolingians have actually gone and established themselves. What was the logic which led the Franks to ignore the Saxons for so long? Was it something other than an economic or religious one? I don't know, it is just a suggestion. 192 Discussion

SPRINGER: For example, Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, was believed to be the incarnation of Saxony, but he was duke of Bavaria too. To which nation did he belong? That is an interesting question, he was a Swabian. STEUER: Well, is that enough? SIEGMUND: I still ask myself whether there were economic reasons, too. However, its development seems quite slow to me. AUSENDA: Why do you say the pick-up was so slow? I don't think it was ever said that in the ninth and tenth centuries the pick-up was slow. SIEGMUND: Many things are related more to the tenth century than to the fifty years just after the Carolingian wars in Saxonia. AUSENDA: But pick-ups are exponential. They start very slowly in the beginning and then they take off. STEUER: Yes, don't forget that the Empire had a tendency to expand also in all directions, for example to the south and to the Bavarian countries and the `marches' in the south-eastern Alps. And Saxony was the country where the border moved by conquest from the Rhine to the river Elbe. For us it is the main area, but on all borders the Carolingian rulers tried to expand considerably. HINES: But the German literature seems to suggest that the pick-up wasn't particularly slow insofar as the expansion of rural settlements, the development of the countryside, and an increase in the general productivity of the area were concerned. There seem to be many new settlements of the ninth century, in some cases associable with the new monasteries. What is slow is the adoption of the more sophisticated aspects of the economy, such as coinage. This might fit Giorgio [Ausenda]'s exponential trend. There is quite a dramatic economic development within Saxony and yet it doesn't go as far as urbanization and the introduction of a market economy and coinage.

References in the discussion

Textual sources: Bruno of Querfurt: see Brachmann 1995 in References at end of paper. Otto I: see References at end of paper.

Bibliography: Ludovici, B. 2000 See References at end of paper.