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Michigan 46106 A Xerox Education Company 73-15,314 ARY, Mikel Vincent, 1941- AqUITANIAN SEPARATiai AND THE FRANKISH KINGDOM, 418-781. The Iftiiversity of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1972 History, general University Microfilms, A Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE AQUITANIAN SEPARATISM AND THE FRANKISH KINGDOM, 418-781 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY MIKEL VINCENT ARY NORMAN, OKLAHOMA 1972 I AQUITANIAN SEPARATISM AND THE FRANKISH KINGDOM, 418-781 APPRO' IaSASUmaa^ (i. IWaaJUI I DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. University Microfilms, A Xerox Education Company ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The inspiration which motivated the course of this study came from Dr. David H. Miller. His interest in eighth century Carolingian history, and the middle ages in general, stimulates and commands respect on the part of others. In addition, the helpful advice and constructive criticism of Professors Leslie F. Smith, Philip J. Nolan, and William H. Maehl must also be commended. From another perspective, the interlibrary loan depart­ ments of Bizzell Library, the University of Oklahoma (Norman, Oklahoma) and Linsheid Library, East Central State College (Ada, Oklahoma) provided untold assistance. Without such help in the acquisition of rare books and obscure documents, the writing of a dissertation in medieval European history would be maddeningly complicated and all but impossible. Other libraries politely extended priviliges of use during visits; in particular, they include the main library at the University of Texas (Austin, Texas) and Watson Library at the University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas). Of a more personal nature, the concern of my parents that their son should acquire an education deserves proper credit in the writing of such a work as this. Although both are de­ ceased, their influence has been a source of encouragement. While the above aided in the composition of this paper, the i i i sacrifice and cooperation of my wife, Delores, allowed the author to see the work through to its completion* IV NOTE ON ABBREVIATIONS In second citations which involve the two collections of sources, the Patrologia Latina and the Monumenta Germaniae Historia, the respective standard abbreviations (P.L. and M.G.H.) appear. In regard to the latter work, the various series within the collection are represented by the following; A.A. = Auctores Antiquissimi Epp. = Epistolae LL. = Leges SB. = Scriptores in folio SB. rer. Merov. = Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum SB. rer. Germ. = Scriptores rerum Germanicarum PREFACE Provincial Aquitaine had universal appeal in late Roman times. Christian dogmatists and poets alike commented on the beauty and agricultural prosperity of the region. To be sure, the political and military interest that the province attracted from the fourth to the ninth centuries bore evidence that the inhabitants derived an enviable living from its soil and climate. Competing powers made the area a crossroad to invasion. For these reasons, Aquitaine attracted more than its share of interlopers intent on mining its wealth and under­ mining its position. Salvian, a late fourth century Christian author, noted that the province served as the very "marrow of all the Gauls."! Several scholars have attached a similar ^Salvianus, De Gubernatione Dei, vii, 2, Monumenta Germaniae Histories, Auctorum Antiquissimorum. ed. C. Halm, Ï (Berlin, 1877), p. 85: "Nemini dubium est Aquitanos ac Novempopuios medullam fere omnium Galliarum et uber totius fecunditatis habuisse, nec solum fecunditatis, sed, quae prae- poni interdum fecunditati soient, iucunditatis, pulchritudinus, voluptatis. Adeo illic omnis admodum regio aut intertexta vineis aut florulenta pratis aut distincte culturis aut con- dita pomis aut amoenata lucis aut inrigua fontibus aut inter­ fuse fluminibus aut crinita messibus fuit, ut vere possessores ac domini terrae illius non tam soli istius portionem quam paradisi imaginem possedisse videantur." Praise of Aquitaine by the poet Ausonius parallels the eulogies of Salvian. For his comments on her cities in particular see; Ordo Urbium Nobilium, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctorum Antiquissi­ morum, ed. C. Schenkl, V (Berlin, 1883), pp. 102-103. VI significance to its history. Medievalists once agreed that the institutional his­ tory of the age represented basically a conflict between two forces shaping the social, economic, auid political elements of society. These were the mutually antagonistic influences, Germanitas and Romanitas. Many have found in the affairs of Aquitaine, the most thoroughly Romanized Gallic province of the empire, a classic vehicle by which to expound and advance arguments supporting the Romanitas viewpoint. Herein, the vestiges of the hallowed Roman Empire overshadow the crude influence of Germanic barbarians migrating into the province. The native Gallo-Roman, equipped with a knowledge of the past, culturally resisted the northern onslaught and avoided the influences of barbarian debasement. Recently, scholars have abandoned investigations of the ethnocentric origins of institutions to give attention to the ways in which those institutions integrate. In the fore­ front of this movement was the late Marc Bloch, who examined the patterns of feudal society and indebted the world of scholarship to his incisive mind. Instead of ascribing a nar­ row significance to Gallo-Roman, Roman, or Germanic configura­ tions within society, Bloch analyzed the concomitant workings of various social forces. It seems more useful to approach the functional aspects of medieval provincial society in this manner than to argue the case for either Romanitas or Germanitas. v i i During the era of Roman political and military decline, the powers contesting for supremacy in southern Gaul gave special attention to Aquitaine because of its agricultural produc­ tivity. The area thus became a battleground. More signifi­ cantly, its location was strategic politically, economically, and militarily. While Aquitaine was a bridge linking Italy to Spain, it also touched the Mediterranean. It gave Ger­ manic tribesmen beyond the Loire River access to Italy, a region whose importance transcended the ancient into the medieval, particularly in the religious context. Furthermore, as a burgeoning Islam moved into Spain in the early eighth century, Aquitaine achieved yet another importance. Just as the province had once formed a buffer between the Romans and their northern antagonists, it now separated the Germanic from the Muslim. It remains to observe that Aquitaine did maintain a distinct culture throughout the period 418-781. Some scholars have exaggerated the importance of this independent course of affairs in relation to the rest of the Roman west. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the force of nationalism profoundly influenced historical scholarship, and in France particularly this encouraged an awareness of things French (a derivative of Romanitas), which resulted in a nationalistic self-analysis from a peculiar vantage point. Aquitaine re­ ceived attention as never before or since. Accordingly, a v i i i genre of nationalistic monographs, expounding an exclus!visL thesis, arose to explain the separatist tendency that char­ acterized the Aquitanian experience from the fifth to the eighth century. These denied the importance for Aquitaine of the barbarian invasions which generally affected the his­ tory of the rest of the Roman west in this period.