Chapter 18
The huge historiography on the Carolingians largely dries up in the tenth century, except in German. The only up-to-date survey of the post-Carolingian world as a whole (without a political narrative) is J. Fried, Die Formierung Europas 840-1046 (Munich, 1991). NCMH, vol. 3 provides the best collective overview in English of political and religious-intellectual history; Settimane di studio, 38 (1991) also focuses on tenth-century surveys. Basic accounts of the history of individual successor-states in English are the relevant chapters in T. Reuter, Germany in the Early Middle Ages c. 800-1056 (Harlow, 1991), with his Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities, ed. J. L. Nelson (Cambridge, 2006), for some crucial articles; C. Wickham, Early Medieval Italy (London, 1981); G. Tabacco, The Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy (Cambridge, 1989); J. Dunbabin, France in the Making, 843-1180 (Oxford, 1985). Similar accounts in other languages will be cited later. H. Fichtenau, Living in the Tenth Century (Chicago, 1991) is the best introduction to the political culture of the period as a whole; G. Althoff, Family, Friends and Followers (Cambridge, 2004) is an important guide to socio-political structures.
p. 427. Gerbert: see in general P. Riché, Gerbert d’Aurillac (Paris, 1987), a somewhat heightened account. For his career to 983, Richer of Reims, Historiae, 3.43-65, ed. and trans. R. Latouche, Richer: histoire de France (888-995) (Paris, 1930-37); his Letters are trans. H. P. Lattin, The Letters of Gerbert with his Papal Privileges as Sylvester II (New York, 1961), but for dating see the standard MGH edition, Die Briefsammlung Gerberts von Reims, ed. F. Weigle (Berlin, 1966) - the two use different numbering, but each cites the other numeration.
p. 428. Gerbert and books: Letters, 14-16, 32-3, 47, 50, 92, 98, 132, 138, 142, 156, 175, trans. Lattin.
p. 428. Gerbert and Otto: Letters, 230-31, trans. Lattin. Thietmar’s Chronicon is trans. D. A. Warner, Ottonian Germany (Manchester, 2001); 6.100 for Gerbert. p. 429. Otto and Charlemagne: Thietmar, Chronicon, 2.45.
p. 429. Historians: apart from those cited already, for Flodoard, see The Annals of Flodoard of Reims 919-966, trans. S. Fanning and B. S. Bachrach (Peterborough, Ont., 2004); for Liutprand, see The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona, trans. P. Squatriti (Washington, 2007); Widukind, Res Gestae, untranslated into English, is in Widukindi Monachi Corbeiensis: Rerum Gestarum Saxonicarum Libri Tres, ed. P. Hirsch and H.-E. Lohmann, MGH (Hanover, 1935).
p. 429. ‘France’ and ‘Germany’: for a frontal attack on the idea that they yet existed, see C. R. Brühl, Deutschland-Frankreich (Cologne, 1990), esp. pp. 83-153, 205-33 for tenth-century terminology; for citations, see Flodoard, Annals, s.aa. 920, 921, etc.; Widukind, Res Gestae, 1.27, etc., 3.17; Thietmar, Chronicon, 1.19.
p. 430. East Francia: essential works include NCMH, vol. 3; Reuter, Germany; and three books by K. Leyser: Rule and Conflict in an Early Medieval Society (London, 1979), Medieval Germany and its Neighbours 900-1250 (London, 1982), and Communications and Power in Medieval Europe: The Carolingian and Ottonian Centuries (London, 1994), the last two being article collections. Of the large German historiography, important recent surveys include H. Keller and G. Althoff, Die Zeit der späten Karolinger und die Ottonen, 888-1024 (Stuttgart, 2008); and J. Fried, Die Ursprünge Deutschlands bis 1024 (Berlin, 1994).
p. 431. The slow crystallization of Saxony: see M. Becher, Rex, Dux und Gens (Husum, 1996), pp. 25-194. Most of the duchies have good individual articles in NCMH, vol. 3, pp. 267-327.
p. 431. Election of 919: see J. Fried, in M. Borgolte (ed.), Mittelalterforschung nach der Wende 1989 (Munich, 1995), pp. 267-318; P. Buc, ‘Noch einmal 918-919’ (in English), in G. Althoff (ed.), Zeichen-Rituale-Werke (Münster, 2004), pp. 151-78.
p. 431. ‘Friendship’: G. Althoff, Amicitiae und Pacta (Hanover, 1992), pp. 21-36.
p. 432. Election of 936 : Widukind, Res Gestae, 2.1-2.
p. 432. Synod of Ingelheim: Flodoard, Annals, s.a. 948.
p. 433. Election of 1002: Thietmar, Chronicon, 4.50-54, 5.3.
p. 433. Ida: Widukind, Res Gestae, 3.6.
p. 433. Ottonian government: see in general K. Leyser, ‘Ottonian Government’, in his Medieval Germany, pp. 69-101. For kings and aristocrats on the ground, see Leyser, Rule and Conflict, pp. 9-47; M. Innes, State and Society in the Early Middle Ages (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 225-41.
p. 434. Silver: see I. Blanchard, Mining, Metallurgy and Minting in the Middle Ages, vol. 1 (Stuttgart, 2001), pp. 529-38.
p. 434. Slav wars: see G. Althoff in NCMH, vol. 3, pp. 278-88; Leyser, Medieval Germany, pp. 14-42.
p. 434. Indiculus Loricatorum: MGH, Constitutiones, vol. 1, ed. L. Weiland (Hanover, 1893), n. 436.
p. 435. Kingdom of Italy: essential works include G. Sergi, in NCMH, vol. 3, pp. 346-71; Wickham, Early Medieval Italy (which dates the break-up of the Italian kingdom too early); Tabacco, Struggle; F. Bougard, La Justice dans le royaume d’Italie (Rome, 1995); L. Provero, L’Italia dei poteri locali (Rome, 1998); G. Sergi, I confini del potere (Turin, 1995); P. Cammarosano, Nobili e re (Bari, 1998), pp. 218-321. Sergi and Provero cite the more local studies which are at the centre of Italian historiography.
p. 435. Aldobrandeschi: S. Collavini, ‘Honorabilis domus et spetiosissimus comitatus’ (Pisa, 1998), pp. 21-108.
p. 436. Berengar I: basic are P. Delogu, ‘Vescovi, conti e sovrani nella crisi del regno italico’, Annali della Scuola speciale per archivisti e bibliotecari, 8 (1968), pp. 3-72; B. Rosenwein, ‘The Family Politics of Berengar I, King of Italy (888-924)’, Speculum, 71 (1996), pp. 247-89. The panegyric is Gesta Berengarii Imperatoris, ed. P. von Winterfeld, MGH, Poetae, vol. 4.1 (Berlin, 1899), pp. 354-401; it does stress Berengar’s imperial coronation of 915.
p. 437. Liutprand: see P. Buc, The Dangers of Ritual (Princeton, 2001), pp. 15-50.
p. 438. Otto III: see G. Althoff, Otto III (State College, Pa, 2003).
p. 438. Southern Italy: see G. A. Loud, in NCMH, vol. 3, pp. 624-45; P. Skinner, Family Power in Southern Italy (Cambridge, 1995); B. M. Kreutz, Before the Normans (Philadelphia, 1991); J.-M. Martin, in Structures féodales et féodalisme dans l’Occident méditerranéen (Xe-XIIIe siècles) (Rome, 1980), pp. 553-86; H. Taviani-Carozzi, La Principauté lombarde de Salerne (IXe-XIe siècle) (Rome, 1991).
p. 439. Rome: see above all P. Toubert, Les Structures du Latium médiéval (Rome, 1973), pp. 960-1024.
p. 439. Burgundy: see C. B. Bouchard in NCMH, vol. 3, pp. 328-45. Note that the duchy of Burgundy was different from the kingdom, and was further north, in West Francia.
p. 440. West Francia: essential works include NCMH, vol. 3; Dunbabin, France; J.-P. Poly and É. Bournazel, The Feudal Transformation, 900-1200 (New York, 1991); K. F. Werner, Les Origines avant l’an Mil (Paris, 1984), pp. 487-561; the elegant defence of the period in G. Koziol, ‘Is Robert I in Hell?’, EME, 14 (2006), pp. 233-67; and the old classic, J. Dhondt, Études sur la naissance des principautés territoriales en France (IXe-Xe siècle) (Bruges, 1948).
p. 440. Flodoard: Annals, s.a. 920.
p. 441. Rudolf ‘summoned’: Flodoard, Annals, s.aa. 923, 925.
p. 441. Louis vs Hugh: Flodoard, Annals, s.aa. 945, 946, 948, 950. Otto I and Brun: ibid., s.aa. 954, 958-60, 962; cf. Brühl, Deutschland-Frankreich, pp. 479-92. Lothar: see G. Koziol, Begging Pardon and Favor (Ithaca, NY, 1992), pp. 113-21.
p. 442. Election of 987 and Hugh: among many, Y. Sassier, Hugues Capet (Paris, 1987); C. Carozzi, in Le Moyen ge, 82 (1976), pp. 453-76. Gerbert quote: Letters, 55, trans. Lattin.
p. 443. ‘Principalities’: see Dhondt, Naissance; D. Bates and M. Zimmermann, in NCMH, vol. 3, pp. 398-455, with extensive bibliographies of regional monographs. For Normandy, an important one in English is D. Bates, Normandy before 1066 (London, 1982); see also E. Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation of Norman Power, 840-1066 (Berkeley, 1988); particularly thoughtful is, for Maine, R. E. Barton, Lordship in the County of Maine, c. 890-1160 (Woodbridge, 2004).
p. 443. William V: see T. Head and R. Landes (eds.), The Peace of God (Ithaca, NY, 1992), e
sp. the articles by A. Debord and R. Landes, pp. 135-64, 184-218; J. Martindale, Status, Authority and Regional Power (Aldershot, 1997), studies VI (peace councils), VII-VIII (Hugh of Lusignan); B. S. Bachrach, in Journal of Medieval History, 5 (1979), pp. 11-21.
p. 444. Abbo: M. Mostert, The Political Theology of Abbo of Fleury (Hilversum, 1987), e.g. p. 137.
p. 445. Literary activity: see C. Leonardi, in NCMH, vol. 3, pp. 186-211 for a survey. For Hrotsvitha, see P. Dronke, Women Writers of the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1984), pp. 55-83.
p. 445. Translators: Liutprand, Concerning King Otto, c. 11, in Complete Works, pp. 228-9. Cf. Flodoard, Annals, s.a. 948 and Richer, Historiae, 3.85, both also dealing with translations of ceremonial or diplomatic Latin.
p. 445. Gesta Ottonis: trans. in B. H. Hill, Medieval Monarchy in Action (London, 1972), pp. 118-37.
p. 445. Hugh to Theophanu: Gerbert, Letters, 146, trans. Lattin.
p. 446. Organization: Liutprand, Antapodosis, 5.33, in Complete Works, p. 194; Thietmar, Chronicon, 4.38 for the Arneburg, discussed with Meissen in Leyser, ‘Ottonian Government’, p. 84.
p. 446. Assemblies: see the overview by T. Reuter, in P. Linehan and J. L. Nelson (eds.), The Medieval World (London, 2001), pp. 432-50; Richer, Historiae, 4.11; Widukind, Res Gestae, 2.10, 3.16, 32, 41, 70. For French judicial assemblies, see G. Duby, Hommes et structures du moyen âge (Paris, 1973), pp. 7-60 for the classic model; the recent debate on French justice (see esp. W. C. Brown and P. Górecki, eds., Conflict in Medieval Europe, Aldershot, 2003) does not affect these points.
p. 446. Spielregeln: see G. Althoff, Spielregeln der Politik im Mittelalter (Darmstadt, 1997), esp. pp. 21-56, 157-84, 229-57. Althoff, Family, Friends and Followers, pp. 136-59, sets out the model briefly in English. See further Leyser, Communications, pp. 189-213; Fichtenau, Living, esp. pp. 30-77, 403-16.
p. 447. Meetings: Flodoard, Annals, s.a. 948; MGH, Constitutiones, vol. 1, n. 1; Flodoard, Annals, s.a. 924; Rodulf Glaber, Historiae, ed. and trans. J. France (Oxford, 1989), 1.5. For all this and what follows see Koziol, Begging Pardon and Favor, the basic analysis.
p. 447. Adventus: Liutprand, Antapodosis, 3.41, in Complete Works, p. 131; Richer, Historiae, 2.4.
p. 447. Dogs: Widukind, Res Gestae, 2.6. Cf., for Louis II, Cap., vol. 2, n. 218, c. 9.
p. 447. Subversion: Dudo, History of the Normans, trans. E. Christiansen (Woodbridge, 1998), 2.29; Thietmar, Chronicon, 2.28, 5.3-7. For the general issue of literary presentation, see Buc, Dangers of Ritual.
p. 448. Peace of God: see in general Head and Landes, Peace of God.
p. 448. Silvester and Agapitus: Gerbert, Letters, 244, trans. Lattin; Flodoard, Annals, s.aa. 947-9. See the sensible brief survey in G. Tellenbach, The Church in Western Europe from the Tenth to the Early Twelfth Century (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 65-74.
p. 449. Queen-mothers, etc.: P. Stafford, Queens, Concubines and Dowagers (London, 1983), pp. 149-52 and passim; R. Le Jan, Famille et pouvoir dans le monde franc (VIIe-Xe sie‘cle) (Paris, 1995), pp. 372-9, who also stresses the increased importance of the nuclear family group as a reason for the power of widows. For Matilda, see Thietmar, Chronicon, 4.41. For Liutprand, see P. Buc, ‘Italian Hussies and German Matrons’, Frühmittelalter- liche Studien, 29 (1995), pp. 207-25.
p. 452. Forgetting the tenth century: P. J. Geary, Phantoms of Remembrance (Princeton, 1994), esp. pp. 134-57; C. Wickham, Land and Power (London, 1994), pp. 275-93; Rodulf Glaber, Historiae, 1.5, 7, 9.
p. 452. Remembering Charlemagne, etc.: A. G. Remensnyder, Remembering Kings Past (Ithaca, NY, 1995), pp. 116-211; see in general also T. N. Bisson, in Speculum, 65 (1990), pp. 281-308.
Chapter 19
The best overviews of England in the ninth and tenth centuries are P. Wormald and E. John in J. Campbell (ed.), The Anglo-Saxons (Oxford, 1982), pp. 132-206; S. Keynes in NCMH, vol. 2, pp. 37-42, and vol. 3, pp. 456-84; and (the key text for the period after 900) P. Stafford, Unification and Conquest (London, 1989). P. Stafford, ‘King and Kin, Lord and Community’, in eadem, Gender, Family and the Legitimation of Power (Aldershot, 2006), study VIII, is an important analysis of English society in the period, close to the arguments in this chapter. The old classic remains F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3rd edn. (Oxford, 1971). The fundamental bibliographical guide is S. Keynes, Anglo-Saxon History: A Select Bibliography (Cambridge, regularly updated and reissued); a slightly earlier version than the current one can be found at
p. 453. Wynflæd-Leofwine: the text is ed. and trans. A. J. Robertson, Anglo-Saxon Charters (Cambridge, 1939), n. 66; the fullest commentary is in P. Wormald, ‘Giving God and King their Due’, Settimane di studio, 44 (1997), pp. 549-90. The laws are 3 Edgar, cc. 2, 5.2, trans. EHD, vol. 1, pp. 432-3. Basic for court cases is P. Wormald, in W. Davies and P. Fouracre (eds.), The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 149-68.
p. 455. Kent: S. Keynes, in EME, 2 (1993), pp. 111-31. Mercia: idem in M. A. S. Blackburn and D. N. Dumville (eds.), Kings, Currency and Alliances (Woodbridge, 1998), pp. 1-45. The other ninth-century kingdoms are treated best in the overviews above.
p. 455. Vikings: basic on their impact and scale is N. P. Brooks, ‘England in the Ninth Century: The Crucible of Defeat’, now in his Communities and Warfare, 700-1400 (London, 2000), pp. 48-68; for the Scandinavian context, see P. Wormald, in R. T. Farrell (ed.), The Vikings (Chichester, 1982), pp. 128-53; see also the notes to p. 465.
p. 456. Alfred: see S. Keynes and M. Lapidge, Alfred the Great (Harmondsworth, 1983), which includes translations of most Alfredian texts; R. Abels, Alfred the Great (London, 1998), the best biography; T. Reuter (ed.), Alfred the Great (Aldershot, 2003); P. Wormald, ‘Alfred (848/9-899)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004), accessible online at
p. 457. Titles used for Alfred: see Asser, c. 87, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 900, trans. in Keynes and Lapidge, Alfred, pp. 99, 120.
p. 457. Edward the Elder: see above all S. Keynes, in N. J. Higham and D. H. Hill (eds.), Edward the Elder 899-924 (London, 2001), pp. 40-66.
p. 458. Æthelstan: M. Wood, In Search of the Dark Ages (London, 1981), pp. 126-50; D. N. Dumville, Wessex and England from Alfred to Edgar (Woodbridge, 1992), pp. 141-71. For his titles, see W. de G. Birch (ed.), Cartularium Saxonicum (London, 1885-93), e.g. nn. 677, 730, 746.
p. 458. Queens: see P. Stafford, Queens, Concubines and Dowagers (London, 1983), pp. 124-34, 148-51. Aristocrats: important analyses include C. R. Hart, The Danelaw (London, 1992), pp. 569-604; A. Williams, ‘Princeps Merciorum Gentis’, Anglo-Saxon England, 10 (1982), pp. 143-72; B. Yorke, in eadem (ed.), Bishop Æthelwold (Woodbridge, 1988), pp. 65-88; Stafford, Unification, pp. 150-79; R. Fleming, Kings and Lords in Conquest England (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 22-39; Stafford, ‘King and Kin’, pp. 1-12, who stresses regional tensions and the difficulties of aristocratic decision-making.
p. 459. Dunstan, Æthelwold, Oswald: each of these figures has a recent conference, N. Ramsey (ed.), St Dunstan (Woodbridge, 1992); Yorke, Bishop Æthelwold; N. P. Brooks and C. R. E. Cubitt (eds.), St Oswald of Worcester (London, 1996); these volumes are synthesized by C. R. E. Cubitt in ‘The Tenth-century Benedictine Reform in England’, EME, 6 (1997), pp. 77-94, the best overview of its subject.
p. 459. Æthelred II: S. Keynes, The Diplomas of King Æthelred ‘the Unready’, 978-1016 (Cambridge, 1980), pp. 154-231; A. Williams, Æthelred the Unready (London, 2003).
p. 460. Political spin: see R. H. C. Davis, ‘Alfred the Great: Propaganda and Truth’, History, 66 (1971), pp. 169-82. Fulk, and Asser on illness: trans. in Keynes and Lapidge, Alfred, pp. 182-6, 88-90, 101 (Asser, cc. 74, 91); see further P. Kershaw, in EME, 10 (2001), pp. 201-24; J. Campbell, The Angl
o-Saxon State (London, 2000), pp. 129-55. For political ideas, see for example J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, Early Germanic Kingship in England and on the Continent (Oxford, 1971), pp. 140-51; Abels, Alfred, pp. 246-57; J. L. Nelson, in A. J. Duggan (ed.), Kings and Kingship in Medieval Europe (London, 1993), pp. 125-58; Wormald, ‘Alfred’.
p. 461. Boethius, cc. 17, 27.3, trans. in Keynes and Lapidge, Alfred, pp. 132-4. Moses: see P. Wormald, The Making of English Law, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1999), pp. 417-27.
p. 461. Oaths: Alfred, Laws, 1, cf. Intro. 49.9, trans. in Keynes and Lapidge, Alfred, pp. 164-5; J. Campbell, Essays in Anglo-Saxon History (London, 1986), p. 162; P. Wormald, in Campbell, The Anglo-Saxons, p. 155.
p. 461. Alfred’s government: see esp. N. P. Brooks, in Reuter, Alfred, pp. 153-73.
p. 462. Shires, hundreds, assemblies: Campbell, Essays, pp. 155-70, developed also in idem, Anglo-Saxon State, pp. 1-30. These two books argue forcefully for the strength of the tenth-century English state. For pre-tenth-century Mercian fortifications, see S. Bassett, in EME, 15 (2007), pp. 53-85.
p. 462. Law: see Wormald, Making, vol. 1, pp. 277-330; for 7 Æthelred, the 1009 code, see EHD, vol. 1, pp. 447-8.
p. 462. Æthelstan and Francia: The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, 919-966, trans. S. Fanning and B. S. Bachrach (Peterborough, Ont., 2004), s.aa. 936, 939. 887-8: Keynes and Lapidge, Alfred, p. 98 (Asser, c. 85); EHD, vol. 1, p. 199.
p. 463. Æthelwold and the Continent: see P. Wormald, in Yorke, Bishop Æthelwold, pp. 13-42. Wulfstan: see M. Townend (ed.), Wulfstan, Archbishop of York (Turnhout, 2004); Wormald, Making, vol. 1, pp. 330-66.
p. 463. Ansegis: Wormald, Making, vol. 1, p. 344, cf. 425-6. Self-confidence: ibid., pp. 444-5.
p. 464. Writing: S. Keynes, ‘Royal Government and the Written Word in Late Anglo-Saxon England’, in R. McKitterick (ed.), The Uses of Literacy in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 226-57.
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