Costambeys Marios - The Carolingian World

The Carolingian World

At its height, the Carolingian empire spanned a million square kilometres of western Europe from the English Channel to central Italy and northern Spain, and from the Atlantic to the fringes of modern Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. As the largest political unit for centuries, the empire dominated the region and left an enduring legacy for European culture. This comprehensive survey traces this great empires history, from its origins around 700, with the rise to dominance of the Carolingian dynasty, through its expansion by ruthless military conquest and political manoeuvring in the eighth century, to the struggle to hold the empire together in the ninth. It places the complex political narrative in context, giving equal consideration to vital themes such as beliefs, peasant society, aristocratic culture, and the economy. Accessibly written and authoritative, this book offers distinctive perspectives on a formative period in European history.

MARIOS COSTAMBEYS is Senior Lecturer in the School of History at the University of Liverpool. His previous publications include Power and Patronage in Early Medieval Italy: Local Society, Italian Politics and the Abbey of Farfa, c.700900 ().

MATTHEW INNES is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London. His previous publications include State and Society in the Early Middle Ages: The Middle Rhine Valley, 4001000 ().

SIMON MACLEAN is Senior Lecturer in the School of History at the University of St Andrews. His previous publications include Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the End of the Carolingian Empire ().

Cambridge Medieval Textbooks

This is a series of introductions to important topics in medieval history aimed primarily at advanced students and faculty, and is designed to complement the monograph series Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought. It includes both chronological and thematic approaches and addresses both British and European topics.

For a list of titles in the series, see
www.cambridge.org/medievaltextbooks

MARIOS COSTAMBEYS
University of Liverpool

MATTHEW INNES
Birkbeck, University of London

SIMON MACLEAN
University of St Andrews

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

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Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521563666

Marios Costambeys, Matthew Innes and Simon MacLean 2011

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2011
3rd printing 2012

Printed and bound at MPG Books Group, UK

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Costambeys, Marios.

The Carolingian world / Marios Costambeys, Matthew Innes, Simon MacLean.

p. cm. (Cambridge medieval textbooks)

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-56366-6 (hardback)

1. Carolingians History. 2. France History To 987. 3. France Civilization. 4. Europe, Western History. 5. Europe, Western Civilization. 6. Europe History 4761492. 7. Civilization, Medieval. I. Innes, Matthew. II. MacLean, Simon.

III. Title. IV. Series.

DC70.C67 2011

944.014 dc22 2010054602

ISBN 978-0-521-56366-6 Hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-56494-6 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

For Rosamond McKitterick and Jinty Nelson

Our initial thanks are due to Rosamond McKitterick and to Jinty Nelson, for first presenting each of us with the challenge of teaching the history of the early Middle Ages. As many of the references in this book testify, the work of these two scholars has fundamentally influenced the development of this field over the last few decades, and during our PhD research and since we have also been privileged to learn from them in person. We also owe warm thanks to Elina Screen. Her contribution extends well beyond the formal aspects to which we initially asked her to pay attention; both form and content would have been much the poorer without her diligent work. We would like too to thank Sally Lamb, on whose work for their encouragement, efficiency and patience: Bill Davies, Simon Whitmore, Michael Watson and Liz Friend-Smith. Our most profound gratitude goes, of course, to our families, for support, encouragement, and welcome distraction: to Greg and Joe, and Naomi and Evan, and to Charlotte, Jayne and Claire.