The Carolingian World

The Carolingian World PDF

Author: Marios Costambeys

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-05-12

Total Pages: 529

ISBN-13: 0521563666

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A comprehensive and accessible survey of the great Carolingian empire, which dominated western Europe in the eighth and ninth centuries.

Roma Felix

Roma Felix PDF

Author: Éamonn Ó Carragáin

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780754660965

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

After the Roman empire fell, medieval Europe continued to be fascinated by Rome itself, 'the Chief of Cities', once the centre of the empire, including its history, its buildings, and above all its early Christian martyrs, and the papacy, central to the western Latin church. This book explores ways in which the city itself was preserved, envisioned, and transformed not only by its residents, but also by the many pilgrims who flocked to Rome, and by northern European cultures (in particular, the Irish and English) who imagined and imitated the city as they understood it.

The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis)

The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis) PDF

Author: Raymond Davis

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

No complete translation of the Latin text of the Book of Pontiffs--the Liber Pontificalis of the Roman Church--exists in any language, though the work is indispensable to students of late antiquity and the early middle ages; this book provides an english version of the first ninety papal biographies, from St Peter down to AD 715. These lives were first compiled in the sixth century and then regularly brought up to date. In them the reader will find the curious mixture of fact and legend which had come by the Ostrogothic period to be accepted as history by the Church in Rome, and also the subsequent records maintained through to the early eighth century while Rome was under Byzantine sovereignty. In no sense was the Liber Pontificalis an 'official' chronicle of these centuries, and there emerge throughout the interests and prejudices of compilers who belonged, it seems, to the lower levels of the papal administration. For this new edition the translation has been carefully emended, and in places the underlying text has been reconsidered. Vignoli section numbers have been added, as in the translator's later volumes of the Liber Pontificalis (ttH 13 and 20). The translation has been reset to distinguish more clearly the status and value of additions to the standard Liber Pontificalis text by the use of different type. there have been revisions and extensions to both the glossary and the bibliography, and material has been added to Appendix 3.

Rome's Christian Empress

Rome's Christian Empress PDF

Author: Joyce E. Salisbury

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2015-07-01

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1421417014

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The page-turning account of Galla Placidia, a remarkable ruler at the twilight of the Roman Empire. In Rome’s Christian Empress, Joyce E. Salisbury brings the captivating story of Rome’s Christian empress to life. The daughter of Roman emperor Theodosius I, Galla Placidia lived at the center of imperial Roman power during the first half of the fifth century. Taken hostage after the fall of Rome to the Goths, she was married to the king and, upon his death, to a Roman general. The rare woman who traveled throughout Italy, Gaul, and Spain, she eventually returned to Rome, where her young son was crowned as the emperor of the western Roman provinces. Placidia served as his regent, ruling the Roman Empire and the provinces for twenty years. Salisbury restores this influential, too-often forgotten woman to the center stage of this crucial period. Describing Galla Placidia’s life from childhood to death while detailing the political and military developments that influenced her—and that she influenced in turn—the book relies on religious and political sources to weave together a narrative that combines social, cultural, political, and theological history. The Roman world changed dramatically during Placidia’s rule: the Empire became Christian, barbarian tribes settled throughout the West, and Rome began its unmistakable decline. But during her long reign, Placidia wielded formidable power. She fended off violent invaders and usurpers who challenged her Theodosian dynasty; presided over the dawn of the Catholic Church as theological controversies split the faithful and church practices and holidays were established; and spent fortunes building churches and mosaics that incorporated prominent images of herself and her family. Compulsively readable, Rome’s Christian Empress is the first full-length work to give this fascinating and complex ruler her due.

Roman Identity from the Arab Conquests to the Triumph of Orthodoxy

Roman Identity from the Arab Conquests to the Triumph of Orthodoxy PDF

Author: Douglas Whalin

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-01-22

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 3030609065

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book asks how the inhabitants and neighbours of the Eastern Roman Empire understand their identity as Romans in the centuries following the emergence of Islam as a world-religion. Its answers lie in exploring the nature of change and continuity of social structures, self-representation, and boundaries as markers of belonging to the Roman group in the period from circa AD 650 to 850. Early medieval Romanness was integral to the Roman imperial project; its local utility as an identifier was shaped by a given community’s relationship with Constantinople, the capital of the Roman state. This volume argues that there was fundamental continuity of Roman identity from Late Antiquity through these centuries into later periods. Many transformations which are ascribed to the Romans of this era have been subjectively assigned by outsiders, separated by time or space, and are not born out by the sources. This finding dovetails with other recent historical works re-evaluating the early medieval Eastern Roman polity and its ideology.

Liturgy and Society in Early Medieval Rome

Liturgy and Society in Early Medieval Rome PDF

Author: John F. Romano

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-05-06

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1317104080

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The liturgy, the public worship of the Catholic Church, was a crucial factor in forging the society of early medieval Rome. As the Roman Empire dissolved, a new world emerged as Christian bishops stepped into the power vacuum left by the dismantling of the Empire. Among these potentates, none was more important than the bishop of Rome, the pope. The documents, archaeology, and architecture that issued forth from papal Rome in the seventh and eighth centuries preserve a precious glimpse into novel societal patterns. The underexploited liturgical sources in particular enrich and complicate our historical understanding of this period. They show how liturgy was the ’social glue’ that held together the Christian society of early medieval Rome - and excluded those who did not belong to it. This study places the liturgy center stage, filling a gap in research on early medieval Rome and demonstrating the utility of investigating how the liturgy functioned in medieval Europe. It includes a detailed analysis of the papal Mass, the central act of liturgy and the most obvious example of the close interaction of liturgy, social relations and power. The first extant Mass liturgy, the First Roman Ordo, is also given a new presentation in Latin here with an English translation and commentary. Other grand liturgical events such as penitential processions are also examined, as well as more mundane acts of worship. Far from a pious business with limited influence, the liturgy established an exchange between humans and the divine that oriented Roman society to God and fostered the dominance of the clergy.

Ravenna and the Traditions of Late Antique and Early Byzantine Craftsmanship

Ravenna and the Traditions of Late Antique and Early Byzantine Craftsmanship PDF

Author: Salvatore Cosentino

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2020-08-10

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 3110684438

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In the last twenty years scholarship on late antique and early medieval Ravenna has resulted in a certain number of publications mainly focused on the fields of architecture, mosaics and archaeology. On the contrary, much less attention has been paid on labour – both manual and intellectual – as well as the structure of production and objects derived from manufacturing activities, despite the fact that Ravenna is the place which preserves the highest number of historical evidence among all centres of the late Roman Mediterranean. Its cultural heritage is vast and composite, ranging from papyri to inscriptions, from ivories to marbles, as well as luxury objects, pottery, and coins. Starting from concrete typologies of hand-manufactured goods existing in the Ravennate milieu, the book aims at exploring the multifaceted traditions of late antique and early Byzantine handicraft from the fourth to the eighth century AD. Its perspective is to pay attention more on patronage, social taste, acculturation, workers and the economic industry of production which supported the demand, circulation and distribution of artefacts, than on the artistic evaluation of the objects themselves.

Building the Body of Christ

Building the Body of Christ PDF

Author: Daniel C. Cochran

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-11-17

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 197870769X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In Building the Body of Christ, Daniel C. Cochran argues that monumental Christian art and architecture played a crucial role in the formation of individual and communal identities in late antique Italy. The ecclesiastical buildings and artistic programs that emerged during the fourth and fifth centuries not only reflected Christianity’s changing status within the Roman Empire but also actively shaped those who used them. Emphasizing the importance of materiality and the body in early Christian thought and practice, Cochran shows how bishops and their supporters employed the visual arts to present a Christian identity rooted in the sacred past but expressed in the present through church unity and episcopal authority. He weaves together archaeological and textual evidence to contextualize case studies from Rome, Aquileia, and Ravenna, showing how these sites responded to the diversity of early Christianity as expressed through private rituals and the imperial appropriation of the saints. Cochran shows how these early ecclesiastical buildings and artistic programs worked in conjunction with the liturgy to persuade individuals to adopt alternative beliefs, practices, and values that contributed to the formation of institutional Christianity and the “Christianization” of late antique Italy.