After Charlemagne
Carolingian Italy and its Rulers

Offers new perspectives on the fascinating but neglected history of ninth-century Italy and the impact of Carolingian culture.

Clemens Gantner (Edited by), Walter Pohl (Edited by)

9781108840774, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 December 2020

350 pages
23.5 x 16 x 2 cm, 0.65 kg

'… the volume implements a series of well-documented research studies using various sources and methodologies, and is able to offer a unanimous answer to the question: a Carolingian Italy did indeed exist …' Julia Zornetta, Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken

After Charlemagne's death in 814, Italy was ruled by a succession of kings and emperors, all of whom could claim some relation to the Carolingians, some via the female line of succession. This study offers new perspectives on the fascinating but neglected period of Italy in the ninth century and the impact of Carolingian culture. Bringing together some of the foremost scholars on early medieval Italy, After Charlemagne offers the first comprehensive overview of the period, and also presents new research on Italian politics, culture, society and economy, from the death of Charlemagne to the assassination of Berengar I in 924. Revealing Italy as a multifaceted peninsula, the authors address the governance and expansion of Carolingian Italy, examining relations with the other Carolingian kingdoms, as well as those with the Italian South, the Papacy and the Byzantine Empire. Exploring topics on a regional and local level as well as presenting a 'big picture' of the Italian or Lombard kingdom, this volume provides new and exciting answers to the central question: How Carolingian was 'Carolingian Italy'?

1. Italy after Charlemagne: scope and aims of the volume Clemens Gantner and Walter Pohl
2. A brief introduction to Italian political history until 875 Clemens Gantner
Part I. Was There a Carolingian Italy?: 3. Talking about the Carolingians in eighth- and ninth-century Italy Thomas F. X. Noble
4. The name of the kingdom Paolo Delogu
5. Was there a Carolingian Italy? Politics, institutions and book culture François Bougard
Part II. Organizing Italy: 6. The government of a peripheral area: the Carolingians and north-eastern Italy Stefano Gasparri
7. Vassals without feudalism in Carolingian Italy Giuseppe Albertoni
8. Shaping a kingdom: the sees of Parma and Arezzo between the reigns of Louis II and Berengar Igor Santos Salazar
Part III. Carolingian Rulers: 9. Staying Lombard while becoming Carolingian? Italy under King Pippin Marco Stoffella
10. Carolingian fathers and sons in Italy: Lothar I and Louis II's successful partnership Elina Screen
11. A king in training? Louis II of Italy and his expedition to Rome in 844 Clemens Gantner
Part IV. Cities, Courts and Carolingians: 12. A Byzantine cuckoo in the Frankish nest? The Exarchate of Ravenna and the Kingdom of Italy in the long ninth century Tom Brown
13. Urbanism as politics in ninth-century Italy Caroline Goodson
14. Rome and the others: saints, relics and hagiography in Carolingian north-eastern Italy Francesco Veronese
15. Between the palace, the school and the forum: rhetoric and court culture in late Lombard and Carolingian Italy Giorgia Vocino
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]