Weeds and the Carolingians
Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900

Presents a dynamic picture of early medieval Europeans struggling to control their ecosystems, and creating relationships with their vegetable environments.

Paolo Squatriti (Author)

9781316512869, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 June 2022

238 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm, 0.49 kg

'Drawing on a wide range of readings, this book brilliantly illustrates how the tools of history, archaeology, paleobotany, agronomy, and linguistics can converge into a cultural history of the ways in which medieval people inhabited the world.' Jean-Pierre Devroey, Le Moyen Âge

Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments.

1. Weeds, nature, and empire
2. Weeds on the ground
3. The time of weeds
4. The worst of weeds
5. The botany of paradise in Carolingian Rome
6. The uses of weeds
7. The politics of weeding in the Carolingian Empire
Epilogue.

Subject Areas: Agriculture & farming [TV], The environment [RN], Medieval history [HBLC1], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]