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The Birth of the Monarchy out of Violent Death

Medievalists.net — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 01:31:56 +0000

There were many motives for murdering a king.

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Blended and Extended Families in Carolingian Charters

Medievalists.net — Tue, 27 May 2014 09:55:51 +0000

This is a summary of a paper on Carolingian charters and the relationship between step and blended families.

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Making a difference in tenth-century politics: King Athelstan’s sisters and Frankish queenship

Medievalists.net — Sat, 10 May 2014 11:59:39 +0000

In the early years of the tenth century several Anglo-Saxon royal women, all daughters of King Edward the Elder of Wessex (899-924) and sisters (or half-sisters) of his son King Athelstan (924-39), were despatched across the Channel as brides for Frankish and Saxon rulers and aristocrats. This article addresses the fate of some of these women through an analysis of their political identities.

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Merovingian and Carolingian Empires: An Analysis of Their Strengths and Weaknesses

Medievalists.net — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 01:06:48 +0000

In this research paper I will analyze the achievements and the destruction of the Merovingian Empire to demonstrate how both provide a basic structure of government for the Carolingians to adopt.

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The ‘Prehistory’ of Gregory of Tours: An Analysis of Books I-IV of Gregory’s Histories

Medievalists.net — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 02:03:47 +0000

In northern Gaul in the second half of the sixth century, a bishop of Tours, Georgius Florentius Gregorius, known to posterity as Gregory of Tours, composed eight books of hagiography and ten books of history. These testaments survive as evidence of the politics, society and theology of this post-imperial world.

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Hincmar of Reims on King-making: The Evidence of the Annals of St. Bertin, 861–882

Medievalists.net — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:35:18 +0000

The Histories and Chronicles Hincmar had in mind were presumably Frankish ones; and Lothar II, succeeding his father, thus clearly came into this section of Hincmar's third category. But of the timing or form of Lothar's becoming king, Hincmar said not a word, preferring, instead, to spell out the Biblical lesson that a bad king (and he hastily disclaimed any allegation that Lothar's father had been a bad king) would see the succession depart from his line.

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Scissors or Sword? The Symbolism of a Medieval Haircut

Medievalists.net — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 02:45:54 +0000

Simon Coates explores the symbolic meanings attached to hair in the early medieval West, and how it served to denote differences in age, sex, ethnicity and status.

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Clovis: How Barbaric, How Pagan?

Medievalists.net — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:24:05 +0000

The mainstream portrait of Clovis, still dominant in English and American writing, derives its many negative features from secondary sources written a half-century or more after his death and abounding in grossly unreliable anecdotes.

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