New Medieval Books: Balthild of Francia
In the seventh century, Balthild rose from servitude to become queen of Neustria and Burgundy through her marriage to Clovis II. Following his death, she served as queen regent for their son, Chlothar III, and earned a reputation as a capable and reform-minded ruler—particularly noted for her efforts to end the practice of slavery. This book explores her remarkable life and legacy.
New Medieval Books: Merovingian Worlds
This book offers an overview of the Merovingian realm, roughly what is now France and parts of neighbouring Western Europe during the 5th to 8th centuries.
New Medieval Books: Radegund
The story of Radegund, a 6th-century princess who would find herself being married to the man who had killed her family. From high politics in the Merovingian Empire to the creation of a monastery, Radegund’s life is a very interesting tale.
Early Medieval Warrior’s remains discovered in Germany
Archaeologists in western Germany have discovered the remains of a medieval warrior. He was buried over 1300 years ago with at least four weapons and a shield.
How did the Merovingian Kings wear their hair?
We must accept, I think, that the Franks, like all Germans, attached a particular importance to the hair
Gregory of Tours, the Eastern Emperor, and Merovingian Gaul
This article explores Gregory’s passages on imperial Rome and argues that they were intended to highlight the virtues and vices of particular Merovingian kings in comparison with particular Roman emperors.
Fredegund’s Deadly Dinner
One of the great villains in Gregory of Tours’ The History of the Franks is Fredegund. The sixth-century Merovingian queen was responsible, according to Gregory, for a lengthy list of murders and attempt assassinations, including against her own family members. She even murdered those men who failed to carry out her assassinations.
Locks of Difference: The Integral Role of Hair as a Distinguishing Feature in Early Merovingian Gaul
The aim of this paper is to understand the meanings that the Franks ascribed to hair and, in this quest, it will survey the different interpretations of hair that existed in sixth century Gaul.
Historian discovers evidence of malaria from the Early Middle Ages
In his paper, ‘Malaria and Malaria-Like Disease in the Frankish Empire, c.450-950, Timothy Newfield examines over fifty references to illnesses which appear in Merovingian and Carolingian sources
716: A Crucial Year For Charles Martel
The early years of Charles Martel’s life are all but obscured from the historian’s view.
The Frankish Pretender Gundovald, 582–585. A Crisis of Merovingian Blood
In the autumn of 582, a claimant to Frankish kingship named Gundovald landed in Marseilles, returning from exile in Constantinople with covert support from very powerful persons in the kingdom.
Charlemagne still kicking 1200 years later or Morangles Early Medieval Holidays
T.S. Morangles takes a trip to see all things Carolingian and Merovingian!
The Tale of Bealhildis or how an Anglian slave became a saintly French Queen
It is not every day England gives a home girl to be worshipped as a Saint by enthusiastic Gallic crowds.
Merovingian Diplomacy: Practice and purpose in the sixth century
The practise of diplomacy has not been much studied in Merovingian Gaul, although there are numerous works that deal with its political dealings with its neighbours and with the administration and culture of Gaul at this time.
The ‘second Jezebel’: representations of the sixth-century Queen Brunhild
The sixth century Merovingian queen Brunhild is a figure of extremes, lauded by Pope Gregory the Great as ‘most excellent daughter’ and later defiled as ‘the enemy of
Christianity’.
Merovingian and Carolingian Empires: An Analysis of Their Strengths and Weaknesses
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.
Behind the Veil: The rise of female monasticism and the double house
In this thesis I aim to restore the contemporary views of female monasticism that have been marginalized in current historiography. By evaluating the primary source material on women in monasticism, I intend to recapture the complex links between female religious communities and the wider social, cultural and political world of the Frankish kingdoms.
Frankish involvement in the Gregorian mission to Kent
This article re-examines the primary documents relating to the sixth century Gregorian Mission to Kent in light of the modern historiographical tradition which claims Frankish hegemony existed over the Kentish Kingdom under Aethelberht’s rule.
The Liber Historiae Francorum – a Model for a New Frankish Self-confidence
The Liber Historiae Francorum – a Model for a New Frankish Self-confidence Philipp Dörler Networks and Neighbours, Volume One, Number One (2013) The…
Tenebrae Refulgeant: Celestial Signa in Gregory of Tours
Celestial portents appear frequently in the Historiae of Bishop Gregory of Tours (ca. 539–94). Gregory carefully distinguished between the interpretation of celestial signs and horoscopic astrology by describing signs as natural, albeit miraculous, elements of God’s Creation.
The ‘Prehistory’ of Gregory of Tours: An Analysis of Books I-IV of Gregory’s Histories
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.
Literal and Symbolic: the Language of Asceticism in Two Lives of St Radegund
Since Radegund was never martyred, it is through her ascetic practice, a vicarious martyrdom, that her sanctity must be constructed. Both Fortunatus and Baudonivia treat Radegund’s ascetic practices as a means of creating the powerful body of a saint, a living relic, but the differences in the two writers’ approaches are notable.
Scissors or Sword? The Symbolism of a Medieval Haircut
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.
