Aristocrats and Statehood in Western Iberia, 300-600 C.E.

Inbunden, Engelska, 2017

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In a distant corner of the late antique world, along the Atlantic river valleys of western Iberia, local elite populations lived through the ebb and flow of empire and kingdoms as historical agents with their own social strategies. Contrary to earlier historiographical accounts, these aristocrats were not oppressed by a centralized Roman empire or its successor kingdoms; nor was there an inherent conflict between central states and local elites. Instead, DamiÁn FernÁndez argues, there was an interdependency of state and local aristocracies. The upper classes embraced state projects to assert their ascendancy within their communities. By doing so, they enacted statehood at the local level, bringing state presence to the remotest corners of Iberia, both under Roman rule and during the later Suevic and Visigothic kingdoms.Aristocrats and Statehood in Western Iberia, 300-600 C.E. combines archaeological and literary sources to reconstruct the history of late antique Iberian aristocracies, facilitating the study of a social class that has proved elusive when approached through the lens of a single type of evidence. This is the first study of Iberian elites that covers both the late Roman and the post-Roman periods in similar depth, and the chronological approach allows for a new perspective on social agency of late antique nobility. While the end of the Roman empire changed the political, economic, and social strategies of local aristocrats, the book also demonstrates a considerable degree of continuity that lasted until the late sixth century.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2017-11-06
Mått152 x 229 x 30 mm
Vikt658 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieEmpire and After
Antal sidor328
FörlagUniversity of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN9780812249460

Tillhör följande kategorier

Romarna inom Historia och arkeologi
Medeltiden inom Historia och arkeologi
Forntidens historia inom Historia och arkeologi

Introduction. An Invisible Class in a Silent LandPART I. WESTERN IBERIAN ARISTOCRACIES IN THE LATE ROMAN EMPIREChapter 1. In the Shadow of Empire: Settlement and Society in the Late Roman PeriodChapter 2. An Unprovincial Aristocracy: Aristocratic Identity in a Renewed EmpireChapter 3. Economic Strategies in a Renewed Empire: Aristocratic Economic Units in the Late Roman PeriodPART II. WESTERN IBERIAN ARISTOCRACIES IN THE POST-ROMAN WORLDChapter 4. Adapting to a New World: Post-Roman Settlement in Western IberiaChapter 5. Crafting Fragmented Statehood: Aristocratic Identity in the Post-Roman WorldChapter 6. Preserving Wealth in a Changing World: Post-Roman Aristocratic Economic StrategiesConclusionList of AbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndexAcknowledgments

"Aristocrats and Statehood in Western Iberia, 300–600 C.E is to be welcomed by historians and archaeologists wishing to acquaint themselves with a detailed and intellectually stimulating account of developments in what is still, in relative terms, a historiographically marginal area… [I]n a world in which so many history books are restatements of (frequently exhausted) positions, it is refreshing to encounter a book that makes such a striking contribution to a subject of perennial interest." (Early Medieval Europe) "A very timely and wide-ranging work that makes an important and original argument that the local elite were crucial to the day-to-day operation of the state in western Iberia in both the late Roman and post-Roman periods. It is theoretically sophisticated, very well researched, and the argument is substantiated by reference to a wealth of literary, epigraphic, and, especially, archaeological evidence, much of which is not generally known outside specialist circles." (Jonathan Edmondson, York University)