Merovingian Kingdoms and the Mediterranean World

Stefan Esders is Professor of History of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages at the Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.Yitzhak Hen is Professor of Late Antique and Early Medieval History, Department of History at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Director of the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, Israel.Pia Lucas is a doctoral candidate and research assistant at the Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.Tamar Rotman is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of General History at Bar Ilan University and a research assistant in the Israeli Science Foundation project “Through distant eyes: the birth of a Merovingian story, 575-1575”, Israel.

• AcknowledgementsList of ContributorsList of AbbreviationsMapsIntroduction, Pia Lucas and Tamar RotmanPart 1: The wider world: Setting the context of the post-Roman world1. History, geography and the notion of mare nostrum in the early medieval WestYitzhak Hen2. True differences: Gregory of Tours’ account of the Council of Mâcon (585)Helmut ReimitzPart 2: Mediterranean ties and Merovingian diplomacy3. East and West from a Visigothic perspective: How and why were Frankish brides negotiated in the late sixth century Anna Gehler-Rachunek4. Friendship and diplomacy in the Histories of Gregory of ToursHope Williard5. Private records of official diplomacy: The Franco-Byzantine letters in the Austrasian Epistolar CollectionBruno Dumezil6. The language of sixth-century Frankish diplomacyYaniv FoxPart 3: Bridging the Seas: Law and religion 7. Mediterranean Homesick Blues: Human trafficking in the Merovingian legesLukas Bothe8. The Fifth Council of Orléans and the reception of the Three Chapters controversy in Merovingian GaulTill Stüber9. Reconciling disturbed sacred space: The ordo for “reconciling an altar where a murder has been committed” in the Sacramentary of Gellone in its cultural context.Rob Meens10. Imitation and rejection of Eastern practices in Merovingian Gaul: Gregory of Tours and Vulfilaic the Stylite of TrierTamar RotmanPart 4: Shifting Perspectives: Emperors, tributes and propaganda11. Magnus et verus christianus: The portrayal of Emperor Tiberius II in Gregory of ToursPia Lucas12. When contemporary history is caught up by the immediate present: Fredegar’s proleptic depiction of Emperor Constans II Stefan Esders13. Byzantium, the Merovingians, and the hog: A passage of Theophanes’ Chronicle revisitedFederico MontinaroConclusion, Yitzhak Hen and Stefan EsdersIndex

[This] is an engaging and impressive collection. The essays are filled with sharp insights and an eager willingness to upend traditional interpretations that makes the reading enjoyable without weakening their scholarly gravitas.