Early Medieval Italy

This article analyzes how the neighbors of the Byzantines, the Lombards (who occupied a portion of southern Italy), and the Normans (who put an end to Byzantine rule in southern Italy in 1071), described their common adversary. The examination of the features that the chroniclers living in early medieval southern Italy attributed to the Byzantines demonstrates that, at least for this part of Europe, there is evidence of strong hostility to Byzantium before the twelfth century, a period traditionally perceived as crucial for the deterioration of relations between Westerners and Constantinople.

Charred plant remains found in archaeological contexts are usually considered the most reliable remains for radiocarbon dating. Usually, seeds and fruits are preferred to wood fragments because their short lifecycle reduces the range of uncertainty of the 14C measurement. A selection of short-lived samples, mainly from barley and wheat, from the Late Roman site of Faragola (SE Italy) were 14C dated; however, the 14C dates obtained were not always consistent with the chronology provided by other archaeological evidence. A careful analysis of all the macrobotanical remains found in each of the dated contexts provides insight into the origin of the plant material, helping to distinguish between in situ and non-in situ material. The 14C dates are reconsidered in the context of findings and the kind of material selected for dating. Using the archaeological context, a Bayesian model was employed to reduce the range of the calibrated date and thereby refine the chronology of the site on an absolute basis

Langobardorum seriem, egressum situmque regni, hoc est originem eorum, vel quomodo de Scandanavia insula egressi ad Pannoniam, iterum a Pannonia Italiam transmigraverint regnumque susceperint, Paulus, vir valde peritus, compendiosa licet brevitate set prudenti composuit […] In his autem non frustra exclusit aetas loquendi, quoniam in eis Langobardorum desiit regnum; mos etenim hystoriographi doctoris est, maxime de sua stirpe disputantis, ea tantummodo retexere quae ad laudis cumulum pertinere noscuntur. Ultimo autem compulsus a compluribus ego Erchempert […] ystoriolam condere Langobardorum Beneventum degentium, de quibus quia his diebus nil dignum ac laudabile repperitur quod veraci valeat stilo exarari, idcirco non regimen eorum set excidium, non felicitatem set miseriam, non triumphum set perni ciem, non quemamodum profecerint set qualiter defecerint, non quomodo alios superaverint set quomodo superati ab aliis ac devicti fuerint, ex intimo corde ducens alta suspiria, ad posteritatis exemplum suc cincto licet et inerti prosequar calamo. 1

The Carolingian conquest of Lombard Italy (774) was preceded by a massive effort on the part of the Church to convince the Frankish court of the legitimacy of the invasion. Relying on a terminology borrowed from Gregory I, the papal court produced an offensive portrait of the Lombards, depicted as treacherous, vile, and heathen. This article analyzes eighth-century papal epistolary and the Liber Pontificalis in order to establish the strategies behind this campaign. In a second moment, we turn to the Lombard response after the conquest, and the efforts of Paul the Deacon as well as the anonymous author of the Origo Langobardorum codicis Gothanis to question the papal portrait of the Lombards and to reclaim the Christian past of their people. Both Paul and the Gotha Origo focused on the importance of the conversion—and especially the role of Gregory the Great—in the rehabilitation of the Lombards. Their works, this article suggests, represent an attempt of the Lombards to dissociate their Christian faith from the conquest and to reclaim the narrative about their own past.

The achievement of autonomy from the Byzantine Empire and the political fragmentation of southern Italy made the second half of the eighth century and the ninth century a crucial period for the history of Naples. In those years the Neapolitan rulers tried to legitimize and to strengthen their power, and during this process they attempted to take control of the Neapolitan Church, which inevitably led to conflicts with the local ecclesiastics. This article analyzes how this period is described in the Gesta episcoporum Neapolitanorum of John the Deacon, who probably composed this work between the end of the ninth century and the beginning of the tenth century. It demonstrates that the author of the "Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops" wanted to emphasize not only that all the Neapolitan prelates had taken care of the religious buildings and of their flock, but also that they had not been accommodating to secular power.

This article challenges the assertion that the anonymous dedicatory poem-addressed to Aio (884-891), the prince of Benevento-represents the proem of the Cassinese monk Erchempert's Historia Langobardorum Beneventanorum (ca. late 9th c.). First, the linguistic and stylistic differences between the two works far outnumber the supposed similarities. This indicates that the author of the carmen possessed a deeper understanding of Latin than the chronicler. The principle discrepancy, however, lies in that in the dedication Aio's talents are extolled-describing him as the initiator of a new shining era-whereas, in the chronicle, although not condemning Aio, Erchempert's tone is not overly laudatory. If the Cassinese monk truly is the author of the poetic composition, then he wrote it with such a style and intent that it would be a direct departure from the tone of the Historia Langobardorum Beneventanorum.

Lombard laws were issued between 643 and 755. They comprise in toto an invaluable normative source for the Lombard kingdom and society in the seventh and eighth centuries. Commentators have concentrated upon the witness that the laws comprise for the ability of Lombard kings to rule, control and influence society. This paper, however, will consider aspects of both movement and mobility through and across the kingdom using the prism provided by the law with regard to fugitives, runaway slaves and strangers. What does the law tell us about the conceptual parameters associated with those who composed and compiled Lombard law? How did the Lombard kingdom respond to movement and mobility? What do prescriptions which relate to frontiers reveal about the broader interconnectivity of the Mediterranean world? In addressing these issues, and in considering the broader connotations revealed, this paper will argue for a deeper mobility in the early medieval West.

The final publication is available at Medieval Worlds via http://dx.doi.org/10.1553/medievalworlds_no13_2021s3 (article Heath: http://dx.doi.org/10.1553/medievalworlds_no13_2021s12, article Gantner: http://dx.doi.org/10.1553/medievalworlds_no13_2021s36  article Manarini:http://dx.doi.org/10.1553/medievalworlds_no13_2021s76).

Pope Sylvester I (314-335) became an important figure in the political history of early medieval Italy. His legendary relationship with Constantine I (306-337), the first Christian emperor, played a significant role in establishing his ideological prominence. Declared a saint of the early Roman Church, Sylvester’s relics did not gain much attention until the middle of the eighth century, when they became a source of competition. On the one hand, Roman popes venerated his body in the monastery of St Stephen and St Sylvester, founded by Pope Paul I around 760 inside the Eternal City; on the other hand, the Lombard king Aistulf and his brother-in-law, Abbot Anselm, claimed to have brought Sylvester’s relics north, in order to have them buried in Anselm’s newly founded monastery of Nonantola in the Po Valley. Scholars would appear to have overlooked this major issue when investigating the relation- ship between Lombard elite society and Roman popes in the eighth century. This article will therefore consider the dates, forms, and narratives of the translatio of St Sylvester in order to evaluate Nonantola’s political and ideological involvement in this »holy« movement. The main argument is that through the »journey« of Sylvester’s relics within the Lombard kingdom, King Aistulf was able to increase his prestige and political influence. For its part, Nonantola rewrote the history of its origins by centring it on the relics of the Constantinian pontiff and those of Pope Hadrian I, in order to claim political and spiritual primacy through- out the medieval period.

The Carolingian Life of Ambrose (De vita et meritis sancti Ambrosii) survives in only one manuscript from St. Gall dated to the late ninth century (Stiftsbibl. 569). This long and complicated hagiographic text (more than 95 pages in the manuscript) is clearly unsuited for liturgical practices. It was written especially for a learned Milanese archbishop capable of decrypting and appreciating an extremely skilled and elaborate compilation. The writing combines different sources (classics, patristics, hagiography, ecclesiastical history, exegesis) to draw a portrait of the patron saint of Milan and father of the Church. My paper shall focus on the use of these sources – above all the Historia Tripartita and Ambrose’s political letters – showing to what extent the anonymous compiler was aware of the contemporary political and ecclesiastical debates about the role of bishops and rulers in a Christian society. He also shared the literary tastes and narrative expedients of the most eminent Carolingian scholars of the time (Hincmar, Paschasius Radbertus, Sedulius Scottus). The last section of my paper shall deal with the use of contemporary textual witnesses as well as late antique and early medieval hagiography highlighting the prestige and fame of Ambrose: the Milanese father is indeed depicted as being at the pinnacle of an illustrious gathering comprising the most prestigious late antique saints as well as biblical heroes.

Based on an extensive source analysis, this book provides the biographical information of all early medieval Venetians, thus offering an invaluable research tool for the history of Venice.

This prosopographical study provides information about each Venetian living in the early Middle Ages, from the invasion of the Lombards in 569 - an action that forced part of northeast Italy’s population to seek refuge on the islands of the Venetian lagoon - to the rule of Duke Petrus Ursoylus II (991-1008). There is an entry for each individual listing all available information and quoting the full text of primary sources within the footnotes. The data are organized in categories such as families, first names, rulers, women, office holders, ecclesiastics, occupations, and places of residence (Venice was a duchy with different urban centres).

Venice is an extremely important place for this kind of analysis. It is the area in which family name use began for the first time in medieval Europe. Venice was never conquered by a ‘Germanic’ people, and therefore it is possible to study the evolution of a post-Roman/Byzantine society by analyzing the names of the Venetians. Moreover, scholars interested in later periods will be able to find the origins of all the most important Venetian families.

Early medieval southern Italian chroniclers related the great strife Muslim forces brought to their lands. Their accounts, however, were far more nuanced than scholars have previously proposed. A closer reading of the evidence reveals that these authors did not consider Saracens to be evil incarnate. Indeed, some sources offer examples of their humanity. Moreover, Muslims were not always considered a distant and unapproachable other. These writers also showed that Franks, Byzantines, and some Lombard rulers could be far worse. Through examining three surviving chronicles, which narrate the history of the southern Lombards, the Deeds of the Neapolitan Bishops, and a Jewish-family history, this article will advocate for a new reckoning of the way southern Italian peoples perceived Muslims during the early Middle Ages.

Questo libro ha in sé due oggetti di indagine. Da una parte l’osservazione della distrettuazione politica dell’Emilia orientale e dell’organizzazione della sua rete di popolamento; dall’altra, l’analisi dell’articolazione della società, con una particolare attenzione alle relazioni che intercorrono tra le comunità e i diversi poteri centrali che si succedettero in una zona circoscritta all’interno di uno spazio definito come iudiciaria mutinensis nelle carte del X e dell’XI secolo, estesa su buona parte delle terre delle attuali province di Modena e Bologna, dalle propaggini appenniniche del Frignano fino alla bassa pianura tra la via Emilia e il Po.
Così, la gerarchizzazione sociale ed economica, le specifiche logiche dell’organizzazione territoriale dell’Emilia orientale, le capacità d’azione politica a livello locale dei ceti eminenti, ovvero la dinamica sociale del potere, si presentano come i principali problemi nel processo di elaborazione di uno studio accurato sui vari gruppi sociali e i loro rapporti politici ed economici lungo il periodo di transizione tra l’Antichità e il Medioevo condotto tenendo presente in modo critico e sistematico i risultati delle più recenti indagini archeologiche e l’analisi delle fonti scritte.

A thriving Roman municipium, Modena was one of the cities that shrank in the transition from late antiquity to the Middle Ages: wars and political turmoil aggravated by climatic, demographic, economic and social crisis led to urban reconfiguration. A town in ruins and under threat: thus is Modena remembered in the earliest texts, and thus did literary sources continue to style the city in the following centuries. However, both archaeological and documentary evidence show the revitalisation of the urban setting and the increasing control of the town over the surrounding countryside. The analysis of such a diverse corpus of sources allows us to gauge the distance between the real city recently unearthed by archaeologists, the city described in charters and the city staged in literary texts. This highlights the deliberate construction of a discourse on and about Modena that served the affirmation of episcopal authority in times in which power was progressively taking on a territorial character. Sublimating fears and perceived threats, the anonymous clerics working for the local bishop gave shape to the hagiographic legend of Geminianus, patron saint and protector of Modena against its enemies. The cult thus offered to the local community helped solidify its social cohesion and further linked its identity to the episcopal church as the Carolingian political construction disarticulated and reconfigured itself.

Two key economic questions tend to be asked about the transformation of the Roman world. First, how did Roman fiscal structures continue, disintegrate and transform? Second, how did emerging churches play a role in the redistribution of wealth through new administrative structures to create a new social system, what Ian Wood has called a 'temple society'? These two processesone focussing on the continuity or discontinuity of the Roman economic structures and the other on churches within that systemare usually examined separately or assumed to follow, what we call here, a 'Gallic model'. In this article, we first demonstrate that Wood's 'temple society' is far more complex in its emergence in Italy than in Gaul. Second, we argue that the churches of Italy remained embedded within late Roman fiscal structures, even as they transformed during late antiquity. Fiscal arrangements, examined through the churches of Rome and Ravenna, established churches as ever more central economic actors to the state fiscal system by 600 and shaped their long-term wealth redistribution process.

This volume which deals with conflict and violence in medieval Italy has the following contributors, contributions and colleagues:

I: (Christopher Heath and Robert Houghton), Introduction: Discordant Minds and Hostile Nations

II: (Christopher Heath), Morbidity and Murder: Lombard Kingship’s Violent Uncertainties 568-774

III. (Guido Berndt), Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in Lombard Italy (c.600-700)

IV: (Francesco Borri), The Hope of Italy: Narrative of Conquest and Resistance from Charlemagne to Bernard (774 – 818)

V: (Kordula Wolf), Nec patiaris populum Domini ab illis divinitus fulminandis Agarenis discerpi: Dealing with ‘Saracen’ Violence in 9th and 10th-Century Southern Italy

VI. (David Barritt), Formosus and the ‘synod of the corpse’: tenth century Rome in history and memory

VII. (Edoardo Manarini), Sex, denigration and violence: a representation of political competition between two aristocratic kinships in IXth-century Italy.

VIII: (Penelope Nash), ‘Italy and her [German] Invaders’: Otto III’s and Frederick Barbarossa’s Early Tours of Italy – Pomp, Generosity and Ferocity

IX: (Robert Houghton), ‘I predict a riot’: What were the Parmense rebelling against in 1037?

X: (Enrico Veneziani), Violence in Rome: the papal election of Honorius II

XI: (Ross Balzaretti), Afterword

If colleagues are interested, one may use this as a discount on the publishing price:

'an online discount code of 20% valid until the 22 February 2022 that you can send to your colleagues, friends and family: “Pub_CVMI”. The code is valid via the AUP website and the linked distributor webshops. Once your book is in the basket, the code can be entered via the “Use a discount code” link'.

Questo lavoro prende in esame i problemi e i metodi di analisi delle strutture morfosintattiche dei documenti alto-medievali della Romània. La prima parte è dedicata ad una discussione critica di alcune difficoltà concettuali che possono complicare l'analisi: i criteri di descrizione di fenomeni che sono ben diversi da quelli del latino classico (inteso come latino del canone grammaticale corretto), il problematico ricorso alle categorie linguistiche del latino ormai in corso di smantellamento (ad esempio le nozioni di "Nominativo", "Genitivo", "Dativo", "Accusativo", etc.), la rappresentazione del rapporto tra lingua scritta e lingua parlata. Si introduce inoltre come centrale e rilevante nello studio della morfosintassi il concetto di "polimorfismo". La seconda parte del lavoro è dedicata all'analisi puntuale di alcune strutture morfologiche e sintattiche del corpus dei documenti del IX secolo conservati all'Abazia di Cava dei Tirreni. Si tratta di documenti di particolare interesse per lo studio della transizione dal latino ai volgari italoromanzi, e più in generale per la riflessione metodologica sull'indagine dei documenti alto-medievali. Le strutture esaminate permettono di trarre alcune conclusioni sul rapporto tra registri di lingua scritta e registri di lingua parlata all'altezza del IX secolo nelle aree in cui i documenti furono redatti.

*** To register for the conference (free of charge): giornata.numismatica@gmail.com ***

conference organization: FABRIZIO ROSSINI (president CNT)
scientific coordination: LUCA GIANAZZA

Circolo Numismatico Ticinese (CNT) is happy to announce a series of conferences devoted to the study of monetary relations between today’s Swiss and Italian territories. The first study conference will take place in Lugano on September 29, 2018 and will be devoted to the early Middle Ages, VI-XI centuries. Among the various subjects the symposium will focus upon there will be: a scientific reconsideration of the Ilanz (GR) and Hermenches (VD) important coin finds; an extensive overview on monetary finds; an outline of the Regnum Italiae mints and their impact on the territories north of the Alps. The Conference has been made possible thanks to the financial support of Canton Ticino Department of Culture and also to the grant generously provided by the International Numismatic Council (CIN/INC). The publication of the conference transactions is scheduled to take place by the Spring 2020. The event’s detailed program will be diffused ahead of the conference.

Il Circolo Numismatico Ticinese (CNT) è lieto di annunciare l’organizzazione di una serie di giornate di studi dedicate all’approfondimento dei rapporti monetali tra Svizzera e Italia. La prima giornata, si svolgerà il 29 settembre 2018 a Lugano e sarà dedicata al periodo alto-medioevale, prefiggendosi di esplorare specifiche tematiche inerenti la monetazione circolante nei territori contigui tra Svizzera e Italia in epoca medioevale. Tra i vari temi che la giornata di studi affronterà vi sarà il riesame scientifico dei ripostigli di Ilanz (GR) e Hermenches (VD), un’estensiva indagine sui ritrovamenti monetari, unitamente all’attività delle zecche del Regnum Italiae e all’impatto della loro moneta a nord delle Alpi. La giornata di studi è stata possibile grazie al contributo del Dipartimento della Cultura del Canton Ticino e grazie al supporto finanziario del Consiglio Internazionale di Numismatica (CIN/INC). La pubblicazione degli atti della conferenza è prevista entro la Primavera 2020.

La collana "Fonti tradotte per la storia dell'Alto Medioevo" si propone di rendere accessibili a un pubblico di lettori interessati ma non specialisti i più significativi testi europei di interesse storiografico relativi all'Alto Medioevo feudale (IX-XI secolo) e finora non tradotti in lingua italiana. Di ogni testo è offerta una versione accurata e completa, accompagnata da introduzioni e note e corredata da un'ampia documentazione ausiliaria.

Questa tesi analizza il processo attraverso il quale l'autorità ducale riuscì ad assumere, tra VIII e IX secolo, il controllo della cattedra episcopale di Napoli, sulla quale insediò stabilmente i suoi fiduciari. In questo modo duchi e vescovi cooperarono alla direzione di una manovra politica rivolta non solo alla stabilizzazione e al rafforzamento del ducato, ma anche alla uniformazione e alla semplificazione delle strutture ecclesiastiche cittadine attraverso il compimento della loro residuale latinizzazione. Tale disegno fu esteso anche al monachesimo cittadino, che subì un generale riassetto sotto ogni aspetto liturgico, organizzativo e amministrativo.

in: Rob Meens et al. (eds.), Religious Franks. Religion and power in the Frankish Kingdoms: Studies in honour of Mayke de Jong (Manchester, 2016).


We have grown accustomed to viewing relations between the Carolingian court and the monasteries within the realm in terms of politics and economics. Confirmation charters and (land) grants are evidence of transactions with benefits for both parties, often very material in nature or closely related to worldly power. The relations with the abbey of Monte Cassino break this paradigm somewhat, not only because it was situated outside the Carolingian empire, but also because its spiritual prestige trumped any worldly benefit to be gained. This essay studies the interplay between power politics and religion in the Carolingians' relations with Monte Cassino.

Un ritrovamento fortuito avvenuto a Bergheim (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germania) ha restituito un denaro del "Regnum Italiae" della nota serie del tempio tetrastilo e legenda "Christiana Religio", con caratteristiche tuttavia inedite. L’esemplare viene riconosciuto come una emissione di Ugo di Arles col titolo di "imperator" e assegnato alla zecca di Venezia. Il raffronto con altri esemplari a nome di questo sovrano ha successivamente portato a individuare un secondo esemplare con queste stesse caratteristiche tra quelli venuti alla luce nel 1885 ad Aspres-lès-Corps (Haut Alpes, Francia) all’interno della tomba di un soldato ungaro e recentemente ripubblicati. La scoperta di questa nuova moneta, unitamente al riesame critico delle altre emissioni realizzate nella prima metà del X secolo in Italia settentrionale, permette ora di avanzare nuovi spunti di riflessione circa la validità delle attribuzioni tradizionalmente proposte per diverse monete del "Regnum Italiae", in particolare per quello che riguarda le emissioni delle zecche di Verona e Venezia.

A fortuitous discovery occurred in Bergheim (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany) brought to light a denaro of the "Regnum Italiae". It belongs to the famous series with the tetrastyle temple and the legend "Christiana Religio", with characteristics still unknown. The coin can be identified as a Hugh of Arles’ issue, called "imperator", and assigned to the mint of Venice. The comparison between this coin and others issued under this sovereign allowed us to identify a second coin, with similar peculiarities, among those found in 1885 in Aspres-lès-Corps (Haut Alpes, France) inside the tomb of a Hungarian soldier and recently republished. The discovery of this new coin, with the critical examination of others strucked in the 10th century in Northern Italy, allows us to advance new insights on the classification traditionally proposed for the currencies of the "Regnum Italiae", especiallly for the mints of Verona and Venice.

Un "denaro" du "Regnum Italiae" appartenant à l’émission du temple tétrastyle et avec légende "Christiana Religio" a été découvert fortuitement à Bergheim (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Allemagne). L’exemplaire, qui présente des caractéristiques inédites, a été reconnu comme une émission d’Hugues d’Arles, avec le titre d’"imperator", et assigné à l’atelier de Venise. La comparaison avec les exemplaires au nom de ce souverain a permis d’identifier un deuxième exemplaire, ayant les mêmes particularités, retrouvé à l’intérieur de la sépulture d’un soldat hongrois en 1885 à l’Aspres-lès-Corps (Haut Alpes, France), et récemment reéédité. La découverte de cette monnaie et le réexamen critique des émissions de la première moitié du X siècle en Italie septentrionale permettent de reconsidérer les attributions traditionnellement proposées pour les monnaies du "Regnum Italiae", en particulier pour celles des ateliers de Vérone et Venise.

Under the auspices of the IMC Congress 2016 (4th-7th July 2016)(and subject to acceptance of the proposed sessions) contributions are invited to discuss the theme of Disorder and Violence in Medieval Italy between the advent of the Lombards in 568/9 and the death of Roger II of Sicily in 1154. The chronological range encompasses Lombard Italy 568-774, Carolingian Italy 774-888, the ‘National’ Kingdom 888-962 and beyond to Ottonian and Salian rule in the North of the peninsula; all periods marked by violent change. In the south, the period sees the fragmentation of political entities in the ninth-century, the assertion of new powers in the tenth-century with notable Byzantine and Islamic impacts and, subsequently, the rise and consolidation of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Beyond the geo-political sphere, the period sees raids and disturbance caused by Magyars and Muslims, the development of strategies in urban and rural communities to combat instability and insecurity, growing self-awareness, self-government and cohesion of cities e.g. Venice, Naples, Amalfi etc., and economic and social disorder in urban environments.
The aim is to cover a wide geographical and chronological range in Italy to encourage and develop common themes across the peninsula. Was violence a cause or consequence of political and social change? How was violence normalised within the various societies of early medieval Italy? How were different types of violence represented in the sources? These questions are important throughout the period and need to be considered with a wide view.

The study of miracles, visions, predictions, and other supernatural phenomena has become important for understanding religious practices, mentalities, and the use of the past in the Middle Ages. In spite of the absence of local martyrs and saints and the small hagiographical production in Venice during the early Middle Ages, these phenomena were also relevant. This article emphasizes both the unique aspects of the Venetian texts and their similarities with early medieval sources from the rest of Italy. In particular, it focuses on the ways Venetian authors employed miracles and divine interventions to shape a past that could be utilized for their present.

L'onomastica latina di Treviso longobarda e i suoi rapporti con la «Venetia» lagunare * Nella parte dedicata all'alto Medioevo del secondo volume della Storia di Treviso, pubblicato nel 1991, 1 si è evidenziata l'esistenza di forti legami tra il ducato longobardo di quell'area e la Venezia lagunare. In particolare si è osservato come in sei documenti dell'ottavo secolo redatti nella città di Treviso tra il 710 e il 774 e provenienti dal monastero dei santi Pietro, Paolo e Teonisto, 2 situato a Casier, 3 si possa riscontrare la presenza di una discreta quantità di nomi di origine latina e greca, i quali dimostrerebbero che nel ducato di Treviso c'era una forte mescolanza etnica. Essa indicherebbe che questo «avamposto del regno» era «tutto spinto verso le terre di tradizione bizantina della laguna veneta, con le cui popolazioni mantiene un'affinità etnica e culturale profonda». 4 A parte basarsi su un esiguo numero di fonti, disponibili soltanto per un breve lasso di tempo -particolarità che avrebbero dovuto suggerire maggiore prudenza -, l'autore di questo studio compie l'errore metodologico di Questa ricerca è stata finanziata dal "Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award (Western Michigan University)" e dal "Burnham-MacMillan History Department Endowment (Western Michigan University)". Desidero ringraziare Chiara Frison e Stefano Trovato per l'aiuto fornitomi. 1 S. GASPARRI, Dall'età longobarda al secolo X, in D. Rando e G.M. Varanini (a cura di), Storia di Treviso, vol. II, Venezia, Marsilio, 1991, pp. 3-39. 2 I documenti sono editi in C. CIPOLLA, Antichi documenti del monastero dei Santi Pietro e Teonisto, «Bullettino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo», 22, 1901, pp. 38-48. Essi si possono trovare anche nel Codice diplomatico longobardo (sec. VIII), 2 voll., a cura di L. Schiaparelli, Roma, Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1929-1933 (Fonti per la storia d'Italia, 62-63) -d'ora in poi indicato con CDL. Poiché l'edizione del Cipolla è stata impiegata da Gasparri, per facilitare i confronti, essa sarà utilizzata in questo articolo, riportando dove il documento menzionato si può reperire in CDL. In generale su questo monastero nell'alto Medioevo, vedi CIPOLLA, Antichi documenti, cit., p. 35, e P. A. PASSOLONGHI, Presenza benedettina nella Venezia orientale tra i secoli VIII e X, «Benedectina», 29, 1982, p. 33. 3 Questo paese si trova nei pressi di Treviso. 4 S. GASPARRI, Dall'età longobarda, cit., pp. 19 e p. 37, nota 41. A proposito di questa tematica, in un lavoro pubblicato nello stesso periodo, egli parla di «mescolanza etnica fra il ducato trevigiano e le terre lagunari». S. GASPARRI, Venezia fra i secoli VIII e IX. Una riflessione sulle fonti, in Studi Veneti offerti a Gaetano Cozzi, Venezia, Il Cardo, 1992, p. 8, nota 13. Un riferimento alla «mescolanza etnica» si trova anche in S. GASPARRI, La frontiera in Italia (sec. VI-VIII): Osservazioni su un tema controverso, in G. P. Brogiolo (a cura di), Città, castelli, campagne nei territori di frontiera (secoli VI-VII), Mantova, Padus, 1995, p. 16. Il trasferimento dall'Università di Roma a quella di Venezia circa venticinque anni fa del medievista Stefano Gasparri ha portato questo studioso a dedicare alcuni studi alla Venezia lagunare altomedievale nei quali, utilizzando la sua ottica di specialista della terraferma, ha spesso evidenziato che il mondo lagunare aveva delle forti continuità e affinità con quello dei suoi vicini e ha recentemente sottolineato come la storiografia veneziana soffra di un approccio troppo specializzato e sia chiusa in se stessa. S. GASPARRI, Anno 713: La leggenda di Paulicio e le origini di Venezia, in U. Israel (a cura di), Venezia: I giorni della Storia, Roma, Viella, 2011, p. 28.

Catalogue of the coins of Milan in the collection of Vittorio Emanuele III di Savoia, king of Italy, currently kept at the Museo Nazionale Romano. This volume presents the coins formerly assigned to the mint of Milan, also including those that now can be attributed to other mints (e.g. Venice)

Throughout the seventh century, great mutual amity was professed by the churches of Ravenna, Constantinople and Rome. Sometimes, there was amity. But the situation of the Byzantine empire was often so precarious as to threaten, directly and indirectly, the churches of Rome and Ravenna and hence preclude even a pretence of amity. 1 From the end of the sixth century the empire had had to contend with Persian attacks on its eastern front as well as Avar-Slav attacks in the Balkans, only temporarily halted by the victories of the emperor Heraclius both in defending Constantinople (626) and in recapturing Jerusalem in 628. Such military successes were short-lived, however. For the empire was confronted by a new threat: the expansion of Islam from 632, which rapidly shrank the empire's territory in Asia and Africa; while in Italy Lombard expansion restricted the areas conquered by Justinian in the mid sixth century to the old capital of Rome and the new capital of Ravenna, with a long but fairly narrow corridor dividing them along the Via Emilia by the end of the seventh century. At the same time, the crisis situation evoked a military reorganization of Italy in the form of the exarchate, with its capital in Ravenna. 2 The exarch's powers were not only civil and military: they extended ecclesiastically over the bishops, including those of Ravenna and Rome, and they specifically covered episcopal elections, behaviour 1 The accounts of these events are too numerous to mention, and I will simply refer to one from the perspective of the Byzantine empire (J. Herrin, The Formation of Christendom (1st paperback edn., 1989), pp. 145-219, 250-90); one from the perspective of Italy (S. Cosentino, Storia dell'Italia Bizantina (sec. VI-XI) da Giustiniano ai Normanni (Bologna, 2008)); and one from that of Ravenna (D. M. Deliyannis

With the conquest of Pavia in 774, Charlemagne put an end to Lombard domination in Italy. However, the Frankish sovereign was unable to seize the southern part of the Lombard Kingdom, known as the Duchy of Benevento, whose territory extended over the greater part of the south of Italy. Owing to armed resistance and then a treaty which, in theory, recognized the dependence of the Beneventans from Charlemagne, the duke of Benevento, Arechis II, was able to prevent the expansion of the Franks into southern Italy. Moreover, Arechis II, underscoring his autonomy, assumed the title of prince and began to act as an independent ruler. 1 Upon Arechis II's death in 787, his son, Grimoald III, initially followed his father's policy, but later openly rebelled against the Franks, leading to a frontier war, which concluded with the maintenance of the "status quo." Clashes continued under his successor, Grimoald IV, until about 812 when the spheres of influence of the Byzantines and the Franks were definitively settled. 2 Having passed the danger of subjugation, the Beneventans were forced to confront a problem that would prove to be much more serious for the internal stability of their principality, namely, the struggles between various factions that seemed to have been suspended during the course of the clashes with the Franks. In 817 Prince Grimoald IV was killed following a plot led by Radelchis, count of Conza, and Sico, gastald of Acerenza, who then became the new prince. 3 Sico (817-832) was not a native of the principality of Benevento, and probably relied upon one of the Beneventan aristocratic factions to strengthen his position; his allies profited from the situation by attempting Different versions of this article have been presented at