Power And Patronage In Early Medieval Italy: Local Society, Italian Politics And The Abbey Of Farfa, C.700-900

This page intentionally left blank POWER AND PATRONAGE IN EARLY MEDIEVAL ITALY Founded around the beginning of the eighth century in the Sabine hills north of Rome, the abbey of Farfa was for centuries a barometer of social and political change in central Italy. Conventionally, the region’s history in the early Middle Ages revolves around the rise of the papacy as a secular political power. But Farfa’s avoidance of domination by the pope throughout its early medieval history, despite one pope’s involvement in its early establishment, reveals that papal aggrandizement had strict limits. Other parties - local elites, as well as Lombard and then Carolingian rulers - were often more important in structuring power in the region. Many were also patrons of Farfa, and this book, the first detailed study of the abbey in the early Middle Ages, reveals how a major ecclesiastical institution operated in early medieval politics, as a conduit for others’ interests and as a player in its own right. M A R I O S C O S T A M B E Y S is Lecturer in History in the School of History at the University of Liverpool. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought Fourth Series General Editor: ROSAMOND MCKITTERICK Professor of Medieval History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Sidney Sussex College Advisory Editors: CHRISTINE CARPENTER Professor of Medieval English History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of New Hall JONATHAN SHEPARD The series Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought was inaugurated by G. G. Coulton in 1921; Professor Rosamond McKitterick now acts as General Editor of the Fourth Series, with Professor Christine Carpenter and Dr Jonathan Shepard as Advisory Editors. The series brings together outstanding work by medieval scholars over a wide range of human endeavour extending from political economy to the history of ideas. For a list of titles in the series, see end of book. POWER AND PATRONAGE IN EARLY MEDIEVAL ITALY Local Society, Italian Politics and the Abbey of Farfa, c.700–900 MARIOS COSTAMBEYS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521870375 © Marios Costambeys 2007 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2007 ISBN-13 978-0-511-39454-6 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 hardback 978-0-521-87037-5 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites re