IMC 2014: Sessions
Session 727: Texts and Identities, VI: Political Identities in the Carolingian Empire - Empire in Retrospect
Tuesday 8 July 2014, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien / Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht / Faculty of History, University of Cambridge |
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| Organisers: | E. T. Dailey, Amsterdam University Press / Arc Humanities Press / Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Gerda Heydemann, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien / Institut für Geschichte, Universität Wien |
| Moderator/Chair: | Rosamond McKitterick, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge |
| Paper 727-a | 'To Heaven, To Hell, and Back Again': The Structure and Aims of the Visio fratris Rotcharii (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Hagiography, Politics and Diplomacy |
| Paper 727-b | Empire and its Dissolution in Saxon Hagiography (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Latin, Political Thought |
| Paper 727-c | The Impact of Imperial Thought: Adventius of Metz and Notker the Stammerer (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Medieval, Political Thought, Politics and Diplomacy |
| Abstract | Following the previous session 'Texts and Identities, IV' on the construction of imperial identity in the Carolingian empire, this session explores memories of the reign of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious in subsequent generations, thus bringing out the impact and transformation of the idea of empire during the later half of the 9th century. The first paper deals with the memory of a specific bishop who was deeply implicated in the crisis of the empire of Louis, the Pious. Lia Sternizki discusses the Visio fratris Rotcharii, a little-known text of probably West Frankish origin concerned with the memory and legacy of bishop Ebbo of Reims. Ingrid Rembold then seeks to chart how memories of the unitary empire and its division were deployed by the authors of hagiographical texts in Saxony. She traces the particular concept of empire developed by Saxon authors, in which the imperial coronation of Charlemagne was linked explicitly to his conversion of the Saxons, arguing that these texts reflect both the memory of a unified empire and its formative role for Saxony, and the region's recently localized politics. The reign of Charlemagne as a model of imperial rule is also the topic of Karl Heidecker's paper, which explores how this image served as a reference point for future generations in the Carolingian empire. By comparing the works of Adventinus of Metz and Notker the Stammerer, his paper will take up in an explicit way the central question of this series of papers: what was Carolingian identity in the Carolingian empire? |