Property and Power in the Early Middle Ages

by Edited by Wendy Davies , Paul Fouracre

• ISBN13: 9780521434195
• ISBN10: 052143419X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-11-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is a collection of original essays on the relationship between property and power, a fundamental theme in medieval history. It addresses four main issues: the meaning of power over property; the ways in which property conveyed power; the nature of immunities; and the power of royal authority to affect property relations. The areas studied include Wales, England, France, Germany, Italy, and Byzantium, and the essays range across the period 6501150. A substantial introduction is included, which explains the nature of the issues, and a conclusion expresses the team's overall view of the subject. Aimed at a wide readership of both scholars and students, the volume also includes a glossary to help readers who may be unfamiliar with the material or the period.

Table of Contents

List of maps

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. The ideology of sharing: apostolic community and ecclesiastical property in the early middle ages David Ganz

2. Teutsind, Witlaic and the history of Merovingian precaria Ian Wood

3. Eternal light and earthly needs: practical aspects of the development of Frankish immunities Paul Fouracre

4. The wary widow Janet Nelson

5. Lordship and justice in the early English kingdom: Oswaldslow revisited Patrick Wormald

6. Adding insult to injury: power, property, and immunities in early medieval Wales Wendy Davies

7. Property transactions and social relations between rulers, bishops and nobles in early eleventh-century Saxony: the evidence of the Vita Meinwerci Timothy Reuter

8. Monastic exemptions in tenth- and eleventh-century Byzantium Rosemary Morris

9. Property ownership and signorial power in twelfth-century Tuscany Chris Wickham

10. Conclusion: property and power in early medieval Europe

Glossary.