Whereas recent research on monasteries, their properties, and their social networks in Carolingian Italy mostly focused on some very rich and well-documented institutions, the available charters offer glimpses of a much richer monastic landscape. A number of local monasteries of very different condition in terms of political, social and economic power punctuated this landscape as players in the networks of relationships and power balances running through it. Though sparse and frequently scarce, the sources allow to a certain extent to appreciate their presence and activities and the development of their patrimonies and social positioning over time. Resuming a recent definition formulated by Steffen Patzold and Carine van Rhijn for local priests as “men in the middle”, this paper provides a definition for these institutions as “monasteries in the middle”, thus highlighting their role and functions as intermediaries between different social players and groups. The examination of three case-studies located in Carolingian Lombardy on the grounds of the ninth century evidence provides an initial framework for testing the suitability of this definition, as well as the opportunities it opens for better appreciating and understanding the complexity of the local contexts in which these monasteries operated.
University of Padua, Italy - ORCID: 0000-0002-2189-1485
Chapter Title
Monasteries in the middle? Local elites and monastic landscapes in Carolingian Lombardy
Authors
Francesco Veronese
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0771-3.07
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Aristocratic networks. Elites and social dynamics in Italy in the age of Lothar I
Editors
Giuseppe Albertoni, Manuel Fauliri, Leonardo Sernagiotto
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
350
Publication Year
2025
Copyright Information
© 2025 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0771-3
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0770-6
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0771-3
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0773-7
Series Title
Reti Medievali E-Book
Series ISSN
2704-6362
Series E-ISSN
2704-6079