Contained in:
Book Chapter

The aristocracies of Rome in the age of Lothar

  • Veronica West-Harling

Contrary to Lombard and Carolingian Italy, there was no Frankish aristocracy in Rome itself. This paper discusses the relations between the Roman aristocracies and the emperor, which need to be seen within the context of the history between the elites of the city and the papacy after the end of Byzantine rule in Rome. Such relations can explain the tensions between the aristocracies and the papacy, which played into the hands of Lothar as he himself tried to support the pro-Frankish elites whenever possible, to provide a counterweight to papal control.

  • Keywords:
  • Middle Ages,
  • ninth century,
  • Rome,
  • Emperor Lothar,
  • aristocracies,
  • Pope Paschal I,
  • Pope Sergius II,
  • Pope Leo IV,
  • Constitutio Romana.,
+ Show More

Veronica West-Harling

University of Oxford, United Kingdom - ORCID: 0000-0002-0941-300X

  1. After Charlemagne. Carolingian Italy and its Rulers, ed. W. Pohl, C. Gantner, Cambridge 2021.
  2. L. Albiero, “Secundum romanam consuetudienem”: la riforma liturgica in epoca carolingia, in Il Secolo di Carlo Magno. Istituzioni, letterature e cultura del tempo carolingio, ed. I. Pagani, F. Santi, Firenze 2016 (mediEVI, 11), pp. 151-176.
  3. Annales Bertiniani, ed. G. Waitz, Hannover 1883 (MGH, SS rer. Germ., 5).
  4. Annales regni Francorum inde ab a. 741 usque ad a. 829, qui dicuntur Annales Laurissenses maiores et Einhardi, ed. F. Kurze, Hannoverae 1895 (MGH, SS rer. Germ, 6).
  5. The Annals of St-Bertin, ed. and transl. J.L. Nelson, Manchester 1991 (Ninth-century histories, 1).
  6. Astronomus, Vita Hludowici imperatoris, ed. E. Tremp, Hannover 1995, pp. 280-555 (MGH, SS rer. Germ., 64).
  7. A. Ballardini, Scultura per l’arredo liturgico nella Roma di Pasquale I: tra modelli paleocristiani e Flechtwerk, in Medioevo: arte e storia. Atti del X convegno internazionale di studi, Parma, 18-22 settembre 2007, ed. A.C. Quintavalle, Milano-Parma 2008, pp. 225-246.
  8. L. Barelli, I quadriportici nell’architettura religiosa della Roma carolingia (secoli VIII e IX), in «Quaderni dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Architettura», n.s., 55-56 (2010-2011), pp. 71-81.
  9. L. Barelli, Architettura e tecnica costruttiva a Roma nell’altomedioevo, Roma 2018.
  10. P. Barresi, P. Pensabene, La “rinascita carolingia” del IX secolo: reimpiego, architettura, progettazione, in La cristianizzazione in Italia tra Tardoantico e Altomedioevo. Atti del IX Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Crisitiana, Agrigento, 20-25 novembre 2004, ed. R.M. Bonacasa Carra, E. Vitale, Palermo 2007, pp. 381-439.
  11. M. Becher, Karl der Grosse und Papst Leo III. Die Ereignisse der Jahre 799 und 800 aus der Sicht der Zeitgenossen, in 799. Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Karl der Grosse und Papst Leo III. in Paderborn, vol. 3, Beitrage zum Katalog der Ausstellung, ed. C. Stiegemann, M. Wemhoff, Mainz 1999, pp. 22-36.
  12. O. Bertolini, Roma di fronte a Bisanzio e ai Longobardi, Bologna 1941 (Storia di Roma, 9).
  13. M. Betti, Sull’uso del titolo di Senatrix. Strategie di definizione e di rappresentazione di una parentela a Roma nel X secolo, in «Nuova Rivista Storica», 104 (2020), 2, pp. 627-660.
  14. M. Betti, Papa Giovanni VIII e l’aristocrazia romana. La fuga dei “Tarquini” (aprile 876), in I Longobardi a Venezia. Scritti per Stefano Gasparri, ed. I. Barbiera, F. Francesco, A. Pazienza, Turnhout 2020, pp. 165-174.
  15. M. Betti, The Social Reproduction of the Roman Aristocracy in the 9th and 10th centuries. Liutprand of Cremona and the Women of the Pope, in The 10th Century in Western Europe. Change and Continuity, ed. I. Santos Salazar, C. Tente, Oxford 2023, pp. 90-98.
  16. F. Bougard, La cour et le gouvernement de Louis II, 840-875, in La royauté et les élites dans l’Europe carolingienne. Du début du IXe siècle aux environs de 920, ed. R. Le Jan, Villeneuve d’Ascq 1998 (Histoire et littérature du Septentrion, 17), pp. 249-267.
  17. T.S. Brown, Gentlemen and Officers. Imperial Administration and Aristocratic Power in Byzantine Italy, A.D. 554-800, Rome 1984.
  18. I capitolari italici. Storia e diritto della dominazione carolingia in Italia, ed. C. Azzara, P. Moro, Roma 1998 Altomedioevo, 1).
  19. Capitularia regum Francorum, vol. 1, ed. A. Boretius, Hannover 1883 (MGH, Legum sectio, II/1).
  20. P. Carmassi, La liturgia romana tra il V e il IX secolo, in Roma dall’Antichità al Medioevo. Archeologia e storia nel Museo Nazionale Romano Crypta Balbi, ed. M.S. Arena, P. Delogu, L. Paroli, Roma 2001, pp. 144-153.
  21. Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard’s Histories, ed. and transl. B. Rogers, Ann Arbor Michigan 1972.
  22. Charlemagne and Louis the Pious. The Lives by Einhard, Notker, Ermoldus, Thegan, and the Astronomer, ed. and transl. T.F.X. Noble, University Park, PA 2009.
  23. Il Chronicon di Benedetto monaco di S. Andrea del Soratte e il Libellus de imperatoria potestate in urbe Roma, ed. G. Zucchetti, Roma 1920 (Fonti per la storia d’Italia, 55).
  24. Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae. The Early Christian Basilicas of Rome IV-IX Centuries, ed. R. Krautheimer, 5 voll., Città del Vaticano 1937-1970.
  25. M. Costambeys, Power and patronage in Early Medieval Italy. Local Society, Italian Politics and the Abbey of Farfa c. 700-900, Cambridge 2007.
  26. P. Delogu, Strutture politiche e ideologia nel regno di Ludovico II, in «Bullettino dell'Istituto storico italiano per il medio evo e Archivio muratoriano», 80 (1968), pp. 137-189.
  27. P. Delogu, Roma all’inizio del Medioevo. Storie, luoghi, persone (secoli VII-IX), Roma 2022.
  28. P. Depreux, Prosopographie de l’entourage de Louis le Pieux (781-840), Sigmaringen 1997.
  29. T. di Carpegna Falconieri, La militia a Roma: il formarsi di una nuova aristocrazia (secoli VII-VIII), in L’héritage byzantin en Italie (VIIIe-XIIe siècle), vol 2, Les cadres juridiques et sociaux et les institutions publiques, ed. J.-M. Martin, A. Peters-Custot, V. Prigent, Rome 2013, pp. 559-583.
  30. V.H. Ebern, Werke liturgischer Goldschmiedekunst in karolingischer Zeit, in Culto cristiano e politica imperiale carolingia, Todi 1979, pp. 303-336.
  31. Einhard and Notker, Two Lives of Charlemagne, ed. and transl. D. Ganz, Harmondsworth 2008.
  32. Einhard, Vita Karoli Magni, ed. G.H. Pertz, Hannoverae 1883 (MGH, SS rer. Germ., 25).
  33. Epistolarum Tomus V, ed. E. Dümmler, Berolini 1899 (MGH, Epistolae Karolini aevi, 3).
  34. G. Fasoli, Adalberto di Toscana, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 1, Roma 1960, pp. 219-221.
  35. I. Fees, Eberardo, marchese del Friuli, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 42, Roma 1993, pp. 252-255.
  36. C. Gantner, Louis II and Rome: on the relationship of the Carolingian emperor of Italy with “his” popes Nicholas I and Hadrian II, in Through the Papal Lens: Shaping History and Memory in Late Antique and Early Medieval Rome, 300-900, ed. M. Humphries, G. Vocino (forthcoming).
  37. C. Gantner, The Saracen attack on Rome in 846 and its impact on the Italian Carolingian Empire, in Social Cohesion and its Limits, ed. W. Pohl, A. Fischer (forthcoming).
  38. C. Gantner, A Brief Introduction to Italian Political History until 875, in After Charlemagne. Carolingian Italy and its Rulers, ed. W. Pohl, C. Gantner, Cambridge 2021, pp. 5-18.
  39. C. Gantner, A King in Training? Louis II of Italy and His Expedition to Rome in 844, in After Charlemagne. Carolingian Italy and its Rulers, ed. W. Pohl, C. Gantner, Cambridge 2021, pp. 164-181.
  40. C. Goodson, The Rome of Pope Paschal I: Papal Power, Urban Renovation, Church Rebuilding and Relic Translation, 817-824, Cambridge 2010.
  41. P.­M. Gy, L’unification liturgique de l’Occident et la liturgie de la curie romaine, in «Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques», 59 (1975), pp. 601-612.
  42. A. Hahn, Das Hludowicianum, in «Archiv fur Diplomatik», 21 (1975), pp. 15-135.
  43. J.T. Hallenbeck, Pope Stephen III: why was he elected?, in «Archivum Historiae Pontificiae», 12 (1974), pp. 287-299.
  44. Y. Hen, The royal patronage of liturgy in Frankish Gaul to the death of Charles the Bald (877), Woodbridge 2001.
  45. Y. Hen, The Romanization of the Frankish liturgy: ideal, reality and the rhetoric of reform, in Rome across Time and Space: Cultural Transmission and the Exchange of Ideas, c. 500-1400, ed. R. McKitterick, J. Osborne, C. Bolgia, Cambridge 2011, pp. 111-123.
  46. Y. Hen, Die karolingische Liturgie und Rom, in Karl der Große, Charlemagne. Orte der Macht, ed. F. Pohle, Dresden 2014, pp. 338-345.
  47. Y. Hen, When Liturgy Gets Out of Hand, in Writing the Early Medieval West. Studies in Honour of Rosamond McKitterick, ed. E. Screen, C. West, Cambridge 2018, pp. 203-213.
  48. K. Herbers, Papst Leo IV. und das Papsttum in der Mitte des 9. Jahrhunderts. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen päpstlicher Herrschaft in der späten Karolingerzeit, Stuttgart 2017.
  49. K.J. Heidecker, The Divorce of Lothar II: Christian Marriage and Political Power in the Carolingian World, Ithaca NY 2020 (Conjunctions of Religion and Power in the Medieval Past).
  50. E. Hlawitschka, Franken, Alemannen, Bayern und Burgunder in Oberitalien (774-962). Zum Verständnis der fränkischen Königsherrschaft in Italien, Freiburg im Breisgau 1960 (Forschungen zur Oberrheinische Landesgeschichte, 8).
  51. E. Hlawitschka, Unruochinger, fränkische Adelsfamilie, in Lexikon des Mittelalters, vol. 8, München 1997, col. 1261.
  52. J. Jarnut, Ludwig der Fromme, Lothar I. und das Regnum Italiae, in Charlemagne’s Heir: New Perspectives on the Reign of Louis the Pious (814-840), ed. P. Godman, R. Collins, Oxford 1990, pp. 349-362; reprinted in Jörg Jarnut, Herrschaft und Ethnogenese im Frühmittelalter: gesammelte Aufsätze von Jörg Jarnut: Festgabe zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. M. Becher, Münster 2002, pp. 341-354.
  53. J. Jarnut, 799 und die Folgen, in «Westfälische Zeitschrift», 150 (2000), pp. 191-209.
  54. P.J.E. Kershaw, Eberhard of Friuli, a Carolingian lay intellectual, in Lay intellectuals in the Carolingian world, ed. P.C. Wormald, J. Nelson, Cambridge 2007, pp. 77-105.
  55. H. Krahwinkler, Friaul im Frühmittelalter. Geschichte einer Region vom Ende des fünften bis zum Ende des zehnten Jahrhunderts, Wien 1992 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, 30).
  56. R. Krautheimer, Rome. Profile of a City, 312-1308, Princeton 20003.
  57. Le Liber Pontificalis. Texte, introduction et commentaire, 2 vol., ed. L. Duchesne, Paris 1886-1892.
  58. The Lives of the Eighth-Century Popes (Liber pontificalis). The ancient biographies of nine popes from AD 715 to AD 817, ed. and transl. R. Davis, Liverpool 1992 (Translated Texts for Historians, 13).
  59. The Lives of the Ninth-Century Popes (Liber Pontificalis). The ancient biographies of ten popes from A. D. 817-891, ed. and transl. R. Davis, Liverpool 1995 (Translated Texts for Historians, 20).
  60. R. McKitterick, Unity and diversity in the Carolingian Church, in Unity and Diversity in the Church, ed. R.N. Swanson, Oxford 1996, pp. 59-82.
  61. R. McKitterick, The Damnatio Memoriae of Pope Constantine II (767-768), in Italy and Medieval Europe, ed. R. Balzaretti, P. Skinner, Oxford 2018, pp. 231-249.
  62. R. McKitterick, The Liturgical Past and Papal History, in Rome and the invention of the papacy: the Liber pontificalis, ed. R. McKitterick, Cambridge 2020, pp. 157-170.
  63. F. Marazzi, Aristocratie et société (VIe-IXe siècles), in Rome au Moyen Âge, ed. A. Vauchez, Paris 2010, pp. 89-125.
  64. F. Marazzi, I “Patrimonia Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae” nel Lazio (secoli IV-X). Strutture amministrative e prassi gestionale (dal IV agli inizi del X secolo), Roma 1998 (Nuovi studi storici, 37).
  65. W. Mohr, Karl der Große, Leo III. und der römische Aufstand von 799, in «Archivum latinitatis medii aevi», 30 (1960), pp. 39-98.
  66. T.F.X. Noble, The Republic of St. Peter. The Birth of the Papal State, 680-825, Philadelphia 1984.
  67. Notker, Gesta Karoli Magni imperatoris, ed. H.F. Haefele, Berlin 1959 (MGH, SS rer. Germ., n.s., 12).
  68. V. Pace, La “felix culpa” di Richard Krautheimer: Roma, Santa Prassede e la “Rinascenza carolingia”, in Ecclesiae Urbis. Atti del Congresso Internazionale di studi sulle chiese di Roma (IV-X secolo), vol. 2, ed. F. Guidobaldi, G. Guiglia Guidobaldi, Città del Vaticano 2002, pp. 65-75.
  69. A. Pazienza, V. West-Harling, Networking nuns: imperial power and family alliances at S. Salvatore di Brescia (c. 837-861), in «Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies», 10 (2021), pp. 9-39.
  70. P. Predatsch, Migration im karolingischen Italien. Herrschaft, sozialverhältnisse in Lucca und das Schreiben über Gruppen, Berlin 2021 (Europa im Mittelalter, 38).
  71. Il regesto di Farfa compilato da Gregorio di Catino, vol. 2, ed. I. Giorgi, U. Balzani, Roma 1879.
  72. E. Screen, Lothar I in Italy, 834-40: charters and authority, in Problems and Possibilities of Early Medieval Charters, ed. J. Jarrett, A. Scott McKinley, Turnhout 2013 (International Medieval Research, 19), pp. 231-252.
  73. E. Screen, Carolingian Fathers and Sons in Italy Lothar I and Louis II’s Successful Partnership, in After Charlemagne. Carolingian Italy and its Rulers, ed. W. Pohl, C. Gantner, Cambridge 2021, pp. 149-163.
  74. R. Schieffer, Das Attentat auf Papst Leo III, in Am Vorabend der Kaiserkrönung. Das Epos "Karolus Magnus et Leo papa" und der Papstbesuch in Paderborn 799, ed. P. Godman, J. Jarnut, P. Johanek, Berlin 2001, pp. 75-85.
  75. H. Schmidinger, Eberhard, Markgraf von Friaul, in Lexikon des Mittelalters, vol. 3, München 1986, col. 1513.
  76. R. Stone, C. West, The divorce of King Lothar and Queen Theutberga. Hincmar of Rheims’s De Divortio, Manchester 2016.
  77. Thegan, Gesta Hludowici imperatoris, ed. E. Tremp, Hannover 1995, pp. 168-277 (MGH, SS rer. Germ., 64).
  78. P. Toubert, Scrinium et palatium: la formation de la bureaucratie romano-pontificale aux VIIe-IXe siècles, in Roma nell’alto medioevo, Spoleto 2001 (Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 48), pp. 57-119.
  79. F. Veronese, Un franco (anzi due) in Brianza. Gli ultimi anni di Ugo di Tours e sua moglie Ava (834-39), in I Longobardi a Venezia. Scritti per Stefano Gasparri, ed. I. Barbiera, F. Borri, A. Pazienza, Turnhout 2020, pp. 155-163.
  80. C. Vogel, Les échanges liturgiques entre Rome et les pays francs jusqu’à l’époque de Charlemagne, in Le Chiese nei Regni dell’Europa Occidentale, Spoleto 1960 (Settimane di studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 7), pp. 185-295.
  81. C. Vogel, Les motifs de la romanisation du culte sous Pépin le Bref (751-68) et Charlemagne (774-814), in Culto cristiano e politica imperiale carolingia. Atti del XVIII Convegno di studi sul tema, ed. O. Capitani, Todi 1979, pp. 15-41.
  82. C. Vogel, La reforme cultuelle sous Pépin le Bref et sous Charlemagne, in Die Karolingische Renaissance, ed. E. Patzelt, Graz 1965, pp. 172-272.
  83. K.-F. Werner, Bedeutende Adelsfamilien im Reich Karl der Grosse, in Karl der Grosse. Lebenswerk und Nachleben, vol. 1, Persönlichkeit und Geschichte, ed. H. Beumann, Düsseldorf 1965, pp. 83-142.
  84. V. West-Harling, Rome, Ravenna and Venice, 750-1000. Byzantine Heritage, the Imperial Present and the Construction of City Identity, Oxford 2021.
  85. C. Wickham, Medieval Rome. Stability and Crisis of a City, 900-1150, Oxford 2015.
PDF
  • Publication Year: 2025
  • Pages: 241-256
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2025 Author(s)

XML
  • Publication Year: 2025
  • Content License: CC BY 4.0
  • © 2025 Author(s)

Chapter Information

Chapter Title

The aristocracies of Rome in the age of Lothar

Authors

Veronica West-Harling

Language

English

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0771-3.14

Peer Reviewed

Publication Year

2025

Copyright Information

© 2025 Author(s)

Content License

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

Bibliographic Information

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

CC BY 4.0

Metadata License

CC0 1.0

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

0

Fulltext
downloads

0

Views

Export Citation

1,424

Open Access Books

in the Catalogue

2,800

Book Chapters

4,874,303

Fulltext
downloads

5,180

Authors

from 1114 Research Institutions

of 66 Nations

71

scientific boards

from 399 Research Institutions

of 44 Nations

1,314

Referees

from 406 Research Institutions

of 39 Nations