The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World

Tamar Rotman, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies One hopes that the Handbook and the many studies it offers will inspire more scholars to delve into the fascinating history of the Merovingian world.

Speculum The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World...offers rich discussions about their history from various methodological perspectives. In doing so, it joins other recent volumes on the Merovingians that aim to give a broader outlook on the period, yet none of them is as extensive as the volume under review.... A volume that succeeds in giving diverse perspectives on the Merovingians and which provides its readers with a range of methodological approaches to study late antique and early medieval history, as well as a rich bibliography of primary and secondary sources that should help anyone who wishes to delve deeper into the history of this period.... Extremely useful for students and scholars alike.

Early Medieval Europe The academic world of Merovingian studies finds here an extremely helpful, comprehensive, thoughtful, up-to-date representation of the epoch. The two editors may be congratulated for having brought all these authors and their papers together.

Jessica Gauthier, Arc: Journal of the School of Religious Studies Editors Bonnie Effros and Isabel Moreira have given us an exceptional reference book with The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World.

Arc: The Journal of the School of Religious Studies An exceptional reference book.

Bonnie Effros is the Chaddock Chair of Economic and Social History at the University of Liverpool. She has published widely on the Merovingian period both from the perspective of burial remains and rituals and the archaeologists who excavated its remains. Her current research interrogates the work of nineteenth-century archaeologists who pursued the remains of the martyrs in France, Italy, and Tunisia. Her most recent monographs are Uncovering the Germanic Past: Merovingian Archaeology in France (1830-1914) (Oxford 2012) and Incidental Archaeologists: French Officers and the Rediscovery of Roman North Africa (Cornell 2018). Isabel Moreira is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Utah. She publishes on history and religion in late antiquity with a focus on the Merovingian period. Her current research is on Merovingian rings, ghosts in the early middle ages, and a cultural biography of Queen Balthild. She has published two monographs: Heaven's Purge: Purgatory in Late Antiquity (Oxford 2010) and Dreams, Visions, and Spiritual Authority (Cornell 2000).

Acknowledgments Abbreviations List of Contributors Map of Merovingian Gaul Merovingian Family Tree Introduction 1. Pushing the Boundaries of the Merovingian World Bonnie Effros and Isabel Moreira PART I MEROVINGIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY 2. From Gaul to Francia: The Impact of the Merovingians Paul Fouracre 3. Writing the History of Merovingian Gaul: An Historiographical Survey Agnes Graceffa 4. Two Centuries of Excavating Merovingian-Era Cemeteries in France Bonnie Effros PART II EXPRESSING IDENTITY 5. Transformations of Identities: Barbarians and Romans in the Merovingian Realm Magali Coumert 6. Migrants and Minorities in Merovingian Gaul Wolfram Drews 7. Human Remains and What They Can Tell Us about Status and Identity in the Merovingian Period Andrea Czermak 8. Gender in Merovingian Gaul Guy Halsall 9. Children's Lives and Deaths in Merovingian Gaul Emilie Perez PART III STRUCTURES OF POWER 10. The Merovingian Polity: A Network of Courts and Courtiers Yitzhak Hen 11. Elite Women in the Merovingian Period Edward James 12. The Military and Its Role in Merovingian Society Laury Sarti 13. Corporate Solidarity and Its Limits within the Gallo-Frankish Episcopate Gregory Halfond 14. Public Health, Hospitals, and Charity Peregrine Horden 15. Merovingian Monasticism: Voices of Dissent Albrecht Diem PART IV MEROVINGIAN GAUL IN A WIDER CONTEXT 16. The Merovingians and Byzantium: Diplomatic, Military, and Religious Issues, 500-700 Stefan Esders 17. The Movement of People and Things between Britain and France in the Late- and Post-Roman Periods Robin Fleming 18. De gente Scottorum monachi: The Irish in Merovingian Settlement Strategy Jean-Michel Picard 19. "Alors commenca la France": Merovingian Expansion South of the Loire, 495-510 Ralph W. Mathisen 20. The Merovingians, the Avars, and the Slavs Matthias Hardt 21. The Merovingians and Italy: Ostrogoths and Early Lombards Jonathan J. Arnold PART V MEROVINGIAN WRITTEN CULTURE 22. The History of Historiography in the Merovingian Period Helmut Reimitz 23. Merovingian Legal Cultures Alice Rio 24. Merovingian Hagiography Jamie Kreiner 25. Letters and Communication Networks in Merovingian Gaul Andrew Gillett 26. Merovingian Epigraphy, Frankish Epigraphy, and the Epigraphy of the Merovingian World. Mark Handley PART VI MEROVINGIAN LANDSCAPES 27. The Role of the City in Merovingian Francia S. T. Loseby 28. The Fate of Small Towns, Hilltop Settlements, and Elite Residences in Merovingian-Period Gaul Luc Bourgeois 29. The Fate of Late-Roman Villas in Southern Gaul between the Sixth and Seventh Centuries. Alexandra Chavarria Arnau 30. Merovingian Religious Architecture: Some New Reflections Pascale Chevalier 31. Rural Life and Work in Northern Gaul during the Early Middle Ages Edith Peytremann 32. Good and Bad Plants in Merovingian Francia Paolo Squatriti 33. Livestock and the Early Medieval Diet in Northern Gaul Jean-Herve Yvinec and Maude Barme PART VII ECONOMIES, EXCHANGE, AND PRODUCTION 34. Maritime and River Traders, Landing Places, and Emporia Ports in the Merovingian Period in and around the Low Countries Dries Tys 35. The Evidence of Numismatics: "Merovingian" Coinage and the Place of Frankish Gaul and Its Cities in an "Invisible" Roman Empire Jurgen Strothmann 36. Bead and Garnet Trade between the Merovingian, Mediterranean, and Indian Worlds Constantin Pion, Bernard Gratuze, Patrick Perin, and Thomas Calligaro 37. Merovingian Gaul and the Mediterranean: Ceramics and Trade Michel Bonifay and Dominique Pieri 38. Long-Distance Trade and the Rural Population of Northern Gaul Frans Theuws 39. Belt Buckles and Burials in Southwestern Gaul Ralph J. Patrello PART VIII THE SUPERNATURAL AND THE AFTERLIFE 40. Amulets and Identity in the Merovingian World Genevra Kornbluth 41. Magic and Divination in the Merovingian World William E. Klingshirn 42. Visions and the Afterlife Isabel Moreira 43. Inscribed in the Book of Life: Liturgical Com