Institute for Medieval Studies

Session	327
Title	Texts and Identities, III: Italy between Eastern and Western Empire in the Early Middle Ages
Date/Time	Monday 7 July 2014: 16.30-18.00
Sponsor	Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien / Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies, Universiteit Utrecht / Faculty of History, University of Cambridge
Organiser	E. T. Dailey
	Gerda Heydemann, Geschichte der Spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters, Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin
Moderator/Chair	Marios Costambeys, Department of History, University of Liverpool
Paper 327-a	St Petronilla, Rome: Cultural Allegiances and Family Alliances (Language: English) Caroline J. Goodson, Faculty of History / King's College, University of Cambridge
Paper 327-b	'Removing the holy Pope Martin from the church of the Saviour': The Arrest and Trial of Pope Martin I in Roman Sources from the 7th-9th Centuries (Language: English) Clemens Gantner, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien Index Terms: Byzantine Studies; Ecclesiastical History; Historiography - Medieval; Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 327-c	The Challenge of Rome for Carolingian Politics of Identity in the 8th Century (Language: English) Helmut Reimitz, Department of History, Princeton University Index Terms: Historiography - Medieval; Political Thought; Politics and Diplomacy
Abstract	This session deals with the role of Italy as a 'contact zone' between East and West from the 6th to the 9th century. First, Carola Föller will have a new look at the relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Longobards around the year 600. This relationship has long been seen as exclusively antagonistic, but it will be shown that it did not merely consist of warfare - some acts of communication even led to satisfying results for both sides. Clemens Gantner will then deal with the history of the abduction of Pope Martin I by Byzantine troops and how this incident was used to denigrate the imperial side in Roman writing until the 9th century, when the infamous Anastasius Bibliothecarius produced an ample dossier on the case. And finally, Francesco Borri will show the case of Ravenna in the 9th century using the example of Agnellus's Book of Pontiffs. He will concentrate on the tensions emerging between the imperial past of Ravenna and the author's hostility towards Rome and Constantinople, as well as the role of his city in the Carolingian Empire.