The Merovingians

Книга «Франкская империя Карла Великого» — это история о диких необузданных племенах франков и их войнах с римлянами; о создании жестоким и хитрым королем Хлодвигом франкского королевства; «ленивых королях» династии Меровингов и могущественных майордомах, а также о завоеваниях земель, дипломатии и внутренней политике коронованного императорской короной Карла Великого; о достижениях прекрасного и величественного Каролингского возрождения, оставившего глубокий след в европейской культуре.

Франкскую империю, созданную Карлом Великим, справедливо считают своеобразным «Евросоюзом» эпохи Средних веков. Именно держава Карла стала исторической основой не только современных Франции, Германии и Италии, но и многих других сопредельных им стран.

(english below)
Ce document est un travail de synthèse et d'étude personnel, sans prétention à concourir avec les professionnels de l'archéologie, concernant les fers de haches mérovingiens asymétriques.
L'étude porte sur l'angle "d'attaque" des fers, et leurs poids (pour ceux connus, provenant surtout de travail de W.Hübener sur les fers de haches).

MAJ 2016:
Un travail de reprise de tout le corpus avec ajout des provenances, numéro de tombe, lien bibliographique et relecture des angles est en cours depuis maintenant plus d'un an. Pour des raisons personnelles j'avance moins vite que précédemment, le travail une fois fini sera remis en ligne avant de reprendre la partie théorique et les conclusions en lien avec les expérimentations que nous menons actuellement, qui fera l'objet d'une autre publication.
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This document is a personnal and non-professional synthesis and study about asymmetrical Merovingian axes, unpretentious to compete with professionals of the archeology.
The study focuses on the "attackangle"  of the Franciscas and their weight (for those known, especially from working on W.Hübener  iron axes).

2016 update:
A rework of the whole body with addition of sources, grave number, bibliographic link and replay angles has been going on now for over a year. Once the finished this study will be brought back online before taking the parts about theoretical and conclusions (in connection with the experiments we are conducting), which will be the subject of another publication .

The Chronology of the life of Clovis and his father Childeric has been an ongoing problem for over a hundred years. In this paper I endeavour to solve some of the problems inherent in a chronology that has been distorted by two separate strands of dating mechanisms within Gregory of Tours' History in Ten Books. The first where Clovis' reign ends in 511 and the second where an effort was made to extend his life and reign to 518. I will propose that seven years were added to Clovis' life and reign by an interpolator to create this 518 extension. This will then show that Clovis was a minor when Childeric, his father died and so Clovis was unable to become king until he became fifteen years of age in 488CE. I will also examine the letters of the bishops Remigius and Avitus and suggest their correct dating and find confirmation that Clovis was baptised as a Catholic in December 496 by revealing who Avitus' Princeps was that had eluded Danuta Shanzer in her 1998 paper-Dating the Baptism of Clovis. Using contemporary and near contemporary evidence and archaeology I will construct a chronology of events that is not far removed from that currently accepted aside from the start of his reign, the length of his reign, his age at death and the chronology of some early events. I will also suggest that Clovis may have become a Christian on marriage to Clotilda, but not choosing which form until baptism, or that his mother was already Arian Christian, explaining his knowledge of Christian ideals and tenets from an early age. Regarding Childeric, I will suggest that his father was Chlodion; the dates that he occupied Paris and the date and place of his battle against the Alamanni. I will also suggest that the last of the Gallo-Romans under Syagrius came to power when the western Gauls revolted; the eastern empire having refused their petitions to rule the west in favour of the barbarian Odoacer; and that they remained in power with Visigothic aid until their defeat by Clovis. An effort will also be made to explain the term Merovingian and how it came about due to the Frankish elite of the sixth and seventh centuries having famous ancestors. In doing so the origin of the mythical sea monster tale regarding the birth of Merovech can be revealed.

«Деяния Дагоберта, короля франков» (Gesta Dagoberti regis Francorum)-жизнеописание короля из династии Меровингов Дагоберта I (629-638 гг.), созданное в монастыре Сен-Дени в первой половине 830-х гг.

Full commented Russian translation of the Gesta Dagobert, a biography of Dagobert I (629-638), the most powerful king of Francian during the rule of the Merovingian dynasty. The text was written at Saint-Denis abbey in 830s.

RE: Facades, illusions & ideological concepts created & promoted by ancient royalty out of necessity; effective creation of an alternate version of reality. It is only by knowing this information that the true nature of ancient texts may be understood correctly. Not knowing, means making incorrect assumptions & conclusions. Important!

Эпоха викингов стала главным потрясением для Европы в конце раннего Средневековья. Однако "внезапное" начало походов скандинавов на Запад в дейстительности не было таким уж спонтанным – ему предшествовал длительный и чрезвычайно интересный период культурной истории Северной Европы. Так называемый римский железный век и вендельский период породили яркое художественное ремесло, самобытный эпос, сформировали во многом уникальную скандинавскую мифологическую систему. Именно в эту эпоху возник феномен культуры, ставший визитной карточкой Скандинавии, – морской поход викингов. Книга, в которой анализируется фаза бурного подъема цивилизации Северной Европы, адресована не только специалистам-историкам, культурологам, археологам и религиоведам, но и всем читателям, интересующимся проблемами прошлого Европейского континента.

Full commented Russian translation of "Fredegar's Chronicles", the most important narrative source for Late Merovingian France. This chronicle was created about 660 year and it provides us with account on Francs and on nations neighboring  to them.

The Liber historiae Francorum was influenced by different historiographical traditions. In this paper, I pursue two arguments. Firstly, I believe that the author of the Liber historiae Francorum juxtaposes and slightly transforms these traditions for his or her own purpose, which results in creating a new Frankish self-conception in which the Franks have utterly emancipated themselves from the Romans. This in particular can be observed in two previously somewhat neglected examples: the author’s use of the legend of Troy and his or her use of the Bible. Secondly, by doing so, the text responds to other texts within a network and therefore represents a competing model of a Frankish identity.

Pour décrire l’avènement de la dynastie et du royaume mérovingiens, les historiens se sont avant tout fondés sur les « Histoires » de Grégoire de Tours, qui écrivait plus d’un siècle après les faits et n’en avait qu’une connaissance parcellaire. Réexaminant l’ensemble des témoignages disponibles, la présente étude insiste tout particulièrement sur la valeur de deux généalogies royales : négligées par les historiens, elles permettent d’établir un arbre généalogique inédit des ascendants de Childéric, beaucoup plus satisfaisant que ceux proposés jusqu’à présent. Jointes à d’autres, ces données plaident en faveur de l’émergence, sans doute aux environs de 430, d’un regnum « salien » ou « pré-mérovingien » sous l’égide de Chlodio, rendue possible par la mobilisation des lètes majoritairement francs installés dans les cités des Tongres, des Cambrésiens et des Tournaisiens. Ce royaume dont allait hériter Childéric ne serait pas né d’une occupation progressive de ces régions par des populations franques venues de Toxandrie ou d’outre Rhin, mais d’une prise de pouvoir par les soldats d’origine barbare d’un Empire alors en plein déliquescence.
ENGLISH - Merovech’s Blood : « Prehistory » of the Merovingian Dynasty and Kingdom.
When they deal with the origins of the Merovingian dynasty and the establishment of their kingdom, modern historians have primarily based themselves on the “Histories” of Gregory of Tours, though he wrote more than one century after the events and had a very uneven knowledge of that history. Reviewing all the available evidence, this paper places particular emphasis on the value of two royal genealogies : Much neglected by historians, they allow us to draw up a new pedigree of Childeric’s ancestors, which seems much more satisfactory than the existing ones. Together with other data, these genealogies speak in favour of the birth of a “Salian” or “pre-Merovingian” regnum under the control of the Frank Chlodio in the late 420s or early 430s with the support of laeti communities already settled in the civitates of Tongeren, Cambrai and Tournai. It is plausible that this kingdom, which Childeric was to inherit, was not the ineluctable consequence of a progressive occupation of these lands by Frankish populations coming from Toxandria or from across the Rhine, but the outcome of a seizure of power by barbarian soldiers in a dying Empire.
NEDERLANDS - Merovechs bloed : “prehistorie” van de Merovingse dynastie en het Merovingische rijk.
Om de komst van de Merovingische dynastie en het Merovingische rijk te beschrijven hebben historici zich gebaseerd op de kroniek van Gregorius van Tours, ofschoon hij deze meer dan één eeuw na de feiten schreef en slechts een partiële kennis van de feiten had. Deze studie onderzoekt opnieuw het geheel van de beschikbare getuigenissen en legt in het bijzonder de nadruk op de waarde van twee koninglijke stambomen. Hoewel ze door historici zijn verwaarloosd, stellen zij ons in staat om een nieuwe stamboom te tekenen van Childeriks ascendenten die veel vollediger is dan vorige versies. Als die gegevens met andere verenigd worden, pleiten ze voor het verschijnen – waarschijnlijk rond het jaar 430 – van een “Salisch” of “pre-Merovingisch” regnum onder leiding van Chlodios. Dit werd mogelijk gemaakt door de mobilisatie van de – voor het merendeel Frankische – laeti die gevestigd waren in Noord-Gallië. Dit door Childerik te erven rijk zou dus niet ontstaan zijn uit een progressieve bezetting van deze streken door Frankische bevolkingsgroepen uit Toxandrië of van over de Rijn, maar vloeide voort uit een machtsovername door barbaarse soldaten in een stervend Romeins Rijk.

Paper details the descent of King Charlemagne from Lucius Calpurnius Piso, whose daughter had married Julius Caesar. This is one of many of my papers that together prove that Western kings & emperors knew their own royal ancestry going back for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years.

Philippe Schiesser, Des deniers mérovingiens de Rennes imitant des sceattas, un exemple parmi d’autres d’imitation, dans les textes publiés par D. Hollard et K. Meziane, Numismatique bretonne / Les faux monétaires, actes du Colloque anniversaire des 50 ans de la SENA à Brest, 17-18 mai 2013, UBO- faculté Victor Segalen, Recherches et travaux de la Société d’Études Numismatiques et Archéologiques 6, 2015, p. 77 à 99 et pl. 7 à 11.

This paper discusses the origins of the cult of Medardus, a Merovingian saint who was to become fairly popular within and without the Frankish realms. Medardus was one of the numerous bishop-saints whose cults were typical for post-Roman Gaul. However, his case is a rather curious one: his cult was, at least in the beginning, almost exclusively sponsored by royal patronage. After having transferred Medardus’s body from his episcopal see of Noyon to the royal town of Soissons, the contemporary king Chlothar I commissioned a basilica to be built over the saint’s tomb. Serving as a burial place for at least two Merovingian kings – Chlothar himself (d. 561) and his son Sigibert (d. 575) –, the basilica continuously benefited from royal patronage during the Merovingian and Carolingian periods. The newly established cult quickly gained popularity and the Medardus basilica subsequently figured among the most prominent sanctuaries of Frankish Gaul. Even though Medardus’s posthumous ‘career’ is far from being commonplace, up to now, little attention has been paid to the origins of the cult and Chlothar’s reasons for linking this contemporary bishop closely to the reigning dynasty. An overall look at the scattered evidence will suggest that Chlothar consciously chose Medardus to become a particularly ‘royal saint’, i. e. a saint whose cult – unlike many others – was not linked to the tradition of a certain bishopric or to the authority of a living bishop. By actively supporting this new saint’s cult, Chlothar and his successors apparently adopted integral features of episcopal authority. As a comparison with royally sponsored saints’ cults in other royal cities will show, this approach was adopted by other kings as well.

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo principal establecer el carácter de la frontera como formadora de identidades en el Reino Visigodo de Toledo, particularmente, durante el siglo VII. En este sentido, analizaremos la imagen del espacio de frontera en las fuentes visigóticas de la Alta Edad Media e indagaremos, asimismo, sobre la manera en que los autores del período entendían esta noción.

Già da qualche tempo si è ritenuto opportuno proporre per la scul-tura ad incrostazione di mastice, tecnica di decorazione basata su un consapevole e schietto approccio coloristico e polimaterico, l'adozione di un vocabolario che non faccia esplicito riferimento ad altri campi della produzione materiale di epoca medievale('). In questo percorso si sono seguite, in verità, le sollecitazioni presenti negli studi pionieristici della seconda metà dell'Ottocento e dei primissimi anni del Novecento di personalità quali Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc(2) e Lucien Bégule(3), attente ., anche se solo in parte, a evitare delle sovrapposizioni, quantomeno semantiche, e ad individuare delle valenze chiaramente esemplificative di questa pratica scultorea. Così, fin da subito, è sembrato preferibile un lessico distinto rispetto a quello usualmente oscillante fràniello' e champlevé , mutuato da altri contesti a seguito di una supposta pratica esecutiva comune(). Di fatto, non basta una procedura similare per impostare dei nessi di corrispon-denza, iié per trovare la derivazione di una tecnica dall'altra, giacché l'ar-co temporale e l'ambiente geografico in cui si diffuse l'incrostazione di...

Gregory of Tours, the sixth-century Merovingian bishop, composed extensive historiographical and hagiographical corpora during the twenty years of his episcopacy in Tours. These works serve as important sources for the cultural, social, political and religious history of Merovingian Gaul. This book focuses on Gregory’s hagiographical collections, especially the Glory of the Martyrs, Glory of the Confessors, and Life of the Fathers, which contain accounts of saints and their miracles from across the Mediterranean world. It analyses these accounts from literary and historical perspectives, examining them through the lens of relations between the Merovingians and their Mediterranean counterparts, and contextualizing them within the identity crisis that followed the disintegration of the Roman world. This approach leads to groundbreaking conclusions about Gregory’s hagiographies, which this study argues were designed as an “ecclesiastical history” (of the Merovingian Church) that enable...

During the Merovingian Age the women’s toolkit included those wood-handled iron tools which were used for breaking the hamper and flex in Western- and Eastern Europe. This type of object is also well known from the 6th century Gepid graves from the Tisza Region and the Transylvanian Basin, i.e. Maros Valley. In addition to them they occurred in 104 Avar Age graves of 14 sites (Table 1). These finds in the cultures of the East Transdanubia, Tisza Valley and Maros Valley can be connected with Avar Age communities of German origin (Picture 1). They were found in the highest number at the site of Zamárdi-Rétiföldek. Concerning the origin of the tool a consensus was reached: their use and the tradition of their placement into the graves reflect the presence of local German (for all probability Gepid) population in the Avar Age.
The scutching knives were formed by hammering. At the two ends of the elongated rectangular or more rarely: trapezoid blade two shafts were formed (and in case of some pieces of the Zamárdi cemetery they were extended with a third shaft at the middle of the blade (Picture 3, 1.d). Based on the wood-fibre remains of the shafts, we can infer wooden shafts parallel with the blade (Picture 2).
According to the rate and form of the blades, the different rounding of the edges of the blade and the different position of the shafts several groups of form can be distinguished (Picture 3), which could be con¬sidered as the individual product marks of the different smiths having been operated at the different sites. The inner side of most of the scutching knives is even (Picture 3, 2.1.), but there are also pieces with curved (Picture 3, 2.2.) or jagged (Picture 3, 2.3.) inner side.
Most of the scutching knives (84) are from the graves of young girls and little girls – this tool was neverplaced into mature women’s graves neither in
Western nor in Central Europe – including the Carpathian Basin. Five of such scutching knives were found in male graves, while among the women’s graves there are some with rich grave-goods, where these iron tools might have been placed as symbolical objects.
These tools appear in young female and girl’s graves containing special items of women’s attire, such as – most specifically, the western origin women’s belt of floppy ornaments and the connected habit of the use of filigrane bronze discs. Other late Antique and Merovingian attire pieces also regularly appear in these graves, such as the hair and breast pins, or the small buckles, used for the closing of the ankle-strap sandals and/or fixing the knee-high leggings, iron mountings, belt ends, amulet capsules, iron keys, plate needle-holders, etc.
Formerly, the scutching knives were known only from the early Avar Age burials. Later, the objects from the Tiszafüred cemetery demonstrated that this type of finds might occur even in graves of the second half of the 7th century. According to our present knowledge the habit of placing the scutching knives into the graves survived the longest in the community using the cemetery of the Zamárdi-Rétiföldek. Most of the 61 graves containing breaking knives are dated to the middle and last thirds of the 7th century, but the latest type of punched strip plait and cast sarmentose and fleury belt decorations and belt-ends reflect that they were placed into the graves until the middle of the 8th century.

Résumé – L’étude de nouveaux exemplaires conservés dans des collections privées en même temps que ceux cités dans la bibliographie, fait apparaître un groupe de bronzes lourds de 2,57 g en moyenne et de 15 à 20 mm de diamètre. Le revers présente un chrisme et le droit un monogramme qui peut être attribué par comparaison au roi franc Théodebert I (534-548). Les masses sont proches de celles des dix nummi ostrogoths. Il s’agirait donc là des seuls decanummi francs. La répartition des trouvailles connues permet de supposer qu’ils ont été frappés à Marseille. Ces bronzes sont les plus lourds qui aient été émis en Gaule durant cette époque.


Abstract – The study of new coins in private collections and those cited in the literature has revealed a group of heavy bronzes of 2.57 g on average and 15 to 20 mm in diameter. Th reverse presents a Chi-Rho and the obverse a monogram that can be attributed by parallels to the Frankish King Théodebert  I (534-548). As the weights are close to those of Ostrogothic ten nummi coins they can be interpreted as the only Frankish decanummi known to us. The distribution of the known finds allows to suppose that they were struck in Marseille. These bronzes are the heaviest emitted in Gaul during this period.

The Merovingian era is one of the best studied yet least well known periods of European history. From the fifth to the eighth centuries, the inhabitants of Gaul (what now comprises France, southern Belgium, Luxembourg, Rhineland Germany, and part of modern Switzerland), a mix of Gallo-Roman inhabitants and Germanic arrivals under the political control of the Merovingian dynasty, sought to preserve, use, and reimagine the political, cultural, and religious power of ancient Rome while simultaneously forging the beginnings of what would become medieval European culture.

The forty-six essays included in this volume highlight why the Merovingian era is at the heart of historical debates about what happened to Western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. The essays demonstrate that the inhabitants of the Merovingian kingdoms in these centuries created a culture that was the product of these traditions and achieved a balance between the world they inherited and the imaginative solutions they bequeathed to Europe. The Handbook highlights new perspectives and scientific approaches that shape our changing view of this extraordinary era by showing that Merovingian Gaul was situated at the crossroads of Europe, connecting the Mediterranean and the British Isles with the Byzantine empire, and it benefited from the global reach of the late Roman Empire. It tells the story of the Merovingian world through archaeology, bio-archaeology, architecture, hagiographic literature, history, liturgy, visionary literature and eschatology, patristics, numismatics, and material culture.

"Although the early Middle Ages, and the Merovingian era in particular, have always been considered exceptionally martial, no study has been published until this date that focuses on the fighting part of contemporary society. This is all the more surprising as this particular part of Merovingian society may be studied comparably easily by means of both written and archaeological evidence.
The aim of my master thesis was to represent a first basic survey of this subject. To this end, after providing a short overview on the recent history of research, a first chapter gives an analysis of the terminology that may be found in the written evidence referring to armed men, as well as the different groups of combatants that the sources refer to. The second chapter attempts to define distinctive features of the fighting part of Merovingian society, including their ethnic affiliation, their appearance including clothing and weaponry, but also internal elements like the idea of honour or the importance of religion according to them. The aim of the third chapter is to take a closer look at the closer environment of the Merovingian weapons carriers. This includes their possessions and means to enlarge these, as well as possible familial and social relations. A fourth chapter is devoted to the position of this same group of people within the whole Merovingian society, both in terms of their legal position according to the contemporary legislation, as well as their position within the social structures and relations of dependence so important during that era. The fifth chapter tries to figure out the various functions that were executed by armed men, be it as a regional officer, including judicial or military functions, be it tasks carried out in connection to the transmission of information or in connection to special orders in the service of the royal family. The aim of the last chapter was to expand the view once more by attempting to analyze the views of the Merovingian population on the weapons carriers. For this purpose, an analysis is given regarding their situation face to armed men at a local level and in the context of military activity, as well as the different means that were at their disposal to protect themselves from violent attacks – as provided, for example, by fortifications, but also by the Merovingian legal system, or the right of asylum offered by the Church. In summary, it could be concluded that it is very difficult to differentiate between what could be called a ‘warrior’ from the rest of the Merovingian population, whereas the bearing of weapons appears increasingly common with regards to the better-off part of the secular population. Less well-off people were most of all asked to participate in armed undertakings in cases of necessity."

Quand fut frappée la pièce d'or destinée à payer au roi d'Angleterre la rançon du roi de France Jean II le Bon, capturé à l'issue de la bataille de Poitiers, le décret en portant création désigna cette pièce comme « franc à cheval ». Ayant traversé les aléas de l'histoire, le franc survécut jusqu'en 2002, date de son remplacement par l'euro. Cela faisait alors presque huit cents ans que le terme de « France » s'était définitivement imposé pour désigner ce qui était apparu dans l'histoire sous le nom générique de « Gaules ». Tous ces mots empruntaient leur nom à celui du peuple qui prit finalement le contrôle de ces Gaules à partir du V e siècle. Difficile à cerner, ce peuple s'imposa en attachant sa destinée à une dynastie, celle des Mérovingiens, dont les Carolingiens prétendirent prendre la succession légitime. C'est l'histoire des premiers qui suit. QU'EST-CE QU'UN MÉROVINGIEN ? Une lignée aux origines obscures L'incarnation d'un peuple Une certaine image de la France UNE SUCCESSION CHAOTIQUE Une dynastie décimée par les luttes intestines Le partage de 511 Le partage de 561

Excavation of San Mamés hermitage and its environment, which has documented the remains of a high medieval church predating the current one. The cemetery has also been uncovered along with materials from the Late Antiquity period.

Excavación en la ermita de San Mamés y su entorno en la que se ha documentado restos de una iglesia altomedieval, anterior al templo actual, y su necrópolis, además de materiales tardoantiguos.

Im Rahmen der Magisterarbeit wurden Kriterien zur Erfassung und Definition von frühmittelalterlichen Holzkammergräbern in Baden-Württemberg evaluiert. Hierzu entstand eine „Holzkammer - Typologie“ auf Basis bestehender Formen. Große ungestörte Holzkammern ab 120 cm Breite einschließlich äußerer Grabstrukturen wurden mit den Besitzabstufungen Rainer Christleins analytisch verglichen. Hierzu war zu klären, ob die Analogie der Holzkammergrabsitte mit einer entsprechenden Qualitätsgruppe als Synthese zu verstehen ist.

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Merovingian society lacked longer periods of peace as during the Pax Romana. The military was of central importance, not only on the field. Although the militarisation of post-Roman society has never seriously been in doubt, the Merovingian elite has not yet been studied more particularly in consideration of its military role. This paper analyses which military groups could be considered part of the elite and which criteria might be used to define it from a modern perspective. As the military and the secular increasingly converged, this is not an easy task indeed. The study argues that even though several groups may be gathered as being part of a military elite, this is much more difficult at less elevated levels of the upper social strata, at which the transition between the elite and the rest of the freeborn military active population is fluid.

The Frankish »Chronicle of Fredegar«, written in the midst of the dark seventh century, is a most remarkable source that stands out for the interest in the Byzantine empire it attests to in the Mediterranean world and the evidence it provides for ongoing exchanges with the same. The anonymous chronicle is preserved in 38 manuscripts, the first of which dates to around 715 . Apart from the »barbarous« Latin used and the unusual composition of the chronicle, it bears a remarkably large horizon of narratives: alongside the Frankish kingdoms it refers to Spain, Italy, central and eastern Europe, the Middle East, and most prominently: the Byzantine empire. The aim of this investigation is to collect and analyse the information contained in the chronicle that may be related to the Byzantine world and hence must have been available in seventh-century Gaul to discuss what channels of exchange may have been responsible for its transmission. The analysis of the treatment of the Byzantine world in this chronicle goes hand in hand with a study of the composition of this important piece of evidence and the western perception of Byzantium it attests.

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Der Beitrag beleuchtet die wechselvollen politischen Beziehungen zwischen Franken- und Langobardenreich mit Fokus auf dem 6. und 7. Jahrhundert. Diese Beziehungen oszillierten zwischen Bündnis und offener bewaffneter Konfrontation. Nach einer frühen Phase politischer Beziehungen Mitte des 6. Jahrhunderts, die von dynastischen Heiratsverbindungen zwischen dem fränkischen Königsgeschlecht der Merowinger und dem langobardischen Königshaus der Lethinger geprägt waren, die im Kontext der Erosion des Römischen Reichs und der merowingischen Expansionspolitik an der östlichen Grenze des Frankenreiches zu sehen sind, kam es in der zweiten Hälfte des 6. Jahrhunderts zu einer Reihe militärischer Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Franken und Langobarden. Diese setzten mit dem Vordringen der Langobarden aus Pannonien nach Italien im Jahre 568 ein, dauerten bis 591 an und sind in gewisser Weise als Fortsetzung der merowingischen Italienpolitik der Mitte des 6. Jahrhunderts zu werten, in der insbesondere die austrasischen Frankenkönige wiederholt in den Gotenkrieg des Kaisers Justinian in Italien eingegriffen hatten. Die fränkisch-langobardischen Beziehungen im 7. Jahrhundert sind durch die wiederholte Einflussnahme der Merowinger in innere Auseinandersetzungen des Langobardenreiches gekennzeichnet, in denen oppositionelle Parteiungen innerhalb der langobardischen Eliten mitunter im Frankenreich Unterstützung suchten. Dies sollte die interventionistische Politik der Karolinger im 8. Jahrhundert vorwegnehmen, die sich mit ihrer Italienpolitik in den von den Merowingern vorgegebenen Bahnen bewegten.

This paper sheds light on the vicissitudinous political relationship between the kingdoms of the Franks and the Lombards in the 6th and 7th centuries. This relationship oscillated between alliance and armed confrontation. After an early stage of political relations in the mid-6th century, characterized by dynastic ties between the Frankish Merovingians and the Lombard royal dynasty of the Lethings, which have to be seen in the context of the disintegration of the Roman Empire and Merovingian expansionist policies in the East, the second half of the 6th century saw a series of armed confrontations between Franks and Lombards. These confrontations have started with the Lombard invasion of Italy in 568, lasted until 591, and can be seen in a certain way as the continuation of the Merovingian policy towards Italy in the mid-6th century, in which the Frankish kings, in particular the Austrasian ones, had repeatedly intervened in Emperor Justinian’s Gothic war in Italy. The 7th-century Frankish-Lombard relationship was characterized by the repeated intervention of the Merovingians in internal affairs of the Kingdom of the Lombards, in which oppositional factions of the Lombard elites occasionally sought support of the Franks. This foreshadowed the interventionist policies of the Carolingians in the 8th century, whose policy towards the Kingdom of the Lombards followed the path set by the Merovingians.

The sources suggest that the relations between the Byzantine East and the Merovingian West found an abrupt end after the reign of the emperor Heraclius. This paper discusses an enigmatic digression on Pope Martin I in the Life of Eligius of Noyon, mentioning an Eastern monk from whom the Life’s author claims to have received its information on the Pope’s abduction to Constantinople and his exile to the Crimea. The paper argues that this digression was a genuine part of the original Life, and that the news by the monk and the fact that Eligius had been asked to travel to Rome in the context of the Lateran Council of 649 were the reasons why this digression had been included into (first book of) the life.
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