Orbis Romanus : Byzantium and the Legacy of Rome in the Carolingian World

How did the medieval Frankish world relate to the orbis Romanus? Although this term is only sporadically attested in the early medieval evidence, Laury Sarti makes use of it to designate the sum of what may have been understood, from a western medieval perspective, as characteristic of or belonging to the Roman world. She argues that, although the Roman empire mainly persisted in the east beyond the fifth century, the orbis Romanus was not limited to Byzantium. The medieval west had emerged from that same Roman imperial tradition, and it retained some notable Roman characteristics and features even after it ceased to belong to the empire.The Byzantines acknowledged that the Franks had their share in the Roman world, which they conceived as a connatural people. In this book, Sarti challenges the caesura between a Roman and a post-Roman west by arguing that the Carolingian world, ruled by the Franks, still belonged to the multi-ethnic orbis Romanus. Instead of relying upon intense connectivity to the Byzantine east, which had ceased by the sixth century, ongoing Frankish participation in Roman identity emanated from the significance attributed to the Roman heritage. The Frankish kingdoms had emerged from the Roman world with a large Roman population and continuity on virtually every level of society, including governance, law, the Church and Christian belief, language, and culture. Although the Franks never designated themselves as Romans, Sarti demonstrates how Frankish Romanness--defined by the imperial past, the Byzantine present, and markedly western Roman characteristics--remained a constitutive feature of Frankish identity. While the Frankish relation to the Byzantine empire is more difficult to grasp, western and eastern notions of Romanness had common origins, and both implied a genuinely Christian understanding of Roman identity. When the Franks revived western emperorship through Charlemagne, the Roman and Christian elements were implemented as essential features of its conception. The book touches on a wide range of topics, including notions of empire, the connectivity between the Frankish kingdoms and Byzantium, mutual perceptions of Roman identities, the role of the Church and religious controversies, the reception of Antiquity, the use of and significance attributed to Greek and Latin, and Roman culture in the west. Its conclusions--which challenge basic assumptions about the Carolingian period--and its up-to-date discussion of the evidence and research will be of interest to students and scholars alike. Cover 1 Orbis Romanus 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Illustrations 10 Preface 12 I Introduction 14 II Imperium in the Carolingian World 20 1. Roman Notions of Empire and Emperor 22 Imperium and oikumene 23 Imperator and βασιλεύς 24 2. Charlemagne’s imperium 26 Carolingian Notions of imperium 26 Charlemagne as Emperor 32 Charlemagne and Irene 40 The Byzantine Recognition 47 3. Carolingian imperium after Charlemagne 52 Louis the Pious 53 The “Emperors of Italy” 55 4. Conclusion 60 III Contacts and Exchanges 64 1. Mediterranean Shipping Traffic 65 Travel Routes and Conditions 65 Regular Exchanges 73 2. Diplomatic Exchanges 76 Quantitative Assessment of Diplomatic Exchange 76 Diplomatic Letters 79 Diplomatic Experiences 80 Diplomatic Relations and Military Encounters 82 Marriage Arrangements 85 3. Pilgrims and Clerics 88 The Franks and the Holy Land 89 Byzantine Clerics in the West 93 4. Conclusion 100 IV The Present in the Past 102 1. Framing Frankish History 102 The Trojan Legend 103 The Book of Daniel 108 The Apocalypse 111 2. Antiquity as a Shared Past 112 The Byzantine Perspective of Antiquity 113 Western Visions of Antiquity and Byzantine History 115 Ancient Models for Current Rulers 120 3. Conclusion 125 V Language and Community 127 1. Greek in the West 128 Greek and the Western Courts 129 Greek in Italy 132 Greek Manuscripts 134 Learning and Teaching Greek 137 Greek Language Skills 142 Knowledge from Greek Manuscripts 143 2. The “Language of the Romans” 145 Latin in the Byzantine World 146 Interpreters and Translations 147 Latin Language and Roman Identity 149 3. Conclusion 152 VI Identity and Distinction 155 1. The Byzantine Perspective 156 Byzantine Romanness 156 Greek and Hellenic Identities 158 Imperial Romanness 159 Byzantine Visions of Italy 160 Byzantine Perceptions of the Franks 162 2. Western Visions of the Byzantine World 166 Western Assessments of Greekness 166 Frankish Visions of the Byzantine World 168 The Graeci in the Western Sources 170 Hellenic Identity 174 The “Emperor of the Greeks” 176 3. Western Romanness 179 The Romans of Rome 180 Carolingian Notions of Romanness 183 “Romans” in the Frankish Legal Evidence 190 4. Conclusion 199 VII Orthodoxy and the oikumene 206 1. Orthodoxy and the Emperor 207 Christianity and Empire 207 Orthodoxy 210 Imperial Rivals of Faith 212 2. The Pope and the Empire 215 The Pope and the Byzantine Empire 216 The Pope and the Carolingians 221 Religious Controversy 223 3. Iconoclasts and Iconodules 226 Origins and Early Iconoclasm 228 The Early Icon-​Related Synods 234 The Opus Caroli and the Council of Frankfurt 244 Second Iconoclasm 255 4. Conclusion 260 VIII Roman Cultural Heritage 263 1. Political Culture 266 Aachen and Other Places of Power 266 Images of Power 277 The Emperor’s Clothes 279 Enforcing Power and Authority 283 2. Material Culture 294 Ancient Roman Artifacts 295 Byzantine Imports 299 Western Imitations? 302 3. Intellectual and Living Culture 309 Knowledge and Techniques 309 Intellectual Culture 313 Monastic and Religious Tradition 316 Clothes and Accessories 319 4. Conclusion 320 IX Conclusion 326 1. A Frankish orbis Romanus 328 2. The Franks and the Roman World 332 Bibliography 336 1. Manuscripts 336 2. Sources 338 3. Literature 355 Index 402