Political Assemblies in the Earlier Middle Ages (Studies in the Early Middle Ages)

Assembly is a central feature of the European political process between the demise of the Roman Empire and the rise of the bureaucratic state in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Historians have often neglected the crucial rule of political assemblies in their own right, concentrating instead on exceptional or extraordinary attention-catching events which occurred at assemblies. Earlier generations of scholars tried to discern in such assemblies the forerunners of later medieval parliaments and other forms of representative government. By contrast, the contributors to this volume present medieval assemblies in their own terms. Were political assemblies in the earlier Middle Ages convened to confirm decisions already taken elsewhere or were they genuinely deliberative? How, if at all, did political assemblies create consensus? At what level(s) of the political and administrative hierarchy were assemblies held, who attended such gatherings, how were they conducted, and where were they held? The main focus is on assemblies of emperors, kings, and princes, and on those of townsfolk, though some more local assemblies are also discussed. The over-arching thematic structure relates to the purposes of assemblies and how they worked, their practical and ritual or symbolic aspects, and the degree to which they were stage-managed, and by whom. The contributors bring archaeological, as well as historical, evidence to bear and present a range of geographical, political and historiographical approaches and traditions. Front matter (“Contents”, “Abbreviations”, “Preface”), p. i Free Access Political Assemblies: Introduction, p. 1 P. S. Barnwell https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1926 Kings, Nobles, and Assemblies in the Barbarian Kingdoms, p. 11 P. S. Barnwell https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1927 Talking Heads: Assemblies in Early Medieval Germany, p. 29 Stuart Airlie https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1928 Assemblies and Charters in Late Anglo-Saxon England, p. 47 Charles Insley https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1929 Legal Assemblies and Judicial Structure in Early Scandinavia, p. 61 Stefan Brink https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1930 Royal Inauguration Assembly and the Church in Medieval Ireland, p. 73 Elizabeth Fitzpatrick https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1931 Consensus and Assemblies in Early Medieval Central and Eastern Europe, p. 95 János M. Bak, Pavel Lukin https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1932 Aristocratic Assemblies in Brittany, 1066–1203, p. 115 Judith Everard https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1933 Reasons for Assembly in Catalonia and Aragón, 900–1200, p. 133 Adam J. Kosto https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1934 Galbert of Bruges on Political Meeting Culture: Palavers and Fights in Flanders During the Years 1127 and 1128, p. 151 A. Demyttenaere https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1935 Representative Assemblies in Communal Italy, p. 193 Edward Coleman https://doi.org/10.1484/M.SEM-EB.3.1936 Back matter (“Index”), p. 211 Free Access Were political assemblies in the earlier Middle Ages convened to confirm decisions already taken elsewhere or were they genuinely deliberative? How, if at all, did political assemblies create consensus? Other recurrent themes in this study relate to the level(s) of the political and administrative hierarchy at which assemblies were held, who attended such gatherings, how they were conducted, and where they were held. A distinctive feature of the volume is that some contributors bring archaeological, as well as historical, evidence to bear. Political Assemblies brings together more than a dozen scholars from a range of geographical, political and historiographical backgrounds and traditions (history, archaeology and philology). The papers offer a coherent thread of analysis running from the immediate successor states of the Roman Empire through to the Carolingian and Ottonian periods, bridging the millennium and into the twelfth century. The geographic coverage (from Scandinavia to Catalonia, Ireland to Hungary) is admirably wide