Weeds and the Carolingians : Empire, Culture, and Nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750–900

"Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments." Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 List of Figures 10 Preface 11 List of Abbreviations 13 Introduction 15 1 Weeds, Nature, and Empire 41 2 Weeds on the Ground 67 3 The Time of Weeds 87 4 The Worst of Weeds 115 5 The Botany of Paradise in Carolingian Rome 143 6 The Uses of Weeds 172 7 The Politics of Weeding in the Carolingian Empire 190 Epilogue: Sorting Weeds Out 206 Select Bibliography 214 Index 234 In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. This book presents a dynamic picture of early medieval people struggling to control their ecosystems, and their relationship with their environments.