Frontiers and fortifications in the Carolingian imperial imagination

MacLean, Simon (2024) Frontiers and fortifications in the Carolingian imperial imagination. In: Carolingian Frontiers: Italy and Beyond. Reti Medievali E-Book (48). Firenze University Press, Firenze, pp. 141-159. ISBN 979-12-215-0416-3

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Abstract

The relative absence of written references to fortifications in the Carolingian Empire is well known, but seems difficult to square with increasing evidence that such buildings were familiar features in the ninth-century Frankish landscape. I argue that one reason for this is that contemporary narratives participated in a Carolingian “way of seeing” which associated castle building with frontier territories and lands beyond rather than with the imperial heartlands. Fortified residences were linked in the Carolingian imperial imagination with negative characteristics such as secrecy and hiddenness, in contrast to the supposed openness of Frankish royal palaces.

Item Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	Nella sezione "II. The frontiers of others I: Saxony and Lothringia".
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Middle Ages, 9th century, Italy, Francia, Carolingians, empire, castles, fortifications, frontiers, imperialism
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History
Depositing User:	dr Vincenzo De Luise
Date Deposited:	08 Aug 2025 08:00
Last Modified:	08 Aug 2025 08:13
URI:	http://www.rmoa.unina.it/id/eprint/7173

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