Garipzanov I.H., Geary P., Urbanczyk P.
Franks, Northmen, and Slavs
Identities and state formation in early medieval Europe
A cura di Garipzanov I.H., Geary P., Urbanczyk P. - Brepols, Turnhout 2008
Eleven specialists examine here the role of
ethnic identity in the formation of medieval polities on the periphery of the
Frankish world in the eighth through eleventh centuries. In particular, they
explore the intertwined issues of ethnic identity and state formation in
Scandinavia and in the western and southern Slavic regions, areas in which the
new approaches to the history of ethnicity have but little penetrated
traditional scholarship. They ask to what extent common identities assisted in
the consolidation and creation of early medieval kingdoms and to what extent
the formation of these kingdoms created a discourse of common identity as a
means to centralization and control. The authors contend that the developments
in Scandinavia and in Slavic areas cannot be understood except in dynamic
relationship with the process of state formation and group identity within the
Frankish kingdoms. This powerful, expansionist society not only interacted and
influenced the development of state structures on its northern and eastern
borders, but it also provided models of discourse about the relationship
between centralizing power and group solidarity. Not that these discourses were
simply adopted by the Franks’ neighbours, but rather they became part of the
range of possible options selectively adapted to local circumstances.
Link
Link alla casa editrice