Power and Religion in Merovingian Gaul: Columbanian Monasticism and the Frankish Elites

Description

This study is the first to attempt a thorough investigation of the activities of the Columbanian congregation, which played a significant role in the development of Western monasticism. This was a new form of rural monasticism, which suited the needs and aspirations of a Christian elite eager to express its power and prestige in religious terms. Contrary to earlier studies, which viewed Columbanus and his disciples primarily as religious innovators, this book focuses on the political, economic, and familial implications of monastic patronage and on the benefits elite patrons stood to reap. While founding families were in a privileged position to court royal favour, monastic patronage also exposed them to violent reprisals from competing factions. Columbanian monasteries were not serene havens of contemplation, but rather active foci of power and wealth, and quickly became integral elements of early medieval statecraft.

Yaniv Fox is an I-CORE postdoctoral fellow at the Open University of Israel. He took his undergraduate degree at Tel Aviv University in history and communications, followed by a Masters and PhD at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel in early medieval history, during which he was awarded the Negev fellowship. As a doctoral candidate he received the MAHAR award for outstanding article in the humanities, awarded for a paper published on early medieval Europe. After submitting his doctoral dissertation, he received the 2012-13 Rothschild postdoctoral fellowship for the humanities, which allowed him to spend a year as a visiting scholar at the Faculty of History in the University of Cambridge and a Postdoctoral Associate at Clare Hall. Yaniv Fox has taught several courses in early medieval history at the Open University of Israel, Ben-Gurion University, and Achva Academic Campus. His field of interest is early medieval history and, particularly, the history of monastic patronage in the Gibichung and Merovingian kingdoms.

'Anyone wanting to learn about some of the major families of Burgundy and Austrasia will need to consult this book, and the reader will also find numerous points of detail that illuminate the seventh century. At the same time, Fox unwittingly exposes the limits of modern categorization.' Ian Wood, Early Medievel Europe