Social Worlds of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

2021 ◽  
pp. 2-4
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Early Middle Ages

Roman North Africa: Environment, society and medical contribution [Book Review]

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 210-212
Author(s):  
Geoffrey D. Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Early Middle Ages

Review(s) of: Roman North Africa: Environment, Society and Medical Contribution, by Cilliers, Louise, Social Worlds of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019) hardcover, 256 pages, b and w illustrations, RRP euro99; ISBN: 9789462989900.

The Fate of Small Towns, Hilltop Settlements, and Elite Residences in Merovingian-Period Gaul

2020 ◽  
pp. 610-640
Author(s):  
Luc Bourgeois
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Power Networks ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
The Many

The study of places of power in the Merovingian realm has long been focused on cities, monasteries, and royal palaces. Recent archaeological research has led to the emergence of other categories. Four of them are addressed in this chapter. These include the capitals of fallen cities, which continue to mark the landscape in one way or another. Similarly, the fate of small Roman towns during the early Middle Ages shows that most of them continued to host a variety of secular and ecclesiastical powers. In addition, from the fourth century onward, large hilltop fortified settlements multiplied anew. They complemented earlier networks of authority, whether elite residences, artisan communities, or real towns. Finally, from the seventh century onward, the great aristocratic villas of late antiquity were transformed into settlements organized around one or more courtyards and supplemented by funerary and religious structures. The evolution of political spaces and lifestyles explains both the ruptures in power networks that occurred during the Merovingian epoch and the many continuities that can be seen in the four kinds of places studied in this chapter that were marked by these developments.

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