Les récits d'investiture et leur signification (du IXe au XIe siècle)

The early medieval state is a controversial topic. Differences between European research traditions as to their respective methods and interests remain. The aim of this volume is to transcend national historiographies in the field. By overcoming the legal and institutional bias of older research, new points of view can be reached. The contributions assembled here are less concerned with the terminological problem whether early medieval kingdoms should be called 'states' or not, but how political integration was possible in early medieval Europe. The first section of the book contains studies of different European states in different periods, from the first 'barbarian kingdoms' on Roman territory to the Ottonian empire and the early Celtic, Slavic and Scandinavian realms. The second part addresses a number of structural issues in a comparative manner, with several contributions dealing with actors, ressources, symbolic legitimation and limits of the state respectively. The authors are among the leading scholars in their fields, and the resulting overview is unique in its thematic range. The volume is a fundamental contribution to understanding the ways in which the interaction of monarchy and aristicracy, of ecclesiastic and lay institutions, of royalty and people helped create supra-regional realms which laid a basis to the construction of modern states in Europ