1.

Record Nr.

UNISA996237242803316

Autore

Dailey E. T (Erin T.)

Titolo

Queens, consorts, concubines : Gregory of Tours and women of the Merovingian elite / / by E.T. Dailey

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden, The Netherlands  : , : Koninklijke Brill, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

90-04-29466-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (216 p.)

Collana

Mnemosyne, Supplements, Late Antique Literature, , 2214-5621 ; ; Volume 381

Disciplina

944/.01309252

Soggetti

Merovingians - Historiography

Merovingians - Politics and government - Historiography

Women - Gaul - Historiography

Elite (Social sciences) - Gaul - Historiography

Merovingians

Women - Gaul

Gaul Historiography

France History To 987 Historiography

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 Widowhood -- 2 Holiness, Femininity, and Authority -- 3 Scandal in Poitiers -- 4 Brides and Social Status -- 5 Merovingian Marital Practice -- 6 Brunhild and Fredegund, i: Moral Opposites or Kindred Spirits? -- 7 Brunhild and Fredegund, ii: Queens, Politics, and the Writing of History -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

Gregory of Tours hoped to inspire the believers in sixth-century Gaul with examples of righteous and wicked deeds and their consequences. Critiquing his own society, Gregory contrasted vengeful queens, rebellious nuns, and conniving witches with pious widows, humble abbesses, and tearful saints. By examining his thematic treatment of topics including widowhood, marriage, sanctity, authority, and political agency, Queens, Consorts, Concubines reassesses the material shaped by such concerns, including e.g. Gregory’s accounts of Brunhild,



Fredegund, Radegund, and other important elite women, Merovingian political policies (marital alliances, ecclesiastical intrigue, even assassinations), and seemingly unrelated topics such as Hermenegild’s rebellion and the career of Empress Sophia. The result: a new interpretation of an important witness to the transformations of Late Antiquity.