Early medieval militarisation

Ellora Bennett is a D.Phil Candidate at the Freie Universität BerlinGuido M. Berndt is a Research Fellow at the Freie Universität BerlinStefan Esders is Professor of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages at the Freie Universität BerlinLaury Sarti is Lecturer at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

This volume is the first to study the phenomenon of early medieval militarisation from a wide geographic and disciplinary perspective. It explores the impact of an enhanced role attributed to warfare and the military as characteristic features of a European world in the process of becoming medieval.

1 Introducing early medieval militarisation, 400-900 AD - Laury Sarti, Ellora Bennett, Guido M. Berndt and Stefan EsdersPart I: The military and society2 Soldier and civilian in the Byzantine Empire c. 600-c. 900: a militarised society? - Philip Rance3 The exercitus Gothorum in Italy: a professional army in a demilitarised society? - Kai Grundmann4 Military organisation as an indicator of militarisation (and demilitarisation) in Lombard Italy - Guido M. Berndt5 The 'dark matter' evidence for Alfredian military reforms in their ninth-century context - Ryan LavellePart II: Warfare and society6 War and the transformation of society in the early Byzantine Arabia - Conor Whately7 The role of the military factor in the political and administrative shaping of the Visigothic Kingdom (sixth to seventh centuries) - Pablo Poveda Arias8 Recent archaeological research on fortifications in France, Belgium and Swizerland, 750-1000 - Luc Bourgeois9 Gens Germana gente ferocior: Lombards and warfare between representation and reality - Stefano Gasparri10 The blinkers of militarisation: Charles the Bald, Lothar I and the Vikings - Simon CouplandPart III: Ethics of war11 Manlike discipline and loyalty against the 'enemies of God': some observations on the militarised frontier society of eastern Francia around 600 - Stefan Esders12 Swords in Christian hands: reflections on the emergence of the 'Schwertmission' in the early Middle Ages - Uta Heil13 'Holy wars'? 'Religious wars'? The perception of religious motives of warfare against non-Christian enemies in ninth-century chronicles - Hans-Werner GoetzPart IV: Perceptions of the warrior14 Change of habit equals change of values? Burials of 'military men' between 300 and 500 AD - Benjamin Hamm15 Warlike and heroic virtues in the post-Roman world - Edward James16 Military equipment in late antique and early medieval female burial evidence: a reflection of 'militarisation'? - Susanne Brather-Walter17 The construction of the enemy in pre-Viking England - Ellora Bennett18 Warriors and warlike kings in the Gesta Karoli of Notker the Stammerer - Thomas Wittkamp19 Early medieval 'warrior' images and the concept of Gefolgschaft - Michel Summer20 Conclusion: militarisation: process or discourse? - Guy HalsallIndex