Carolingian Connections

Anglo-Saxon England and Carolingian Francia, c. 750–870

The Anglo-Saxon influence on the Carolingian world has long been recognised by historians of the early medieval period. Wilhelm Levison, in particular, has drawn attention to the importance of the Anglo-Saxon contribution to the cultural and ecclesiastical development of Carolingian Francia in the central decades of the eighth century. What is much less familiar is the reverse process, by which Francia and Carolingian concepts came to influence contemporary Anglo-Saxon culture. In this book Dr Story offers a major contribution to the subject of medieval cultural exchanges, focusing on the degree to which Frankish ideas and concepts were adopted by Anglo-Saxon rulers. Furthermore, by concentrating on the secular context and concepts of secular government as opposed to the more familiar ecclesiastical and missionary focus of Levison's work, this book offers a counterweight to the prevailing scholarship, providing a much more balanced overview of the subject. Through this reassessment, based on a close analysis of contemporary manuscripts - particularly the Northumbrian sources - Dr Story offers a fresh insight into the world of early medieval Europe.