Dissertation Information for Robert Martin Grant NAME: - Robert Martin Grant
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1997)
ADVISORS: - Thomas S. Burns
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Stephen D. White - David F. Bright
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Liutprand and the Lombards: Intruders in their Italian homeland
Abstract: This dissertation examines Liutprand's reign (AD 712-44), focusing on its political aspects viewed from a Lombard perspective, supported by relevant analyses of the reign's historical context and the available sources. By the mid-eighth century the popes and the local Roman nobility had cast off any meaningful allegiance to the Byzantine emperors. The emergent Republic of St. Peter's search for protection, along with the papacy's gradual formulation of a new, self-justifying ideology that eventually included bestowing imperial prerogatives upon the Frankish monarchy, was sometimes the result of, or in anticipation of, Lombard actions.
This work argues that the Lombards, as uninvited settlers in Italy, were intruders in both practical and ideological terms, particularly for the papacy. As long as the popes held to their imperial allegiance, Lombard conquests threatened to sever the Church's connection, both real and ideal, with the Empire as the respublica of the Christian people. Ironically, the effective triumph of Roman Catholicism among the Lombard elites ca. 680 coincided with the beginnings of recurrent difficulties between the Italians and their Byzantine overlords. Politically, however, these developments led only to episodic anti-imperial co-operation between the papacy and the Lombards. Determined to maintain its freedom of action, the papacy continued to oppose when and where it could extension of Lombard rule in Italy.
A major question concerns how Liutprand saw himself. Was it only as rex Langobardorum, or did he have a clear ambition to be rex totius Italiae? This work argues that Liutprand never definitively answered the question. The king's desire to enhance his power and prestige through territorial expansion conflicted with his genuine religious sensibilities. He attempted to avoid this dilemma through sporadic aggression against areas of Byzantine Italy for which the papacy did not evince clear pretensions to political responsibility until near the end of his reign. Only then did Liutprand realize that papal objections to Lombard expansion in Italy, rather than stemming from the personal prejudices of individual popes, were a consequence of fundamental papal ideology that always viewed the Lombards as "intruders in their Italian homeland."
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calculated 2008-03-24 10:59:44
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