Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T01:30:40.170Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - The nadir of urban life (sixth–seventh centuries)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Adriaan Verhulst
Affiliation:
Universiteit Gent, Belgium
Get access

Summary

The sixth and seventh centuries constitute a low point in our knowledge of most of the places which may be considered to have had urban or semi-urban characteristics in Roman times. This impression is first and foremost the result of the almost complete absence of written sources dating from that period and of the dearth of archaeological finds and the difficulty of identifying them. Moreover, in many cases the written information we do have about the sixth and seventh centuries relates only to members of the Merovingian aristocracy, to members of the royal house, and in particular to bishops taking up residence or staying in a city of Roman origin with the rank of civitas. Nothing is known about their exact place of residence, save that this was not necessarily always inside the Roman walls. Their presence may have had some economic significance owing to their wealth and their need for luxury and other goods. Centres other than the civitates, probably also with some urban functions, are only mentioned in the context of the activities of missionaries, such as those of St Amand in Ghent and in Antwerp in the second quarter of the seventh century. Even though seventh-century sources, and particularly the numismatic sources, are more numerous, the latter still pose major problems of interpretation. In particular, this applies to their generally accepted but questionable economic significance. Moreover, the accident of archaeological discoveries plays a large role, so that it is very difficult to gauge the importance, and especially the economic importance, of particular places, or of particular regions with a certain concentration of urban centres, within the area under consideration here or indeed within Western Europe as a whole.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×