Charlemagne and Rome: Alcuin and the Epitaph of Pope Hadrian I

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Prof Joanna Story (Professor of Early Medieval History, Professor of Early Medieval History, University of Leicester)

Charlemagne and Rome

Alcuin and the Epitaph of Pope Hadrian I

Prof Joanna Story (Professor of Early Medieval History, Professor of Early Medieval History, University of Leicester)

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English

Oxford University Press
01 June 2023

Historiography; European history; Medieval history; Social & cultural history; Medieval European archaeology

Series: Medieval History and Archaeology

Charlemagne and Rome is a wide-ranging exploration of cultural politics in the age of Charlemagne. It focuses on a remarkable inscription commemorating Pope Hadrian I who died in Rome at Christmas 795. Commissioned by Charlemagne, composed by Alcuin of York, and cut from black stone quarried close to the king's new capital at Aachen in the heart of the Frankish kingdom, it was carried to Rome and set over the tomb of the pope in the south transept of St Peter's basilica not long before Charlemagne's imperial coronation in the basilica on Christmas Day 800. A masterpiece of Carolingian art, Hadrian's epitaph was also a manifesto of empire demanding perpetual commemoration for the king amid St Peter's cult. In script, stone, and verse, it proclaimed Frankish mastery of the art and power of the written word, and claimed the cultural inheritance of imperial and papal Rome, recast for a contemporary, early medieval audience. Pope Hadrian's epitaph was treasured through time and was one of only a few decorative objects translated from the late antique basilica of St Peter's into the new structure, the construction of which dominated and defined the early modern Renaissance. Understood then as precious evidence of the antiquity of imperial affection for the papacy, Charlemagne's epitaph for Pope Hadrian I was preserved as the old basilica was destroyed and carefully redisplayed in the portico of the new church, where it can be seen today. Using a very wide range of sources and methods, from art history, epigraphy, palaeography, geology, archaeology, and architectural history, as well as close reading of contemporary texts in prose and verse, this book presents a detailed 'object biography', contextualising Hadrian's epitaph in its historical and physical setting at St Peter's over eight hundred years, from its creation in the late eighth century during the Carolingian Renaissance through to the early modern Renaissance of Bramante, Michelangelo, and Maderno.

By: Prof Joanna Story (Professor of Early Medieval History Professor of Early Medieval History University of Leicester)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 252mm, Width: 195mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 1.118kg
ISBN: 9780199206346
ISBN 10: 0199206341
Series: Medieval History and Archaeology
Pages: 432
Publication Date: 01 June 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Joanna Story studied History and Archaeology at Durham University and is a professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Leicester where she has worked since 1996. She specialises in the period c. AD 600-900, and in the material culture of the written word in manuscript and epigraphic form. Her research and publications are characterised by a highly interdisciplinary approach to evidence, combining data derived from text, images, and physical remains surviving from the early medieval European past and deploying traditional historical techniques alongside methods used in archaeology and physical sciences.

Reviews for Charlemagne and Rome: Alcuin and the Epitaph of Pope Hadrian I

Story offers a stimulating work that, one hopes, will serve to incite others to think more critically and at length about the epigraphic cultures of the Latin-speaking West in Late Antiquity and its relationship to book production and historical memory. Her volume is magnificently illustrated and thoughtfully arranged. * Plekos 26, 2024 * This is an impressive work that serves as an important contribution to our knowledge of Carolingian culture and politics. This work will interest Carolingian specialists and those seeking to learn about the history of Saint Peter's Basilica and the papacy. It shows the value of considering both the physical form and content of texts, and it can serve as a model for other object biographies by demonstrating the wealth of insights that can stem from the focus on a single artifact. * Kelly Gibson, American Historical Review *