What role did the peasants play in the establishment of feudalism? Were they really just passive witnesses to the aristocratic actors, or did they have a role in shaping feudalism in local structures? Did they want to give up "fiscal freedom" or were they forced to do so by circumstances? What role did religious institutions play in this transition?
These are the questions being explored by an archaeological landscape project of the Department of Christian Archaeology at the University of Bonn. The starting point of the research is the medieval abbey of S. Fidenzio e Terenzio in the municipality of Massa Martana (Umbria, Italy). Its structures and territory are analyzed in detail in order to reconstruct the chronology of the religious building, to date the foundation of the monastic community and to study the demographic history of the surrounding land.
On this basis, an understanding of the medieval economic history of the area can be gained. A particular interest of the study lies in the shaping of economic relations between the rural population and a center of religious power (Santi Fidenzio e Terenzio).
A number of factors increase the historical importance of the study area. First, the village of Massa Martana lies on the western route of the Via Flaminia. After being an important transportation route in Roman times, the Via Flaminia lost importance in the Middle Ages in favor of its eastern course, which passed through Spoleto, and the Via Amerina, which passed through Todi. Second, in the early Middle Ages the area of study was a borderland between the Byzantine territories that connected Rome to Ravenna and the Lombard duchy of Spoleto. Third, without a proper city and with only a short-lived vicus (the Vicus Martis Tudertium), post-Roman rural life was able to develop more flexibly as a central hub in the region than in regions with greater Roman centralization
Although the project is primarily interested in the study of early medieval rural structures, all of the above elements extend the relevance of the project beyond the medieval period. In fact, the results of the project will show the long-term influence of Roman infrastructure on the regional economy, they will help to re-evaluate the importance of early Christian burials for the rural population, and they will provide evidence for speculations on the emergence of central sites in a peripheral area of the Apennines.
Duration: Since October 2022
Funding: "Argelander Starter Kit Grant" der Universität Bonn
Cooperation: Bonn Center for Digital Humanities (BCDH)