Assembling the Austrasian Letters at Trier and Lorsch

Barrett, Graham; Woudhuysen, George

Abstract

This article is a reconsideration of the Epistulae Austrasicae. We critique the widespread notion that the constituent letters were compiled by a courtier in the late sixth century at Metz as a book of models for use in the Austrasian chancellery. We argue instead that a monk from the monastery of Lorsch assembled the letters in the early ninth century from individual exemplars and groupings that he found in archives at Trier. We conclude by outlining some implications of this rereading for the edition and interpretation of the letters as sources for the Merovingian period, and point out some avenues for future research on their reception in the Carolingian period.

Citation

Barrett, G., & Woudhuysen, G. (2016). Assembling the Austrasian Letters at Trier and Lorsch. Early Medieval Europe, 24(1), 3-57. https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12132

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 18, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jan 19, 2016
• Publication Date: Feb 28, 2016
• Deposit Date: Sep 17, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 17, 2018
• Journal: Early Medieval Europe
• Print ISSN: 0963-9462
• Electronic ISSN: 1468-0254
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 3-57
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12132
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1067840
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/emed.12132
• Additional Information: This is the peer-reviewed version of the following article: G. Barrett, G. Woudhuysen, ‘Assembling the Austrasian Letters at Trier and Lorsch’, Early Medieval Europe 24.1 (2016), pp. 3-57, which has been published in its final form at doi.org/10.1111/emed.12132. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.