Suchergebnisse

During the Ancient Greek and Roman eras, participation in political communities at the local level, and assertion of belonging to these communities, were among the fundamental principles and values on which societies would rely. For that reason, citizenship and democracy are generally considered as concepts typical of the political experience of Classical Antiquity. These concepts of citizenship and democracy are often seen as inconsistent with the political, social, and ideological context of the late and post-Roman world. As a result, scholarship has largely overlooked participation in local political communities when it comes to the period between the disintegration of the Classical model of local citizenship in the later Roman Empire and the emergence of 'pre-communal' entities in Northern Italy from the ninth century onwards.

By reassessing the period c. 300-1000 ce through the concepts of civic identity and civic participation, this volume will address both the impact of Classical heritage with regard to civic identities in the political experiences of the late and post-Roman world, and the rephrasing of new forms of social and political partnership according to ethnic or religious criteria in the early Middle Ages. Starting from the earlier imperial background, the fourteen chapters examine the ways in which people shared identity and gave shape to their communal life, as well as the role played by the people in local government in the later Roman Empire, the Germanic kingdoms, Byzantium, the early Islamic world, and the early medieval West. By focusing on the post-Classical, late antique, and early medieval periods, this volume intends to be an innovative contribution to the general history of citizenship and democracy.

The chapter studies the impact of the transition from the Roman Empire to the new political structures of the early medieval West on the meaning and application of the concepts of civic identity and civic participation. To this end the episcopal sermons of Caesarius of Arles (502-542) are examined and their use of civic vocabulary is analysed. The continuous use of Latin civic vocabulary (a.o. civis, civitas, patria, conversatio) by post-Roman authors is marked by semantic change, especially in the work of Christian authors. In Caesarius' sermons the identity of Christian Arles is expressed in ancient civic terms filled with new, Christian content. Caesarius' sermons also define the Christian way of life, emphasizing the need to participate in the religious cult and shaping new forms of civic participation adapted to Christian values.

The chapter studies the impact of the transition from the Roman Empire to the new political structures of the early medieval West on the meaning and application of the concepts of civic identity and civic participation. To this end the episcopal sermons of Caesarius of Arles (502-542) are examined and their use of civic vocabulary is analysed. The continuous use of Latin civic vocabulary (a.o. civis, civitas, patria, conversatio) by post-Roman authors is marked by semantic change, especially in the work of Christian authors. In Caesarius' sermons the identity of Christian Arles is expressed in ancient civic terms filled with new, Christian content. Caesarius' sermons also define the Christian way of life, emphasizing the need to participate in the religious cult and shaping new forms of civic participation adapted to Christian values.

The autonomy granted to local communities by central powers is a recurrent feature of European history over time. The density of population in urban settlements facilitates human communication, however, towns are also zones of conflict. Who brings order into the urban chaos? In Europe, alongside the principle of centralized government, the delegation of power stimulated the development of polycentric and multilevel governmental structures.