Weeds and the Carolingians : empire, culture, and nature in Frankish Europe, AD 750-900 / Paolo Squatriti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Squatriti, Paolo, 1963- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Weeds--Social aspects--Europe, Western.

Weeds.

Weeds--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Carolingians--Agriculture.

Carolingians.

Agriculture--History--To 1500.

Agriculture.

Civilization, Medieval.

Human ecology--Europe, Western--History.

Human ecology.

Europe, Western--Environmental conditions.

Europe, Western.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 224 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Summary:

Why did weeds matter in the Carolingian empire? What was their special significance for writers in eighth- and ninth-century Europe and how was this connected with the growth of real weeds? In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. For the first time, in this book weeds emerge as protagonists in early medieval European history, driving human farming strategies and coloring people's imagination. Early medieval Europeans' effort to create agroecosystems that satisfied their needs and cosmologies that confirmed Christian accounts of vegetable creation both had to come to terms with unruly plants. Using diverse kinds of texts, fresh archaeobotanical data, and even mosaics, this interdisciplinary study reveals how early medieval Europeans interacted with their environments.

Contents:

Weeds, nature, and empire

Weeds on the ground

The time of weeds

The worst of weeds

The botany of paradise in Carolingian Rome

The uses of weeds

The politics of weeding in the Carolingian Empire.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 10 Jun 2022).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781009072328 (ebook)

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.