East and West in the Early Middle Ages: The Merovingian Kingdoms in Mediterranean Perspective

The aim of the proposed project is to study the Merovingian kingdoms of the early Middle Ages in a broader Mediterranean context. The working hypothesis of this project is that apart from being post-Roman Barbarian kingdoms, deeply rooted in the traditions and practices of the western Roman Empire, the Merovingian kingdoms had complicated and multi-layered social, cultural and political relations with it eastern Mediterranean counterparts, that is, the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate.