From AD 300, weather in Late Antiquity deteriorated. Stormy, colder and less predictive, it culminated in the decades following AD 536–574, when a number of huge volcanic eruptions took place forcing a significant downturn. Reportedly, the following century was marked by the abandonment of farms and likely widespread migrations. Likely, it also harboured a profound shift in religion and belief systems.

Turning to microhistory, we now know that pre-Viking societies in Scandinavia and around the Baltic also instigated profound shifts in the settlement patterns and more comprehensive societal organisation. In particular, during the period from ca. AD 300–800, when the weather became colder and harsher, larger farms were divided into smaller production units, or settlements simply disappeared. We also know that the cultivation of rye became more widespread, while husbandry and transhumance gained importance as part of the agricultural strategies. Several explanations for these profound changes – which may be linked – have been offered, such as climate deterioration, depopulation caused by the Justinian Plague, or new warfare techniques (the introduction of equestrian elites).

However, the precise understanding of these coupled explanations and their direct impact is elusive. Understanding how the Viking societies were impacted by past climate variability and how they adapted to it has hardly been investigated until now.

Recently, a group of Norwegian scientists and archaeologists have worked together “to carry out a new multi-proxy investigation of lake sediments, including geochemical and palynological analyses, to reconstruct past changes in temperature and agricultural practices of pre-Viking and Viking societies in Southeastern Norway during the period between AD 200 and 1300.” The periods, AD 200–300 and AD 800–1300, were warmer than the AD 300-800 period, known as the “Dark Ages Cold Period” (or LALIA), they conclude. More precisely, the periods between AD 280-410, 480-580 and again 700-780 were characterised by extensive grazing activities indicated by spores from fungi living on the feces from herbivores as well as nettles, sorrels and alder-trees, all indicative of a more open and grazed landscape. More precisely, the analysis of the sediments showed the shifts in pollen and ascospores.

Between AD 680-800, the record even seems to have included a widespread abandonment of the site. Interestingly, though, this abandonment does not tally with the coldest period indicating another explanation should be sought. The scientists suggest that the involvement of a smallpox virus might be partly responsible. Another Swedish study – not mentioned here – recently argued for the role of ergotism following upon the more widespread cultivation of rye.

This cold period was punctuated by temperate intervals, which were dominated by the cultivation of cereals and hemp (before AD 280, AD 420-480, AD 580-700, and after AD 800). In between, cold intervals were dominated by livestock farming. The research results indicate that the pre-Viking societies micromanaged their agricultural strategy in response to climate variability during the Late Antiquity.

The conclusion is based on a unique multi-proxy study of carbon-14-dated sediments from Lake Ljøgottjern in the historic Romerike region. Four farmsteads in the neighbourhood of the lake – Haug, Ljøgot, Østra Hovin and Nordre Hovin – have been dated to the first century, while the largest burial mound in Northern Europe, Raknehaugen, was built in the mid 6th century on the shore of the lake. The construction of the mound is likely also detectable in the profile of the sediments.

Wider perspective

In a parallel publication, the group has also published a more long-term study of the interplay between the cultural, ecological and climatic factors driving changes in flora and fauna. These shifts are essential when trying to grasp how our modern ecosystems were shaped. The part of the study from Lake Ljøtgottjern have shown that “vegetation changes were primarily related to natural processes during most of the Holocene – ca. 8000-300 BC up until the Early Iron Age, ca. 500 BC.” At this point, human population density increased. Accordingly, overall shifts in the exploitation pattern in the region during and after the Iron Age should be explained as a reflection of the undulating population density. However, behind this coupling lies the obvious climatic shifts and their derivative consequences related to surface temperatures. The authors write:

“This led to a rapid shift in plant communities, presence of livestock, increased erosion and high charcoal concentrations. Together, the integrated multiproxy results from our study show the complex relations between environmental changes, facilitate the understanding of the coupled dynamics of climate, soils, human activities, and vegetation during the Holocene, and specifically highlight the importance of anthropogenic activities in long-term shaping of plant communities”, to which we might add: this long-term shaping of plant communities directly reflected the shifts in pastoral activities versus grain cultivation.

SOURCES

Climate adaptation of pre-Viking societies
By Manon Bajard, Eirik Ballo, Helge I. Høgh, Jostein Bakke, Eivind Støren,
Kjetil , Frode Iversen, William Hagopian, Anne H. Jahren, Henrik H. Svensen, Kirstin Krüger,
In: Quarternary Science Reviews (2022), Vol 278, 107374 (Open Access)

Anthropogenic and environmental drivers of vegetation change in southeastern Norway during the Holocene
By A.T.M.ter Schure ,M.Bajard, K.Loftsgarden, H.I.Høeg, E.Ballo, J.Bakke, E.W.N.Støren, F.Iversen, A.Kool, A.K.Brysting, K.Krüger, and S.Boessenkool
In: Quaternary Science Rewievs 2021-09-04 (Open Access)

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Presentation of the results: Climate variability controlled the development of the pre-Viking society during the Late Antiquity in Southeastern Norway
By: Manon Bajard

The post Climate Changes in Pre-Viking Societies had Profound Consequences appeared first on Wilder Europe.

In the 5th to the 6th century, Italy experienced a series of catastrophes – the Gothic War, the climate events caused by the massive volcanic eruptions 536 – 541, and the Justinian plague, which led to a marked decrease in the population. Numbers vary, but a conservative estimate around eight mill individuals is in all probability much too high if we take into account the reduction of the number of settlements from Augustinian time to 550 CE. This has been evidenced by field-walking of 24 % of Tuscany, which has been carried out by medieval archaeologists from the University of Siena. With 2521 sites recorded from the 1st to the 3rd centuries, this number was reduced to a mere 201 sites in the period c. 550 to 600 CE; a situation in which more than 90 % of sites were wiped out during late Antiquity. Even though some of this reduction in numbers of sites reflects the character of building material – Roman (stone) versus Early Medieval (wood) – it fits well with other corresponding numbers from studies carried out in the region around the Lower and Middle Rhine. Somewhat an equivalent reduction has been estimated there, from 10,8 individuals per. km2 countryside in Roman times to 0,8 – 1 in Merovingian times (c. 550 – 600). Both these numbers – German as well as Italian – are based on the estimated size of the population in the countryside without taking into account the population in towns. The reduction indicates that numerous catastrophes took place, although most historians and archaeologists tend to swerve to the cautious side.

However, we do know how devastating the crisis in the Late Middle Ages was, and there is no reason to believe that this played out differently in the 6th century.

Perched on a Hilltop

In itself, it is not strange that the survivors of the 6th-century crisis moved to the hilltops. Of the Italian landscape 35 % must be characterised as mountainous; lying above 600 m amsl it cannot be cultivated. 43 % can be characterised as hilly, lying 300 – 600 asml, while only 22 % is characterised as plains. It stands to reason that if you are threatened by war, it makes sense to move up; particularly since the same plains seemed to be undergoing increased flooding in the same period. By building on a rocky plateau, marauders would have to fight from below, which is always a strategic challenge even if a settlement is not fenced or walled. Also, a rocky hilltop is per definition preserved from the landslides and erosions, which would occasionally hit the chalky slopes further down, when springs and small rivers would gain craft during a thaw. Such slopes would, on the other hand, be easy to work with hoes creating an infield/outfield situation with terraced orchards and gardens close to the village, well-hoed and fertilised fields below and finally ample access to forestland, wood, grazing, hunting and fishing. The utilisation of fields on the slopes below the village would offer varied access to the cultivation of plots with different microclimates. This was an entirely new way of utilising the landscape, which furnished a substantially different lifestyle from that which characterised the life of peasants in Late Antiquity. Thus, although the main elements of an advanced agrarian technology – the use of animal traction, (two and three-field) rotation of cultivations, and (wheel)ploughs – were known and implemented on Roman villas, their continued use in the early middle ages was in all likelihood not widespread. In the same way, as the settlements contracted and nucleated while shifting from the villas in the valleys to the hilltop villages, we must imagine the practicalities of farming changed from a market-oriented agrarian economy to one, which was primarily oriented towards subsistence. Thus, it is likely hoeing instead of ploughing became ubiquitous.

Changed Diet

More is there to be known, though. In the last 30 years, Italian archaeologists have worked tirelessly to excavate such hilltop villages to get a sense of life in the early middle ages. One of the more exciting avenues pursued has been studies of the ancient botany, as well as residue found in pots, pans, and the bones and teeth of people. What was their diet and what can it tell us about the lives they led?

To sum it up, theirs was a varied and nutritious diet. Basis continued to be naked wheat (71%) as it had been in Roman times. This is Italy, and they like their daily bread. However, barley (16 %) and oat (4.7 %) was also grown, but the last was probably mostly used as horse feed. However, two other sorts of grain appeared in the diet, emmer (4 %) and einkorn (3 %). They indicate the presence in the landscape of either Germanic migrants or inspiration from them. This was especially prevalent in the excavation at Miranduolo, where einkorn contributed 27 % of the grain, registered archaeologically. Rye, another “Germanic” cereal did not become part of the diet until the end of the 9th century. In the period from the 10th century to the 11th century, rye grew in importance until it contributed 35 % of the harvest. This was a significant shift. However, rye may also have been used to feed the growing flocks of horses in a dry and hot climate, in which where oats is notoriously difficult to grow.

To this diet of grain and – must we presume – bread, another stable, pulses, played a crucial role. This was a diet based on horse beans (65 %) grass peas (19 %) and common vetch (12 %). Finally, the role of millet should not be downplayed. It has been argued that the hard grains were primarily consumed in the hall of the lord, while the less nutritious sorts like millet were ubiquitous in the less wealthy household of the peasant.

The movement to the hilltops and the development of a more intensive infield/outfield agrarian structure apparently also reduced the need for animal traction. Hence, oxen were substituted by pigs, which could feed in the abundant forest lands provided in the depopulated Early Medieval landscape. It was not until the 13th century, that sheep and goats came to play a larger role.

This is also confirmed by the analysis of the residue in pots and pans, which demonstrated the presence of animal protein in soups, broths, and roasts. Fats from pigs were obviously prevalent. Another widespread form of residue identified as that of cabbage and kale; perhaps black cabbage (Nero de Toscana) as that which is still used in the Tuscan kitchen today. To this should in all likelihood be added the numerous wild herbs, which are still being sought after in the mountains of Toscana. Mentioned as important today are wild fennel, thyme, laurel, mint, and chives, as well as blueberries, elderberries and mushrooms. Although not witnessed too archaeologically, there is a good reason not to consider these wild greens and fruits as significant and tasty additives to an otherwise boring diet of soups. Cooked with cured ham, cabbage, onions, garlic, and broad beans, and served with course bread of maslin consisting of wheat, barley, and emmer this was the Early medieval staple.

As opposed to this, the remains of fish were scarce in the excavations, as well as in the analysis of the bones of people. Nor did chestnuts, olive oil and wine leave significant traces in the Early Medieval diet. In fact, these crops appear to have been introduced not earlier than the 9th and 10th century, following the manorialisation of the hilltop villages. Some traces thus indicate that the oil used for cooking in the villages before the 9th century came from other sources (flax or mustard), while wine was scarce. One reason was probably also that oil was a precious commodity used for lightening in churches and perhaps also in elite contexts. Olie oil, if harvested, was a precious commodity in the religious economy.

FEATURED PHOTO:

Digging the Garden at Poggibonsi © Archeodrome Poggibonsi.

SOURCES:

Multiproxy approach to the study of Medieval food Habits in Tuscany (central Italy).
By Mauro Paolo Buonincontri, Alessandra Pecci, Gaetano Di Pasquale, Paola Ricci and Carmine Lubritto
In: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2016). pp 1–19

The Beginnings of Hilltop Villages in Early Medieval Tuscany
By Riccardo Francovich.
In: The Long Morning of Medieval Europe. New Directions in Early Medieval Studies. Ed. by Jennifer R. Davis and Michael McCormick Ashagate 2008 (Routledge 2016), pp. 55 – 82.

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The post Agrarian Life in Early Medieval Hilltop Villages in Italy appeared first on Wilder Europe.

For twenty years Daniele Sacco has been studying the Valley of the Marecchia – the Valmarecchia. The river, which flows through two regions – the Emilia-Romagna and the Marche, was inhabited before Roman times. An ancient trade route, it later became the battleground for some of the most eye-catching medieval feuds between the families of the Malatesta and the Montefeltro.

Through careful field-walking, land surveys, and stratigraphic studies his team has succeeded in getting a very detailed view of the history of the landscape as it changed from the earliest times to the 16th century. Involved have been archaeologists, geologists, archeo-botanists, historians, art historians, etc. As a consequence of this work, Daniele Sacco, who has been in charge of the project, has been able to nuance and qualify the question of how the incastellation (incastellamento) played out in detail.

The Valmarecchia covers 683 m2 and covers the southern part of Emilia Romagna as well as the northern part of Marche. Heartland of the Dukes of Urbino it may be identified as a sub-region of the Montefeltro. However, today it is better known as the hilly hinterland of the provinces of Rimini and Pesaro-Urbino. It is also the landscape in which we find the Republic of San Marino. The name derives from the river Marecchia, which runs for more than 70 km out to the sea at Rimini. At the upper end, the landscape is characterised by steep slopes, and the valley is narrow and the surroundings mountainous. Quickly, though, it widens up and becomes more hilly and gentle. Since ancient times, people have lived on some of the hilly plateaus, primarily around present day San Leo, Verucchio and at Monte Titano, which harbours the Republic of San Marino.

Population through Time

One of the first initiatives of the team was to discover the population density at different times. The history begins in 268 BC when the coastal colony of Arminum (Ariminum or Rimini) was settled. Later, the region belonged to the VI Roman region: Umbria to be changed by Hadrian into the Flaminia et Picenum. Rimini was the main city and also a major road junction, linking the Via Flaminia, Via Emilia and Via Popolia (Annia). Via Ariminensis, as it has been called by modern convention, was a minor road, which traversed the Apennines to Arezzo, from where travellers could proceed to Rome. This road, no more than a hilly path, was ancient and known before the Roman Age. In Roman times, the Valmarecchia was divided into three municipia, with Rimini as its central hub. Field surveys have shown that this road – the Via Ariminensis – connected some minor settlements, which from the evidence of inscriptions must be characterised as Vici. The area must be characterised as rural, mountainous, and marginal writes Sacco in a recent overview of the results of the project. Although not a fertile land, farms and settlements seem to have been present from the Iron Age and into the first and second centuries CE. Located next to perennial water sources and on south/south-west oriented sloped they cannot be characterised as Roman villas, which were few and far between each other.

However, most of these settlements and farms declined in the fourth century to be abandoned in the fifth. It appears that the landscape simply started to collapse. Scattered farms, small hamlets, and the tiny villas simply disappeared. Area photos substantiate this conclusion. There is also no evidence that these sites were later resettled. Perhaps some Goths settled along the coast, but the evidence is sparse. In the seventh century, there is no evidence of human settlement in the valleys anymore, only some signs that the migrants occasionally used them as a transit area from Arezzo to the coast. This was a period of chronic wars, deteriorating climate and plague.

What happened was that the few remaining descendants of the Roman population hastily moved up to higher lands. Abandoning roads, ruins, and the flooded valleys, they resettled in locations like the Macerata Feltria and Pennabili. Later in the 8th and 9th century, these settlements became gradually controlled by an elite, which in the 10th century turned into a class of nobles busy constructing castles above these mountainous settlements.

However, the team involved in researching this micro-history of a landscape has concluded that although it seems as if these new hill-top settlements were new, they nevertheless reflected the ancient Roman pattern of settlement. They just moved up onto the hilltops, often no more than a few hundred metres from the old Roman settlements. This was, for instance, the case with the villages at Casteldelci and Sant’Agatha Feltria in the northern part of the Valmarecchia.

One of the interesting features of this development was the way in which these new hilltop settlements had churches dedicated to Lombard saints, while the churches further below in the valleys were dedicated to Roman saints. Some of these catered for pilgrims and functioned as hopitals.

Conclusion

What seemed to happen was that at first – in the 5th and 6th centuries – people were harassed by the times and moved to settle further up and closer to each other. Gradually in the next centuries, this resulted in hill-top villages dotting the landscape. Later in the 7th and 8th century, the Lombard elite invaded from the east, strengthening the fortifications and building (Lombard) churches at these hill-top settlements, which they already found dotting the landscape. Even later, in the 9th to 11th century, these settlements were fitted with castles built by local elites – often petty nobles – thus constructing the landscape as we meet it today with its many fortified hill-top villages.

However, when the Carolingians conquered Lombardy and Northern Italy in the 8th century, a distinct diocese was set up in the area – the Diocese of Montefeltro. The first of these bishops, Agatho, resided in San Leo, where the remains of his church may still be seen. These bishops, who also acted as counts, had numerous parish churches built near the former Roman settlements, which were still lying down below the slopes. It appears at least part of the populace still frequented these downhill churches. It also seems, that even if land surveys have shown that there is virtually no evidence of sporadic farms or settlements in the open country or on the floors of the valleys at this time, churches were constructed outside the fortified settlements.

In short: when the population and the landscape of Valmarecchio declined in the 5th and 6th centuries, people took to the hills to help each other out with the defence against the different invaders, whether Goths, Lombards, or just unidentified pirates and robbers. These uphill settlements were generally not far from the old Roman settlements. Later, these villages were fitted with castles and further fortifications, walls. However, some hill-top settlements complete with castles were also built ex novo in the 10th and 11th century, demonstrating that the trend to live in fortified villages on top of hills were a ubiquitous feature of the high medieval landscape. Such a castle was the one located on the Monte Copiolo, surging 1030 metres above the sea. Remains of settlements have not been found here between the 4th and the 9th centuries, and it appears the mountain was not inhabited until the first castle was built in the 10th century by the counts of Carpegna. Later taken over by the Counts of Montefeltro, it became their initial and best-defended stronghold. The castle at Monte Copiolo was never conquered and remained in the hands of the Dukes of Urbino. Later in the 17th century, people abandoned the castle and moved downwards to live on the more fertile slopes. Extensive excavations carried out since 1997 by the team led by Daniele Sacco, have revealed the history of this castle in detail.

It appears the Italian landscape in Valmarecchia went through numerous periods alternating expansions and contractions. Only some of this was caused by the notorious Italian process of incastellation (incastellamento)

SOURCES:

Exploring Valmarecchia. Diachrony of Population Development from the Roman Age to the Late Middle Ages in Central/Northern Italy: a Case Study of Emilia-Romagna (Southern Area) and Marche (Northern Area)
By Daniele Sacco
Lac 2014 Proceedings

La Fortezza di Montefeltro. San Leo: processi di trasformazione, archeologia dell’architettura e restauri storici
By Daniele Sacco and Alessandro Tosarelli
ArcheoMed. Universià degli studi di Urbino Carlo Bo. Collana dell’ Insegnamento di Archeologia Medievale. Monographia III.
All’Insegna del Giglio, 2016

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Daniele Sacco is professor at the University of Urbino, “Carlo Bo”. In the last twenty years his research interest has been focussed on the archaeology of transformation processes affecting landscapes, settlements and buildings in central-northern Italy, from the Late Antiquity to the late Middle Ages, by using the tools offered by geomorphology. Special attention is devoted to the diachronic evolution of settlements and to the relation between society and the surrounding environment (environmental archaeology, landscape archaeology). His favourite study topics are the collapse of ancient landscapes, encastellation, stone production systems and hospital healthcare forms in the Early and Late Middle Ages, appearing mainly as a direct consequence of pilgrimage. For years, he has been carrying out stratigraphic and archaeological excavations, as well as surveys on the archaeology of buildings.

FEATURED PHOTO:

Petrella in Valmarecchia. Source: Pinterest/ Guida Gianlucca

READ ALSO:

Medieval Hilltop Villages and Castles in the Italian Landscape

Medieval Italian Hilltop Villages 2017

Castle of Miranduolo

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The post Valmarecchia – an Italian Medieval Landscape appeared first on Wilder Europe.

In 1973 the French historian Pierre Toubert published a study of the landscape in the hills behind Rome in the Sabinian mountains in the 10th to 12th centuries.  In this study, he first launched the hypothesis that the ubiquitous hilltop villages in Italy were formed ex novo around a nucleus of small towers or “roccas” in this period. Later known as the Toubert-thesis of incastellamento, the castles complete with villages became to be understood as the products of lordly initiatives. As such, they signalled a movement from a more dispersed – and less well-controlled landscape – towards a dominated and controlled world. Where castles in northern Europe were built on the periphery of villages, they tended in a southern European context to be built together with or inside a village.

These small town-like settlements with houses crammed into narrow streets took many forms, depending on whether the castles were built in the centre or – as more often – above on the summit. Often equipped with churches (chapels), deep cisterns, and proto-industrial workshops, these fortified hilltops were part of a significant movement to fortify the landscape. Common to these were their character as venues for agricultural colonisation and expansion bankrolled by lords intent on exploiting the peasants while providing protection for them (and their other investments) against marauders, robbers, and invasions.

The early heartlands for this movement were Province and Italy, but Spain was also enrolled in this new fashion dotting landscapes with castles and subordinated settlements.

Rocca San Silvestro

Initially, one of the best studied of these types of settlements was the Rocca San Silvestro in Tuscany, situated behind the Campiglio Marittima, and constructed around ancient mines exploited by the Etruscans for copper, silver and lead. However, the first signs of a more permanent medieval exploitation stem from the late 10th century, when the count of Gherardesca planned the new settlement on top of the Rocca.

At the centre, he built a walled, noble residence surrounded by quarters for soldiers and servants. To the east of this citadel was a church dedicated to St. Sylvester. In front of this was a cemetery, from which the archaeologists excavated the remains of c. 300 individuals. To the west and north, lay the workshops, where metals were recovered. Below this lay the houses and huts of the miners and their families, probably 200 – 300. Finally, a complete 400 m long wall fitted with towers defended the castle and its village. Today, the site lies in the middle of a museum park where experimental archaeology is also carried out.

Tuscany

Later, however, several micro-studies demonstrated that the classic Toubert–Model was much too inflexible. It appeared that the history of the settlements and landscapes often played out with a different chronology.

According to this new model  – the so-called Tuscany-model voiced by Riccardo Francovich, Marco Valenti and others – the landscapes in Northern and Central Italy witnessed a much more complex devolution: first, the population in the 5th to 6th centuries was severely depleted due to climate deterioration, plague and war. From the end of the 6th century and through to the 8th century, the remaining Roman villas were finally abandoned while the (few) remaining people sought to establish more nucleated settlements – often on higher ground – to avoid the ravages of flooding, land erosion and violence. Next phase consisted of a gradual organisation of these settlements led by seigniorial powers constructing the new 10th century castles. This does not imply that some fortified villages were not founded ex novo, but it does imply this was not necessarily the general case. According to a survey from 2008, of 41 castelli or hilltop villages studied in Tuscany, only a third was created from scaratch.

Systematic large-scale studies of settlements, villages, castles, and landscapes in Tuscany carried out during the last twenty years have led to this conclusion. In a recent overview, Valenti has counted evidence from excavations and studies of 49 castles, three fortified settlements, four isolated houses, five caves, 18 villas, 12 churches, and three open villages covering the whole period from pre-roman times to late medieval.

As part of these excavations, it has been demonstrated that the houses in these Early Medieval villages or settlements were built of perishable material. Only very rarely was stone used and finds show signs of social hierarchy was nearly absent. Parts of these settlements were filled with “Germanic” pit huts to which materials were readily available after the reforestation, which took place after Late Antiquity. Such pit or sunken huts (Grubenhäuser) were built on top of pits dug a metre into the ground and approximately eight four to eight metres in diameters; roofs were supported by posts. It is believed that the practical knowledge of how to built with stones virtually disappeared. Timber palisades often defended these villages or nuclei inhabited by peasant families; however, the social fabric in these villages seems to have been highly homogenous. Excavated fabric, pottery and studies of diets indicate that social heterogeneity was not the order of the day. Also, paleobothanical studies have shown that agriculture was diverse and basically oriented towards subsistence.

In the 8th century, however, these Tuscan villages became more “orderly”: to one end a more distinguished or elite space might be discerned, while at the other end ordinary families kept living as before. One such example can be found at Montarrenti (near Sovicille at Siena), which may have had two defensive timber palisades to defend the upper and lower zones. Sometime between 750 – 850, the upper zone was transformed into an elite space surrounded by a stone wall. The end of this process was the construction of an elite domus consisting of two towers and later a palatio in the 12th century.

In due time these privileged spaces also offered presented some more specialised production facilities – granaries, forges, kilns, grinding structures, special workhouses for butchering and baking, etc. To this would often be added a chapel or church. Archaeological evidence about the distribution and consumption of food has helped to understand the new socially heterogeneous landscape of the 10th century.

One as yet undecided question is what role churches and church buildings played in this process. A preliminary conclusion is that these early medieval villages used churches built to service several of them and that these more often than not were located in between in the settlements and further down in the valleys. Later, the castelli or hilltop villages from the 10th and 11th century were gradually fitted with private chapels, which may well have been used by the villagers too.

Again, though, the picture is muddled. From Lazio, we thus know of the early medieval construction of so-called domuscultae, papal houses and churches, which were constructed in the countryside. Later, however, also these were broken up to be restructured as castelli in the 10th -12th centuries.

Valmarecchia and Salerno

Another such micro-analysis, which has uncovered a multitude of stories behind the fortified hill-top villages is the surveys conducted by Daniele Sacco on the sub-region of the Valmarecchia (in the hinterland of Rimini on the east coast of Italy).

Finally, a study of the hinterland of Salerno should be mentioned. Here the Normans (11th – 12th centuries) were responsible for a widespread incastellamento, which was devised to control and subdue the local populace increasingly placed “sub dominio et defensione”. Incited by the widespread violence in the countryside these peasants donated their land to lords, whether ecclesiastical or secular, For this, they received the right to continue to farm their land typically based on sharecropping contracts. Supplemented with taxes, work and other obligations, conditions could and would be varied. However, as was the case with Valmarecchia, the fortified hilltop villages in the mountains behind Salerno did not represent new settlements. Typically, the castles were built in the midst or near existing population centres, thus not evidence of widespread population movements as Toubert initially argued.

Conclusion

To conclude: As should be expected the development of the Italian landscape took many forms and at different times according to local traditions and geographical conditions. However, a general summation leaves us with the picture characterised by distinct phases: at first, the Roman villas and latifundia combined with dispersed settlements fell into disuse and ruin. After this, people moved together in villages, some of which were erected on hill-tops. Later seigniorial power led to castles and fortifications being built into or next to these villages creating the fortified hill-top villages, which became the norm in the 10th to 12th centuries; and which may still be seen towering over the medieval landscape of Italy.

SOURCES:

Territorial Lordships in the Principality of Salerno 1050 – 1150.
By Valery Ramseyer
In: Haskins Society Journal (2001), pp. 79 – 94

Exploring Valmarecchia. Diachrony of Population Development from the Roman Age to the Late Middle Ages in Central/Northern Italy: a Case Study of Emilia-Romagna (Southern Area) and Marche (Northern Area)
By Daniele Sacco
In: Lac 2014 Proceedings

Les structures du Latium médiéval : Le Latium méridional et la Sabine du IXe siecle a la fin du XIIe siècle.
By Pierre Toubert
Rome: École Française de Rome 1973

Architecture and Infrastructure in the Early Medieval Village. The Case of Tuscany
By Marco Valenti
In: Technology in Transition. A.D. 300 – 650. Ed. by Luke Lavan, Enrico Zanini and Alexander Sarantis. Brill, Leiden and Boston (2007), pp. 451 – 490

BEST INTRODUCTION:

Although much has been written about the Early Medieval history of the Italian hilltop villages, the best English introduction – altough nearly ten years old – it was written by Riccardo Francovich (1946 – 2007), who worked as an archaeologist at the University of Siena together with Marco Valenti and his team.

The Beginnings of Hilltop Villages in Early Medieval Tuscany
By Riccardo Francovich.
In: The Long Morning of Medieval Europe. New Directions in Early Medieval Studies. Ed. by Jennifer R. Davis and Michael McCormick Ashagate 2008 (Routledge 2016), pp. 55 – 82.

READ MORE:

From Constantine to Charlemagne: An Archaeology of Italy AD 300–800
By Neil Christie
Ashgate 2006 (Routledge 2016)

Framing the Early Middle Ages. Europe and the Mediterranean 400 – 800
By Chris Wickham
Oxford University Press 2005

Villa to Village: The Transformation of the Roman Countryside (Debates in Archaeology)
By Riccardo Francovich and Richard Hodges
Bristol Classical Press 2003
ISBN-10: 0715631926
ISBN-13: 978-0715631928

VISIT:

Rocca San Silvestro
Parco Archeominerario di San Silvestro
Area Naturale Protetta di Interesse Locale San Silvestro – Val di Cornia
Via di S. Vincenzo, 34/b
57021 Campiglia Marittima Livorno
Italy

Archeodromo Poggibonsi
Parco Archeologico di Poggibonsi
Fortezza Medicea, Poggibonsi (SI)

The Archeodromo is an open air museum which aims to create a full-scale rebuilding of the the core of the village from the 9th century as it was excavated a few meters away. Central is the large longhouse, of over 140 square meters, divided into a domestic area, a granary and an area dedicated to activities of daily living. Here the opportunity is to learn about about the small community of farmers and craftsmen, living in huts around the large house, and carrying out their duties according to the lord of the manor. The blacksmith forge weapons and tools, the carpenter carves wood, leather is  and the baker grinds the grain and prepares the bread. Inside the house, the weaver at the loom works with colored yarns from the workshop of the dyer; Meanwhile the garden is cultivated. The aim is to do a faithful recreation, which presents the participants with in-depth knowledge of what life was really like at the end of the first millenium in the hill-top village at Poggobonsi. each year, numerous events, summer schools and acdemic conferences are organised on site.

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Valmarecchia – an Italian Medieval Landscape

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The post Medieval Hilltop Villages and Castles in the Italian Landscape appeared first on Wilder Europe.

Germany is (in)famous for its mining of lignite, also called brown coal. With a high content of moisture and emission of carbon dioxide (double of natural gas), it is known as one of the worst alternatives to sustainable energy on the world market. Heavily mined in the first part of the 20th century, it was an important source of energy before and during WW2; as it is today! Continued exploitation necessitated as late as in 2011 the resettlement of several hundred inhabitants in a small village, Pier, whose ancestors had lived in the region – it appears – since before Roman times.

One advantage of these open pits is, however, the archaeological possibilities they offer to survey large tracts of land without hindrance from existing buildings. The recent expropriation thus created a unique opportunity of studying a rural landscape and its changing social structures over several millennia. Since 2011, the so-called “Pier-Project” has been focusing on excavating and surveying an area larger than 70 ha. Recently, Timo Bremer published an overview in English of some of the results from this ongoing project. [1]

Medieval Landscape

Pier was the name of a village in Inden, located on the loess plateau rising above the flooded plain along the river Roer to the east. Obviously, this was an attractive location. With ample access on one side to the flooded meadows along the river and with abundant forests along the rivers, the site offered attractive opportunities for farming.

The early towns surrounding Pier – Aachen to the south-west, Jülich to the north, Cologne to the east, and Düren to the south – witness to the importance of the region. A fertile area with rivers and meadows it was densely populated between the 1st and the 4th centuries. With a production concentrated on the villas, it served as an important agrarian hinterland for the Roman fortifications along the Limes. It is likely that Pier itself was characterised as a vicus. Spoliae of a temple have been found dispersed in the surrounding settlements. During the next 2000 years – until the last inhabitants were resettled in the 21st century, it continued to exhibit this “central” character.

Merovingian times

From 450 – 700 CE the main finds stem from three cemeteries: one, the earliest from the 5th and early 6th centuries was located 50 metres west of the later church. From the 6th to the 8th centuries there were two additional cemeteries, writes Bremer. One was located beneath the church while another could be found 190 metres to the west. A few separate burials indicate that people were also occasionally buried on their farms.

The earliest church in Pier, from the 7th century, was probably a wooden construction. It is highly likely that this was at the centre of a magnate’s private residence. Later it was mentioned in a charter from 873 in which the Abbess Regenberga reserved half of the tithe owed to the church for herself. At this time, the local community was characterised by a regional population density: of 4.42 – 6.54 individuals per km2 for the wider region (not including cities).   Dense compared to that of the neighbouring parts of Saxony, but only half to a third of what it had been during the Roman Optimum, it served to demonstrate the importance of the region. [2]

High Middle Ages

Archaeological surveys did not provide a detailed overview of the exploitation of the landscape in Merovingian times. However, from the 11th to 14th centuries an excellent sense of the place can be obtained; also, it is possible to gain some insight into how it changed during this period.

At the centre, according to Timo Bremen, there was a core-zone around the church, which held three wells likely furnishing the whole village with communal water. This core did not seem to have been densely populated, but the exact structure is not quite clear. Opposed to this was the district in the periphery to the north-east, which was densely populated. Here people lived in sunken huts, often with kilns next to their houses, but no wells. People here probably lived as workmen, metal craftsmen (iron extraction) and perhaps small-time pedlars. Finds also indicate there was a textile industry (flax).

To the west of the church was a moated plot with a possible representative building in the centre; this was likely a motte construction. Further out to the south were two other such houses built of woods or stones, one of which was moated. Between the centre and the moated “House Pesch” – and to the north – several other settlements each consisting of two to four rectangular plots were located, each plot separated by straight paths. The buildings (potholes) on these plots indicate they home to ordinary farms. One of these settlements was located in the floodplain and probably took most of the income from extensive cattle farming.

Special interest accrued to the two noble residences off the core settlement. One, Haus Pesch, was mentioned for the first time in 922. It was nearly totally destroyed during WW2 (as was the whole area). Rebuilt stone upon stone after the war, it was torn down in 2013. Archaeological excavations showed that the place had been moated. In the later Middle Ages, the wooden house had been torn down and replaced by a more representative stone building. From the charter from 922, it appears the house may originally have functioned as a hunting lodge belonging to the Archbishop of Cologne. Later, its land was parcelled out under the name of Bonsdorf. But Bonsdorf is a toponym of Frankish date (the “dorph” or “torp” of Bonis)? It is likely there was a settlement there in Merovingian times out of which later grew the noble “House Pesch” (Pfesch meaning forest-meadow).

History of the People

It is evident, writes Timo Brennen, that the early elite focused on the settlement core near the later church. Here the remains of a Roman temple were found as well as the cemetery with the most prestigious Merovingian graves. On top of these, the first church was built, which was in all likelihood part of a magnate’s residence. Later in the 10th century, however, the lower nobility or local gentry moved out of the centre and built solitary and defensible residences on the outskirts. These new elite residences were obviously intended as symbolic statements about the nobility of their residents. Their references were the new and very impressive castles, which the landscape became increasingly dotted with in the 11th and 12th centuries.

To which extent the gentry continued to be in control of the local neighbourhood, which in the same period experienced significant growth as witnessed by the new residential area filled with workers and craftsmen, and the new settlements with farms surrounding the the village, is an open question. It is likely that the larger farms, which were built in the periphery of the nucleus, as well as the people living in the core of the village came to house peasants who established themselves as a “rural elite”. Without moats around their residences, however, they were clearly distinguishable from the “moated” gentry. Exactly who owned the land on which the workmen and craftsmen had squatted is nevertheless another question. Were they controlled by the local gentry? Or the rural elite living on the new farms?  Timo Bremer is of the opinion that it was the rural elite, who was in charge of the “new” village. Chances are, though, that power might shift back and forth according to who were able from time to time to rise above the landscape. Social membranes may very well have been porous and shifting.

Jülich and Düren

In the charter from 922, we hear about Pier as located in “pago Juliacensi”. Obviously, Pier and surroundings belonged to the wider sphere of Jülich, located 10 km north along the river Roer.

Jülich is first mentioned as Juliacum located on a major Roman road linking Cologne with Aachen and Maastricht. In the 4th century, it was fortified. Later, in the 5th century, it was taken over by the Merovingians. Out of this, a distinct district was forged, which was ruled by a count; in the later Middle Ages, it was turned into the Duchy of Jülich. The first count mentioned in the sources was Gottfried (905 – 947). Heavily bombarded during WW2 the town now lay in ruins. A single monument from the high middle ages was fortunately preserved, the Altenburg.

Sometime in the 11th century, this fortified site was constructed south of Jülich with a motte and bailiff. Two to three km northeast and across the river Roer from Pier, it is believed to have been part of a network of fortifications erected by the counts of Jülich. Altenburg plus others were intended as a line of defence against the attacks repeatedly instigated by the Archbishop of Cologne (who had interests in controlling not only the area but also the road between Cologne and Aachen.) This Altenburg was obviously a much larger fortification than House Pesch in Pier, which was comparably a small and only symbolically fortified place. Doubly moated and fortified with palisades, Altenburg measured 85 metres in diameter, while the baily measured 20 x 50 metres and was fitted with stone towers and possibly a stone wall.

To the south of Pier is Düren. Known from Roman time as Durum, Caesar conquered the place, and Durum soon became part of the supply area for Cologne. Later, the Franks led by Clovis passed through on their way to Zülpich to conquer the Thuringians. It is probably a reflection of this that we can read in the Frankish annals how the Carolingians possessed a royal palace there, Villa Duria (first mentioned in 747), which has been archaeologically located beneath the present church of St. Anna. Here, a Carolingian church was erected around 700, and in the years 761, 775 and 779 royal Frankish assemblies were held there; also Charlemagne used the villa as a stop-over when travelling from Aachen to Frankfurt. For a long time, this road was called the “Krönungsstrasse” or the “Aachen-Frankfurter Heerstrasse”.

Autoroute A4

Today, the autoroute A4 runs south of Jülich and north of Düren. With the bleak mining districts to the north, tourists on their way to Aachen pass along the last part of this ancient road, just four km south of Pier, when travelling from Cologne. It is not too much to claim that this is one of the central neural pathways of Europe.

As such, history tells us that it has been the scene of endless destruction. Beginning with Caesar in 53 BCE, it was later the march route of Clovis, who fought his way to conquer the Thuringians at Zülpich in 496 CE. Later, it was the scene of numerous armies marching back and forth with occasional chevauchées reported in the sources. During the religious wars in the 16th and 17th centuries the landscape was ravaged until finally plague hit. Following the Napoleonic wars, the region became once again part of Germany, this time under the orbit of Prussia. It is during the 19th-century, massive industrialisation once again secured the region wealth and prosperity. In 1944 and 1945, however, this ended with numerous bombings followed by the allied army fighting its way through this ancient corridor towards the Rhine. In November 1944 Düren was totally smashed with 99.2% destruction. Jülich to the other side suffered a destruction of 97.6%. In between, Pier and surroundings were also hit. Finally, after having been rebuilt by hand in the 50s, it nevertheless suffered a final defeat at the sticks of the excavators.

Left is only a fascinating archaeological story!

Karen Schousboe

Footnotes:

[1] Timo Bremer is archaeologist (PhD) and currently holds aposition as senior research assistant at the University of Bonn. His research interest focus on landscape archaeology, rural space and settlements.

[2] Untersuchungen zur Bevölkerungsdichte der vorrömischen Eisenzeit, der Merowingerzeit und der sp¨ten vorindustrielle Neuzeit and Mittel- und Niederrhein.
By Karl Peter Wendt, Johanna Hilpert und Andreas Zimmermann et al. In: Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission, Bd. 91, 2010. Philipp von Zabern 2012, pp. 288 – 289.

SOURCES:

Von der Spätantike zum Hohen Mittealter. Lanscahftsarchäologische Untersuchunge im raum Inden-Pier.
Presentation of project at the University of Bonn

Stiftung Archäologie im Rheinischen Braunkohlrevier

Landscape, Power and Settlement Dynamics. Notes on Archaeological Methods by means of Examples from Northern Rhineland, Germany.
By Timo Bremer
In: Cracow Landscape Monographs Vol 2. , pp. 69 – 79

The Social Structures of High Medieval Rural Settlements
By Timo Bremer
In: The Farm as a Social Arena. Ed. by Liv Helga Dommasnes, Doris Gutsmiedl-Schümann and Alf Tore Hommedal. Waxmann 2016, pp. 273 – 296.

FEATURED PHOTO:

Haus Venker, one of the medieval fortified manors near Pier. Photo: Udo Geilenbrügge. Source: Stiftung Archäologie im Rheinischen Braunkohlrevier.

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The post Deserted Medieval Landscape near Pier in the Northern Rhineland appeared first on Wilder Europe.