PALACE AND HALL IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN BETWEEN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

PALACE AND HALL IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN BETWEEN LATE ANTIQUITY

AND THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES

BARBARA POLCI

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

University of East Anglia 2000

OF

CO This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that no quotation from the thesis, nor any information derived therefrom, may be published without the author's prior, written consent.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents Page

Abstract

Acknowledgements ii

List of Figures iii

INTRODUCTION

PART 1-ELITE DWELLINGS IN LATE ANTIQUITY 8

1.1 IMPERIAL PALACES 8

1.1.1 Introduction 8 1.1.2 Spalato 12 1.1.3 Gamzigrad 14 1.1.4 The `ceremonial' interpretation and the `palatial' system 16 1.1.5 Antioch 21 1.1.6 Nicomedia 22 1.1.7 Sirmium 23 1.1.8 Milan 25 1.1.9 Trier 26 1.1.10 Thessalonike 29 1.1.11 Constantinople 30 1.1.12 Ravenna 36 1.1.13 Discussion 43

1.2 PRAETORIA 48

1.2.1 Introduction 48 1.2.2 Dura Europos - The Palace of the Dux Ripae 53 1.2.3 The Palace of the Giants, Athens 55 1.2.4 Aquincum (Budapest) 57 1.2.5 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne) 59 1.2.6 The Praetoria at Caesarea 60 1.2.7 Gortyn 64 1.2.8 Ptolemais 66 1.2.9 Discussion 68

1.3 EPISCOPAL RESIDENCES 72

1.3.1 Introduction 72 1.3.2 Early Christian bishops and episcopia: roles and functions 74 1.3.3 Episcopal reception halls in literary sources 77 1.3.4 The episcopal palace at the Lateran 82 1.3.5 Ravenna 91 1.3.6 Grado 100 1.3.7 Aquileia 101 1.3.8 Porec 106 1.3.9 Geneva 110 1.3.10 Constantinople 116 1.3.11 Side 118 1.3.12 Priene 121 1.3.13 The `Bishop's Palace' at Aphrodisias 123 1.3.14 Discussion 126

1.4 ARISTOCRATIC HOUSING 129

1.4.1 Introduction 129 1.4.2 Patrociniurn in Late Antiquity 129 1.4.3 Triclinium and stibadium 133 1.4.4 Triclinia, audience chambers and grand dining halls 139 1.4.5 Entertaining at dinner-parties 150 1.4.6 The end of the Roman peristyle house 153 1.4.6 Conclusions 158

PART 2-ELITE DWELLINGS IN POST-ANTIQUITY 160

2.1 PAPAL PALACES 160

2.1.1 Introduction 160 2.1.2 The Lateran Palace 160 2.1.3 The papal palace at the Vatican 177 2.1.4 The relationship with the Great Palace at Constantinople 182

2.2 ARISTOCRATIC HOUSING IN EARLY MEDIEVAL ITALY 194

2.2.1 Introduction 194 2.2.2 Urbanism in early medieval Italy: an on-going debate 195 2.2.3 Palace building in Langobardia maior 200 2.2.4 Palace building in Langobardia minor: the duchy of Spoleto 206 2.2.5 Palace building in Langobardia minor: the duchy of Benevento 207 2.2.6 Housing in early medieval Italy 223

2.3 ELITES DWELLINGS IN MEROVINGIAN SOCIETY 239

2.3.1 Introduction 239 2.3.2 Merovingian royal urban residences 239 2.3.3 Merovingian royal villas 245 2.3.4 Merovingian aristocratic estates 250 2.3.5 Discussion 256

2.4 PALACE BUILDING IN THE CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE 261

2.4.1 Introduction 261 2.4.2 Aachen 269 2.4.3 Ingelheim 277 2.4.4 Paderborn 280 2.4.5 Discussion 284

2.5 THE NORTHERN TRADITION 296

2.5.1 Introduction 296 2.5.2 The role and function of the hall in Anglo-Saxon society 296 2.5.3 The timber-hall and the sunken featured building 300 2.5.4 Yeavering 305 2.5.5 Northampton 309 2.5.6 Cheddar 311 2.5.7 Conclusions 313

CONCLUSIONS 316

BIBLIOGRAPHY 322

ABSTRACT

This project examines the transformation of elite dwellings in the period between the disintegration of Roman authority and the rise of the Carolingian Empire. The aim of this study is to come to an understanding of the ways in which the participants in this process of transition and transformation expressed and defined their power and status through their residences. For this purpose, a representative selection of sites and structures is analysed, with particular emphasis on the spaces designed for reception and entertainment, and their social and architectonic implications.

The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first one deals with patterns of elite dwellings throughout the territory of the Late Roman Empire, from roughly the fourth century AD to the Lombard conquest of Italy in the later sixth century. The second part analyses the dwellings of the new elites which gradually emerged between the end of the sixth century and the rise of Frankish power under the Carolingians, in the late eighth and early ninth centuries.

The inquiry relies on a combination of historical, archaeological and architectural data, with particular emphasis being laid on western Europe, although sites in the early Byzantine and Islamic East are brought in as points of comparison.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis owes a great debt of gratitude to a number of people and institutions. Above all, I would like to thank my supervisor, John Mitchell, for having been such an unfailing source of inspiration, criticism, support and enthusiasm throughout the years. I would also like to express my gratitude to Richard Hodges, not only for his constant encouragement and trust, but also for having convinced me to embark on this Italo-British adventure.

This research could not have been undertaken without the financial support of a student scholarship from the University of East Anglia. I have also benefited of travel grants from the Royal Historical Society, the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, The Centre for Late Antique Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Princeton. I

would also take this opportunity to thank Kate Carreno at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts for having offered me a nice job when I needed it.

At the School of World Art Studies and Museology, I greatly enjoyed the stimulating interaction with members of the School and fellow colleagues. I am particularly grateful to John Onians, Elena De Luca, Kathleen Lane, Lauren Golden, Sandy Heslop, Robin Skeates and the Institute for World Archaeology, particularly Oliver Gilkes and Matthew Moran, for useful advice and criticism, as well as constant encouragement. I would also like to thank Marjorie Rhodes, Lyn Marsh and the Security staff of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts for their great support and helpfulness, as well as the Library staff, in particular Peter Gorringe and David Harris. I also owe a great debt of gratitude to Suzanne Edmonds and Campbell Purton.

I have benefited from useful advice, information and criticism from other scholars, colleagues and friends. In particular, I wish to express my gratitude to Beat Brenk, Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Robert Coates-Stephens, Stefano Coccia, Noel Duval, Martin Henig, Luke Lavan, Yuri Marano, Federico Marazzi, Oswyn Murray, Riccardo Santangeli Valenzani and Bryan Ward-Perkins.

Throughout the years the support of many friends has been considerable. Here in Norwich, a very special thanks goes to Valentina Vulpi and Richard Hibbitt, and not only for having listened to my daily complaints about the British weather without yawning once. I also owe a great deal of gratitude to my housemates Jean-Francois Millaire and Magali Morlion, not only for their invaluable help with the illustrations, but also for having coped so well with my neurasthenic state in the final hectic stages of the thesis (not to mention my lack of collaboration in the house management). In London, I have enjoyed the great hospitality and friendship of Julia Jarrett and Serge

and Maurice Arundel, for which I am most grateful. I would also like to thank Antonia Castellani, Nick Everett, Manuela Fragalä, Steven Giardini, Maria Teresa Gigliozzi, Inge Hansen, Tonino Sennis and Helen Sibley for having been so close to me, even if

physically far away. Finally, I would like to thank my family, particularly my parents, for their

great support, love and encouragement throughout these years. As a small token of my love and gratitude, this work is dedicated to them, even if they will never be able to

read it because it is written in such an abstruse and incomprehensible (barbaric? ) language.

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LIST OF FIGURES

Illustrations are inserted in the text at the relevant points.

1.1.1 Split. Palace of Diocletian. Plan.

1.1.2 Split. Palace of Diocletian. Partial axonometric reconstruction.

1.1.3 Split. Palace of Diocletian. Partial axonometric reconstruction.

1.1.4 Gamzigrad. Romuliana. Plan.

1.1.5 Romuliana. Hypothetical reconstruction.

1.1.6 Split. Palace of Diocletian. "Peristyle".

1.1.7 Ravenna. Palatium of Theodoric, building as reconstructed by Dyggve.

1.1.8 Sirmium. Circus and adjacent structures. Plan.

1.1.9 Milan. Circus and adjacent structures. Plan.

1.1.10 Trier. Basilica. Reconstructed view of exterior and plan.

1.1.11 Thessalonike. Palace, circus and adjacent features. Plan.

1.1.12 Thessalonike. Mausoleum of Galerius and monumental approach to it, including the arch of Galerius across the main colonnaded street to the city. Reconstructed view .

1.1.13 Thessalonike. Part of the Palace of Galerius.

1.1.14 Constantinople. Palace, circus and adjacent features. Schematic plan.

1.1.15 Constantinople. Plan showing the relative position of some of the major buildings of the Great Palace.

1.1.16 Rome. Flavian Palace. Plan.

1.1.17 Ravenna. Map of the eastern part of the city, showing the topography of the palace.

1.1.18 Ravenna. Palace of Theodoric. Excavated structures. Plan.

1.2.1 Dura Europos. The `Palace of the Dux Ripae'. Plan.

1.2.2 Dura Europos. The `Palace of the Dux Ripae'. Axonometric view.

1.2.3 Athens. The `Palace of the Giants'. Plan.

1.2.4 Aquincum (Budapest). Praetoritun. Plan.

iv

1.2.5 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Praetorium, 151 century phase. Fragmentary plan.

1.2.6 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Praetorium, 4" century. phase. Fragmentary plan.

1.2.7 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Praetorium. Hypothetical plan.

1.2.8 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Praetorium. Reconstruction of the different phases.

1.2.9 Caesarea. Praetorium. The archive building. Plan

1.2.10 Gortyn. Praetorium. Plan.

1.3.1 Plan of Rome by Bufalini (1551). Detail showing the Palatium Constantini.

1.3.2 Rome. The Lateran complex before Zacharias' intervention. Hypothetical reconstruction.

1.3.3 Ravenna. The archiepiscopal complex (c. 600)

1.3.4 Ravenna. The Domus VAccubita. Reconstruction.

1.3.5 Ravenna. The archiepiscopal complex (c. 800).

1.3.6 Grado. Excavation by the cathedral. Plan.

1.3.7 Grado. Exý . %tion by the cathedral. Plan.

1.3.8 Aquileia. Episcopal complex. Theodoran phase

1.3.9 Aquileia. Episcopal complex. Post-Theodoran phase

1.3.10 Aquileia. Episcopal complex. Post-Attilan phase

1.3.11 Pored. Episcopal complex. Plan.

1.3.12 Pored. Episcopal palace

1.3.13 Pored. Episcopal palace. Reconstruction.

1.3.14 Pored. Episcopal palace. Reconstruction

1.3.15 Geneve. Episcopal complex. Plan of the excavation (V-4`h c. phase).

1.3.16 Geneve. Episcopal complex. Plan of the excavation (0-5` c. phase).

1.3.17 Geneve. Episcopal complex. Plan of the excavation (6`-7` c. phase).

1.3.18 Side. Episcopal complex. Plan.

1.3.19 Priene. Episcopal complex. Plan.

1.3.20 Priene. Episcopal complex. Plan. Detail showing the peristyle.

V

1.3.21 Aphrodisias. The `Bishop's Palace'. Plan.

1.4.1 Layout of a Roman triclinium.

1.4.2 Leiden, Rijksmuseum Van Oudhen. Sarcophagus lid with hunters' picnic.

1.4.3 Rome. Hypogeum of Vibia. Painting of a Banquet of Blessed.

1.4.4 Desenzano del Garda. Plan of a villa.

1.4.5 Constantinople. Plan of the so-called palaces of Lausus and Antiochus.

1.4.6 Plan of three houses with audience chambers: [1] Ephesus, villa above the theatre [2]

Aphrodisias, the `Governor's Palace' [3] Apollonia, the `Palace of the Dux'.

1.4.7 Plan of three houses with multi-apsed grand dining halls [1] Djemila, House of Bacchus [2] Ravenna, the Palace of Theodoric [3] Mediana (Nis), villa.

1.4.8 Piazza Armerina. Plan of the villa.

1.4.9 Littlecote Park. Plan of a villa c. AD 260 (top) and c. AD 360 (bottom).

1.4.10 Ecija. Plan of a villa.

1.4.11 Patti Marina. Plan of the villa.

1.4.12 Rioseco de Soria. Plan of a villa.

1.4.13 Butrint. Plan of a domus.

1.4.14 San Giovanni di Ruoti. Plan and reconstruction of the villa, c. 350-400.



1.4.17 Monte Barro. `Palazzetto'. Hypothetical reconstruction

1.4.18 Monte Barro. `Palazzetto'. Reconstruction.

1.4.19 Palazzolo. Plan of the `palazzetto'.

1.4.20 Galeata. Plan of the `palazzetto'.

1.4.21 Polabe, Mljet (Meleda). Palace. Hypothetical axonometric reconstruction.

1.4.22 Polate, Mljet (Meleda). Palace. Axonometric plan.

2.1.1 Rome. Lateran. Triclinium of Leo III. Plan by Alemanni.

2.1.2 The Lateran in the Middle Ages. Reconstruction by Rohault de Fleury.

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2.1.3 Rome. The Lateran before 1588. Detail of a fresco in the Vatican Palace

2.1.4 Vatican Library, Barb. lat. 2160, fol. 209". The "Council Room". Sketch by Onophrius

Panvinius, c. 1588.

2.1.5 Ortographia Patriarchii Lateranensis. Engraving by L. Rouhier, XVI c.

2.1.6 Rome. The Lateran-complex after Leo III's intervention. Reconstruction.

2.1.7 Rome. Lateran. The "Council Room". Hypothetical reconstruction.

2.1.8 Rome. Lateran. Triclinium of Leo III. Hypothetical reconstruction.

2.1.9 Bayeux. Musee de la Tapisserie. Harold at Bosham.

2.1.10 Qasr ibn-Wardan. Plan of the ground-floor of the palace and of the first floor of the

south wing. 2.2.1 San Vincenzo al Volturno. North end of the monastery. Plan.

2.2.2 San Vincenzo al Volturno. Reconstruction of the palace, c. 800-20.

2.2.3 San Vincenzo al Volturno. San Vincenzo al Volturno. Reconstruction of the distinguished guests' complex and monks' refectory, c. 830.

2.2.4 San Vincenzo al Volturno. The entrance hall to the palace. Plan and hypothetical

elevations.

2.2.5 Naranco. Santa Maria. View of the east-facade.

2.2.6 Naranco. Santa Maria. View of the north-side.

2.2.7 Naranco. Santa Maria. View from the south-west side.

2.2.8 Naranco. Santa Maria. Interior. Upper floor.

2.2.9 Naranco. Santa Maria. Axonometry.

2.2.10 Rome. Forum of Nerva. Reconstruction of the houses excavated.

2.2.11 Rome. Forum of Nerva. House 1.

2.3.1 Chelles. Plan of early medieval burials, abbey site, and possible sites of the royal palace based on place-name evidence.

2.3.2 Camp de Larina. Plan of the domes and the pressing room to the west.

2.4.1 The Palatium Caroli at the Vatican.

2.4.2 Aachen. Model of Charlemagne's Palace.

2.4.3 Aachen. Palace complex with modular grid.

2.4.4 Aachen. Aula regia. Reconstruction

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2.4.5 Aachen. Cranusturm.

2.4.6 Ingelheim. Reconstruction of the palace, age of Charlemagne.

2.4.7 Ingelheim. Palatial complex. Plan.

2.4.8 Ingelheim. Aula regia. Reconstruction.

2.4.9 Ingelheim. Exedra. Reconstruction.

2.4.10 Paderborn. Palatial complex. Plan (c. 776).



2.4.13 Frankfurt. Palatial complex. Plan.

2.4.14 Bodman. Palatial complex. Plan.

2.4.15 Samoussy. Palatial complex. Plan.

2.4.16 Centula. The Abbey of St Riquier, by Petau, 1612.

2.5.1 Chalton (Hampshire). Hypothetical reconstruction of structure with posts set in

continuous trenches.

2.5.2 Chalton (Hampshire). Hypothetical reconstruction of structure with individually set posts.

2.5.3 Yeavering (Northumberland). Reconstruction of the villa during Edwin's visit, c. 626.

2.5.4 Northampton. Reconstruction of the timber hall, mid-8th century-c. 820.

2.5.5 Cheddar. Reconstruction of the Saxon `palace', pre-c. 930.

2.5.6 Cheddar. Reconstruction of the Saxon `palace', late 10th to 11th century.

`Buildings in antiquity, as today, did use after all a

vocabulary expressive of their function and their place in a social or religious hierarchy. To deny this means closing one's eyes to an element integral to any architecture. "

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this thesis is to examine some aspects of the

transformation of elite lifestyles in the period comprised between the

disintegration of Roman authority and the rise of the Carolingian empire.

In particular, I will look at the different ways in which aristocrats shaped

their dwellings so as to define their positions within a network of

relations throughout this period of transition and transformation.

As is well known, a long-established historiographical tradition

has considered the massive migration of Germanic `barbarians' as one of

the main causes for the end of the Roman Empire and the consequent fall

of Roman civilisation into the òbscurity' of the `Dark Ages'. However,

this traditional perspective has been countered in recent years by a

I R. KRAUTHEIMER, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture (Harmondsworth 1979,3rd

ed. ) p. 492, n. 24.

2

growing tendency to consider the centuries between Antiquity and the

Middle Ages as a period of political, social, religious and economic

transformation. Consequently, discussions of the impact of Germanic

migration and settlement and the question of the extent to which that

impact caused major disruption have been looked at from a very different

point of view, and the analyses of economic, religious and social patterns

have attempted to avoid the traditional and stereotyped model of

confrontation between Roman and Germanic culture.

It is now generally recognised that a series of fundamental social

changes took place in the late Roman period, with individuals and groups

compelled to redefine their identities within a changing world. The

surviving material and documentary evidence for elite lifestyles offers a

rich source of information about society and its constituents; and the aim

of this study is, through an examination of the transformation of prestige

dwellings, to come to an understanding of the ways in which the

participants in this process expressed and defined their power and status

through their residences, during this period of change. For this purpose,

the discussion focuses especially on areas in which encounters between

elites and non-elites took place; above all, attention is paid to the spaces

3

designed for reception and entertainment, and to their social and

architectonic implications.

The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part deals with

patterns of elite dwellings throughout the territory of the Late Roman

Empire, from roughly the fourth century AD to the Lombard conquest of

Italy in the later sixth century. This first part is divided into four chapters.

In the first chapter, I analyse the establishment of new imperial

capitals and the building of new palaces for the emperors and their

retinues. I also discuss such issues as established historiographical

traditions in this field: in particular the so-called ceremonial

interpretation and the model of an ideal palatial system.

The second chapter deals with the residences of provincial

governors and, in some cases, of other official representatives of the

emperor. In this chapter, I discuss the tendency towards overoptimistic

identification of praetoria and other official seats largely on grounds of

scale, in the absence of firm corroborative evidence. I also present a

detailed analysis of the very small number of buildings which can be

identified with a reasonable degree of certainty as official residences.

4

The third chapter concerns the analysis of episcopal residences.

Through an examination of a series of episcopia located in different parts

of the Late Roman Empire, I discuss the rapid increase in power of the

emerging class of the bishops and the way this was expressed in the

fabric of their residences, with particular emphasis on the roles and

functions of reception areas.

The fourth chapter deals with aristocratic town houses and country

villas. In particular, I discuss the growth in the form of private patronage

in Late Antiquity and the reflection of this in the dwellings of the

potentiores. In this chapter I also consider the ways in which the

reception areas of wealthy houses were used for dining and entertaining,

and their social and architectonic implications.

The second part of the thesis deals with the dissolution of the

Roman Empire and with the new elites which gradually emerged

between the end of the sixth century and the rise of Frankish power under

the Carolingians in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. This part is

divided into five chapters.

5

In the first chapter, I discuss the residential building activity of the

popes in early medieval Rome. In particular, I analyse the rearrangement

of the existing palatial complex at the Lateran, the building of an

increasing number of grandiose halls and their relationship to the

contemporary imperial palace at Constantinople.

The second chapter investigates patterns of elite residences which

emerged and developed in Italy in the early Middle Ages. In the first

place, I analyse the reuse of pre-existing palaces adopted by Lombard

rulers in an initial phase, and the subsequent building of royal residences

ex novo. I also consider the relationship between palatial architecture and

the dwellings of middle-ranking social classes.

The third chapter deals with the residences of the Merovingian

elite. Firstly I consider the meagre evidence available for royal estates in

both urban and rural contexts, and then proceed to an analysis of a few

better-documented estates, owned by Merovingian lay and ecclesiastical

nobles.

The fourth chapter concerns the analysis of royal estates at the

time of the formation of the Carolingian empire. In this chapter, I

6

consider such issues as the fundamental importance of royal estates for

the Carolingian administration, as well as the process of forming

consensus mainly through assemblies, with the consequent demand for

the presence of very large halls in royal palaces. In an examination of

some of the best-known Carolingian palaces, I also discuss their possible

sources of inspiration and their relationship with contemporary palatial

architecture in Italy and at Constantinople.

The fifth chapter deals with patterns of elite accommodation

which emerged in northern Europe between the sixth and the ninth

century. In particular, I analyse the central and fundamental role of the

hall in the Anglo-Saxon society, but also consider more simple, basic

timber-halls and grubenhäuser. Notice is taken of the relationship

between these halls and contemporary continental palatial architecture.

The inquiry relies on a combination of historical, archaeological

and architectural data, with particular emphasis being laid on western

Europe, although sites in the early Byzantine and Islamic East are

brought in as points of comparison. A previous attempt in this direction

7

was made by Karl Swoboda in 1919.2 Since then, however, not only the

quantity and quality of the evidence available, but also the approach to

the topic have changed considerably. Swoboda's study, in fact, consisted

in a broadly formal analysis leading to the classification of typologies; on

the contrary, this work is more orientated towards the study of the

functions and uses of buildings and of their architectural and social

implications.

Obviously, an approach with such broad geographical and

chronological limits as the present cannot involve a comprehensive study

of known elite dwellings, and to attempt to include a comprehensive

catalogue or gazetteer would be utterly impracticable. Therefore, the

argument presented has to rest on the evidence of a limited but

representative selection of sites and structures.

2 K. M. SWOBODA, Römische und romanische Paläste. Eine architecturgeschichtliche Untersuching. (Vienna 1919,2nd ed. 1969)

8

PART 1-ELITE DWELLINGS IN LATE ANTIQUITY

1.1. LATE IMPERIAL PALACES

1.1.1 Introduction

The third century traditionally has been considered by

scholarship as a time of deep crisis, beginning with the murder of

Alexander Severus in AD 235 and lasting at least until the accession of

Diocletian in AD 284. ' This critical period was marked by a rapid

turnover of emperors and by constant warfare, by the collapse of the

silver currency and the state's recourse to exaction in kind. '

1 There is a large and growing literature on the history of the late Roman Empire. Among the mass of specialised publications, for an introduction to Late Antiquity see P. BROWN, The World of Late Antiquity, from Marcus Aurelius to Mohammed (London, Thames and Hudson 1971), A. H. M. JONES, The Later Roman Empire 284-602. A Social, Administrative and Economic Survey, 3 vols. (Oxford, Basil Blackwell 1964) and the general works recently written by A. CAMERON, The Later Roman Empire AD 284-430 (London, Fontana Press 1993); IDEM, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity (London 1993). For more specialised and detailed studies, see the different essays in the volume recently edited by A. CAMERON and P. GARSNEY (eds. ), The Late Empire, A. D. 337-425. The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. XIII (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1998)

and G. W. BOWERSOCK, P. BROWN, O. GRABAR (eds), Late Antiquity. A Guide to the Postclassical World (Cambridge, Mass. and London, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 1999), including exhaustive and current bibliographies. 2 M. F. HENDY, Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy, c. 300-1450 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1985), p. 448.

9

It was not until AD 284, with the accession of Diocletian, that

the situation began to be brought under control. The establishment of

the Tetrarchy, a system of power-sharing involving two senior and two

junior emperors, despite its many internal stresses, was successful in

carrying the Empire through a phase of temporary recovery,

consolidation and major administrative and social change. The old

provinces were subdivided to make new provinces of roughly standard

size, grouped into twelve dioceses supervised by deputies of the

Praetorian Prefect; the currency was reformed and a new system of

taxation in cash and kind was introduced through the annona militaris

and the capitus. 3

At the end of the third century, Rome was still the formal

capital of the Empire, but had ceased to be the permanent residence of

Roman emperors. Emperors now normally resided in different places,

especially close to the frontier regions, since they were often forced to

undertake journeys through the provinces and along the frontiers in

3 See CAMERON, The Later Roman Empire, pp. 36-37. However, we should note here that by no means all of the system later known actually originated with Diocletian, though he is usually accredited for creating a strong bureaucracy and a heavy taxation system. Many of the changes that were taking place during his reign were in fact only a matter of long-term

evolution and not the result of individual initiative. For the reform of the coinage system in Late Antiquity, see HENRY, Byzantine Monetary Economy, pp. 449-475. For the increasing

of taxation, see W. GOFFART, Caput and Colonate: " towards a History of Late Roman Taxation (Toronto and Buffalo, University of Toronto Press 1974). See also R. MACMULLEN, "The historical role of the masses in Late Antiquity", in Changes in the Roman Empire: Essays in the Ordinary (Princeton, Princeton University Press 1990), pp. 250-276.

10

order to meet internal rebellions and foreign invasions. In other words,

emperors in this period commonly spent their time moving from one

city to another with a large retinue of officials and a force of

household cavalry. Rome was rarely, if ever, on the imperial itinerary. '

However, even if Rome was no longer an effective centre of

power and the permanent residence of emperors, it would be wrong to

assume that she had lost all her importance. In the eyes of the world

she was still caput mundi, the capital of the Empire, and the seat of the

Senate. As Richard Krautheimer has pointed out, although the Senate

had only honorific and ceremonial functions ìts presence still made

the city the only legitimate seat of government, regardless of the

location of actual power at the emperors's court', and even if the real

political power had moved away from Rome, many old ruling families

continued to reside there. '

Nevertheless, other cities started to emerge as new imperial

centres, a role which they then retained in the fourth century when

several more new capitals developed up and down the length of the

4 For a reconstruction of the movements of Diocletian and his colleagues and successors from 284 to 337, see T. D. BARNES, The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine (Cambridge, Mass. and London 1982). In particular for Milan and Aquileia, see M. BONFIOLI, "Soggiorni imperiali a Milano ed Aquileia da Diocleziano a Valentiniano II", in Aquileia e Milano (Atti della III Settimana di Studi Aquileiesi) (Udine 1973), pp. 125-149. 5 Cf R. KRAUTHEIMER, Rome. Profile of a City, 312-1308 (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1980), pp. 4-5; IDEM, Three Christian Capitals. Topography and Politics: Rome, Constantinople, Milan (Berkley, University of California Press 1983).

11

Empire, formally or de facto. These new capitals, however, were not

established ex-novo, but were chosen from cities already established

and with their own history and development, often located in strategic

positions.

The establishment of these new imperial centres implied the

building of new large palaces to accommodate the emperors and their

administrative and ceremonial apparatus. Makeshift accommodations

and buildings such as praetoria and staging posts (mansiones) were

used possibly in the cases of less important centres, where imperial

stays were short and only temporary. In the cases of larger and more

important cities, however, fully equiped and appropriate seats were

built, real and proper palatia.

Earlier in the third century, Cassius Dio had already noted that

the term palatium was to be understood as implying the dwelling

occupied by an emperor, even if only temporary. ' On the base of this,

the administrative capital of the Empire then became any place where

the emperor was resident at a certain moment, together with his

comitatus of ministers, which formed the central government of the

Empire. In the fourth century, the term palatium ended up designating

any imperial dwellings in general, without implying too many

12

distinctions between permanent and temporary residences. Even when

he renounced his power, in fact, a late Roman emperor was still an

emperor. Therefore, his residence was still a palatium. ' This means

that in this discussion of late antique imperial palaces we must

examine in more detail not only official residences, but also imperial

dwellings built for private purposes, as, for example, the imperial

residences at Split and at Gamzigrad.

1.1.2 Spalato

Lactantius tells us that on the Ist May 305, at Nicomedia,

Diocletian laid aside his imperial robe, invested the new Caesar

Maximin Daia with his own purple and retired to his palace at

Spalato, the modern Split, on the coast of his native Dalmatia. There

he lived in seclusion until his death. '

6 CASSius Dio, Roman History, VI, 53: "Thus even when the Emperor is residing somewhere else, the place where he is staying is still called the Palatium". 7 See for this point M. CAGIANO DE AZEVEDO, "Admiranda palatia: i palazzi imperiali e le

residenze tetrarchiche", Bollettino del centro di studi per la storia dell'architettura 14 (1959), pp. 3-24, at pp. 4-5. 8 LACTANTIUS, De Mort. Pers., 18-19.

o zoom

Figure 1.1.1 Split. Palace of Diocletian. Plan.

N

Figure 1.1.2 Split. Palace of Diocletian. Partial axonometric reconstruction.

Figure 1.1.3 Split. Palace of Diocletian. Partial axonometric reconstruction.

13

The palatial complex at Split (Fig. 1.1.1) is still remarkably

preserved in its modem context. 9 It consists of an independent self-

contained residence, enclosed in a rectangular circuit of walls. At each

corner is a square bastion, and there are gates in the centres of the

three landward sides, flanked by octagonal towers. In the three

landward walls there are six square bastions, while the facade towards

the sea is unbroken. Two intersecting colonnaded streets divide the

complex into four rectangular segments. The northern two were

probably barracks, while the southern two, overlooking the sea, are

thought to have been the residential part of the complex. (Figg. 1.1.2-

1.1.3)

The southern arm of the north-south colonnaded street is

characterised by three main features: the so-called `peristyle' -a short

stretch of street flanked by arcades which give access to a small

temple to the west and to an octagonal mausoleum to the east; the

domed vestibule of the palace; and a rectangular hall which opens into

a long corridor running the length of the south side of the complex. To

the west is an apsed basilican hall, with possibly a bedroom and a

9 Among the numerous contributions on Diocletian's palace at Split, see especially J. AND T. MARASOVIC, Le Palais de Diocletien (Zagreb 1982) and J. WILKES, Diocletian's Palace,

Split (Sheffield 1986).

\t

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Figure 1.1.4 Gamzigrad. Romuliana. Plan.

14

bathing suite, while to the east is a set of three smaller rooms opening

from a larger central one, perhaps a triclinium.

1.1.3 Gamzigrad

Diocletian's palace at Spalato is also often associated with

Romuliana, 1° the residence built by the emperor Galerius for his

retirement, recently plausibly identified with the vast complex of

buildings excavated between the Cmi Timok valley and the village of

Gamzigrad, in eastern Serbia. " (Fig. 1.1.4)

1° WILKES, Diocletian's palace, pp. 62-66. Also S. JOHNSON, Late Roman Fortifications (London 1983), pp. 243-44. 11 D. SRE1ovIC, A. LALOVIC, Felix Romuliana (Belgrade 1989). See also D. SREJOVIC (ed. ), Roman Imperial Towns and Palaces in Serbia (Belgrade 1993), p. 116 and D. SREJOVIC & C. VASIC, "Emperor Galerius buildings in Romuliana (Gamzigrad, Eastern Serbia)", Antiquite Tardive 2 (1994), pp. 123-41. Romuliana is mentioned in only two historical sources: the author of the Epitomies (c. 360 AD), an anonymous work ascribed to Aurelius Victor, says that the emperor Galerius was born and buried in Dacia Ripensis, in a place which was named Romulianum after his mother Romula (AURELIUS VICTOR, Epitomies, 40,16. ), while Procopius mentions it in his De Aedificiis among the castella in the district of the town of Aquae, which Justinian had restored (PROCOPIUS, De Aedificiis, IV, 4). Although the earlier source is clearly more informative, it has been generally neglected in favour of Procopius'one, even though ruins of a vast building were still visible near Gamzigrad. Romuliana was then sought among the castella round Aquae, and identified, without sufficient archaeological evidence, with a small fortress near the village of Jasen, in north-west Bulgaria. The excavation of the site at Gamzigrad started in 1953, in the belief that remains of a large military camp would be found there. After the first years of excavations it was already clear that the structures uncovered belonged to a luxurious

mansion, but it was only in 1984, when a large stone block (the capstone of an archivolt bearing the carved inscription FELIX ROMULIANA) was discovered on site, that the complex was eventually recognized as Romuliana. However, Noel Duval is still doubtful

., ,ý

Figure 1.1.5 Romuliana. Hypothetical reconstruction.

15

This large mansion was surrounded by powerful walls built in

two different phases. The original fortifications uncovered so far

consist of the western gate, flanked with large octagonal towers, and

part of the western defence wall, with a quadrangular tower and a

portico. Inside the walls, various ranges of buildings, including

palaces, temples and perhaps a mausoleum, have been excavated. (Fig.

1.1.5)

The residential area has been identified in the northern section

of the complex, where two palatial structures were found. The palace

in the north-eastern quarter, probably Romuliana's residence, had a

simple ground plan: a peristyle in the middle, with rooms of various

sizes arranged around it, including a large apsidal hall entered from

the peristyle.

The palace in the north-western quarter was considerably more

complex and it has been thus associated with Galerius' residence. It

consisted of a long single-apsed audience hall with a small octagonal

room on its south side, which has been interpreted as a robing

chamber. This hall was reached through two spacious corridors from

the main entrance at the south-east corner. North of the hall were two

about this identification; see N. DUVAL, "Le palais de Galere a Gamzigrad", Bulletin Monumental 144 (1986), pp. 356-361 and "Le sitee de Gamzigrad (Serbie) est-il le palais

16

courtyards with marble colonnades, another large hall, presumed to be

the main dining-room, and a small bath suite with rooms of trefoil and

quatrefoil plans. The floors were paved with high-quality mosaics, and

the walls were decorated with frescoes, stucco-ornaments and precious

stone revetment of various colours.

1.1.4 The `ceremonial' interpretation and the `palatial' system

As we have seen, the complex at Gamzigrad is generally

associated with Diocletian's palace at Spalato since not only hell

function -a residence for a retired emperor - but also their non-urban

location and free-standing fortifications in the manner of late-Roman

forts or towns were quite similar. At both sites, in fact, no evidence for

protective ditches has been found, so that there is no evidence to assert

that these walls were intended to serve as military fortifications.

Therefore, it is likely that their function was only to ensure privacy

and security. After all, such was the seclusion and the secrecy of

de retraite de Galere? ", Bulletin de la Societee Nationale des Antiquaires de France (1987),

pp. 61-84.

.

k

I

/rar i

ice-

ý

ýý ýý ý \ýýý ,ý 4-? ý , "ý

T ,. r: ` "ter r -\:

Figure 1.1.6 Split. Palace of Diocletian. "Peristyle".

.w

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Figure 1.1.7 Ravenna. Palutium of Theodoric, building as reconstructed by Dyggve.

17

Diocletian and Galerius' retirement that neither the dates nor the

circumstances of their deaths are known for certain. "

At this point it is worth mentioning that, notwithstanding its

peculiar function, Diocletian's residence has been considered by a

long established tradition as a precursor of the traditions of palatial

architecture of the Late Roman empire, and has been interpreted as

having been designed for the court ceremonial and household of a

reigning emperor, although there is no real evidence to support this

assumption.

The so-called `ceremonial' interpretation was in fact based on

the significance given to such features as the peristyle, the

monumental porch, the vestibule and the aisled chamber, which lay

behind it. The interpretation of these features given by Dyggve"

proposed a complex of buildings consisting of an open basilica or

open audience chamber, the so-called `basilica discoperta', a

monumental porch which served as a frame for the appearance of the

emperor to the acclaiming crowd (Fig. 1.1.6) and a covered throne

room located directly behind this entrance. Dyggve recognised the

same arrangement of a ceremonial complex of chambers along the

12 WILKES, Diocletian's palace, pp. 62-66. 13 E. DYGGVE, Ravennatum Palatium Sacrum. La basilica ipetrale per cerimonie. Studi

sull'architettura dei palazzi della tarda an ichit6 (Copenaghen 1941).

18

central axis leading to an imperial throne-room in the Palace of

Theoderic at Ravenna (Fig. 1.1.7), at the villa at Piazza Armerina - at

that time still considered the imperial villa built for Maximian's

retirement - and in the Great Palace at Constantinople, as

reconstructed from the Book of Ceremonies compiled by the emperor

Costantine VII Porphyrogenitus in the tenth century. 14

This idea was immediately accepted and (over)developed

enthusiastically by a number of scholars15 but harshly criticised by

others. 16 In particular Noel Duval, in a consistent series of papers, has

deconstructed some of the assumptions that lay behind Dyggve's

interpretation, showing his over-interpretation of the symbolism of

architectural elements and his misinterpretation of their functions. "

Moreover, the discovery at Spalato of stairs leading from the peristyle

down to the basement-level of the vestibule shows that the peristyle

14 See A. CAMERON, "The construction of court ritual: the Byzantine Book of Ceremonies, in D. CANNADINE and S. PRICE (eds), Rituals of Royalty. Power and Ceremonial in Traditional Societies (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1987), pp. 106-136. 15 Among the others, A. BOETHIUS, "The Reception Halls of the Roman Emperors", Annual of the British School of Athens XLVI (1951), p. 25; A. GRABAR, Martyrium (Paris 1946), pp. 122-123; C. ANTI, "Precedenti delle basiliche ipetrali nei palazzi imperiali tardoromani", A tti e menzorie della societb' istriana d'architettura e storia patria, 1 (1950), pp. 57-76; S. BETTINI, "Il castello di Mschattä' in Transgiordania nell'ambito dell"arte di

potenza' tardo-antica", in Anthemon. Scritti di archeologia e di antichitb classiche in onore di Carlo Anti (Florence 1955), pp. 321-366. 16 Especially A. PRANDI, "La 'basilica discoperta' del Dyggve", in 11 complesso monumentale della basilica celimontana dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo (Rome 1953), pp. 425- 35 and A. M. SCHNEIDER, "Basilica discoperta", Antiquity (1950), pp. 131-139. For a summary of the arguments, see the somewhat polemic study of G. DE FRANCOVICH, Ii Palatium di Teodorico a Ravenna e la cosidetta àrchitettura di potenza' (Rome 1970).

19

had not been created as an open ceremonial basilica, but was merely

an open court before the great porch, while the lower paving of the

area was part of a north-south thoroughfare which continued below the

imperial apartments to the south gate. 18 This discovery clarified the

role of the peristyle as a regulator of different levels in the form and

structure of the palace.

Still, Krautheimer is right in saying that, all told, it is not so

easy to deny the gloryfing meaning of some features of Diocletian's

residence, such as, for example, the fastigium. 19 This whole point is

still confused by insufficient information on Diocletian's last years of

retirement at Split as well as by our limited knowledge of late imperial

ceremonial in general. Diocletian is usually credited with having

transformed and considerably elaborated imperial protocol. " Whereas

in the early empire the emperor was considered as an ordinary citizen,

a civil magistrate, by the third century he was attended by a sort of

17 See all the contributions by Noel Duval quoted in bibliography; in particular "La place de Split dans l'architecture antique du bas-empire", Urbs 4 (1961-62), pp. 67-95. 18 Dyggve therefore had to modifiy his early view of the ceremonial complex to take account of the discoveries in the peristyle. At first, he proposed that the aisled chamber at the centre was a reception hall leading to the throne room, identified with the circular chamber now indicated as the vestibule. In a later consideration, he maintained that the great porch was the formal entrance, making the vestibule the antechamber and the three- aisled hall the throne room. See E. DYGGVE, "Nouvelle recherches au peristyle du palais de Diocletien a Split", Acta ad archeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia (1962), pp. 1-19. 19 KRAUTIIEIMER, Early Christian, p. 466, n. 24. 20 For example, he demanded homage in the form of prostration (adoratio). For the

religious aspects of Diocletian's reign see R. MACMULLEN, The Roman Government's Response to Crisis (New Haven 1976).

20

religious aura, and was very closely attached to and identified with the

gods. Z' Everything to do with the emperor was now referred to as

`sacred' or `divine'.

Although many of the individual elements in this development

could be found in Roman practice of earlier periods, their combination

marked a real change in the nature of the imperial office which

became more ceremonial than ever. However, the ceremonial

elaboration of the late Roman imperial office did not come about in

isolation. Late Roman public life in general was characterised by an

increasing sense of `theatrical' effect; the emperors with their great

palaces, their ceremonial audiences and complex processions provided

only the most spectacular examples. Late antique aristocrats, the new

emerging class of the potentiores, were participating in the same trend,

adopting, as we shall see, more ceremonious architectural settings in

their houses.

This point introduces the issue raised by Noel Duval: whether

there existed in late antiquity a `palatial' system, a specific form of

palace appropriate to monarchical ideology and to the necessities of

court ceremonial, and to what extent this hypothetical system would

21 Adopting the name Jovius, Diocletian presented himself as the vice-regent of Jupiter on earth, while his colleague Maximian was Herculis, representing the god who had relieved mankind from terror and affliction by his untiring labors.

21

have influenced architectural setting outside a strictly imperial

context. 22

In the light of this, let us turn to analyse in more detail the other

late-imperial residences. Unfortunately, little is known in most cases,

and the existence of some of them is testified only by their mention in

literary sources, since they have left hardly any trace above ground. 23

1.1.5 Antioch

This was the case, for example, of the palace at Antioch - now

the city of Antakya, in Turkey - known only from a description by the

orator Libanius and from a few other references. " Nothing remains of

the palace, which was destroyed by two earthquakes in 458 and 526;

however, traces of a circus of the first century AD, rebuilt in the second

22 N. DUVAL, "Existe-t-il une «structure palatiale» propre ä I'Antiquite tardive? ", in E. LEVY (ed. ), Le systeme palatiale en Orient en Grece et ä Rome (Acres du Colloque de Strasbourg, 19-22 juin 1985) (Leiden 1987), pp. 462-490; see also Duval's other publications listed in bibliography. 23 Perhaps it is largely because of its exceptional preservation that Split had played, as we have seen, such an important role in the study of late Roman palaces. 24 See especially G. DOWNEY, A History of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest, (Princeton 1961), pp. 318-23 and, by the same author, "Libanius' Oration in Praise of Antioch (Oration XII)", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 103, 5 (1959), pp. 652-86. Cf. also J. LIEBESCUUETZ, Antioch. City and Imperial Administration in the Later Roman Empire (Oxford 1972), pp. 146-148.

22

and in the fourth century, are still preserved beside the site of the

palace. "

The palace was erected by Diocletian on an island in the river

Orontes, on the foundations of a palace previously built by Gallenius.

According to Libanius, Diocletian's new complex was quite large - it

occupied a quarter of the island - and was surrounded by walls and

towers. In front of the palace lay an intersection of two major

colonnaded avenues (stoas), their crossing marked by a quadrifrons

(omphalos). Three stretches of these colonnaded avenues emanating

from the quadrifrons led to three fortified city gates within the

enclosing wall, while the fourth, much shorter avenue was more

beautiful than the other three and led to the entrance into the palace

proper. The flank of the palace facing the river was equipped with a

colonnaded gallery, providing a splendid view. "

25 J. H. HUMPIIREY, Roman Circuses. Arenas for Chariot Racings (London 1986), pp. 454- 456. 26 LIBANIUS, Or. 11,203-6.

23

1.1.6 Nicomedia

Even scantier is the information on the imperial palace at

Nicomedia, in Bithynia - the modem Izmir, in Turkey - the place

where Diocletian was proclaimed emperor in 284.2' The palace was

probably destroyed, or at least seriously damaged, by the major

earthquake of 358. The complex included a large circus that,

according to Lactantius, was built and dedicated by Diocletian on 20

November 304, one year after his vicennalia celebrations. "

1.1.7 Sirmium

Together with Nicomedia, Sirmium in Pannonia - the modern

Sremska Mitrovica in the former Yugoslavia - was one of the principal

residences of Diocletian, from c. 290 onwards. It then became the

principal residence of Licinius from c. 308-316, and Constantine's

main residence between 317 and 324.29 Both Constantius and Julian

27 See N. FIRATLY, Izmir (Istanbul 1959). 28 LACTANTIUS, De Mort. Pers., 17.4. Also see HUMPIIREY, Roman Circuses, pp. 633-634. 29 BARNES, The New Empire, chap. 5.

/ `ý. ý /lam.

-"-. - -_�\

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Figure 1.1.8 Sirmium. Circus and adjacent structures. Plan.

24

also stayed there. and, in these occasions, an imperial palace was

mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus. 3o

The location of the imperial palace at Sirmium is still much

disputed. Remains of buildings excavated in the southeastern corner of

the town, close to the city walls, have been identified by the

excavators as the palace. (Fig. 1.1.8) However, this identification has

been rejected by some scholars. "

To the north of this site are the remains of the fourth century

hippodrome. According to Humphrey, this could have been directly

linked to the imperial palace through the imperial box, so that

members of the imperial family could easily move between the two

places and could watch the games without entering the circus. "

30 AMM[ANUS MARCELLINUS y 21 QP-

and 26.5.4. 31 In particular, Duval, who complains that there is no real evidence for this identification.

See N. DUVAL, "Sirmium `Ville imperiale' ou `Capitale'? ", Corsi di cultura sull'arte

ravennate e bizantina 26 (1979), pp. 53-90. 32 HUMPHREY, Roman Circuses, pp. 606-13.

25

1.1.8 Milan

Until it was superseded by Ravenna, Mediolanurn, the modern

Milan, was one the most important cities of the western empire, as

well as one of the favourite imperial residences. 33

Maximian's plans for Milan as his chief residence and capital

should have begun as early as 286 and completed in time for him to

make use of it before he abdicated in 305. Milan then became the seat

of Constantius and Severus, and continued to receive emperors until

the early fifth century when the court moved to Ravenna.

Around 385, Ausonius ranked it seventh among the cities of

the Empire in his Ordo urbium nobilium. He refer,.. s to a theatre, a

circus, double walls, temples, a palace, and a mint erected by

Maximian. 34 A palace is also mentioned by St Ambrose. In his famous

letter to his sister Marcellina, he records that on his daily route to

reach the cemetery ad Martyres he used to pass by the regia palatii. 's

33 M. MIRABELLA ROBERTI, Milano romana (Milan 1984), pp. 77-84; S. LUSUARDI SIENA, "I1 Palazzo", in Milano capitale dell'Impero Romano, 286-402 d. C. (catalogue of the exihibition held in Milan, Palazzo Reale, 24 gennaio-22 aprile 1990) (Milan 1990), p. 99; A. FROVA, "Le capitali e le sedi imperiali", ibid., p. 201; BONFIOLI, "Soggiorni imperiali",

pp. 125-149. 34 AUSONIUS, Ordo nobilium urbium, v. 40-2. 35 AMBROSE OF MILAN, Epistula XX.

c0. Ia �<<, PORTA

0 50 loom

Figure 1.1.9 Milan. Circus and adjacent structures. Plan.

'. ý\

26

The palace was located in a marginal part of the city, in the vast

area which contained also the hippodrome and the Forum. 36 (Fig.

1.1.9) Memories of the palace can still be found in the area around the

modern Via Torino, as in the name of `San Giorgio in Palazzo'.

However, the archaeological evidence is quite scanty, with the

exception of the remains of the circus, as well as some structures

brought to light in Piazza Mentana, which possibly formed part of a

palatial bath complex, and those found in Via Brisia, probably

belonging to the reception area of the palace. "

1.1.9 Trier

We are better informed in the case of the imperial residence at

Trier. The old Augusta Treverorum was one of the oldest and most

prosperous cities of northern Gaul. Strategically located on the

Moselle, to the rear of the armies of the Rhine, it was chosen in 287 by

36 A. FROVA, "Il circo di Milano ei circhi in eta tetrarchica", in Milano capitale dell'Impero Romano, pp. 423-31; HUMPHREY, Roman Circuses, pp. 613-20. 37 M. MIRABELLA ROBERT[, Àrchitettura civile tardoantica fra Milano e Aquileia', Antichitä Altoadriatiche 4 (1973), pp. 305-321 and E. A. ARSLAN, Lombardia (Rome 1982), pp. 121-22.

27

Diocletian as the capital of the western part of the empire. It then

became the main residence of Constantius Chlorus in 293.38

The palatial complex seems to have included a residential

sector - where Constantine subsequently (c. 326) founded a great

double-church, the first cathedral church of northern Gaul - an official

sector which centred on the so-called Basilica (an audience hall), and a

recreational sector at the south, which included the bath-complex and,

a short distance to the east, towards the city walls, a circus. 39

Constantius' new building programme was quite ambitious;

subsequently continued by Constantine, it was never completed, either

for economic reasons or because of Constantine's definitive settlement

in Constantinople. In particular, the building of the magnificent

thermal complex, second, at the end of the third century, only to the

baths of Diocletian and Caracalla in Rome, was never finished.

Afterwards the project was substantially modified by Valentinian I

(364-75): the former calidarium was transformed in a sort of judicial

basilical; the tepidarium was used as a vestibule and parts of the

frigidarium were integrated to a gymnasium.

38 On Trier as an imperial residence, see Trier. Kaiserresidenz und Bishofssitz. Die Stadt in

spätantiker und frilhchristlischer Zeit (catalogue of the exhibition held in Trier in 1984) (Mainz 1984); on the palace, see especially pp. 139-157. 39 HUMPiiREY, Roman Circuses, pp. 602-6.

o Som OF F_gsl

Figure 1.1.10 Trier. Basilica. Reconstructed view of exterior and plan.

28

The famous `Basilica' or Aula Palatina, built by Constantine in

310 on the foundation of a previous palatial structure, " is still

standing, even if adjusted in part. (Fig. 1.1.10) The basic design for

this audience hall was very simple: it consisted of a large, plain,

rectangular hall with a projecting, semicircular apse. On either side of

the main hall was a long and narrow courtyard. In front of the

`Basilica' was another building as long as the `Basilica' itself, but

narrower. The central part of this served as a vestibule to the

`Basilica', with an entrance through a projecting porch. To the east of

the vestibule lay a rectangular hall, while to the west was an apsed

hall.

The interior is now characterised by the absence of any

supporting columns and by its present simple appearance. The lighting

comes from two rows of large windows down the long sides and round

the apse, where the openings are smaller and narrower. Moreover, the

ceiling in the apse is lower than that of the nave. Both these features

have been interpreted as sophisticated optical devices deliberately

used by the architects to make the apse seem deeper and more distant.

Remains of black and white opus sectile indicate that the floor was

decorated with geometric patterns. Holes in the walls also suggest that

40 Probably the seat of the local procurator in the second century AD.

29

the interior was once decorated with marble veneer. The niches in the

apse may also have contained statues and were probably decorated

with mosaics. The `Basilica' was also heated by five hypocausts, one

in the apse and four in the main hall. The space between the hypocaust

floor and the main floor was clearly divided up by two walls arranged

so that, if desired, the apse or either half of the hall could be heated

separately.

1.1.10 Thessalonike

Galerius (293-311) chose Thessalonike (Salonica) as the capital

of his quarter of the Empire since the city was strategically located on

the Via Egnatia, the main land route from Italy to the Bosphorus and

to Asia. 41

The palace quarter was built on the eastern edge of the existing

city, on both sides of the Via Egnatia. The plan of the monumental

complex is incomplete and not very clear, since it lies today beneath

the modern town. It seems that the palace proper was located to the

41 J. M. SPIESER, Thessalonique et ses monuments du IVe au Vie siecle (Paris 1984), pp. 110-123.

MAUSOLEUM

VIA ...: ý ............... ECNATIA ". """. "....

'......,

11

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PALACE I Iý

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Figure 1.1.11 Thessalonike. Palace, circus and adjacent features. Plan.

Figure 1.1.12 Thessalonike. Mausoleum of Galerius and monumental approach to it, including the arch of Galerius across the main colonnaded street to the city. Reconstructed view.

19,

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Figure 1.1.13 Thessalonike. Part of the Palace of Galerius.

30

south of the complex, alongside the hippodrome, " with the rotunda

mausoleum now known as the church of St George to the north. (Fig.

1.1.11) The palace and the rotunda were connected through a

porticoed corridor, with an elaborate triumphal arch marking the point

where it crossed the Via Egnatia. (Fig. 1.1.12)

Despite the fact that only some scattered elements of the palace

have been recovered, it seems likely that the complex consisted of a

series of interlocking units including the circus, a bath suite, a large

octagonal domed hall and a suites of rooms arranged around a central

peristyle courtyard with a large rectangular apsed hall. (Fig. 1.1.13)

Another interesting feature is the rectangular transverse hall on the

south side of the arch, which possibly served as a vestibule to the

colonnaded processional way.

1.1.11 Constantinople

Very little of the Constantinian city is left and there are no

surviving structures of the period relating to the palace.

Archaeological investigations have clarified only in part the

42 HUMPHREY, Roman Circuses, pp. 625-631. See also SPIESER, Thessalonique, pp. 104-

31

arrangement of the numerous building once part of the complex, and

the presence of modem buildings makes further investigation very

difficult. Moreover, no contemporary sources give us a full description

of the palace: scant information can be found in Eusebius' Vita

Constantini, while the Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae give us only

a synoptical picture of the city in the fifth century. The Book of

Ceremonies, compiled by the emperor Constantine VII

Porphyrogenitus in the tenth century, offers much interesting

information but it documents the topography of a city which was no

longer the one built by Constantine the Great, having been extensively

developed by his successors. 43

It seems likely that in Constantine's time the tetrastoon, the

Severan porticoed square, had been enlarged into a big square, known

as the Augustaion, which had become the focus of the government

110. 43 The bibliography on Constantinople is immense. Among the main contributions, see expecially G. DAGRON, Naissance d'une capitale: Constantinople et ses institutions de 330

a 451 (Paris 1974); R. JANIN, Constantinople byzantine (Paris 1964); W. MULLER-WIENER, Bildlexicon zur Topographie Istanbuls (Tubingen 1977); C. MANGO, The Brazen House. A

study of the Vestibule of the Imperial Palace of Constantinople (Copenaghen 1959); IDEM, The Art of the Byzantine Empire (312-1453). Sources and Documents. (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 1972); IDEM, Le developpement urbain de Constantinople (IVe-Vile siecles) (Paris 1985); KRAUTIIEIMER, Three Christian Capitals, pp. 49-50; C. BARSANTI, "Costantinopoli: testimonianze archeologiche di eta costantiniana", in G. BONAMENTE and F. Fusco (eds), Costantino il Grande dall'Antichitä all'Umanesimo. Colloquio sul Cristianesimo nel mondo antico (Macerata, 18-20 novembre 1990) (Macerata 1992), pp. 114-150; I. BALDINI LIPPOLIS, "Case e palazzi a Costantinopoli tra IV e VI secolo", Corsi di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina 41 (1994), pp. 279-311; J. BARDILL, "The Great Palace of the Byzantine emperors and the Walker Trust excavations", Journal of Roman Archaeology 12 (1999), pp. 217-230.

/ / ---___/H. SOPHIA

ESF _

--- --

MIlIpN; ýG4,

& 'i

4jOti i

0 . +ho

Figure 1.1.14 Constantinople. Palace, circus and adjacent features. Schematic plan.

JW

Figure 1.1.15 Constantinople. Plan showing the relative postion of some of the major buildings of the Great Palace. [1] Hagia Sophia. [2] anabasion of the Chalke. [3] Augustation. [4] Magnaura. [5] Triklinos of the Candidati. [6] Baths of Zeuxippos. [7] Consistorium. [9] Onopodion. [10] Church of the Lord. [ 11 ] Trkilinos of the 19 Couches. [ 12] Portico of the 19 Couches. [13] Portico of the Golden Hand. [14] Augusteus. [15] St Stephen the Protomartyt in Daphne. [16] Katishma. [17] Obelisk. [18] Octagon. [19] Imperial aparments. [20] Chapels of Holy Trinity and Theotokos. [21] Apsis. [22] Hemicycle of the Apsis. [23] Pa ssages of the Lord. [24] Courth of the Daphne Palace. [25] Covered Hippodrome. [26] Skyla Gate. [27] Wall of Nicephorus II Phocas. [28] "Tower of Belisarius". [29] Lighthouse tower. [30] Wall of Nicephorus II Phocas. [311 Kapi Agasi Mosque.

32

quarter. " (Fig. 1.1.14) The imperial palace was built on the area south

of the Augusteion and was linked to the pre-existent Baths of

Zeuxippus and to the Hippodrome.

The main entrance to the complex was a monumental vestibule

called the Chalke, also later known as the House of Bronze or the

Brazen House, from the gilded bronze tiles on its dome. This must

have been located at the end of the Regia, a double-storied porticoed

street located near the Augusteion, leading to the Palace. " (Fig. 1.1.15)

Through the Chalke one was led into the north-eastern part of the

complex, where three bodies of guards were located: the Scholae, the

Candidates and the Excubitores. Each group had its own living

quarters and a large hall or triclinium where the troops ate. Nearby

was a church dedicated to the Saviour°6 and the monumental of the

Magnaura, including a large basilical audience-chamber with a nave,

flanking aisles, and three apses. This was the place where receptions

of foreign ambassadors usually took place. "

44 At its east end was the Senate House. See KRAUTFIEIMER, Three Christian Capitals, pp. 47-49. 45 In the sixth century, however, following the Nika Riot, the Chalke was rebuilt by Justinian on a magnificent scale. See MANGO, Brazen House, pp. 42-47; JANIN, Constantinople, pp. 59-62. 46 On the church and its position, see R. JANIN, La geographie ecclesiastique de 1'empire byzantin, III. Les eglises et les monasteres (Paris 1969), pp. 511-12. 47 The building burned in 532 at the Nika Riot and it was then rebuild. See JANIN, Constantinople, pp. 117-118.

33

Between this sector of the palace and the northern extremity of

the Hippodrome were the Baths of Zeuxippus. To the south of this

complex was the Daphne palace, the core of Constantine's private

living-quarters. In this phase, the palace perhaps included also another

reception hall called the Augusteus and a large octagonal hall used as a

robing room by the emperors on state occasions. 48 Recently the

Augusteus has been plausibly identified with the structures uncovered

during the excavations undertaken on behalf of the Walker Trust in

1935-38 and 1952-54, which brought to light the remains of a peristyle

courtyard, floored with a magnificent mosaic depicting rural scenes,

animal hunts and mythological scenes, and an apsed chamber. 49 In this

area was also a semicircular porch with fifteen columns, named Sigma

after its likeness to the capital Greek letter, built under Constantine or

perhaps under Theodosius, 5° and the famous triclinium of the Nineteen

Couches, the main palatial dining suite, built, if not by Constantine,

then shortly after his death. 5'

48 BALDINI LIPPOLIS, "Case e palazzi", pp. 283-284. 49 BARDILL, "The Great Palace", pp. 217-30. 50 See JANIN, Constantinople, pp. 424-426. 51 See R. GUILLAND "Etudes sur le Gran Palais de Constantinople. Les XIX Lits", Jahrbuch Osterreichischen Byzantinishen Gesellschaft (1962-63), 11-12, pp. 85-113, at pp. 88-90. See also R. KRAUTHHEIMER, "Die Decanneacubita in Konstantinopel. Ein kleiner Beitrag zur Frage Rom und Byzanz", in W. N. SCHUMACHER (ed. ), Tortulae. Studien zu alterchistlichen und byzantinischen Monumenten (Römische Quartalschrift, Suppl. 30) (Freiburg 1966), pp. 195-99.

34

To the west of the Daphne was the Hippodrome which, with

Constantine's enlargement of the Severan town, was extended to a

length of 450 metres and to a width of 120 metres, three-quarters the

size of the Circus Maximus in Rome. In this phase the spine, the

remains of which are in part still visible, was also added to the circus,

as well as the imperial box known as the kathisma, a two-storied

structure located halfway down the length of the racecourse. The

upper part of the kathisma formed the royal box on the eastern side of

the Hippodrome, linking it with the palace.

To the south of the Daphne, Justin 11 (565-78) subsequently

built 'Itý, 1D other triclinia, the Justinianos and the Chrysotriklinos, both

later incorporated inside the fortification wall of the Boukoleon

Palace. The Chrysotriklinos was one of the most important chambers

of the Great Palace, since it was the departure point of the emperor for

some of the sacred processions. It consisted in a central structure with

eight niches, covered by a cupola. The imperial throne was located in

the eastern niche, raised and approached by a series of steps.

To the north of the large palatial complex, a short distance from

the Augusteion, Constantine laid out the new cathedral, Hagia Sophia,

which was burned down in the Nika riot in 532 and was then replaced

"t

1 1

t;

4

t it

�t

ii

C ýl

X_

3 C N

t

i "t 14

i

Iit

1' ýý iý1

MEN. A 17, -

ri .'k.. .ý.............

I"a.... .1i

:ýoAD1

e

------------

I

50 100m; '

Figure 1.1.16 Rome. Flavian Palace. Plan. [A] hippodromus palatii. [B] Domestic apartments. [C] aula regia. [D] Dining hall. [E] Connecting chamber. [F] pulvinar.

35

by Justinian's structure. "Z Like the Hippodrome, the church was an

integral part of the imperial complex and, as the imperial box at the

Hippodrome, linked up with the palace by corridors and stairs, to

facilitate the emperors' access.

It seems clear that the Great Palace at Constantinople consisted

of a series of different structures all connected to each other, reusing in

part some pre-existent buildings, while creating, at the same time, a

coherent complex. Bardill has recently pointed out the similarity in the

orientation and the layout of the main buildings between the Flavian

Palace in Rome and the Great Palace at Constantinople, and has

postulated that the latter was consciously modelled on its earlier

Roman counterpart. 53 If one compares the plans of the Flavian Palace

at Rome (Fig. 1.1.16) and the Great Palace at Constantinople, in fact,

it is evident that both complexes shared the same kin[ of relationship

between such features as the circus, the imperial apartments, the aula

regia and the main dining hall.

52 According to the sources and to the archaeological evidence, the Constantinian Hagia Sophia was a huge basilica with propyleum, atrium, nave, four aisles and galleries. See KRAUTREIMER, Three Christian Capitals, p. 50-55. 53 BARDILL, "The Great Palace", pp. 228-230.

36

1.1.12 Ravenna

A similar kind of relationship and dependance on earlier models

is to be found at the palatial complex built by Theodoric at Ravenna. 5°

The city's imperial tradition goes back to 402, when Honorius moved

the capital there from Milan. Since it then became the main imperial

residence, Ravenna must have been provided with a suitable palace by

Honorius, which could have been a re-adaptation of the Ravennate

praetorium. ss In the ninth century, Agnellus records that Valentinian

III had built in Ravenna a palace ad Laureta. sb According to the

Anonymous Valesianus, this was also the place where Odoacar was

killed by Theoderic in 493.57

After the Ostrogothic conquest, more documentary evidence is

available for the royal residence at Ravenna, as well as, more

54 Theoretically, Theodoric's palace at Ravenna should not be treated in this chapter, together with `proper' late-imperial residences. However, considering its peculiar dependance on the Constantinopolitan model, I prefer to analyse it in the same context. Cf. M. J. JOHNSON, "Toward a History of Theoderic's Building Program", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 42 (1988), pp. 73-96. 55 See P. VERZONE, "Ipotesi di topografia ravennate", Corsi di cultura su11'arte ravennate e bizantina 13 (1966), pp. 433-443. 56 AGNELLUS, LP 40. According to Ward-Perkins, it is likely that this palace was not a separate complex from an earlier residence of Honorius, but a substantial addition to it, like the palaces of Domitian and Septimius Severus added on the Palatine complex in Rome. See WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, p. 158. 57 Excerpta Valesiana, 54-56.

" Mausoleum

iýý

Ports ýý Cnsarss

rý

loo

Figure 1.1.17 Ravenna. Map of the eastern part of the city, showing the topography of the palace.

Is

37

generally, for other palaces in the kingdom. " Possibly, this is not only

due to this evidence's chance survival but, above all, to the important

part that palace-building took in the Ostrogothic policy. " Theodoric

was à lover of building and a restorer of cities'; " palaces were one of

the expressions of his power, as claimed by Cassiodorus: `The

increase of the State's power is worthy of a king, and it is certainly

right for him to add to the splendour of his palaces with new

building'. "

Theoderic's building activity at Ravenna seems to have taken

place in the eastern part of the city. (Fig. 1.1.17) This area had already

been developed as the imperial quarter of the city, since it was the site

of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, built by Gallia Placidia,

and of the Palace ìn Laureto', attributable, as seen above, to

Valentinian III. According to the sources, Theoderic built in this area

the Arian episcopal complex - maybe the most important of his

ecclesiastical foundations - and a palace for himself and his court. "

58 Cf. WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, pp. 159-60. Theodoric repaired the Palatine in Rome (Excerpta Valesiana, 67). He built a palace at Pavia - maybe a re-adaption of the local praetorium - including a mosaic depicting himself on horseback in tribunalis carneris (AGNELLUS, LP 227-29), and also built a palace at Verona (Excerpta Valesiana, 71). 59 See for this point WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, pp. 158- 9. 60 Excerpta Valesiana, 70. 61 CASSIODORUS, Variae, 1,6. 62 JOHNSON, "Toward a History" pp. 79-80.

38

Theodoric's palace has been confused for a long time with the

building located just south of the church of S. Apollinare Nuovo,

commonly called the `Palace of the Exarchs' or also the `Palace of

Theodoric'. However, it has been now established that this building

dates to the eighth century, if not later. It has also been conjectured

that it was probably erected as an addition to the then still-functioning

palace complex - even if its function is still uncertain - by a Byzantine

eXarch or by the Lombard king who briefly controlled Ravenna in the

mid-eighth century. 63

The Anonymous Valesianus records that Theoderic completely

finished the palace but did not dedicate it, and built porticoes around

it. ' After the fall of Ravenna to the Byzantines in 540, the palace was

still used by the exarchs, bs and then by Astolfus, king of the

Lombards. 66 By the end of the eighth century, the palace was probably

abandoned and Pope Hadrian 1 (772-795) gave permission to

Charlemagne to remove marbles and mosaic from it for his palace at

63 For more details on this point, as well as for previous bibliography, see JOHNSON, "Toward a History" pp. 80-8 1. 64 Excerpla Valesiana, 71: "Palatium usque ad perfecitum fecit, quern non dedicavit. Portica circa palatium perfecit". 65 AGNELLUS, LP 132. 66 M. FANTUZZI, Monu nenti ravennati de' secoli di mezzo per la maggior perle inediti, 6

vols (Venice, 1801-4), V, cc. 203-4.

Figure 1.1.18 Ravenna. Palace of Theodoric. Excavated structures. Plan.

39

Aachen. ' Writing in the ninth century, though, Agnellus was still able

to describe a mosaic which had recently disappeared, which had stood

somewhere near the entrance to the palace. 68

The excavations carried out in 1908-14 by Ghirardini, just to

the east of the church of S. Apollinare Nuovo, uncovered part of a

complex grouped around a central courtyard. 69 (Fig. 1.1.18) Nothing

apparently was found in the excavations which would incontrovertibly

link any of the phases of the building with Theoderic, such as an

inscription or a coin. Even though, most modern scholars think `there

is no reason to doubt that it did form part of his complex, givcn both

its proximity to the palace church of S. Apollinare Nuovo and the

medieval sources that identify this area with the palace'. '°

67 CAROLUS MAGNUS, Opera Omnia, PL 98, c. 371. See also P. VERZONE, "La distruzione dei Palazzi imperiali di Roma e Ravenna e la ristrutturazione del Palazzo Lateranense nel IX secolo nei rapporti con quello di Costantinopoli", in Roma e 1'etii carolingia. Atti delle

giornate di studio, 3-8 maggio 1976 (Rome, Multigrafica Editrice 1976), pp. 39-51. 68 AGNELLUS, LP 94. Also Cf. WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, p. 161. 69 The excavations, afterwards backfilled, were limited by the presence of a road to the south and of buildings on the west. This made it impossible to uncover the whole building. Moreover, only a preliminary report of the excavations was published, and the frequently

reproduced plan that accompanied the report is actually a quite confusing drawing which shows several levels belonging to different period of construction without any sign of distinction between them. 70 JOHNSON, "Toward a History", p. 82, n. 96. Cf. I. BALDINI LIPPOLIS, "Articolazione e decorazione del palazzo imperiale di Ravenna", Corsi di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina 43 (1996), pp. 1-31. Still, Duval, cautious as usual, prefers to propose a more prudent designation of the building uncovered as an urban villa, discovered in the quarter of the city traditionally attributed to the palace of Theoderic. See DuVAL, "Comment

reconnaitre un palais", p. 59.

40

According to the archaeological evidence, the complex evolved

over a long period. The earliest of the five strata of floor mosaics has

been dated to the second century AD, while the majority of the

architectural ornament found date to the fifth century. The building

was quite imposing in its dimensions. The excavations uncovered a

large peristyle court with several rooms grouped on its south and north

sides. The southern side was probably two-storied, as indicated by

what appears to be the base of a stairway in the so-called `room C'. "

This part of the complex has been interpreted as the residential

wing, while the northern side is supposed to have been reserved for

ceremonial functions. " It includes an apsed basilican hall (`room L'),

identified with the aula regia, aligned with the central axis of the

complex and entered thorough a triple arcade. 73 Two rooms (T, U)

opened off the hall near the apse. Other four rooms, M, N, 0 and P

were found on the sides of the big hall but, since the walls were

completely destroyed, it was impossible to ascertain where the doors

were located, and there is therefore no way of knowing whether those

rooms also opened into the hall or not. To the east of the aula regia is

a second triclinium (S). As evidenced by the dating of its mosaic floor,

71 GH1RARDINI, "Gli scavi", c. 741. 72 JOHNSON, "Toward a History", p. 84.

41

this room was presumably added to the existing structure in the fifth

century. 74

The palace of Theoderic at Ravenna has often been seen as

strongly influenced by and in part modelled on the Great Palace at

Constantinople. " The influence of the Great Palace has been found in

general concepts as well as in more specific aspects: in both cases the

palaces consisted of a non-axial complex, involving several groups of

building and large open spaces. They were both situated in the

easternmost parts of their cities, near the sea and connected to a

Hippodrome which was on the west flank. 76 The principal entrance

into both palatial complexes faced west, was located near a palace

chapel dedicated to the Saviour and fronted a large public square. "

The main entrance into the palace-complex was called also at Ravenna

the Chalke. 78 Moreover, not only was the architectural planning in

these building similar, but also some of the subjects which appeared in

73 G. DE ANGELIS D'OSSAT, "L' 'Aula Regia' del distrutto palazzo imperiale di Ravenna", Corsi di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina 23 (1976), pp. 345-56. 74 For the mosaics and their chronology, see H. STERN, "Remarques sur les sujets figures des mosaiques du palais dit du Theodoric A Ravenne, Felix Ravenna 121 (1978), pp. 44-55, with previous bibliography. 75 For example, MANGO, Brazen House, p. 26, M. CAGIANO DE AZEVEDO, "I palatia imperiali di Treviri, Milano e Ravenna", Corsi di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina 25 (1978), pp. 33-44, and, more recently, JOHNSON, "Toward a History", pp. 82-87. 76 Nothing remains of a circus at Ravenna, but its relative position is known from medieval sources, while its memory is still kept alive in the name of the nearby Via Cerchio. See JOHNSON, "Toward a History", p. 83, n. 110. 77 Here at Ravenna called the Platea Maior.

42

the floor mosaics were the same - Bellephoron slaying the Chimera

and personifications of the Seasons. 79

It has therefore been affirmed that Theoderic consciously

modelled the building of his palace on the Great Palace at

Constantinople - the place where he had lived as an hostage of the

Emperor Leo I from about 461 to 471 and which he must therefore

have know very well - as an act of political propaganda. 8° Although he

was never an emperor in name and generally referred to himself with

the title of rex, Theoderic saw himself as the direct successor of the

emperors who had ruled Rome. It is significant, for example, that,

when he celebrated his tricennalia in 500, the celebrations were held

not in his capital of Ravenna, but in the ancient capital of Rome,

where a great ceremony took place outside the Curia. 8' In choosing

building types and artistic motives that were recognisably imperial,

Theoderic sought to justify and define his position as ruler of Italy, as

a `prince' who ruled in `Rome's name'. 82

78 AGNELLUS, LP 94. 79 JOHNSON, "Toward a History", pp. 84-5. 80 JOHNSON, "Toward a History", p. 74 and p. 96. 81 Excerpta Valesiana, 67; also T. S. BURNS, A History of the Ostrogoths (Bloomington, 1984), pp. 65-107. 82 T. S. BURNS, "Theodoric the Great and the Concepts of Power in Late Antiquiy", Acta Classica 25 (1982), pp. 99-118 and C. LA ROCCA, "Una prudente maschera àntiqua'. La

43

1.1.13 Discussion

Our analysis of the imperial palatial complexes built in the new

capitals of the Empire would suggest that Duval is wrong to deny the

existence of an ideal palatial system. I believe that Duval's often too

obsessive criticisms have tended to obscure some relevant issues.

What it has been sustained so far, in fact, have shown the ubiquitous

presence of a series of elements which could be referred to a common

denominator or, better, to a similar architectural programme. Despite

the great variety of solutions, it seems possible to extrapolate a series

of features which were common to and peculiar of late antique

imperial complexes:

- the location of the palace in a marginal site of the city, often close to

the city walls (as in the cases of Milan, Thessalonike, Antioch and

maybe Sirmium);

- the facade of the palace as the backdrop for a large monumental

street, the principal axis of the city (such as at Thessalonike,

politica edilizia di Teodorico", Atti del XIII Congresso internazionale di Studi sull'Alto

44

Constantinople, Ravenna and at Antioch, at least according to the

description given by Libanius);

-a monumental facade with colonnades and fastigia.

-a colonnaded rear facade with a view on the sea or a river (as at Split,

Antioch and maybe at Constantinople and at Sirmium);

- the presence of a mausoleum, a dynastic temple close to the

residence. In the cases of Christian emperors, this feature would be

transformed into a palatine chapel. Mausolea were built at Split,

Gamzigrad, Thessalonike, and at Constantinople by Constantine at the

church of the St Apostoles;

- proximity and link with the circus. Hippodromes have been found (or

in some cases at least presumed) at Milan, Trier, Sirmium,

Thessalonike, Nicomedia, Constantinople, Ravenna and Antioch. This

kind of relationship and link between palace and circus is also found

in other imperial private residences such as those at the Sessorianum

Medioevo, Milano 1992 (Spoleto, 1992), pp. 451-515.

45

palace83 and at Maxentius' villa on the Via Appia in Rome. 84

Particularly interesting is the latter example, a large complex located

between the second and the third milestone of the Via Appia, where

there is a circus together with a residential villa or palace and a

mausoleum. " This circus is not of the kind usually found at suburban

villas, such as those of the Quintili and Sette Bassi. Instead, it is a

full-size circus intended to accommodate full-scale chariot races, built

to emulate or even surpass those circuses constructed by the legitimate

emperors in their capitals. As at the imperial residences at the Palatine

or at Constantinople and in most of the other examples analysed, the

circus at Maxentius' villa was linked to the apsidal reception hall

located to the west through an imperial box. Hippodromes have been

found in all the imperial complexes examined, with the exception of

the residences at Split and at Gamzigrad, which, as we have seen, were

built for a totally different purpose, to provide a suitable and private

residence for the two emperors' retirement. The hippodrome was the

site of the emperor's epiphany, the place where he encountered and

83 See A. M. COLINI, "Horti Spes Veteris", Atti della Pontificia Accademia, Memorie 8,3 (1955), pp. 137-77. 94 Cf. A. FRAZER, "The iconography of the emperor Maxentius' buildings in Via Appia", Art Bulletin 48 (1966), pp. 385-92 and G. PISANI SAR OR O&R. CALZA, La villa di Massenzio sulla Via Appia. Il Palazzo. Le Opere d'Arte (Rome 1976). 85 HUMPHREY, Roman Circuses, pp. 582-602.

46

showed himself to his people. " Therefore, there is every reason to

consider the hippodrome as one of the essential elements of palatial

architecture, associated with the presence of a reigning emperor on a

regular or extended basis in the adjacent palace.

- emphasis put on the reception areas of the palaces. Particularly

interesting seems the extreme variety and larger number of reception

halls, all performing different specialised functions. One of the reasons

for the introduction of more specialised reception rooms was the need

to differentiate and distinguish between guests of different categories.

At Constantinople, for example, the Magnaura, conveniently located

by the Chalke, the monumental entrance to the complex, was used for

the reception of foreign ambassadors; the Augusteus was regularly

used for the reception of dignitaries and, at least on a later phase -

from the time of Maurice and Constantina - for the coronation of

empresses; " while in the Triclinium of the Nineteen Couches official

banquets took place, in which the emperor would recline in the main

central apse. 88

86 HUMPIIREY, Roman Circuses, pp. 637-638. 87 BARDILL, "The Great Palace", p. 227. 88 This type of reception hall, as we shall see in more details in a later chapter, was a development of the aula trichora with a multiplication of the niches, making possible more impressive gatherings of people.

47

Writing on the palace built by Theodoric at Ravenna,

Cassiodorus says: `Palaces are the delight of our power, the fine face

of our rule, and the honoured witness of our kingship. Admiring

ambassadors are shown the palace, and from their view of it they form

their first impression of the king'. 89 The message which lay behind

such an impressive presentation of the ruler was obviously concerned

with the visual assertion of power. If Theodoric had decided to imitate,

or at least use as main source of inspiration, the Great Palace at

Constantinople - which was in turn inspired by the Flavian Palace at

Rome and was a larger and more magnificent version of the other

imperial palaces of the time - it is because that ideal palatial system

and its architectural forms were a potent visual representation of

power.

89 CASSIODORUS, Variae, VII, 5.

48

1.2 PRAETORIA

1.2.1 Introduction

Despite their undoubtedly immense power, Late Roman emperors

were not omnipotent and could not rule their wide dominions alone. The

governance of the empire inevitably had to be supported by an elaborate

system of far-distant subordinates, delegated for the collection of taxes

and the administration of justice. ' A fairly comprehensive picture of the

formal structure and organization of this complicated system at the end of

the fourth century comes principally from two sources: the laws collected

in the Thedosian Code, especially books I and VI, and the Notitia

oinnium dignitatum et administrationum tam civilium quarr militarium,

generally known as the Notitia Dignitatum.

The Theodosian Code collated over two thousand five hundred

imperial edicts issued since 312.2 It contained legislation on such broad

topics as taxation, property rights and judicial procedures as well as on

1 For the administration and the governance of the Late Roman Empire, see C. KELLY, "Empire building", in G. W. BoWESOCK, P. BROWN, 0. GRABAR (eds. ), Late Antiquity. A Guide to the Postclassical World (Cambridge, Mass. and London 1999), pp. 170-196; some of the arguments in this essay are more fully worked out by the same author in "Emperor, Governors, and Bureacracy", in A. CAMERON and P. GARSNEY (eds. ), The Late Empire, AD 337-425 (The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 13) (Cambridge 1998), pp. 138-183. 2 J. HARRIES AND I. Woos (eds. ), The Theodosian Code: Studies in the Imperial Law of Late Antiquity (London 1993).

49

the responsibilities and duties of civil and military officials, together with

laws regulating a widely diverse set of specific matters.

The Notitita Dignitatum, as its full title indicates, consists of a

register in which were listed both civil and military ranks and

administrative positions of the court and the provinces of the Late Roman

imperial system. ' At court, six main high-ranging officials were in

charge of the organisation and administration of imperial business: the

praepositus sacri cubibuli, responsible for the imperial household and the

palace staff; the magister officiorum, supervisor of the palatine

administration; the comes sacrarum largitionum, responsible for the

collection of indirect taxies and the administration of state mints, quarries

and textile factories; the comes rei privatae, in charge of the

administration of imperial properties; the questor sacri palatii,

responsible for imperial legislation and the judicial functions of the

emperor; and, lastly, the primicerius notariorum, the head of the corps of

notarii, also responsible for keeping updated the list of all holders of

senior posts and for issuing their codicils of appointment. '

The Notitia Dignitatum also lists one hundred and fourteen

provinces, each administered by a governor who was responsible for

3 R. GOODBURN and P. BARTHOLOMEW (eds. ), Aspects of the Notitia Dignitatum: Papers Presented to the Conference in Oxford, December 13 to 15,1974 (BAR, Supplementary Series 15) (Oxford 1976).

50

local judicial, financial and administrative affairs, the supervision of city

governments and public works and for carrying out specific imperial

directives. '

The provinces were grouped into fourteen dioceses, each under the

supervisory role of a vicarius, with the exception of Africa and Asia

whose governors had direct access to the emperor. The fourteen dioceses

were in turn grouped into four prefectures: Gaul (including Britain and

Spain), Italy (including Africa), Illyricum and the East. This last,

extending from the Balkans to Cyrenaica, was the largest prefecture and

was divided into five dioceses: Aegyptus, Oriens, Asiana, Pontica and

Thracica.

Each prefecture was in charge of a praetorian prefect, who was

responsible for the overall administration as well as being the final judge

of appeal along with the emperor. Therefore, praetorian prefects were the

most powerful civil officials of the late Roman government, together

with the urban prefects of Rome and Constantinople, whose role was to

control the administrative, financial and judicial affairs of their respective

cities.

4 KELLY, "Emperor, Governors, and Bureacracy", pp. 165-66. 5 Ibid., pp. 166-69.

51

Governors, vicarii and prefects all headed a permanent

administrative departments and had a series of other officials and

assistants under them, in turn assisted by other subordinates, in a system

organised with the same meticulous precision. Apart tkom their

administrative functions, this elaborate hierarchy of officials served as a

permanent reminder of the power and magnificence of later Roman

emperors; hence, they must have had suitable residences, provided with

appropriate offices, state rooms, services and other facilities.

Generally, the term praetorium was used to indicate the residence

of the provincial governor. However, it needs to be recalled here that the

Romans called several kinds of buildings besides the governor's

residence praetoria. The term originally meant a place reserved for the

commander in a military camp; then it came to mean the military

commander's headquarters, later the residence intended for the provincial

governor and finally, by analogy, the part of an estate reserved for the

landowner. ' Nonetheless, in this chapter we will consider as praetoria

only the residences of provincial governors - and, in some cases, of any

other official emperor's representatives - for the period between c. the

second century AD and the end of the Roman Empire.

6 For the history of the term, cf in particular T. MOMMSEN, "Praetorium", Hermes 35 (1900),

pp. 437-8, as well as R. CAGNAT, "Praetorium", in Dictionnaire des Antiquites grecques et

52

A large number of complexes have been traditionally interpreted

as official seats of emperor's representatives. In some cases, however,

more recent excavations have proved such identifications to be wrong, as

is the cases with the putative Governor's Palace at London' or the

complex at Carnuntum. 8 Similarly, in a large number of other cases, such

as at Stobi, Ephesus, Justiniana Prima, Serdica, Sardis, Apollonia and

Aphrodisia, just to mention a few, only the discovery of new evidence

could confirm or disprove such an interpretation. In many cases, in fact,

it has been suggested that groups of buildings may have been the seat of

senior officials on the grounds of their prominent location and also of the

presence of large audience halls.

Basically, identification with praetoria or official seats has been

proposed on grounds of scale, in the absence of firm evidence, and

against a background of unfamiliarity with the luxury possible in late

romaines, (Paris 1907), pp. 640-2. See also A. MARTIN, "Practoria as Provincial Governor's Palaces", in M. PIERARI & 0: CURTY (eds), Historia Testis (Fribourg 1989), pp. 229-40. 7A complex of buldings excavated between 1961-72 in the area of the west side of Londinurn, close to the Thames waterfront, was interpreted as the palace of the provincial governor. See P. MARSDEN, "The excavation of a Roman palace site in London 1961-72", Transactions of the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society 24 (1982), pp. 1-56. However, a more recent excavation has shown that the palatial plan as reconstructed before was imaginary and that the group of buildings probably do not belong to a palatial complex. See G. MILNE, "A palace disproved: reassessing the provincial governor's presence in first-century London", in J. BIRD, M. HASSALL & H. SHELDON (eds), Interpreting Roman London: Papers in Memory of Hugh Chapman (London 1996), pp. 49-55. 8 Here excavations of of the civilian settlement at Petronell close to the banks of the Danube, undertaken in 1893,1896,1939 and 1956-1954, uncovered a complex interpreted without any real evidence as a governor's palace. However, new investigations have identified it as a bath-

complex. See H. STIGLITZ, "Untersuchungen an der sogenannten Palastruine im Tiergarten von

53

antique aristocratic residences. However, as we shall see in more detail

in the chapter on luxurious villas and aristocratic town houses, neither of

these features qualifies the complexes in question for identification as

anything other than late antique urban domus. Therefore, only a very

small number of buildings can be identified with fair certainty as official

residences.

1.2.2 Dura Europos - The Palace of the Dux Ripae

The first example analysed here is the palace located on the

northern edge of the city of Dura Europos, on top of a cliff overlooking

the river Euphrates. The identification of the building as the official

residence of the Dux Ripae, the commander of the Euphrates frontier

zone, is based on a inscription which commemorates the Dux Ripae

Domitius Pompeianus, a subordinate of the consular legate at Antioch. '

Petronell", in H. STIGLITZ (ed. ), Neue Forschungen in Garnuntunº (Kultur und Natur in Niederösterreich - Studien und Forschungen, 1) (Wien 1976), pp. 11-33. 9 The structure was excavated first in the 1930s by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters, and then investigated again in 1988 by a joint Franco-Sirian mission. See for more details S. B. DOWNEY, "The Palace of the Dux Ripae at Dura-Europos", in Historie et cultes en 1'Asie centrale preislamique: (Paris 1991), pp. 17-21, with previous bibliography; IDEM, "The Palace of the Dux Ripae at Dura-Europos and `Palatial' Architecture

of Late Antiquity", in R. T. SCOTT and A. REYNOLDS SCOTT (eds), Eius Virtutis Studiosi: Classical and Postclassical Studies in Memory of Frank Edward Brown (1908-1988). (Washington, National Gallery of Art, Hanover and London 1993), pp. 183-199. See also M. I.

ROSTOVTZEFF, A. R. BELLINGER, F. E. BURN & C. B. WELLES, The excavations at Dura

w

...........

Figure 1.2.1 Dura Europos. The `Palace of the Dux Ripae'. Plan.

Figure 1.2.2 Dura Europos. The `Palace of the Dux Ripae'. Plan.

54

The excavation of the site uncovered a large building organised

around two peryistyle courts, dated between 211 and 222.10 (Figg. 1.2.1-

1.2.2) The outer south-east court - which measures 31 m by 32m - had

only a single dependent room on its eastern side, while the north inner

court - which measures 23m by 25m - had a number of chambers

arranged on its four sides: at the east, a range of small rooms was ranged

around what appears to be an unroofed space, maybe a servants' quarter;

on the west side of the entrance passage was a possible suite of guard

chambers and, on the western side of the court was a large hall, flanked

by subsidiary rooms, and maybe a cart-house with stables.

While the rooms on the south, west and east sides were oriented

towards the inner court, a range of chambers on the north wing opened

onto a portico and a terrace facing the river. Two large halls were

included in this imposing suite of architecturally separated rooms: a

central apsidal chamber flanked by four subsidiary rooms, possibly bed-

chambers, and the hall located on the north-eastern corner, projecting

beyond the line of the city walls, conjecturally restored by the excavators

Europos: preliminary report of the ninth season 1935-36. Part III: The Palace of the Dux Ripae and the Dolicheneum (London 1952). 10 A terminus post quem for the construction of this building is provided by the Dolicheneum, built in or before 211, while the terminus ante quern is indicated by fragments of a painted inscription from the entrance courtyard which refers to Elagabalus. Because of Elagabalus' damnatio memoriae, it seems likely that the palace was built before the end of his reign (AD 218-222). Cf. ROSTOVTZEFF et al., The excavations at Dura Europos, pp. 27-30 and pp. 95-96.

55

as a triapsidal chamber opening into an exedra at the west. " Behind this

suite of rooms, and connected to them, there was also a small bath.

Rostovtzeff's interpretation of the palace as a whole as a building

divided into two sections, one largely official and the other primarily

residential, remains valid. " The outer court provided the main entrance

from the city and served for military and official use. On the other hand

the inner court, the residential part of the house, presents all the typical

features of a contemporary aristocratic dwelling: it includes a variety of

reception halls of different uses, cubicula, servants' quarters and other

services such as a stable, arranged around a peristyle section and a

portico.

1.2.3 The Palace of the Giants, Athens

The palace of the Dux Ripae at Dura Europos finds its closest

parallel in a large building of the fifth century AD built in the Athenian

11 The restoration of this room as a triapsidal hall is possible but wholly conjectural, because

only very small portions of the terrace remain at this point. However, the triconch is generally cited as a very early example of triconch in a domestic context. Cf. DOWNEY, * `Palatial' Architecture of Late Antiquity", p. 184. 12 See ROSTOVTZEFF et al., The excavations at Dura Europos, pp. 71-83.

Figure 1.2.3 Athens. The `Palace of the Giants'. Plan.

10 20 30 40 M

56

agora, the so-called Palace of the Giants. " (Fig. 1.2.3) This complex is

also organised around two large peristyle courts: one with a large exedra

and three small chambers, which probably served a largely public

function; the other, clearly residential, arranged around two peristyle

courts of different sizes. "

This palace has been identified quite convincingly as an official

residence maintained by the imperial government for the use of the

emperor or of other high officials on visits to Athens. 15 The east block of

the south-east court complex would have offered comfortable lodging for

the guest and his retainers, with space also for a permanent staff in the

south-east court proper. The triclinia and the other different rooms in the

south-east court complex would have comprised adequate facilities for

formal meetings and meals, while the well-furnished bath would have

provided for relaxation. The north court, with its spacious colonnades

and exedras, could have served for large public receptions or ceremonies

in connection with official visits, and would perhaps have been open to

the citizens in between such special occasions.

13 H. A. THOMPSON, "The Palace of the Giants", in A. FRANTZ (ed. ), The Athenian Agora 24, Late Antiquity: AD 267-700 (Princeton 1988), pp. 95-116. 14 It has been proposed that the latter is based on the typical Athenian house type, while the large outer peristyle on the north of the Palace of the Giants was foreign to the tradition of Greek domestic architecture. See THOMPSON "The Palace of the Giants", p. 110. 15 THOMPSON "The Palace of the Giants", pp. 95-116. See also DOWNEY, `Palatial' Architecture of Late Antiquity", p. 197, n. 41.

baths

Latrine Shrine?

o 10 50

Figure 1.2.4 Aquincum (Budapest). Praetorium. Plan.

57

The resemblance between the `Palace of the Giants' at Athens and

the palace at Dura Europos is quite remarkable, especially when it is

considered that the latter is more than two hundred years older than the

former. However, these are not the only examples of official buildings of

this type, and a number of other complexes identified as possible

praetoria present a certain similarity.

1.2.4 Aquincum (Budapest)

One of the related complexes is the governor's palace at

Aquincum, located on an island in the Danube, about 500m north-east of

the legionary camp.

The complex has only partially been uncovered. 16 (Figg. 1.2.4)

The part that has been revealed consists of three principal ranges of

buildings, arranged around a large central court, in which there was an

imperial shrine on a podium. The southern wing consists of a number of

rooms of varying sizes, one of which has been identified as a sanctuary

16 The palace was excavated in 1854-57 and 1870, and then again in 1941 and 1951-53 by the Bulgarian Historical Museum. Most publications relating to the excavations are in Bulgarian. However, extensive summaries are given in K. POCZY, "Pannonian Cities", in A. LENGYEL & G. T. B. RADAN (eds), The archaeology of Ronian Pannonia (Budapest 1980), pp. 239-74; J. FITZ, The great age of Pannonia (AD 193-284) (Budapest 1982), pp. 14-15; K. POCzv, "La

58

on the grounds of the discovery of several votive altars dedicated by

provincial governors. " This wing also includes a granary, bread ovens

and facilities for storing wine. " The northern wing contains a bath

complex, probably a secondary addition, while the wing facing the river

consists of a number of rooms accessible from a long corridor running

along the front. In the centre of this suite was a large hall, surrounded by

other rooms accessible from the corridor, which might have served as

private rooms for the occupant of the complex. At the northern end of the

corridor excavations revealed a circular chamber, and it seems likely that

there was a second such round room at the southern extremity of the

corridor, giving to this suite the aspect of a tower-like facade towards the

river.

The interpretation of this complex as a governor's palace is

incontrovertibly based on the finding of votive altars dedicated by the

province's governors. Also, as stated above, the complex was close to the

legionary fortress and without other comparable candidates for the

governor's residence in the neighbourhood.

cittä di Aquincum sede del luogotenente della Pannonia Inferiore", in G. HAJONOCZI (ed. ), La Pannonia e l'Impero Romano (Milan 1995), pp. 221-23 1. 17 CIL 3416,3418,3445,3479,10400,10403,10411,10420,10454,10491.

0 30m

m AA6

t

Figure 1.2.5 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Praetoria, Ist century phase. Fragmentary plan.

Figure 1.2.6 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Praetorium, 4`h century. phase. Fragmentary plan.

Ei 1 lwwo

Figure 1.2.7 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Praetorium. Hypothetical plan.

Figure 1.2.8 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Praetorium. Reconstruction

of the different phases.

59

1.2.5 Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne)

The governor's palace at Aquincum also shows a certain

resemblance to the possible praetoriarnm at Cologne, located on the

eastern side of the ancient city, flanking the river Rhine. "

The complex consists of several phases of courtyard buildings.

The first two phases include a courtyard and a central building, (Fig.

1.2.5) while the last major phase is more complex, and consists of a large

courtyard - 63 meters wide and of an excavated length of 27 meters -

enclosed by ranges of small rectangular rooms with a suite of larger

heated chambers on the side facing the river. 20 (Figg. 1.2.6-1.2.8) At the

centre of this suite is a large octagon, which has been interpreted as an

audience hall. "

The building has been interpreted as a governor's palace on a

number of indisputable grounds. A first inscription, found in the

18 POczy, "La cittä di Aquincum, p. 225. 19 The complex was excavated in 1955 but has never been fully published. See 0. DOPPELFELD, "Das Praetorium unter dem Cologner Rathaus", in Neue Ausgrabungen in Deutschland (Berlin 1958), pp. 313-339. 20 The terminus post quern for this last phase was given by a coin of Constantine dated to 309- 313. See 0. DOPPELFELD, "Das Praetoriun: unter dem Cologner Rathaus", Germania 34 (1956), pp. 91-94. 21 However, Noel Duval has recently pointed out that the eroded nature of the stratigraphy here

makes it difficult to establish the orientation and articulation of the chamber within the complex. See N. DUVAL, "Les residences imperiales: leur rapport avec les problemes de legitimite. Les partage de 1'Empire et la chronologie des combinaisons dynastiques", in F. PASCHOUD & J. SZIDAT, Usurpationen in der Spätantike. Aketen des Kolloquiums Staatstreich

und staatlichkeit 6-10 März 1996 (Stuttgart 1997), pp. 127-53.

60

proximity of the site in 1630, recorded that the governor Quintus

Tarquitius Catulus had paid for restoration works on the praetorium. 22 A

second inscription found on the site recorded that the building had been

restored by the Emperor Commodus with the governor Didius Julianus. "

Additionally, it seems clear that the complex shows a certain

similarity with other complexes thought to be official residences. They

all share a certain monumental size and, above all, are divided into an

official part and a residential one and possess an imposing range of

rooms with a large central chamber overlooking a river. It is also

interesting to note that the building is on the site of the medieval and

modern Rathaus of the city, and therefore may have been a continuous

seat of government since Antiquity.

1.2.6 The Praetoria at Caesarea

More complex is the situation at Caesarea; here two groups of

buildings have been identified as possible praetoria, used in different

phases.

22 CIL, 13, n. 8170. 23 CIL, 13, n. 8260.

61

The first praetorium is the so-called Promontory Palace, located

on the southern edge of the city, on a natural promontory projecting into

the sea. 24 The complex was arranged around two courtyards. The inner

court was colonnaded and surrounded a great pool, 35 by 18 meters. The

landward side of the court contained a large open room looking out over

the pool, floored with a polychrome mosaic. This room, most probably a

triclinium, was flanked by two subsidiary rooms with black and white

mosaic floors. The rest of the plan of the inner court is not so clear, since

a large part of the area has been eroded by the sea. From what it has been

possible to reconstruct, it appears that there were at least two exedras

built out into the sea and possibly a suite of spacious rooms at the

western end of the swimming pool. 25

The outer court was also colonnaded and accommodated a

rectangular monument at its centre. So far, only the northern side of the

24 Part of the Promontory Palace was excavated in 1976 by Ehud Netzer of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and in 1990 and 1992 by Kathryn Gleason and Barbara Burrell of the University of Pennsylvania, alongside Netzer. Investigations to the east and north of the area investigated in the 1990s are still in progress. See E. NETZER, Excavations at Caesarea Maritima 1975,1976,1979: final report (Quedem 21) (Jerusalem 1986); B. BURRELL, K. GLEASON & E. NETZER, "Uncovering Herod's seaside palace", Biblical Archaeological Review 19 (1993), pp. 50-57; B. BURRELL, K. GLEASON, "The Promontory Palace at Caesarea Maritima, Israel: the 1995 and 1996 seasons", American Journal of Archaeology, 101-2 (1997), pp. 339-340. See also B. BURRELL, "Palace to Praetorium: the Romanisation of Caesarea", in A. RABAN & K. G. HOLUM (eds), Caesarea Maritima: a retrospective after two millennia (New York 1996), pp. 228-239 and E. NETZER, "The Promontory Palace", ibid., pp. 193-207. 25 NETZER, "The Promontory Palace", p. 198.

62

court has been excavated, uncovering an impressive suite of rooms

including a large hall with a mosaic floor. "

The spectacular nature of the palace, the presence of a swimming

pool filled with fresh water supplied from the land behind and the general

scale and complexity of the palace led the excavator to the association

with Herod, although no clear evidence was found to link the palace to

him. 27 Archaeological evidence, in fact, only shows that the complex was

in existence and then renovated sometime in or after the first century

AD. 28

The identification of this building as a governor's palace is

therefore only based on its identification as having originally been the

palace of Herod, and a hypothetical subsequent adoption as praetorium

of the Roman governor. However, the building seems to present the same

division into a more public official part and a more private residential

area previously noticed at Dura Europos, Athens and Cologne.

Several major alterations suggest that the building did not retain

its original functions until the end of Antiquity and that at some point the

governor's palace moved elsewhere. In this secondary phase, the

Promontory Palace was probably transformed - at least partly - into a

26 BURRELL, "Palace to Praetorium", p. 241. 27 NETZER, "The Promontory Palace", pp. 193-207. 28 BURRELL, GLEASON & NETZER, "Uncovering Herod's seaside palace", p. 57.

couNU*RO

yr ; ca

? o- R.

v "r o : K, n

Figure 1.2.9 Caesarea. Praetoriu, n. The archive building. Plan.

63

bath building: the triclinium of the inner court was removed, possibly

because it was no longer needed, and the central pool was reused serving

the new functions of the building, and other bathing facilities. "

It seems likely that, at some point in Late Antiquity, the

governor's palace had moved to the area of the archive building, on the

southern side of the city, just south of the Agora. The complex located

here has been only partially excavated. However, archaeological

evidence, including a conspicuous number of inscriptions mentioning late

antique governors in loco makes this hypothesis very convincing. 30 (Fig.

1.2.9)

Archaeological investigations have uncovered the remains of a

building fronting a major north-south colonnaded street, identified by a

mosaic inscription found in situ as a skrinion, a records office. Another

inscription mentions personnel responsible for revenues, while a mosaic

exhorting those entering to obey the governor confirms that this was the

official records building of the provincial administration, a necessary

feature of a governor's palace. "

29 Ibid., p. 76. 30 The complex has been partially excavated by the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima in 1972-76 and then, since 1978; excavations are still in progress. See K. G. HOLUM & R. C. WIEMKEN, "The joint expedition to Caesarea Maritima: eighth season, 1979", Bulletin of American Schools of Oriental Research, 244 (1981), pp. 27-52. 31 K. G. HOLUM, "Inscriptions from the imperial revenue office of Byzantine Caesarea Palaestinae", in J. H. HUMPHREY (ed. ), The Roman and Byzantine Near East: some recent

64

To the west of the revenue office, excavations have uncovered a

range of rooms mostly floored with magnificent opus sectile, including a

large apsed room, possibly a triclinium, located at the western

extremity. 32 From the published plan of this area, it seems that this suite

of rooms was accessible from the records office and it has been

provisionally interpreted as the governor's private residence.

1.2.7 Gortyn

Another complex inconvertibly identified as a governor's palace is

the praetorium of Gortyn, on Crete. " Located in the east side of the

Greek Agora of the city, the complex shows a complicated plan of

several phases. Archaeological evidence indicates a terminus post quem

archaeological research (Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementazy Series 14) (Ann Arbor, Michigan 1995), pp. 333-346. 32 The apse is a secondary addition to the main structure of the rooms. See HOLUM & WIEMKEN, "The joint expedition", p. 27. 33 The building was excavated by L. Pernier in 1912 and A. M. Colini in the 1930s and 1970s. See the reports in B. PACE, "Scavo del Pretorio o basilica di Gortina e scopcrta di un nuovo ninfeo in Gortina (Creta), Annuario della Scuola Regia di Atene 2 (1916), pp. 306-309; A. M. COLINI, "Missione archeologica italiana a Creta (1935)", Bollettino d'Arte 29 (1935-36), pp. 360-64; IDEM, "Missione archeologica italiana a Creta nell'anno 1938: lavori a Gortina", Le Arti 2 (1939-40), pp. 267-270; IDEM, "Ripresa dello scavo del Pretorio di Gortina", Annuario della Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene n. s. 31-32 (1969-70), pp. 439-450. New

excavations began in 1983 but have not been published in detail yet, making it quite difficult to understand the stratigraphical sequence. See A. DI VITA et al, Crete antics (Rome 1984), pp. 90-93; IDEM, "Atti della Scuola", Annuario Bella Scuola Archeologica di Atene 66-67, n. s. 158-59 (1988-89), pp. 444-471.

Ir

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Figure 1.2.10 Gortyn. Praetorium. Plan.

65

of the Augustan period for the initial construction, which included a

small peristyle on the northern side of the complex, with a series of

rooms, probably of residential use, and a large hall facing the courtyard

entrance. (Fig. 1.2.10)

The second major phase identified by the excavators dated to the

early second century, and involved a rebuilding of the rooms of the

northern side of the complex, replacing its central section with a bath

complex.

The later phasing is still confused. However, it seems clear that

the north-western corner of the complex was replanned in a major

development which saw the replacement of the peristyle with a large hall

open to the street on two sides. 34 A number of statue-bases dedicated to

imperial officers of the reign of Constantius II by the governor

Oecumenius were found in this hall, suggesting that, at least for some

time, it served as a judicial basilica. Also, an inscription found in the

immediate proximity of the complex indicates that Oecumenius

Dositheus Asclepiodotus, governor of Crete in 381-83, built a new

praetorium from the foundations, and erected statues of the Emperors

Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius by its new entrance. 35 According to

3; I. SANDERS, Roman Crete (Warminster 1982), pp. 79-80. 35 M. GUARDUCCI, lnscriptiones Creticae 4 (Rome 1950), nn. 284 a-b, 312-22,336 a-b, 341.

66

the excavators, this new praetorium was placed on the north-west corner

of the site, under the large hall. However, no real evidence for this has

been produced yet. 36

The next major phase indicates the conversion of at least part of

the complex into a monastery, but the date at which the complex finally

ceased to be a praetorium is unknown. Nevertheless, the identification of

this complex as a governor's palace is firmly established by the

inscriptions found there.

1.2.8 Ptolemais

Another interesting example is the complex known as the `Public

Building on the Street of the Monuments', located at the centre of ancient

Ptolemais, on the city's principal street. " The building is only partially

uncovered, and seems to have had three main building phases. However,

since the report does not include full section drawings with stratigraphic

analysis, it it quite problematic to reconstruct the earlier phases. The first

phase was dated by the excavator in the early imperial period, while the

36 Di VITA, "Atti della Scuola", p. 440.

67

construction of the second was attributed to an imprecise moment

between this date and the reign of Gratian. 38 The last phase consisted in a

rebuilding of the complex in a masonry which included a re-used stone

bearing part of an inscription honouring Gratian.

The plan of the complex is only partially uncovered. The principal

entrance is from the street to the south, where an imposing porch open to

the street on the west leads to an entrance room fitted with benches

around the walls. This was clearly a waiting room for those who would

be received in the inner rooms. After passing through a further chamber,

visitors to the complex would have entered a long rectangular hall. To the

south, the porch gives access to a peristyle domus, connected to the suite

of offices. 39

The complex has been interpreted as a governor's palace with

related annexes on reasonable grounds. The waiting room with its

monumental entrance from the street implies that the main room was an

audience chamber; moreover, an inscription describing how the

megalopretestatos Paulus -a man of consular rank - had commissioned a

work of construction was found in the paving of the chamber, supporting

37 The complex was partially excavated by the University of Chicago Oriental Institute between 1956-58. For the report, see C. H. KRAELING, Ptolemais: City of the Lybian Pentapolis (Chicago 1962), pp. 141-57. 38 KRAELING, Ptolemais, p. 149. 39Ibid.,

p. 147.

68

the hypothesis that this was the audience hall of a governor; the peristyle

domus entered through the porch would be the residential quarters of the

palace. "

1.2.9 Discussion

The analysis of a number of residences of late antique governors

makes it possible to formulate a series of general propositions. Late

antique praetoria seem to present a series of features and functions

similar to those of the imperial palaces analysed in the previous chapter.

However, in comparison to the palaces, praetoria are always

characterised by a smaller scale and fewer rooms and by a less

magnificent level of luxury. Praetoria do not seem to include such

features as a hippodrome or a mausoleum. Private baths are found in

some, but are not so omnipresent as in imperial palaces.

Also, a desire for a greater separation between `public' and

`private' areas of the palace seems to have been characteristic of the

governors' residences. This was probably due to the fact that people of

every kind would have access to the praetorium; this would have

40 Ibid., p. 211.

69

increased the need of controlling access to the most private part of the

complex, in order to defend the privacy of the household. On the other

hand, if there were still some kinds of division between the official areas

and residential ranges in imperial palaces, they were not so clearly cut,

probably because only people of high rank were likely to enter palaces,

and only on formal invitation.

The analysis of late antique praetoria has also indicated their close

resemblance to contemporary luxurious villas and aristocratic urban

houses. The great number of luxurious houses which could

hypothetically be identified as praetoria shows how difficult is to

distinguish official residences from unofficial private dwellings, in the

lack of any clear evidence from inscriptions or similar features.

Again, as for their difference with imperial palaces, it seems that

the residences of late antique governors may have in some cases

presented a much clearer division between the public area and the

residential part of the complex, when compared to their civilian

counterparts, where the difference between `private' and `public' space

was much less clearly cut, or perhaps defined in a different way.

A more specific point is the role performed by the multiplicity of

reception halls, corresponding to different specialised functions. A

praetorium was a combined seat of government and a residence and

70

therefore required space appropriate for these functions. In the case of the

palatial structure at Dura Europos, probably the clearest of all the

examples analysed, the large hall in the outer court, easily accessible

from the street, was possibly used as an audience chamber from which

public business could be conducted without disturbing the privacy of the

more private areas of the house. There, the hall opening onto the western

side of the inner court seems to have had a `semi-public' character:

located in the residential part of the palace, it was however close to the

stables and easily accessible through the peristyle. On the contrary,

access to the halls located in the suite of rooms overlooking the

Euphrates was quite limited and probably more controlled. Both halls, in

fact, were much more secluded and of more difficult access. They could

have been approached from the peristyle via narrow connecting passages;

however, their main entrance was located on the long portico which

faced the river, suggesting a higher degree of privacy in their use. '

In the case of the governor's palace at Aquincum, we can

postulate that visitors were received by officials by the entrance-hall in

the free-standing structure to the south (rooms n. 19,20 and 79 in plan),

linked to the main building only by a vaulted passage. This structure

stand here as the outer court stands at Dura Europos or at the `Palace of

41 See DOWNEY, ̀ Palatial' Architecture of Late Antiquity", pp. 191-192.

71

the Giants' at Athens, and has the same `public' character. From there,

some of the visitors would proceed to the basilica, (probably room 25),

while others would advance further to the audience hall (5), approaching

it from the south corridor (4). A similar route must have been present in

all the examples here analysed, assuring a certain control and protection

over the privacy and the security of the household.

72

1.3 EPISCOPAL RESIDENCES

1.3.1 Introduction

Although numerous examples of late antique episcopal palaces are

known from documentary evidence, our knowledge of the actual fabric of

the residences of Early Christian bishops is still far from being

satisfactory. In fact, Early Christian episcopal residences have rarely

been looked at systematically as a precise and well-defined category, and

are one of the least investigated aspects of Early Christian episcopal

complexes, being usually only briefly mentioned in more detailed studies

generally concentrating on the baptisteries or the cathedrals to which they

were linked.

This problem has been exacerbated by the fact that the plans of

early episcopia are rarely recognisable as such at first sight. In reality,

episcopal palaces do not seem to differ much from their contemporary

secular counterparts, and in some cases their resemblance is so close that

they are not even recognised for what they are. '

' For this point, see W. MÜLLER-WIENER, "Riflessioni sulle caratteristiche dei palazzi episcopali", Felix Ravenna 1982, pp. 103-145, and his deploration of the lack of systematic studies on episcopal palaces, which would facilitate a better understanding of their roles and function and lead to the definition of a typology.

73

This is the main reason why Early Christian episcopal palaces

have generally been treated - when not ignored at all - along with other

aristocratic residences, especially with those belonging to government

officials. ' It is well-known that bishops and local governors often had to

fulfil very similar functions, and this obviously found expression in the

plans of their dwellings. Besides, many of the bishops of this period

belonged to the educated upper classes and had occupied leading civic

positions before their elevation to high ecclesiastical office. ' Therefore, it

is reasonable to assume that Early Christian bishops were in many cases

accustomed to live in aristocratic residences and indeed, very few will

argue with the assumption that there were many similarities between

episcopal and secular residences. However, it should not be forgotten

that an episcopal complex always differs in a fundamental feature from

other elite residences of the time, namely in its link with the cathedral

and with the baptistery. For this reason, it is here argued that episcopal

palaces should be treated as a separate category.

2 See N. DUVAL, "L'ecclesia - espace de la communaute chretienne dans la cite", in Naissance des arts chretiens. Atlas des monuments paleochretlens de la France (Paris 1991), p. 67: "L'episcopium ne difere guere d'une residence aristocratique de 1'epoque". For the same reasons, the papal and episcopal palace at the Lateran can be discussed alongside palaces of secular rulers. For this point, see WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, p. 174. 3 For instance, Paulinus of Nola was an imperial officer before he left his native Spain with his

wife for Campania; St. Ambrose was the son of one of the most important officials of the empire, the praetorian Prefect of the Gauls, and held the office of consularis himself; and

74

1.3.2 Early Christian bishops and episcopia: roles and functions

In a letter addressed to Elias, governor of Cappadocia, Basil,

bishop of Caesarea (370-79) mentions the bishop's residence, saying it

was located around the cathedral and was provided with a living space

for the bishop and his needs, plus other rooms for his retinue. ̀ In a

subsequent passage in the same letter, Basil also mentions among the

duties of the bishop the building of hospices for visitors and hospitals for

the sick, provided with the necessary comforts, such as nurses and

physicians. 5 From this and other similar contemporary accounts and

references, it seems clear that the Early Christian bishop's residence was

Sidonius Apollinaris was Prefect before he was made bishop of Clermont-Ferrand in 468 or 470. ° Here Basil talks about some of the duties of a bishop in terms of co-operation and co- habitation with local secular authorities. Cf. BASIL OF CAESAREA, The Letters, ed. R. J. Deferrari, 4 vols., Cambridge, Mass. (1926-34) II, p. 151: "I wish however that those who keep annoying your honest ears be asked what harm the State receives at our hands; or what, either small or great, of the public interests has suffered injury through our government of the churches; unless, indeed, someone may say that it inflicts injury upon the State to raise in honour of our God a house of prayer built in magnificent fashion, and, grouped about it, a residence, one portion being a generous home reserved for the bishop, and the rest subordinate quarters for the servants of God's worship arranged in order - access to all of which is alike free to you magistrates yourselves and to your retinue". 5 Ibid.: "And whom do we do wrong when we build hospices for strangers, for those who visit us while on a journey, for those who require some care because of sickness, and when we extend to the latter the necessary comforts, such as nurses, physicians, beasts for travelling and attendants? ".

75

generally located in close proximity to the cathedral and that it often

included structures other than the bishop's apartments.

As regards their size, we can assume that they varied considerably

in accordance with the size and the importance of the diocese. The major

patriarchs presumably would have had more diversified needs and

responsibilities than their subordinate bishops and, consequently, their

official residences would have had to comprise a larger number of rooms

in order to host a range of various activities as well as provide for a large

number of people in service.

Initially, episcopal sees seem to have had mostly pastoral

functions. As time went on, they absorbed some of the duties which had

been once typical of the state administration. The tasks carried out by the

bishop were still more various and complex then those performed by

local officers, since the bishop's role was not only administrative, as one

would expect in the case of a local governor or dux, but obviously

spiritual too. '

St. Ambrose's writings, in particular the De officiis, provides

important evidence for the duties and the qualities required from a bishop

6 For the organisation of early bishoprics and the resemblance with the organisation of the Roman state, see D. HUNT, "The Church as a public institution", in A. CAMERON & P. GARNSEY (eds), The Late Empire, AD 337-425 (The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 13) (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1998), pp. 238-276, with updated bibliography.

76

at the end of the fourth century. ' For Ambrose, the job of the bishop was

one of very elevated status and dignity, which placed him in an higher

position than those holding the highest offices of the state! Since he

spends much of his life in the public eye, a bishops should pay special

attention at how he appeared. Also, he had to be easily accessible and act

in a way which would win general esteem. Therefore, he had to live as if

he was in a theatre where he would be constantly observed. '

Following the rapid increase in power of the church in the fourth

century, new responsibilities accrued to the role of the bishop. He had

been given power of jurisdiction - and not merely arbitration - in legal

cases and could also dispose of great wealth for the administration of

which he was responsible. In any case, even in small episcopal sees,

these duties required the presence of a good number of collaborators,

both clerical and lay, and a series of offices, archives and libraries.

Furthermore, episcopal complexes must have included rooms for social

functions, such as warehouses for storing tools and foodstuffs, hospices

and hospitals (xenodochia) and, last but not least, the bishop's apartment

itself which, as probably in the case mentioned at Caesarea, must have

7 Cf. AMBROSE OF MILAN, De officiis, PL 16,221-43. For Ambrose and the role of the Church in Late Antiquity, see also J. MOORHEAD, Ambrose. Church and Society in the Late Roman World (London and New York, Longman 1999). 8 AMBROSE OF MILAN, Exhortatio virginitatis, PL 16,335-64.

77

included at least his private bedroom plus a series of rooms for reception,

for services and for his household. '°

1.3.3 Episcopal reception halls in literary sources

An analysis of literary sources of the time indicates that public life

and receiving were of prime importance in the bishop's duties. Picard's

anthology of literary references to reception halls in Early Christian

episcopal complexes has showed that these halls were generally called

salutatorium or secretarium. By the end of the sixth century, the two

expressions must have been almost synonyms since they were used to

indicate the same place. In the fourth century, however, they were still

used to indicate rooms with slightly different purposes. "

The secretarium generally indicated the part of the tribunal

isolated with a velum - and forbidden to the public - where judgement

was held. " From the second half of the fourth century onwards the term

9 Unlike a monk who lived hidden away in obscurity; for this point, cf. MOORHEAD, Ambrose, pp. 30-36. 10 J. C. PICARD, "La fonction des salles de reception dans le group episcopal de Geneve", Rivista di archeologia cristiana, 1-2 (1989), pp. 87-104, at pp. 90-91. " Ibid., pp. 93-94. 12 In the fifth century, the word secretarium had become synonyms of iudicium; ibid., p. 94, n. 20.

78

was also used to indicate a hall annexed to the church, where the bishop

and his clergy retired after the liturgical functions. The room was also

used by the bishop to receive believers coming to greet or petition him.

As in the presbytery, so in this hall the bishop would sit on a throne,

which was placed so to emphasise his eminent role, while the other

clergy sat in hierarchical order beside him. "

Contemporary sources provide numerous instances in which the

secretarium is also used as an audience hall for councils. " Proper council

meetings, however, were more often held in the church itself, " while this

adjoining hall was more probably used for preliminary meetings and for

compiling the proceedings of councils. "' The secretarium was also used

for provincial councils, " as well as for synods of the diocese and,

presumably, for the meeting of the town clergy. " From the end of the

sixth century onwards, the secretarium was increasingly used as a

13 Ibid., p. 95. 14 For instance, in the first council of Saragozza, in 380, where twelve bishops gathered together in the secretariurn of an unidentified church, probably the cathedral (Concilios

visigoticos e hispano-romanos, ed. J. Vives, Madrid, 1963, p. 16). Gregory of Tours also mentions a meeting of bishops in the secretariuin of the Basilica of the Apostoles in Paris in 577 (HFV, 18). For more examples, see PICARD, "La fonction des salles de reception", pp. 97- 99, nn. 1-8. 15 The bishop Palladius, sentenced for arianism at the council of Aquiliea in 381, objected to his adversaries that the council was not lawful because it had been held in the secretarium and not in the cathedral. See PICARD, "La fonction des salles de reception", p. 97, n. 2. 16 In a letter written in January 591 to Natalis, bishop of Salona, Gregory the Great mentions "gesta quae nobis in concilii vestri confecta secretario direxistis". Cf. Registrnm epistolar un, I, 19, ed. D. Norberg, CCSL 140, Turnhout (1982), p. 18. 17 In this case, the bishops's throne would have been used by the metropolitan bishops. Cf. PICARD, "La fonction des salles de reception", p. 97.

79

sacristy, being the place where the bishop would put on and take off

liturgical vestments, and where other preparations for liturgical functions

would have been made. 19 However, it was still sporadically used as an

audience hall at least until the ninth century. 2°

On the other hand, the term salutatorium was also used - even if

not so often as secretarium - to indicate the bishop's audience hall. "

Cassiodorus was apparently the first author to use the term salutatorium

to mean the episcopal audience hall. " Other sixth century's sources

provide examples of the usage of salutatorium also to indicate the parlour

in women's monasteries. " Again, the word was used, as for secretarluin,

to mean the sacristy, the place where the bishop would put on the

liturgical vestments. " It could also be used as emergency or temporary

accommodation. "

1$ Ibid.. Even though there are not examples before the ninth century. 19 PICARD, "La fonction des salles de reception", p. 95. 20 Pope Hadrian II (867-872) received the ambassadors of the Byzantine emperor in the secretariuni of St. Maria Maggiore; see LP II, p. 178. 21 Etymologically, the word indicated the place where the dominus received his clients gathered to greet him. However, classical Latin ignored this word and used only the adjective salutatorius. See PICARD, "La fonction des salles de reception", p. 96. 22 The hall where Ambrose of Milan received his visitors was called salutatorium by Cassiodorus, and was accessible not only from the church, but also through another entrance. Cf. CASSIODORUS, Historia ecclesiastica tripartita IX, 30, ed. W. Jakob & R. Hanslik, CSEL, 71, Vienna (1952), p. 543. 23 For example, the actes of the council of Macon (581-583), which established that "nullus

episcopus, presbyter... in monasteriis puellarum... extra salutatorium auf oratorittm ulterius ingredi permittantur". Cf. Concilia Galliae, II, ed. C. De Clercq, CCSL 148 A, Turnouth (1963), pp. 223-4. 24 The Life of Cesarius of Arles tells that after vespers the saint would return to the salutatorium, which was therefore used as a sacristy, but also as a reception hall, since he

80

However, salutatorium and secretarium were not the only spaces

for reception in the bishops' residence. Particularly in the cases of very

important sees, episcopal complexes must have been provided with a

variety of large halls, located in different parts of the complex, each

serving different functions.

The presence of magnificent banquet halls in episcopal complexes

is testified from the fifth century. This was a reason for the complaints of

Cesarius of Arles, worried that some of his colleagues would use the

fruits of their properties to prepare magnificent banquets rather than to

help the poor. Z" From the sixth century onwards, texts relating to Gaul

and Italy frequently mention a mensa canonica or canonicorum, or

mensa ecclesiae, a common table where the bishop ate with his clergy. 27

Presumably set in quite a large dining hall, this must have been generally

distinct from the main reception hall, reserved for official banquets.

Another dining room for the personal use of the bishop could have been

included, in some cases, in the more `private' part of the bishop's

received there a woman who wanted to talk to him. Cf. Vita sancti Caesarii Arelatensis a discipulis suis, II, 16, ed. G. Morin, Sancti Caesarii Arelatensis opera omnia, 2 vols., Maredsous (1942). 25 As in the two cases mentioned by Gregory of Tours in his Historia Francorum. The first one refers to the bishop Eparchius of Clermont: "ipsi sacerdoti in ipso, quoll modo salutatorian: dicitur, mansio erat" (HF II, 21), while the second presents somebody who seeked refuge in St. Martin of Tours, to benefit of the right of asylum in "ipsum salutatoriunz beate basilicae

mansionem" (HF VIII, 22). 26 CESARIUS OF ARLES, Sermons, I, 9. and 17.

27 See PICARD, "La fonction des salles de reception", pp. 88-89.

81

apartments, while another `private' triclinium was sometime located in

those episcopia provided with areas for visiting clergy, and also in the

private apartment of the episcopa or episcopessa, the bishop's wife.

All in all, although there was probably no fixed architectural type,

literary sources indicate the presence of some elements which could be

considered `typical' of late antique episcopal residences, such as the

presence of a large audience hall, one or more smaller halls, baths,

numerous storage areas and service buildings. Given the eminently

public role of bishops in Late Antiquity, particular emphasis was given to

reception. Clearly, an important bishop, like any other aristocrat or

officer of the time, would have needed a suitable and well-articulated

residence provided with a variety of reception areas, used for different

purposes. In such halls the bishop met the clergy, guests and

congregation, held religious councils and banquets, and exercised his

juridical functions, according to the rights accorded him by the

emperor. 28

In the following section, I shall analyse in more detail the

evidence from a series of episcopia from the fourth to the seventh

28 On the episcopalis audientia and its development, see A. STEINWENTER, "Audientia Episcopalis", in Reallexikon fur Antike und Christentum I (Stuttgart 1950), pp. 915-17; E. D. HUNT, "Christianising the Roman Empire: the evidence of the Code", in J. HARRIES & I. WOOD (eds. ), The Theodosian Code: Studies in the Imperial Law of Late Antiquity (London

82

century, located in different parts of the Late Roman Empire. Since the

quantity of material available is large and constantly growing, I have had

to limit myself to the analysis of some of the most representative sites.

As mentioned before, most of those sites were not excavated with the

intention of looking for the episcopia; therefore, some of their vestiges

are now lost forever. However, analysis of the elements still preserved -

or reasonably hypothesised - provides very interesting data and, as we

shall see, shows a certain conformity with what is suggested by the

literary sources.

1.3.4 The episcopal palace at the Lateran

The first example analysed here is the episcopal palace at Rome,

the episcopium par excellence. " As it is well known, the reconstruction

of the patriarchium at the Lateran by Sixtus V (1585-1590) involved the

almost total destruction of the medieval episcopal residence.

1993), pp. 143-8, at pp. 152-4, and J. C. LAMOREAUX, "Episcopal Courts in Late Antiquity", Journal of Early Christian Studies, 3 (1995), pp. 143-67. 29 On the Lateran in general, see P. LAUER, Le Palais du Latran (Paris 1911). See also C. PIETRANGELI (ed. ), II Palazzo Apostolico Lateranense (Florence 1991), in particular M. DELLE ROSE, "Il Patriarchio: note storico-tipografiche", pp. 19-36; and M. Di BERARDO, "Le Aule di

rappresentanza", pp. 37-44.

O

Figure 1.3.1 Plan of Rome by Bufalini (1551). Detail showing the Palatium

Constantini.

83

Consequently, we lack a complete reconstruction of its early plan, though

more is known than is commonly supposed.

Contemporary documentary evidence does not confirm the

medieval tradition which saw an episcopal residence located in the

Lateran from the time of Pope Sylvester. However, remains of dwellings

and thermal structures under the baptistery testify to the continuous use

of the area from the first to at least the fourth century. 3° Until the time of

Constantine, the Lateran was an imperial residence. In the third century,

a large donius had been built there on the ruins of the barracks of the

equites singulares. The fact that this domus was subsequently altered

again and that a baptistery was inserted in the area could indicate that a

first episcopal see had been established there at some point, reusing parts

of the preexisting domus. This could well be the so-called Palatium

Costantini indicated in the map of Rome made by Bufalini in 1551. "

(Fig. 1.3.1)

30 See G. PELLICCIONI, "Le nuove scoperte sulle origini del Battistero Lateranense", Atli della

Pontificia Accademia di Archeologia, Memorie 12 (1973), pp. 9-114. Cf. also DELLE ROSE, "Il

Patriarchio", pp. 19-20. 31 See S. MADDALO, "Alcune considerazioni sulla topografia del complesso lateranense allo

scadere del secolo XIII: il Patriarchio nell'anno del Giubileo", in A. M. ROMANINI (ed. ), Roma

anno 1300 (Atli delta IV settimana di studi di storia deli arte medievale dell'Universitä di

Roma "La Sapienza" 1980) (Rome, 1983), pp. 621-632, at pp. 623-24. Cf. C. MECKSEPER,

"Zur Doppelgeschossigkeit der beiden Triklinien Leos III. im Lateranpalast zu Rom", in

Schloss Tirol. Saalbauten und Burgen des 12. Jahrhunderts in Mitteleuropa (Deutscher

Kunstverlag, 1998), pp. 119-28.

84

The presence of areas for ceremonial functions and for reception

purposes in this early palace can be traced in literary sources as early as

the fourth century. In 366, during the conflicts between Damasus and

Ursinus, a basilica Iuliae is mentioned in the Libellus precum adversus

Damasum as the place where Ursinus had been declared pope. " The

Liber Pontificalis records a basilica Iuliae which was used in 418 for the

proclamation of Boniface 1 (418-22)" and a basilica Iulii used for the

same purpose in 530 for Boniface II (530-532). " These denominations

could designate one of the two basilicas built by Pope Julius 1 (337-352)

in Rome, one iuxta forum and one trans Tiberim. 35 More likely, though,

they could refer to the basilica domus Iuliae located in the Lateran,

which was recorded in Cassiodorus' Variae as the place where Pope

Symmachus (498-514) held a synod, 36 and was also mentioned in the

Liber Pontificalis in the Lives of Pope Vigilius (537-555)" and Pope

Sergius 1 (687-701). 3ß Other references to the basilica Iulii are found in

sources related to the life of Gregory the Great (590-604), describing the

32 Damasi Epigrammata, ed. M. Ihm (Leipzig 1885), p. 34. 33 LP 1, p. 227: "Eulalius vero ordinatur in basilica Constantiniana, Bonifatius autem in Basilica Iuliae". 34 LP I, p. 281: "Qui Dioscorus ordinatur in basilica Constantiniana, Bonifatius vero in basilica hdii". 35 LP I, p. 205. 36 CASSIODORUS, Variae, 426.

37 LP I, p. 296: "Tunc dedenmt ei sacramenta in basilica Julia". Other manuscript of the Liber Pontificalis gives the version lulii. While Davies always follows this version, translating it as `the house of Julius', the lection is not clear. Cf. DAVIS, Lives of Pontiffs, p. 33.

85

events which took place in 602, when the Roman clergy and the Roman

Senate acclaimed the images of Phocas and Leontias there. 39 The

basilica Julia seems to have served as an alternative to the basilica

Costantiniana - as the Cathedral of St John in Lateran was called at the

time - which was the place where the election and proclamation of popes

would normally happen.

The term basilica might well refer to the basilican longitudinal

shape of the hall, typical, as we have seen, of rooms for official functions

and reception. Its location is indicated quite clearly in the Liber

Pontificalis, in the life of Sergius 1 (687-701). In the description of the

turbulent events which took place in 687, we read that Theodore and his

supporters went to the patriarchate first and occupied its inner areas,

while Paschal held the outer parts, from the oratory of St Silvester and

the basilica of the House of Julia, overlooking the grounds. 4° If

Duchesne's identification of these grounds with the Campus

Lateranensis is right, the Basilica Doinus Iuliae should have been located

38 LP I, p. 371. 39 MGH Epp., 2,365: "et adclamatus est eis in Lateranis basilica lulii"; see also JOHN THE DEACON, Vita Gregorii 4,20: "a clero et senate acclamatunz est eis in basilica lulii". 40 LP I, p. 371: "Et quidem Theodorus archipresbiter cuin populo qui ei favebat praeveniens, inferiorem pat-tent patriarchii tenuit; Paschalis vero exteriorum partem ab oratorio sancti Silvestri et basilicam domes ! uliae, quae super canipuni respicit, occupavit". The papal palace at the Lateran is here mentioned for the first time as patriarchium.

sr. pýrEA etc.

t4 g% S

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BASILICA DOMUS IULIAE 4,. "Pot uwaý r. SNcit

L. J

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Figure 1.3.2 Rome. The Lateran complex before Zacharias' intervention.

Hypothetical reconstruction.

BASILICA ST. SALVATORIS

86

on the site where Leo III subsequently built the triclinium ad accubita,

that is on the northern side of the basilica Sancti Salvatoris. 4' (Fig. 1.3.2)

The sources also mention the presence of another hall, the basilica

Vigilii, where Gregory the Great (590-605) distributed donations. °2 The

Liber Pontificalis also records that, when Constans II visited Rome in

663, he spent the Saturday at the Lateran where he bathed and then dined

at the basilica of Vigilius. 43 However, no mention of this hall is found in

the Life of Pope Vigilius (537-555). If the date of its construction is not

clear, not much more is known of its location. According to John the

Deacon, the hall should have been located close to the pope's private

rooms, 44 while Panvinio could place it only generally in the inner part of

the patriarchium. 45 Notwithstanding the lack of more precise

information, we might conjecture that the basilica Vigilii was some kind

of more `private' triclinium, as it was located in a more segregated part

of the vast complex. Perhaps the private triclinium of the papal

apartment, it could have been used to host Constans II to protect his

privacy during his visit to the Pope.

41 LP I, p. 377, n. 9. The interesting implications of this point will be further developed in the second part of this work. 42 JOHN THE DEACON, Vita Gregorii 2,20. 43 LP I, p. 343: "herum sabbatorum die venit imperator ad Lateranis et lavit et ibidem pransit in basilica Vigili". 44 JOHN THE DEACON, Vita Gregorii 4,25.

87

The Liber Pontificalis also records the existence of a basilica

Theodori but, as for the basilica Vigilii, no mention of its construction is

found under the Life of Pope Theodorus (642-649). The basilica is first

mentioned in the Life of Sergius 1 (687-701) as the place where the Pope

received the soldiers and the people who had come to rescue him from

Zacharias, the spatharius sent by the emperor Justinian. " The hall was

presumably located close to the entrance to the palace, or at least on its

outer side, and might well have been used as a salutatorium.

Delle Rose suggests that both the basilica Julia and the basilica

Theodori might have had their names from members of the imperial

family and proposes Constans, son of Constantine, called Flavio Julio in

epigraphs, and Teodora, Constans' wife. 47 The general hypothesis of a

name's derivation from members of the imperial family is quite

interesting and probably worth further research, considering the presence

of imperial properties in the area of the Lateran. This could perhaps

indicate the continuing existence of an imperial palatial complex which

was partly used by the pontiffs as their residence. In this context,

45 See ONOPHRIUS PANVINIUS, De Sacrosanta Basilica, Baptisterio et Patriarchio Lateranensi, in LAUER, Le Palais, pp. 481-484, at p. 484: "in Patriarchy penitioreparte". 46 LP I, p. 374: "Egressus vero idem beatissinuus pontifex foris basilicaur quae dicitur doinni Theodori papae, apertis ianuis et sedens in sedem sub apostolos, generalitatem militiae et populi qul pro eo occurrerant honorifice suscepit". 47 DELLE ROSE, 11 Patriarchio", p. 35.

88

buildings such as the basilica Iulia and the basilica Theodori may have

been built for the pope on imperial initiative.

The existence of the oratory of St Lawrence, the private chapel of

the pope later known as the Sancta Sanctorum, is testified from the

pontificate of Pelagius 11 (579-590). A chronicle of the Monastery of St

Andrea al Celio records that Gregory the Great - at that time

apocrisiarius at Constantinople - had received some relics from the

emperor Tiberius II. Once in Rome, Gregory had given them to Pelagius

II, who had put them intra palatium summ in ecclesia Sancti Laurenti. °B

In the seventh century, Theodore (642-649) built another oratory,

dedicated to St Sebastian, which seems to have been located in the outer

part of the palace and was maybe related to the basilica Theodori. 49 The

Liber Pontificalis also mentions the presence in the complex of a third

oratory, which was dedicated to Silvester, allegedly the first pope who

lived in the Lateran. The building was first mentioned in the Life of

Sergius I, and was located, as we have seen, in the outer part of the

complex, to the right of the main stair giving access to the palace. Given

their positions, the function of both of these oratories must have been

48 Ibid., p. 37. 49 LP I, p. 333-4.

89

different from the more `private' oratory of St. Lawrence; they may have

been used for small public functions and ceremonies.

The existence of two other important features emerge from the

sources, that of a bath and an archive. The bath-house is first mentioned

in 663, when the emperor Constans II is recorded as having bathed in it; "

while according to John the Deacon, a scrinium sanctum existed in the

Lateran as early as the time of Gregory the Great (590-604). 5'

To sum up, then, an analysis of the early phases of the Lateran

complex shows that the palace included most of the features considered

as `typical' of late antique episcopia, noted in our analysis of literary

sources. Even if nothing is left of these structures, we can postulate that

the pope established his residence in the Lateran at an early unknown

date, probably in the fourth century, and that the building of this first

residence may have owed much to the patronage of the imperial family.

This early and obscure phase may therefore have been characterised by

the co-existence of both imperial and papal functions at the Lateran. It is

possible that already by the time of Gregory the Great (590-604), the

presence of new institutions" and the changes in roles and functions of

so LP I, p. 343. 51 JOHN THE DEACON, Vita Gregorii, 2,12: "Sacratissimum Lateranensis palatii scrinium". 52 Such as the schola cantorun: located sub Lateranensis patriarch ii domibus, the scrinarius, the schola subdiaconum and the schola notariorum.

90

the bishop necessitated a rearrangement of the existing palatial complex

to provide more appropriate spaces.

From at least the seventh century, the palace was double-storied. "

It also seems to have been divided into two main parts: the inner part

included the private apartments of the pope and his private chapel, and

was located in the area which goes from the campus to the Constantinian

basilica, towards the Porta Asinaria, while the outer part - which included

buildings such as the basilica Iuliae and the oratory of St Silvester,

probably used for more public functions - overlooked the campus. " The

main entrance to the complex was located in the middle of a porticoed

corridor which linked the two different parts.

In conclusion, it is clear that special emphasis was laid on the

reception areas through the years, in conformity with our analysis of

literary sources and, as we have said, the presence of at least three main

halls is testified by contemporary sources for this phase:

" the basilica Iuliae - used for official receptions and banquets

53 When the army of Ravenna went to the Lateran to rescue Sergius I, they found both that both the upper and the lower doors (tanz inferiores quanique superiores) of the patriarchate had been shut. Cf. LP 1, p. 373. 54 LP I, p. 371: "ab oratorio S. Silvestri et basilicam domns huliae, quae super campurn respicit".

91

" the basilica Vigilii -a more private triclinium, located in a more

secluded position, next to the the pope's private apartment.

" the basilica Theodori -a more public hall, located near the entrance

and used as a salutatorium.

1.3.5 Ravenna

The case of the orthodox episcopal residence at Ravenna is

another extremely interesting example of what it has been sustained so

far. Significant parts of the early structures of this complex are still

preserved and some of its elements - especially those mentioned in the

Liber Pontificalis of Agnellus - have been studied. " However they have

not received adequate attention or been properly considered in the

context of a broader study of other episcopal residences.

The hypothesis formulated by Lanzoni and Testi Rasponi of a first

cathedral located in Classe, which preceded the fourth century Ursian

basilica within the walls, has proved wrong. Recent scholarship has

55 In particular, cf. M. C. MILLER, "The development of the archiepiscopal residence in Ravenna", Felix Ravenna 141-4 (1991-2), pp. 145-173; G. DE ANGELIS D'OSSAT, "Sulla distrutta aula dei quinque accubita a Ravenna", Corsi di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina, 20 1973, pp. 263-73, and F. W. DEICIIMANN, "Studi sulla Ravenna scomparsa", Felix Ravenna 103-4 (1972), pp. 61-112, at pp. 94-112.

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Figure 1.3.3 Ravenna. The archiepiscopal complex (c. 600) [1] Ursian Basilica ; [2] Baptistery; [3] Pre-Ursian Episcopium?; [4] Salustra Tower; [5] Domus V Accubita; [6] St Andrew Chapel; [7] Domus Tricoli?; [8] Baths.

Figure 1.3.4 Ravenna. The Domus VAccubita. Reconstruction.

92

established the stability of the location of the urban cathedral, and the

consequent continuity in the location of the bishop's residence. The

oldest section of the episcopium - which does not survive anymore -

predated the construction of the cathedral and was probably located in the

area between the Salustra tower and the apse of the Ursian basilica. "

Several structures were added to the initial core from the fifth to

the eighth century. (Fig. 1.3.3) The first addition is recorded by Agnellus

in the Liber Pontificalis as the domus quae vocatur quinque accubita, a

triclinium built by the Bishop Neon (450-452), located infra episcopium

Ursianae ecclesiae. 57

The hall has been reconstructed as a room with five accubita, the

apses where the semi-circular couches used for eating were placed. (Fig.

1.3.4) Two of the five apses were set in each long wall while a slightly

larger one, reserved to the bishop, was located opposite the entrance. The

triclinium was decorated with magnificent mosaics representing religious

themes and perhaps with the inscription DOMNUS NEON EPISCOPUS

SENESCAT NOBIS. 58 This inscription has been traditionally considered

56 Cf. DEICHMANN, Ravenna IUI, pp. 193-4 and MILLER, "The development", p. 149. See also M. MAZZOTTI, "Nuovi problemi sul primitivo episcopio ravennate", Corsi di cultura sull'arte

ravennate e bizantina, 17 (1970), pp. 300-1 and A. RONCUZZI, "Topograf la di Ravenna antica: le mura", Corsi di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina, 39 (1992), pp. 736-8. 57 AGNELLUS, LP 29. 58 For the subjects of the mosaics and their significance, see DEICIIMANN, "Ravenna

scomparsa", pp. 98-100.

93

as coming from the apse of the basilica Apostolorum - the present church

of St. Francis, where Neon was buried. However, the nature of this

acclamation seems more profane than religious, since the translation of

the inscription reads: "Long life to Neon". This is a kind of acclamation

more generally found in secular contexts, such as on drinking jugs or in

domestic inscriptions. Therefore, the inscription is more likely to have

been set up in the domus quinque accubita rather than in the context of

Neon's burial. "

New additions to the episcopium are mentioned in a somewhat

obscure passage of the life of Peter 11 (494-520). According to Agnellus,

this bishop had founded within the episcopium of the Ravennate see a

domus which was called tricoli, because it was comprised of three colla. bo

Testi Rasponi interpreted tricoli as a latinized corruption of the Greek

triklinion, while Deichmann proposed that it came from another Greek

word, tricolus, meaning a tripartite structure. b' More recently, Miller has

conjectured that cola could be a medieval spelling of colla rather than a

word of Greek derivation; in this case, the domes tricoli would be a

"three-necked house". 62

59 Ibid., pp. 100-101. 60 AGNELLUS, LP, 53: "Iterum fundavit donnnn infra episcopiuun Ravenne sedis, que dicitur Tricoli, eo quod tria colla continent; que edificia nimis ingeniosa inferius structa est". 61 DEICHMANN, "Ravenna scomparsa", pp. 102-3. 62 MILLER, "The development", pp. 152-3.

94

According to these interpretation, the domus tricoli would have

been either a three-apsed hall or a building with three wings. Deichmann

seems to have preferred this interpretation in his discussion of the Chapel

of St. Andrea - the residence's private chapel - where he proposed that

this structure might have been part of the Tricoli. b' On the other hand,

Miller is more inclined to consider the domes Tricoli as a building

housing a triconch hall, separate from the chapel. This hypothesis is

based on Agnellus' description of the Chapel of St. Andrea as non longe

ab eadem do, no [Tricoli]. If St. Andrea were part of the "tripartite

house", she observes, why would Agnellus describe it as "not far from

it"? 6a

However, given that Agnellus is in many other places quite vague

and unclear in his descriptions, we could conjecture that the domus

Tricoli was a three-storied building rather than a building with three

wings, with the Chapel of St. Andrea being located on the uppermost

floor. When this chapel was built at the beginning of the sixth century by

Peter 11 (494-520), it was located on the third floor; a fourth floor was

added only in the fourteenth century. 65 The chapel was entered through

three different doors: one was located on the western side of the atrium,

63 DEICHMANN, Ravenna II/1, p. 202. 64 MILLER, "The development", p. 153.

65 AGNELLUS, LP 50. Cf. MILLER, "The development", p. 154.

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Figure 1.3.5 Ravenna. The archiepiscopal complex (c. 800). [9] Donis Felicis; [10] vivarium.

95

and was connected to the pre-existent late Roman Salustra tower, which

was kept and heightened to be used as a stair tower when the chapel was

built. " The second door, the principal one, was also located in the atrium,

just behind the mosaic Christus inilitans, while another entrance was

placed beside the apse. If the first door permitted access to the chapel

from the tower, the other two entrances must have linked the chapel to

the other parts of the episcopiuon, presumably located in the area north of

the tower and the chapel and behind the apse of the cathedral. The domus

Tricoli must have also included a large reception hall, which was still

used for large gatherings in the late eleventh century. 67 However, we do

not know how this hall was used in the earlier phase.

In this area of the episcopium was also located a vivarium, a series

of arches, niches and openings, possibly used to house various species of

bird and fish for the bishop's table. 68 This building was mentioned by

Agnellus in the Life of Bishop John VI (778-785), but had presumably

been built earlier, perhaps under Maximian (546-565). 69 (Fig. 1.3.5) It

consisted of a double-storied structure abutting to the east wall of the

chapel building. Above it was another dining-room, which must have

66 See MAZZOTTI, "Nuovi problemi", p. 300. 67 It is here that, in 1079, a group of vassals, capitanei and valvassores of Ravenna and Cesena, with some men of Cervia, petitioned Archbishop Guilbert to confirm an earlier ban he had issued. See MILLER, "The development", pp. 162-163. 68 C. Ricci, "ll vivaio dell'arcivescovado di Ravenna", Bollettino d'Arte 13 (1919), pp. 33-36.

96

been located at the same level as the Chapel of St. Andrea and

presumably linked to it. 7° From Agnellus' account we can deduce that

this triclinium was used as a mensa canonica, that is - as we have

mentioned above - the common table where the bishop normally ate with

his clergy, distinct from the triclinium of the quinque accubita, the main

reception hall used for official reception.

The episcopium was also provided with a balneum, located on the

north-east side of the Ursian cathedral, still in use in the ninth century

when it was described by Agnellus. " An earlier structure had been rebuilt

by Bishop Victor (537-544), and the dedicatory inscription records his

demolition of the older bath and the building of the new, larger and more

splendid one, which was decorated with precious marbles and mosaics.

The inscription also records the bishop's generosity in allowing the

clergy of the city to use the bath he had built twice a week for free, on

Tuesdays and Fridays. During the rest of the week, presumably, the bath

was used by the bishop alone, or by the bishop and the cathedral clergy. "

69 DEICIIMANN, "Ravenna scomparsa", pp. 109-110. 70 AGNELLUS, LP 163: "Et dam [Johannes episcopus] sederet ad mensam post tribunal ecclesiae super vivarium, elevatis surstan inanibus, respiciens ad vultum Salvaloris, dicens: "Gratias tibi ago, doinine lese Christe, et tibi, beate Apolenaris, quia exaudistis me". 71 AGNELLUS, LP 66. Excavations on the site of the present Banca Popolare, on the northeast side of the Ursian cathedral, uncovered remains of this thermal complex, showing that it was built in the late fourth or fifth century and then renewed and used at least until the ninth century. See G. BERMOND MONTANARI, "Ravenna -1980- Lo scavo della Banca Popolare. Relazione preliminare", Felix Ravenna, 137-140 (1984-1985 ), pp. 21-25. 72 WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages,, pp. 135-136.

97

Subsequent additions to the episcopium date to the eighth century

and include the domus Felicis, a house built by Archbishop Felix (709-

725) behind the baptistery, maybe to house his apartments. " The fact that

Felix added new living quarters to the episcopium might well indicate

that the older ones were now inadequate. 74 In any case, the domes Felicis

appears to have included another reception hall which, later in the twelfth

century, came to be used as a hall for synods. 75

Felix is also credited by Agnellus with the re-building or

restoration of a salutatorium. 76 Agnellus does not give more information

about the location of this hall, but it may have been located in a part of

the complex easily accessible to the public, since the hall was used for

the salutatio, the popular acclamation; the dedicatory verses on the

buildings seem to hint at this function. "

To sum up, what we know of the Ravennate episcopal residence

clearly indicates a material conformity with not only the literary sources

examined above but also with the Lateran complex; almost all the

elements identified as `typical' of the episcopal complex can be found

73 AGNELLUS, LP 145. Cf. DEICHMANN, Ravenna, 11/1, p. 207. 74 See MILLER, "The development", pp. 159-60. 75 MILLER, "The development", p. 162. 76 AGNELLUS, LP 149. 77 Per medios gradiens populos, reverentia crescit, / Cum super effundit cognita verba Deo. / Nunc riturn servent, veniens quicumque sacerdos. Cf. DEICIIMANN, "Ravenna scomparsa", pp. 110-112.

98

there. The episcopal group consisted of a series of different structures

including an archive, a cirneliarchium, and presumably a series of

warehouses and service rooms. All these buildings were disposed around

the cathedral and the baptistery and, with the exception of the bath, they

all seem to have been located inside a walled precinct.

A special emphasis was put on the reception areas, and at least

five reception halls can be identified (although there could have been

even more):

9 the domus quae vocatur quinque accubita - used as a dining hall for

special banquets;

9 the hall above the vivarium, used as a mensa canonica;

" the domus Felicis - built on at a later date, but presupposing the

existence of an older apartment for the bishop (which also would have

included a tricliniunt);

41 the salutatorium, built in a later phase, but replacing an older

structure;

" the domus tricolis, the only range whose function is still quite unclear

(but which also included a triclinium - maybe for the private use of the

bishop).

99

Agnellus also mentions the existence of at least three Arian

episcopia at Ravenna: two outside the walls" and one within the city at

the Arian cathedral of St. Theodore. 79 Nothing remains of these structures

and little more is known about them. However, it should be noted that, by

the mid-sixth century, the Arian episcopium by the cathedral had a bath

and an episcopal chapel dedicated to St. Apollinaris, which was located

on an upper floor. "

The resemblance to the Catholic episcopium cannot be casual and

implies a series of important considerations. Firstly, that all the projects

undertaken by the Orthodox bishops during Theodoric's reign are

evidence of his religious tolerance. " Secondly, it could also indicate that

the Catholic bishops of the city were imitating the residence of their

Arian rivals, enhancing the magnificence of their own dwellings in

78 One at the basilica of St Eusebius, built by Bishop Unimundus during the reign of Theoderic, and the other at the church of San Giorgio in Campo Coriandro, near the Mausoloeum of Theodoric. Cf. AGNELLUS, LP 70. 79 The ex-Arian cathedral is now known as St. Spirito. Originally, however, it was dedicated to the Anastasis, while from the Byzantine conquest to the sixteenth century it was dedicated to St. Theodore. Cf. M. MAZZOTTI, "La Anastasis Gothorum di Ravenna ed il suo battistero", Felix Ravenna (1957), 75, pp. 25-62. 80 AGNELLUS, LP 86: "Infra urbem vero Ravennain reconciliavit ecclesiam saneti Theodori

non longe a domo Drocoonis, qua domes una cum balneo et sancti Apolenaris monasterio, quod in superiora domus structum, episcopiun: ipsius ecclesiae lrit". Cf. DEICHMANN, Ravenna, 1, pp. 207-208. See also MILLER, "The development", pp. 156-7. 81 See M. J. JOHNSON, "Toward a history of Theoderic's building program", Dumbarton Oaks Papers (1988), 42, pp. 73-96, at p. 80, n. 79.

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Figure 1.3.6 Grado. Excavation by the cathedral. Plan.

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100

competition. " Finally - and more importantly for the purposes of this

research - this could also mean that both the Orthodox and the Arian

episcopal complexes adopted building solutions which were peculiar to

and characteristic of episcopal palaces.

1.3.6 Grado

Other elements seems to support this hypothesis, showing that

some of the features found in the Ravennate episcopal palaces were used

in the surrounding areas. De Angelis D'Ossat, for instance, conjectured

that the aula quinque accubita was consciously repeated in the cathedral

of Grado on a smaller scale and that this should be seen as evidence of

the growing influence of the Ravennate see in the north-Adriatic coast. "

(Fig. 1.3.6) Not much is left of the Early Christian phase of the

episcopium at Grado. The site was partly excavated between the 1910s

and 1920s, but was never published, except for a very short description"

More recently, though, the scanty archaeological documentation has been

re-examined by Paola Lopreato, who has postulated the existence of an

82 For this point, cf. MILLER, "The development", p. 155. 83 DE ANGELIS D'OsSAT, "Sulla distrutta aula, pp. 269-273.

Figure 1.3.7 Grado. Exacation by the cathedral. Plan.

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101

early episcopium located inside the Castrunt. 85 This episcopal complex

would have been characterised by a series of small rooms for service and

residential purposes, and by a more imposing range of buildings used for

reception purposes. This more `public' part of the complex included not

only a triclinium similar to the Ravennate aula quinque accubita, but also

a large double-storied hall with a hypocaust. (Fig. 1.3.7)

Similar features are found in other episcopia in the same area, in

particular at Aquileia and Porec.

1.3.7 Aquileia

Sources relating to the episcopal see at Aquileia document how

important this was in the fourth century. We know that around the year

370 eminent personalities of the ecclesiastical and cultural world, such as

Jerome, Rufinus and Bonosus, were gathered somewhere in the

episcopium for the Sentinarium Aquileiense, a sort of coterie organised

by Bishop Valerianus (366-388) in order to look after the cultural and

84 Cf. G. CALZA, "Venezia Giulia. Tutela ed esplorazione dei monumenti antichi. Grado", Notizie degli Scavi di Antichitä (1920), pp. 10-14. 85 See P. LOPREATO, "Lo scavo dell'episcopio di Grado", Antichitn altoadriatiche 32 (1988),

pp. 325-33.

102

ecclesiastical training of clergy and also to prevent the spread of the

Arian heresy. "

Another possible reference to an episcopiuni comes from the

proceedings of the Council of Aquileia of 381, recounting the trial of the

Arian bishops Palladius and Secondianus. The trial, presided over by

Bishop Valerianus and attended by St Ambrose, was held in the

secretarium. Some scholars suggested that this secretarium should be

recognised in the Theodoran South Hall. However, the fact that bishop

Palladius objected to his adversaries that the council was not lawful,

since it had been held in that narrow room instead 4- the cathedral,

does not really fit with the large size of the hall in question, which

measures 37m by 20m. More probably, therefore, the secretarium was

another hall located somewhere in the episcopal palace. 87

Unfortunately, the excavation of the episcopal complex was never

completed and many questions related to it remain unanswered. Still, it

was possible to conjecture that the early complex had developed over

four different phases.

86 A. SCh OLZ, 11 'Seminariwn' aquileiense, Udine 1971. 87 L. BERTACCHI, "Contributo allo studio dei palazzi episcopali paleocristiani: i casi di Aquileia, Parenzo e Salona", Aquileia Nostra 56 (1985), cc. 361-412, at c. 365.

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Figure 1.3.8 Aquileia. Episcopal complex. Theodoran and ancillary rooms; [2] Baptistry; Transversal hall; [5] Theodoran North;

6

phase [1J Entrance [3] Corridor; [4]

[6] Theodoran South.

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Figure 1.3.9 Aquileia. Episcopal complex. Post-Theodoran phase [1] Post- Theodoran North; [2] Post-Theodoran Baptistry; [3] Theodoran South; [4] Aracaded Court.

103

1. The first complex was built during the bishopric of Theodore, in an

area previously occupied by warehouses. (Fig. 1.3.8) Access to the

entire complex was from the east. This, as is well known, was formed

of three main rectangular halls, placed in the form of a "C" - two

parallel halls on an east-west axis, paved with splendid polychrome

mosaics, both connected to a third hall, aligned to a north-south axis

and paved with modest opus signinaum - plus a series of smaller rooms

and the baptistery. The two parallel halls, the Theodorian North and

the Theodorian South, were respectively used for the celebration of

mass and as a teaching hall for catechumens, while the transversal

hall served as a consignatorium in which confirmation was celebrated

and maybe also as an early audience hall. " A series of other rooms

has been identified but not excavated to the east of the transversal

hall, separated from it by a long corridor. This area, in part paved

with mosaics, could have been the residential part of the early

complex.

2. At some time in the mid-fourth century, maybe during the bishopric

of Fortunatianus, a radical restructuring took place. (1.3.9) By this

time the numbers of the faithful had notably increased, and the

88 Ibid., c. 367. The bibliography on the Theodorian halls is very large. cf. S. PIUSSI,

..

Figure 1.3.10 Aquileia. Episcopal complex. Post-Attilan phase [1] Post- Attilan Hall; [2] Baptistry; [3] Courtyard.

104

complex was no longer sufficient to house the entire community. The

Theodoran North was therefore replaced by another hall, known as

the Post-Theodoran North, which was three and half times the size of

its predecessor, with access on the north-west from a quadriportico,

while a new baptistery was built on the site of the old consignatorium.

The Theodorian South hall remained untouched, and probably

continued to serve its original purpose, until it became a inartyriurn

towards the end of the fourth century. To the North of the arcaded

court, excavations have revealed the presence of at least three other

rooms, one of which is paved with fourth-century mosaics. As

conjectured by Bertacchi, this hall could have been the secretarium

where the Concilium was held in 381.89

3. The complex was seriously damaged after a fire, perhaps related to

the onslaught of Attila, and was later rebuilt and raised 0.5 m. (1.3.10)

The layout and the extension of the post-Attilan complex is still

uncertain, but it seems to have been quite large and articulated.

Excavations have uncovered a series of newly built rooms as well as

adaptations of older buildings, including at least two big halls with

"Bibliografia aquileiese", Antichitä Altoadriatiche 11 (1978). 89 BERTACCH1, "Contributo", cc. 371-2.

105

mosaic floors. 90 Also, it is important to note that the hall with the

mosaic floor and the rooms around it used in the previous phase of the

complex in this phase was no longer used as a reception hall but as a

warehouse. Pillars were placed within it in an irregular order, possibly

to sustain a large reception hall located on the upper floor. 9'

4. This complex was probably in use until the end of the sixth century.

After the Lombard invasion Aquileia definitely lost its political and

economic prestige and subsequently the episcopal complex probably

fell into a state of abandon. New interventions date to the ninth

century, to the time of the second Patriarchate, when the episcopal

complex was moved to the area of the horrea, to the south of the

church, where it still stands. 92

As in the previous examples examined, at Aquileia we can

recognise a first phase characterised by a lack of a clear-cut distinction

between buildings for liturgical functions and the more residential part of

the complex. This probably indicates that episcopal duties and functions

90 Ibid., cc. 375-383. 91 Ibid., c. 374. 92 Ibid., cc. 383-84.

106

were still limited in the first phase but that they rapidly increased and led

to the need for a larger and better articulated complex.

1.3.8 Porec

A similar pattern can be found in the episcopal palace at Porec.

This is a particularly interesting complex also because of the unbroken

continuity of its location, used for more than 1300 years as the permanent

residence of the bishops of Porec. 9J This kind of survival of functions on

the same site is very rare. At the same time, however, this continuity of

use resulted in a series of alterations and adjustments to the complex,

which make it quite difficult to understand its layout in the different

phases.

The residential complex is generally identified with the structures

located in the north-west corner of the Euphrasian basilica, which

consists of a two-storey building, rectangular in plan (m. 26 x 20) and

93 Among recent works on the complex at Pored, see especially I. MATEICIC, "The episcopal palace at Pored- Results of recent exploration and restoration", Horius Artiunt Medievaliun: 1 (1995), pp. 84-89. Also BERTACCHI, "Contributo", cc. 384-400. For a more complete bibliography of the complex, see E. Russo, Sculture del complesso eufrasiano di Parenzo, (Naples 1991).

I

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Figure 1.3.11 Porec. Episcopal complex. Plan.

Figure 1.3.12 Pored. Episcopal palace [a] Ground floor plan; [b] First floor plan.

.. 4. er

Figure 1.3.13 Porec. Episcopal palace. Reconstruction.

Figure 1.3.14 Pore. Episcopal palace. Reconstruction [a] longitudinal section; [b] transversal section.

107

orientated north-south. Of its original three apses, only the central one is

still preserved, double the size of the two minor apses. (Figg. 1.3.11-14)

At first sight, the plan of this building seems characterised by a

certain degree of symmetry, and it looks as if it was built in only one

phase. However, a more thorough analysis indicates a series of elements

deserving further consideration. First of all, the two walls which form a

sort of corridor between the south court and the main hall are oblique and

not parallel as one would expect. Also, the two aisles of the halls are

different in width, and widen to the north, so that the building narrows at

one end. This last element was possibly a perspective device, designed to

make the central hall look longer to observers. However, this feature - as

well as the fact that the walls of the 'corridor' where not parallel and that,

remains of earlier structures belonging to a portico have been found on

this side of the complex - could also be explained by the pre-existence of

an earlier complex. "

This hypothesis has been confirmed by the analysis of the data

from a recent and extensive programme of conservation and restoration

of the complex. " The episcopal complex at Poree, therefore, has at least

one if not two phases before the bishopric of Euphrasius, to whom the

94 BERTACCHI, "Contributo", cc. 387-88. 95 MATE) 1e, "The episcopal palace", pp. 84-9.

108

building of the episcopium is generally attributed. The presence of a first

complex orientated west-east would explain the irregularity and the

obliquity of the 'corridor' walls. As we have seen for Aquileia, the

episcopium at Porec was built on a more modest scale, probably in a

moment when the local episcopal functions were still not very well

defined. In a second phase, still chronologically close to the first one, the

fast-growing increase of power of the bishops must have determined the

necessity of building a larger complex, characterised by the presence of

at least one large hall in which the bishop could carry out his duties. In

the final restructuring of the complex, the hall on the ground floor was

probably transformed into a warehouse while, again as in the case of

Aquileia, some pillars were placed in it to sustain the large hall located

on the upper floor. The lack of original stairs raises the question of the

access to the upper floor. 96 Presumably, this building would have had

quite an imposing entrance, perhaps from the south corridor/nartex.

However, no more can be said about it in the present state of research. 97

The discovery of the original high windows in the west and north

walls of the hall has confirmed that it was richly illuminated, with typical

basilica-type illumination. A tribelon, of which one column with a capital

96 Both the stairs in the main apse and in the south corridor are not original. 97 The lack of original stairs is a real shame, since the episcopal palace at Pored is preserved in

elevation for 17 metres, a unique case for this kind of complexes.

109

and arches has been preserved, is located in front of the central apse,

which is quite large and also deeper than a semicircle, more like a

distinct room than the exedra of a hall. Remains of marble and stucco

work on the triple arch also indicate that the hall was appropriately

decorated. " Still today, even if the hall does not maintain its original

proportions - the levels of the floor and of the ceiling are not the original

ones - one can easily imagine the bishop on a cathedra inside the apse,

looking out into the hall through the triple arch.

At the episcopal complex at Porec, therefore, we can recognise the

pattern identified in the development of other episcopal residences of the

time: a first phase generally characterised by a certain lack of planning,

with bishops and clergy mostly reusing and readapting pre-existent

buildings, usually followed by one or more phases of carefully planned

buildings to satisfy all the different needs and functions of the episcopal

seat. The later phases were often characterised by the presence of a

variety of reception areas, used, as we have seen, for a multiplicity of

different functions.

Our analysis has been based so far only on a restricted group of

episcopal complexes, all located, with the exception of the Lateran, in

98 MATEtI(`, "The episcopal palace", p. 86.

110

quite a restricted geographical area. However, the characteristics we have

indicated as common for all the complexes of the group should not be

considered as typical phenomena restricted to the upper-Adriatic coast,

and can be found - beyond the obvious stylistic and technical regional

differences - in other complexes located in different parts of the Late

Roman Empire.

1.3.9 Geneva

The episcopal group at Geneva, for instance, presents a very

similar choice of solutions in the same span of time. Moreover, the

complex is particularly interesting, being one of the few cases of a well

excavated episcopal complex. Excavations have shown that the large

complex included a variety of reception halls, chapels, private baths and

warehouses, plus, of course, the cathedral and the baptistery, built over in

different phases between the fourth and the sixth century. "

The first nucleus of the Christian complex was built in an area

characterised by the presence of a large Roman building of the first

century, almost entirely rebuilt after the Germanic migrations of 260-280

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Figure 1.3.16 Geneve. Episcopal complex. Plan of the excavation (4cn_5th c phase).

111

and reused for residential purposes. (Fig. 1.3.15) A part of this complex

was demolished to build the first cathedral, while another section,

included in the area between the church and the city walls, was then used

between the second half of the fourth and the first half of the fifth century

to build a chapel and a series of other rooms, identified by the excavators

as the early residence of the bishop. 1°°

At the beginning of the fifth century a second church known as the

South Cathedral, other reception rooms, a large bath and a new baptistery

were built around a central atrium. (1.3.16) The South Cathedral

included two sacristies flanking the apse and a large rectangular hall built

against the southern wall, here identified as a secretarium, later

abandoned, following a fire. This hall, probably built in a slightly later

phase than the cathedral, was heated with a system of Y-shaped conducts.

The walls were frescoed and the floor was covered with polychrome

mosaics, depicting ornamental motifs inspired by a classic repertoire but,

at the same time, also alluding to Early Christian symbolism - such as

interlaces, crosses, Solomon's knots and vases flanked by peacocks and

vine branches. 1°' The arrangement of the mosaics shows that the hall was

orientated east-west. It seems that the bishop must have sat on his throne

99 C. BONNET, "Les salles de reception du groupe episcopal de Geneve", Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana 65 (1986), pp. 71-86. 100 BONNET, "Les salles de reception", pp. 72-3.

112

on the eastern side, flanked by other high-ranking ecclesiastics. This is

confirmed by the fact that several sections of the mosaic floor in the

eastern side of the hall were damaged, as if wooden benches or individual

chairs had been placed there and had caused the detachment of the

tesserae. 1 °2 A passage on the northern side of the hall was used by the

bishop and his entourage to access the presbytery of the cathedral directly

from the hall. Another entrance was located on the north-west corner of

the hall. This allowed visitors to enter the hall directly from the street

running alongside the side wall of the cathedral. "'

On the opposite side of this street, the excavation brought to light

a series of structures which seem to belong to an elegant domus arranged

around a courtyard and provided with a private bath. Despite the fact that

excavation was limited to the northern part of this complex, it still seems

plausible to suggest that this donius was a part of the episcopal complex,

possibly used to accommodate distinguished guests or the wife of the

bishop. The structures uncovered so far seem to have been related to the

reception area of the house. This consisted of two halls of irregular

trapezoidal shape, the largest of which was heated with the same system

of Y-shaped conducts as was found in the hall adjacent to the cathedral.

101 Ibid., pp. 74-5. 102 Ibid., p. 77-8. 103 Ibid., p. 78.

113

Numerous coloured and golden glass tesserae were found on the floor of

this room, where they had fallen from a wall mosaic which was located

on the northern wall.

Another large heated room was found behind the apse of the

baptistery. This hall was linked to a smaller annex through a door located

on its southern wall; investigations carried out in the nineteenth century

indicated the presence of a similar structure - no longer extant - on its

northern side. At the north-east corner of the hall the excavations have

uncovered the remains of a modest building. This was identified as a

butchery because of the remarkable quantity of animal bones found there,

and must have formed part of the kitchens, presumably located in the

proximity of the hot air coming from the praefurniuin of the hall. The

large hall was probably a triclinium used by the bishop and his clergy for

their private meetings and banquets. Not only was it close to the kitchen

and the butchery, but it was also located in a more segregated part of the

complex, assuring a certain degree of privacy.

The bishop's apartment itself has been identified in the group of

rooms located in the eastern part of the complex, close to the city walls.

Again, this more `private' part of the complex was located in a relatively

inaccessible position, far from the entrance to the complex. The

apartment included a private triclinium, consisting of a large, nearly

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114

square hall and other service rooms, not completely investigated. To the

south of the triclinium was a chapel, presumably an oratory for the

private use of the functions of the bishops and his clergy, as is found at

the Lateran or at Ravenna. All the buildings in this area shared the same

building tcchniques and the same heating system with the other parts of

the complex. This is particularly interesting and shows how the buildings

were built according to a single overall plan, probably established in the

mid-fifth century.

Between the end of the fifth and the first half of the sixth century

the buildings behind the baptistery were demolished to build a larger new

cathedral. (1.3.17) A large new hall, measuring 10.20 x 12.50 m., was

erected against the southern wall of the new cathedral. The main entrance

to this hall, located to the west, on the street leading to the church, was

flanked by a projecting structure which housed the stairs used to access

an upper floor. The complicated stratigraphy does not permit further

precision on this matter. However, the difference of levels between the

floor of the cathedral and that of the hall suggests that a second stair was

located inside the building, providing access to the presbytery of the

cathedral from the upper floor of the hall. This hall seems to have been a

secretarium/salutatorium of the same kind as the one built against the

southern wall of the earlier cathedral. Both halls, in fact, were easily

115

accessed by visitors coming from the main street and were also linked to

the presbytery of the cathedral, allowing the bishop to pass from the

salutatorium to the church and vice versa.

To sum up, then, the complex at Geneva seems to have followed

the same kind of development as other late antique episcopal groups,

showing, as postulated, how this was not a phenomenon limited to any

particular regional context. Particularly interesting is the fact that the

second salutatorium was significantly larger than the earlier one,

showing how the need for a bigger reception room effectively followed

the growth of the temporal power of the bishop.

It remains to be seen whether those features were only typical of

the western territories of the Empire, or if they could similarly be found

in eastern episcopia. The main difficulty with this issue is that not a great

number of buildings have been identified with certainty as episcopal

palaces in the East, making this kind of comparative analysis quite

problematic. However, an analysis of the limited available evidence,

seems to confirm a certain conformity in the development of the eastern

episcopia and their western counterparts. '°'

104 See M. MALASPINA, "Gli episcopia e le residenze ecclesiastiche nella 'pars orientalis' dell'impero romano", Contributi dell'Istitnto di Archeologia dell'Universitä Cattolica del Sacro Cuore 5 (1975), pp. 29-173 and MOLLER-WIENER, "Riflessioni", pp. 103-145.

116

1.3.10 Constantinople

Unfortunately nothing is left of the episcopal palace at

Constantinopole, which became a patriarchate from 451. However, a

series of references from Byzantine authors such as the Pseudo-Codinus,

Cedrenus, Zonaras, and contemporary documents like the Notitia

Dignitatum and the Descriptio Urbis Costantinopolitanae indicates that

the Patriarcheion was very large and articulated - as one would expect

from the residence of such an important patriarch - and included a variety

of different buildings, such as triclinia, baths, gardens, libraries, archives,

tribunals and other administrative offices. 'os

The complex was located between the churches of St Sophia and

St Irene - the present and the former cathedral - and was probably linked

to St Sophia by a system of galleries and tribunes similar to the system

that linked the cathedral to the imperial palace. The large ancient bronze

doors, which are now closed and partly immured, probably gave the

patriarch access to the cathedral straight from his residence, in the same

way that the door set symmetrically on the other side of the building

served the emperor coming from the Magnaura. This symmetry and

117

èquality' between the patriarch and the emperor seem also to have been

reflected in the position of their seats inside the cathedral: when not

officiating, the patriarch would probably have sat to the left of the bema,

opposite the mitatorion of the emperor. 'ob

As in all the other examples examined so far, the palace must have

been provided with a variety of reception halls for different functions.

Contemporary sources, however, are quite reticent on this subject, and

mention only two triclinia: one called Thomaites, after the Patriarch

Thomas, which included a library, and a second called Thettalos because

it was lavishly decorated with Thessalian marble. Literary sources also

refer to the presence of other banqueting halls inside the patriarchate, as

was the cases at the Lateran and at Ravcnna. 107

In conclusion, even though archaeological and literary evidence is

so scanty, our limited knowledge of the early patriarchal complex at

Constantinople indicates the presence of a large palatial complex

articulated in different buildings, confirming what generally noticed at

episcopal seats.

105 See MALASPINA, "Gli episcopia", pp. 102-106. '06 Ibid., p. 105. 107 MALASPINA, "Gli episcopia", p. 104.

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118

1.3.11 Side

More specific evidence can be found in the interesting group of

buildings excavated in the southern part of Side - the metropolis in the

ancient district of Pamphilya from the fifth century, now the modern Eski

Antalya, in Turkey - reasonably identified by the excavators as the

episcopal quarter. 1°8

The large complex measured about m 117 x 160 and was

surrounded by a thin circuit wall, probably added in a later phase. 109 (Fig.

1.3.18) The main entrance was on the northern side where the cathedral

church, the baptistery and a series of other rooms, including a long

double-apsed hall to the north-east corner of the baptistery, were located.

To the south of this part of the complex, a door in the atrium of the

cathedral gave access to a courtyard delimited on its eastern side by a

double-domed building, identified by the excavators as a martyrion. To

the south of this was what presumably was the residential part of the

episcopal complex. This included an open cistern, to the west of which

were a series of vaulted rooms, perhaps double-floored, a long vaulted

hall - about m6x 18.7 - and other smaller rooms, probably part of a bath

108 See MÜLLER-WIENER, "Riflessioni", pp. 120-122; MALASPINA, "Gli episcopia", p. 98.

119

building. To the south of this group of buildings was a long vaulted

corridor; to its east lay a small chapel, while an apsidal hall with two

subsidiary rooms was on its western side. From these rooms, one could

enter an almost square hall which gave access to a large triconch hall.

Undoubtedly, the episcopal complex at Side included most of

those features we have identified as typical of episcopal palaces: not only

was it close to and linked to the cathedral and the baptistery, but it

consisted of a series of buildings such as private oratories, a bath, rooms

probably designed for the lodging of the bishop, "' administrative

offices"' and at least four main reception halls.

The long double-apsed hall located on the north-east corner of the

baptistery may have been used to instruct the catechumens, but also as an

audience hall where the bishop would receive believers coming to greet

or petition him, without disturbing the privacy of his residence. At least

other three halls were located in the more `private' part of the complex:

one, as we have seen, was between the cistern and the thermal buildings,

while another one was located nearby, opposite the chapel. However, it

109 The dating of these walls is still very confused, but they may well be from a later phase, around the seventh-eighth century, when protection walls were added to protect the episcopal complex from the Arab invasions. See MÜLLER-WIENER, "Riflessioni", p. 120, n. 30. 110 The apartments of the bishop could have been located on an upper floor, above the rooms connected to the cistern. See MÜLLER-WIENER, "Riflessioni", p. 122. 111 The buildings to the south of the triconch were provisionally identified by the excavators as an administrative quarter, with offices, archives, etc.

120

was the large hall formed by the combination of a square hall and the

large triconch which was the largest and most magnificent reception hall

of the whole complex; located in a quiet and almost secluded part of the

complex, it was probably added in a later phase and served for grand

receptions and great events.

Excavations indicate that the episcopal complex was built between

the fifth and the sixth century, without following any overall project or

any apparent order. Unfortunately, the stratigraphy is quite confused and

does not allow a more precise dating and phasing of the different

structures. However, this limited evidence seems to confirm the tendency

identified in most of the examples examined so far, where a first phase,

generally characterised by a lack of a clear-cut distinction between

buildings for liturgical functions and the more residential part of the

complex, was followed by the construction of a much larger and better

articulated complex. In the more specific case of Side, this would

correspond to the rise of the city to the state of metropolis in the fifth

century, with a consequent rapid increase in importance, which

presumably led to the need for a larger and better articulated complex.

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Figure 1.3.20 Priene. Episcopal complex. Plan. Detail showing the peristyle.

121

1.3.12 Priene

The episcopal group at Priene, also in Turkey, has some very

interesting features and needs more precise archaeological

investigation. "'

The episcopal complex was identified in the series of structures

adjacent to the cathedral church, which leans against the baths of the so-

called ùpper Gymnasium'. (1.3.19) From the southern aisle of the

cathedral church, two doors give access to a series of rooms and other

structures, covering an area of about 32 x 36 m., erected at different

periods. A more precise analysis of the stratigraphy of each room is

unfortunately impossible without new excavations. However, the present

situation enables the identification of a peristyle courtyard to the south of

the cathedral church, which was surrounded by a series of room and

possibly entered from its western side, perhaps through the same narrow

passage which once led to the narthex of the church. "' (Fig. 1.3.20)

Rooms on the western and the southern side of the peristyle have

been identified as service rooms, such as warehouses, archives and

maybe apartments for personnel. The residence of the bishop was

112 For Priene, see MÜLLER-WIENER, "Riflessioni", pp. 115-118. See also P. VERZONE, "La Cattedrale di Priene e le sue sculture", Felix Ravenna 101 (1970), p. 261. 113 MÜLLER-WIENER, "Riflessioni", pp. 117-8.

122

probably located on the northern side of the peristyle, where excavations

have brought to light the remains of two rooms, with strong walls,

leaning against the western and the eastern side of the peristyle. Between

those two rooms was possibly an arch on large pillars in masonry, behind

which was a large hall with a staircase in a corner. The stair once gave

access to an upper floor which is unfortunately not preserved; here the

apartment of the bishop may have been located, adjacent to the southern

aisle of the cathedral church and directly linked to it, via a doorway the

remain of which are preserved in the southern wall of the church. "'

Only new excavations could give a clearer picture of the complex

and maybe also clarify the connection between the episcopal palace, the

thermal building and the other unexplored part of the complex. The

presence of the passage which presumably allowed the bishop to reach

the church straight from his apartment the presence of the bishop's

apartment on the upper floor over a reception hall 15 o, particularly

noteworthy feature..

"4 Ibid., p. 118.

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Figure 1.3.21 Aphrodisias. The `Bishop's Palace'. Plan.

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123

1.3.13 The `Bishop's Palace' at Aphrodisias

As was the case with official seats of emperor's representatives, a

number of complexes have also been interpreted as episcopal groups only

on the residences of scale and luxury. However, it is now clear enough

that in absence of any certain documentary or archaeological evidence,

all these complexes could well have been lavish private houses, or

residences of senior officers. In this group of putative episcopal palaces,

particularly interesting are the remains of a sizeable residential complex

excavated at Aphrodisias, the metropolis of Caria, which was identified

as an episkopeion by the excavator1' but which was more recently

reconsidered as the residence of the local governor. "'

The `palace' is located to the west of the boarleuterion and covers

an area of about m 47 x 55. (Fig. 1.3.21) It is essentially a large domus

arranged around a peristyle, from which a large triconch room, a laterally

arranged apsidal hall and several other smaller rooms open off, including

a small thermal complex and a latrine to the side of the southernmost

apse of the triconch. Remains of multi-coloured mosaic floors, dated to

115 The site was excavated under the direction of Kenan Erim between 1963 and 1969. Interim

reports in Türk Arkeoloji Dergisi 12-15 (1963-66); final report in "The ninth campaign of excavations at Aphrodisias in Caria 1969", Türk Arkeoloji Dergisi 18,2 (1969), pp. 87-110. By the same author, see also Aphrodisias City of Venus Aphrodite (London 1986), pp. 72-3.

124

the fourth or fifth century, were found in a number of rooms, including a

portion of handsome opus sectile floor near the apse of the apsidal hall. "'

Archaeological investigations have shown that the vast majority of the

rooms were built in the second century and occupied until the sixth-

seventh century. "'

Kenan Erim thought that the complex might have been built as the

palace of a governor, and subsequently reused as the bishop's palace.

However, since a governor did not reside in Aphrodisias until the third

century AD, the domus could have not been built as a governor's palace.

Erim's interpretation for the reuse of the complex as a bishop's palace

was mostly based on the discovery of a lead seal referring to the

"Metropolitan Bishop of Caria" and to the proximity of the residential

complex to the late antique cathedral to the north. 19 However, the exact

provenance of the lead seal has not been precisely located in the

publications to date; furthermore, many other bishops' seals have also

been found at Aphrodisias in various locations. Therefore, this cannot be

considered as certain evidence.

116 See S. CAMPBELL, "Signs of prosperity in the decoration of some 4th-5th c. buildings at Aphrodisias", in C. RoUECHE & R. R. SMITH (eds. ) Aphrodisias Papers 3 (Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series, 20) (Ann Arbor, Michigan 1996), pp. 189-92. 117 CAMPBELL, "Signs of prosperity", p. 190. 118 Ibid. 119 ERJM, Aphrodisias, p. 73.

125

On the other hand, Campbell rejects the thesis that the complex

was reused as a bishop's palace, on the basis of the discovery of two

painted panels depicting nudity, considered inappropriate for the

residence of a bishop, and instead identifies the complex as a governor's

palace. "'

Though one might argue, on the one hand, that the complex could

have still been used as a bishop's palace, after the ìndecent' frescoes had

been concealed by coats of rough plaster; "' and, on the other, that a

luxurious residence provided with reception halls and a bath and adjacent

to the bouleterion would have made a good choice for a governor's

residence, there is no certain evidence to clinch either possibility.

Therefore, archaeological evidence can only support the interpretation of

the complex as a luxurious domus built in the second century AD and

occupied until the sixth-seventh century, which may well have also been

reused as a bishop's or a governor's residence.

120 See CAMPBELL, "Signs of prosperity", p. 192. One of the panels shows the legs of a characteristic grouping of the Three Graces, while the other depicts part of the figure of a Nike in a revealing dress. 12! ERJM, Aphrodisias, pp. 72-73.

126

1.3.14 Discussion

Notwithstanding the large variety of regional features, the

development of late antique episcopal residences shows a certain degree

of consistency and conformity all over the territory of the Roman

Empire. In a first phase, bishops seems to have lived mostly in reused

and adapted pre-existing buildings, generally located close to the

cathedral. From the end of the fourth century onwards, however, the

rapid growth of episcopal power led to the construction of larger

cathedral churches, surrounded by specially designed and articulated

episcopal residences provided with a variety of reception halls. These

complexes were carefully planned to fulfil the needs and functions of

powerful episcopal seats. They were situated generally adjacent to the

cathedral church and in some cases - as, for instance, at Constantinople

and Priene - the apartment of the bishop was directly linked to the

cathedral.

Noteworthy also is the presence of other oratories and chapels in

the precincts of an episcopal complex, particularly to be found in the

larger complexes. Literary and archaeological sources testify to the

presence of private chapels at Ravenna and Geneva, while at least three

oratories are mentioned by the Liber Pontificalis at the Lateran: one of

127

these, the chapel of St. Lawrence, was possibly designed for more private

use while the other two, the oratories of St. Sebastian and St. Sylvester,

were used for more public ceremonies. At Constantinople, the church of

St Irene filled a similar role, becoming a patriarchal chapel after St

Sophia was built as the new cathedral of Constantinople.

Quite common was the presence of a bath complex. Clerical baths

were quite widespread, as the large numbers of remains of thermal

complexes next to churches and episcopia seems to indicate, and remains

of baths have been found at the Lateran, in Ravenna in both the orthodox

and the Arian episcopia, at Geneva, Constantinople, Side and Priene. On

one hand, the presence of baths in episcopal complex testifies to a certain

degree of continuity from classical times and to the presence of luxurious

features in episcopal residences. On the other hand, though, one has to

take into account the fact that the use of secular public baths by the

clergy was considered morally unacceptable, so that private balnea had

to be provided for the clergy. 122

A feature which seems worthy of further consideration is the

translocation of the main reception hall from the ground to the upper

floor. As noted above, this was found at Ravenna in both the orthodox

and the Arian complexes, at Geneva, Aquileia, at Porec, and perhaps also

128

at Grado and at the Lateran. 123 In some of these cases, defensive reasons

have been postulated: at Aquileia, for instance, the upper-floor hall was

built after the Attilan fire; at Geneva, the ground-floor salutatorium was

abandoned in favour of one located on the upper floor after a fire too.

Nonetheless, the larger implications of this feature will be considered and

discussed at much greater length in the second part of this work.

To conclude, then, although in general terms they are quite similar

to their secular counterparts, episcopal residences regularly present a

series of features which can be defined as distinctive. Some of these

features are also to be found in secular dwellings; in others, though, are

shared only by episcopal groups: in particular, the strict connection

between episcopal residence and cathedral church and the presence of

private chapels.

122 Cf. WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, pp. 146-7. 123 The evidence concerning the presence of upper floor halls at the Lateran in this early phase is not very clear. As we have noted above, the Lateran complex was double-storied at least as

early as the seventh century. Double-storied halls, as we shall see in more detail in the second part of this work, are known for certain only for a later phase, but they may have existed before.

129

1.4. ARISTOCRATIC HOUSING IN LATE ANTIQUITY

1.4.1 Introduction

This chapter deals with aristocratic town houses and rich country

villas in Late Antiquity. In particular, I shall analyse the reflection of the

growth in the form of private patronage in Late Antiquity on a number of

wealthy houses provided with impressive reception suites. I shall also

consider the ways in which the reception areas of wealthy residences

were used for dining and entertaining, and their social and architectonic

implications.

1.4.2 Patrocinium in Late Antiquity

At the beginning of our discussion of late antique imperial

palaces, we indicated the introduction of heavy taxation as one of the

main indicators of the deep socio-economic crisis of the third century

130

AD. ' The impact of the shift from taxation in cash to compulsory

requisitions in kind (annona) on the land-owning class was of particular

significance. Wealth and power became increasingly concentrated in the

hands of a restricted group of people, usually members of the state's

bureaucracy, whose wealth was built on the accumulation of lands and

properties on an enormous scale. '

This historical trend explains the change and the growth in the

form of private patronage, patrocinium, in Late Antiquity. Late antique

aristocrats held greater political power than their earlier (and more

numerous) counterparts. In the growing decline of central governments,

these elites became the main local power and assumed almost complete

control of the areas they dominated. As a result, many people,

overwhelmed by the ever-increasing weight of taxes, were forced to

resort to these local patrons in order to avoid paying taxes, and then

became totally dependent on them. In Peter Brown's words, ìn the Late

1 Cf. chp. 1.1.1. 2 The concentration of power in the hands of a restricted group of people who had large control

over local councils is well expressed by the formation of the class of the principales, who were

responsible for appointing local magistrates and overseeing tax collection. Cf. NICKI-IAM, "The

other transition", pp. 17-22 and R. PARIBENI, "Le dimore dei potentiores nel Basso Impero", in

Mitteilungen des deutschen archäologischen Instituts: Römische Abteilung 55 (1940), pp. 131-

48.

131

Empire all attempts to secure protection and redress of grievances had to

pass through a great man -a patronus'?

Indeed, patronage was not a new phenomenon in the Roman

society. Nevertheless, its nature was completely different from the early

Empire, when it had consisted in a sort of reciprocal exchange of favours

between members of the aristocracy, governed by certain principles of

friendship, loyalty, and hospitality. 4 By contrast, late antique patronage

seems to have had a more autocratic and pervasive nature. Service and

protection were the reciprocal links which held the system together: at

the same time the patron increased his prestige through the possession of

clients, while the client received protection and also participated in the

glory of his patron.

In this context, therefore, it is easy to understand why rich

peristyle houses built in the fourth century and later adopted a richer and

more ceremonious architectural style and had more elaborate and

specialised reception halls. Like the early Roman dominus, the late

Roman aristocrat had his meetings with his clients in his own house;

however, as we shall see, he seems to have defined more carefully than

3 P. BROWN, The World of Late Antiquity (London 1971), p. 37. 4 Cf. R. SALLER, Personal Patronage under the Early Empire (Cambridge 1982).

132

his predecessors the architectural context in which his public meetings

occurred, consciously separating public from private spaces. '

This point raises the controversial subject of what was private and

what was public in Roman life. ' Andrew Wallace-Hadrill has pointed out

that the early Roman house had various grades of privacy. ' It was a

public and private place at the same time and access to its more private

parts depended on the nature of the relationship with the house's owner.

5 This concept was first expressed by Simon Ellis in "The 'Palace of the Dux' at Apollonia and Related Houses", in G. BARKER, J. LOYD AND J. REYNOLDS (eds), Cyrenaica in Antiquity (Society for Lybian Studies Occasional Papers I), BAR International Series 236 (Oxford, British Archaeological Reports 1985), pp. 15-26. He then further developed it in "The end of the Roman house", American Journal of Archaeology 92 (1988), pp. 565-576, and subsequently in "Power, Architecture, and Decor: How the Late Roman Aristocrat Appeared to His Guests", in E. K. GAZDA (ed. ), Roman Art in the Private Sphere. New Perspectives on the Architecture and Decor of the Domus, Villa, and Insula (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press 1991), pp. 117-141. 6 The concept of private and public in Roman life needs to be understood with a different

nuance from our customary modem sense of its meaning. We should always bear in mind that the concepts we express today by using these terms do not in fact correspond to any exact equivalent in the Roman world. It would therefore be particularly risky to take our current

conception of this term as a starting point for research, interpreting the past in the light of what we now believe. The result of such an approach would be that our view would be inevitably distorted and anachronistic, since the public-private dichotomy of modem life has not been a constant. This concept has been strongly affirmed in a number of works published in the 1980s, which illustrate new ways in which domestic architecture could be used as a source for

social history, such as, for example, the works of Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, Yvonne Thebert

and the essays on the Roman house included in the collection edited by Elaine K. Gazda,

quoted in the note above. They all approach their subject from the standpoint of the social historian, dealing with questions such as the ways in which status could be expressed through the manipulation of one's domestic surroundings and the role of material as well as intellectual

culture in defining and making manifest the status of the elite. Moreover, they present interesting observations on the redefinition of the boundaries of public and private in the Roman world in trying to define the peculiar nature of the public dimension of the Roman house. See A. WALLACE-HADRILL, "The Social Structure of the Roman House", Papers of the British School at Rome 56 (1988), pp. 43-97; Y. THEBERT, "Private Life and Domestic

Architecture in Roman Africa", in P. VEYNE (ed. ), A History of Private Life: I. From Pagan

Rome to Byzantium (Cambridge, Mass and London 1987), pp. 357-364 and GAZDA, Roman

Art in the Private Sphere. WALLACE-HADRILL, "The Social Structure", pp. 54-59.

133

This view is present in Vitruvius' book on domestic architecture

(vi) where it is maintained that an architect should always distinguish

within the house between propria loca patribus familiarum (private

areas) and comntunia cum extraneis (public areas). The expression public

is thus used by Vitruvius in referring to those parts of the dwelling open

to the outsiders, while private refers to those places forbidden to them. In

this context, bedrooms, dining-rooms and baths are considered private

rooms, while vestibules, courtyards and peristyles are common rooms. '

In the early Roman house, public areas of the house were therefore

not clearly separated from the private areas. It was a place open to the

outsiders in some parts but closed to them in others, except under special

conditions, such as with the formal granting of an invitation.

1.4.3 Triclinium and stibadium.

In most houses of the early and middle Empire, receptions usually

took place in the triclinium. This was generally the largest and most

8 VITRUVIUS, De Architectura, II, 36-37: "Namque ex his quite propria stunt, in ea non est

potestas omnibus intro eundi nisi invitatis, quemadntodum stint cubicula, triclinia, balneae

ceteraque, quae easdem habent usus rationi. Communia autem stint, quibus chain invocati suo lure de populo possunt venire, id est vestibula, cava aedium, peristylia, quaeque eundent habere possunt usum".

Lectus summus

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Figure 1.4.1 Layout of a Roman triclinium.

134

richly decorated room in the house, often located opposite the entrance,

on the far side of the peristyle. The triclinium was used as a dining room

and was actually named after the three rectangular couches used for

dining, which were located around the sides of the room, fitted closely

together around a single central table, one side of which was left free for

the service. ' (Fig. 1.4.1)

As attested by numerous writers of the late Republic and early

Empire, strict social rules governed the arrangement of seating at dinner

parties, which followed an hierarchical order, dictated by differences in

rank and status. The couch of honour was the lectus medius, opposite the

empty side of the table and the most honourable position on it was the

right hand one, the `consular' (locus consularis). Next in honour came

the lectus summus, and last the lectus imus. An usher (nomenclator)

would announce the guests and would show them to their couch and

place where they would recline crosswise, with their left elbow resting on

a cushion and their feet at the foot of the couch. 1°

Dinner would start in mid afternoon, but might well last into the

night, accompanied by an enormous variety of entertainment. The

success of a banquet, in fact, would depend not only on the quality,

9 For the triclinium, see K. M. DUNBABIN, "Triclinium and Stibadium", in W. J. SLATER, (ed) Dining in a Classical Context (Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press 1991), pp. 121- 148.

135

quantity and variety of food, but also on the elegance of its setting and

the kind of entertainment offered. Performances at dinner parties would

often include music, singing, dancing and poetry recitals, and

occasionally also acrobats, dramatic performances, mimes, pantomimes

and even gladiatorial fights. "

By the third century AD, literary sources, figured representations

and archaeological remains all point toward an important change of

fashion in dining, with the semicircular couch known as the stibadium or

sigma taking the place of the traditional three rectangular couches. 'Z

This dining arrangement had been known as early as the late first

century AD, when it was used just for outdoor banquets where the diners

reclined either directly on the ground or, more often, on a semicircular

cushion. This theme then started to be used in funerary paintings for the

funerary banquet or the banquet in paradise, and it was also often

10 Ibid., pp. 123-124. " K. M. DUNBABIN, "Convivial spaces: dining and entertainment in the Roman villa". Journal of Roman Archaeology 9 (1996), pp. 66-80. Also cf. J. D'ARMS, "Performing Culture: Roman Spectacle and the Banquets of the Powerful", in B. BERGMANN & K. KONDOLEON (eds), The Art of Ancient Spectacle (Studies in the History of Art 56, Proceedings of the symposium held the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Washington, 10-11 May 1996. Symposium Papers XXXIV) (Washington, National Gallery of Art & New Haven and London, Yale University Press 1999), pp. 301-19,

and C. KONDOLEON, "Timing Spectacles: Roman Domestic Art and Performance", ibid., pp. 321-341. 12 DUNBABIN, "Triclinium and Stibadium", pp. 128-136.

Figure 1.4.2 Leiden, Rijksmuseum Van Oudhen. Sarcophagus lid with hunters' picnic.

Figure 1.4.3 Rome. Hypogeum of Vibia. Painting of a Banquet of Blessed.

136

depicted on sarcophagus lids, for bucolic scenes of rustic feasts. " (Figg.

1.4.2-3)

By the fourth-fifth century, dining on stibadia had come in use for

both outdoor and regular indoor banquets and had overtaken the

arrangement on rectangular triclinia, despite the occasional persistence of

this traditional layout. One of the most remarkable archaeological signs

of this change in dining fashion is the large number of late antique elite

houses with the main reception hall provided with an apse, where the

stibadium would be placed. The shape of the stibadium lent itself

naturally to the form of the apse and so the formal dining room evolved

as a combination of apse and rectangular or square hall. '

A potential disadvantage of the semicircular couch, however, was

that it could hold only a small number of guests. Literary sources indicate

about seven people as the preferred number at a stibadium, with this

figure oscillating between five and eight. " It has been conjectured that,

once the idea of dining on stibadia in an apsidal dining hall gained

popularity among aristocrats, those who wished to give larger parties

would construct a triconch, a room with three apses. For a small party,

13 That the scene takes place in the open air is usually indicated by allusions to natural settings, such as outcrops of rock or bushes and flowers; cf. E. SALZA PRINA R1COTTI, "The Importance

of Water in Roman Garden Triclinia", in E. MACDOUGALL (ed. ), Ancient Roman Villa Gardens (Washington 1987), pp. 135-84. 14 DUNBABIN, "Triclinium and Stibadium", pp. 128-130.

Figure 1.4.4 Desenzano del Garda. Plan of a villa.

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Ir 4ý 3

137

one could presumably set up the couch in one apse alone; for a larger

one, all three could be used. According to this hypothesis, the triconch

design would have evolved naturally out of the traditional usage of three

couches per triclinium, making larger gatherings possible. "

Rooms of this design are one of the most common features of late

antique prestige dwellings and can be found throughout the whole

territory of the Late Empire such as, for example, at the large, luxurious

fourth century villa found at Desenzano, on the shores of Lake Garda. "

(Fig. 1.4.4) The complex, built in the fourth century over an earlier

structure was grouped around several peristyle courts. The residential

part of the villa was entered from an octagonal structure leading to a

large peristyle, from which the visitor was led through an atrium with

lateral apses into a lavish triconch paved with mosaics.

The development of the aula trichora through the multiplication

of the niches made possible more impressive gatherings of people. This

was the case, for example, at the seven-apsed hall found at

Constantinople, on the north-western side of the hippodrome. (Fig. 1.4.5)

15 Ibid., p. 130. 16 Ibid.; for the early history of the stibadiunt and the origin of the triconch, cf. also I. Lavin, "The House of the Lord", Art Bulletin 44 (1962), pp. 1-27, and S. ELLIS, "Power, architecture and decor: how the late Roman aristocrat apperead to his guests", in E. GAZA (ed. ), Roman Art in the Private Sphere (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press 1991), pp. 117-134, at p. 119.

138

From a semicircular porticoed entrance, one was led through a polylobed

vestibule with eight niches to an atrium with lateral niches, which gave

access to a long hall, with a central apse and three apses on each sides.

This building has been generally recognised as the palace built for

Lausus, a praepositus sacri palatii of the first half of the fifth century,

while the complex on its northern side has been traditionally identified

with the palace of Antiochus, another praepositus. '$ However, it has been

recently argued that both structures were different parts of the same

complex - possibly the palace built for Antiochus, since his name was

found on the bricks - and that they would have been used for the

reception and the entertainment of different ranks of guests. The

structure identified with the palace of Antiochus would have been used as

an audience chamber, while the so-called palace of Lausus could have

been used for special banquets and for the reception of more important

guests. 19

17 See D. SCAGLIARINI CORLAITA, "La villa di Desenzano. Vicende architettoniche e decorative", in Studi sulla villa romana di Desenzano (Milano 1994), pp 43-58, with previous bibliography. 18 Cf. MÜLLER WIENER, Bildlexikon, pp. 238-239, and D. SCAGLIARINI CORLAITA, "Gli

ambienti poligonali nell'architettura residenziale tardoantica", Corsi rli cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina 42 (1995), pp. 837-873.

19 BALDINI LIPPOLIS, "Case e palazzi", pp. 298-299. The seven-apsed hall has also been identified as the Hall of the Nineteen Couches at the Great Palace of the emperors (among

others, by VERZONE, "La distruzione dei palazzi imperiali di Roma e Ravenna", pp. 41-47 and L. BEIL, "Questioncs Convivalcs: the idea of the triclinium and the staging of convivial ceremony from Rome to Byzantium", Analecta Romana Instituti Danici 13 (1983), pp. 81- 107, at p. 96); however, this interpretation is not particularly convincing. For this point, cf. 2.1.4.

1-

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Figure 1.4.6 Plan of three houses with audience chambers: [1] Ephesus, villa above the theatre [2] Aphrodisias, the `Governor's Palace' [3] Apollonia, the `Palace of the Dux'.

139

1.4.4 Triclinia, audience chambers and grand dining halls.

Late Roman aristocrats, in fact, manifested an increasing need for

a better differentiation among different classes of guests, as reflected in

the prcscnce of different reception rooms in their dwellings. Simon Ellis

has identified two main types of combinations in a small group of rich

provincial houses. The first one has been found in three houses: the

`palace' above the theatre at Ephesus, 20 the `Bishop's Palace' at

Aphrodisias, 21 and the `Palace of the Dux' at Apollonia. 22 (Fig. 1.4.6) The

plans of these dwellings correspond to the normal plan of a peristyle

house in which an apsidal triclinium opens off the centre of a peristyle. "

The only difference is that they all show a second large apsed room. In

all three cases this chamber is preceded by a vestibule, it is located near

the main entrance to the house, and was entered close to the apse.

Ellis has proposed that this room should be identified as an

audience chamber, where the dominos could meet with his clients,

perhaps for the salutatio or morning greetings. He rejects the only other

possible interpretation of this room, as a dining room, because of the

20 Cf. J. KEIL, "XVI Vorläufiger Bericht über die Ausgranbungen in Ephesos", in Jahreshefte des österreichen archäologischen Instituts 27 (1932), pp. 5-72. 21 Cf. 1.3.12. 22 Cf. ELLIS, "The Palace of the Dux", pp. 15-25, 23 In the house at Aphrodisias the triclinium has the shape of a triconch.

ftn ji bui1ti -

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Figure 1.4.7 Plan of three houses with multi-apsed grand dining halls - [G] = grand dining hall [T] = triclinium: [1] Djemila, House of Bacchus [2] Ravenna, the Palace of Theodoric [3] Mediana (Nis), villa.

140

presence of the triclinium and because the second apsidal hall has a

secondary entrance close to the apse. Dining rooms, in fact, were not

usually entered by the apse, which would have been blocked by a

stibac/juin. The small second entrance would seem to have been used by

the master of the house to reach his audience from his private apartments

or from other parts of his quarters, for example, from his office. ".

Furthermore, the street-side location of the audience-room seems to have

been particularly convenient in preventing the visitors from penetrating

into private areas of the house. 25

Ellis identified a second type of combination of reception rooms in

other three lavish dwellings: a villa at Mediana near Nis, 26 the Palace of

Theodoric at Ravenna, 17 and the House of Bacchus at Djemila. 28 (Fig.

1.4.7)

Again, the plans of these houses correspond to the usual layout of

a peristyle house, with an apsidal triclinium opening off one side of the

peristyle. A second large apsed room is located next to the triclinium,

'' In the audience room at Apollonia, for example, there were four cupboards in the south wall, maybe fitted with shelves and perhaps for documents, while the other rooms close to the audience chamber were probably other administrative offices. Cf. EL. [. IS, "The Palace of the Dux", pp. 19.20. -S El US, "Power, architecture and decor", p. 120. 26 S. DRCA et al., . tf. 'ilianu (Nis 1979). 'T For the Palace of Theoderic at Ravenna, here considered as a wealthy late antique domus, cf. 1.1.12. Z J. LASSUS, "La Salle i sept absides de Djemila-Cuicul", Antiquites Africaines 5 (1971), pp. 193-207.

141

opening onto the same side of the peristyle, in all three cases being

separated from the peristyle portico by a vestibule. 29 The hall at Ravenna

is a triconch, while the one at Mediana consist of a hexagonal chamber

with two rectangular niches and one semicircular niche opening from it.

However, with its seven apses, each of which is framed by columns, the

room at Djemila clearly shows the most impressive architectural settings

of the group, in a much similar way to the seven-apsed chambers at

Constantinople, examined above. The main entrance to the halls is a

separate passage from the street; however, the hall could be also entered

from the peristyle, through a side door in the vestibule.

Ellis has called these rooms `grand dining halls'. He has

postulated that they were used for the reception of the most important

and influential friends of the master of the house, with the separate

entrance ensuring privacy to both the rest of the house and the gathering

of people. 3° It has also been argued that not only the elaborate

architectural setting but also the rich decor of these reception rooms

would demonstrate the key role they played: they embodied a deliberate

and conscious attempt by the master of the house to impose his wealth

1.9 The room at Djemila is adjacent to the triclinium but does not share its peristyle. At Mediana the room is separated from the peristyle by a vestibule and an antechamber. 30 ELLIS, "Polier, Architecture and Decor", p. 121.

ýv Y ,ý

Figure 1.4. S Piazza Armerina. Plan of the villa. [C] = corridor [G] = grand dining hall [T] = triclinium.

142

and his power on his clients, by presenting himself to them in such an

impressive setting. "

The great Sicilian villa at Piazza Armerina has also been added to

the group of late antique habitations analysed by Ellis. 32 (Fig. 1.4.8)

When it was first uncovered, the famous mansion was widely believed to

be the country retreat used by the emperor Maximian after his abdication

in AD 305. However, it now seems reasonably certain that the villa was

built in the first or second decade of the fourth century AD, and that the

owner was more likely to have been a wealthy member of the Sicilian

elite, perhaps a rich private citizen who made his wealth by importing

animals from Africa to fight in the amphitheatres of Italy and Sicily. "

The villa in its present form is substantially the product of a single

building plan, with possibly one major and some minor modification

carried out during or shortly after its construction. The main entrance to

the mansion, a monumental triple archway at the west end of the

complex, leads into an irregular D-shaped courtyard with a central

fountain basin and a colonnade all round. Turning sharply to the right,

31 Et. t. ts, "Power, Architecture and Decor", pp. 124-130. 3' Cf. A. CAR. \NnINI, A. Ricci and M. DI: Vos, Filosoftana. The Villa at Piazza Armerina (Palermo 19S2), with previous bibliography. See also R. J. A. WILSON, Piazza Armerina (London 1983); IDi: st, Sicily uncl'r the Roman Empire: the architecture of a Roman province, 36 FtC -41) 535 (\Varrninster 1990); G. RIZZA (ed. ), La villa romana del Casale, Atti della IV Riunione Scientifica della Scuola di Perfezionarnento in Archeologia Classica, Universitä di Catania (Piazza Armerina 1983).

143

the visitor reaches the main part of the villa, walking through a spacious

vestibule of rectangular shape, and emerges into a central peristyle

around which most of the villa's living quarters are arranged.

At the north-west corner of the peristyle is the bath-suite, which

could be entered either directly from the entrance courtyard through two

small rooms, or from the peristyle through a vestibule. 3° The group of

rooms along the north side of the peristyle was perhaps the day quarters

of servants.

From the eastern side of the peristyle three flights of steps lead up

to a big transverse corridor, 70 m long, ending in an apse at either end,

with the famous mosaic composition known as the Great Hunt. Opening

off the east side of the Great Hunt corridor, is a large single-apsed hall.

The group of rooms that lies on the south side of the main

complex was reached either by a door near the south-west angle of the

peristyle, or else from one end of the corridor. This group consists of a

great oval porticoed court, flanked by three small rooms on either side;

but the focal point of this complex is the vast three-apsed hall, a triconch,

floored with magnificent mosaics.

33 CARANDINI ETAL., Filosofana, pp. 28-46.

34 This was probably the private entrance to the baths, which the owner and his guests used from the villa itself, while the provision of a separate entrance direct from the courtyard suggest that the baths were also available, at some specific hours, for the owner's clientele as well for his own servants and their families. CARANDINI ETAL., Filosofiana, p. 326.

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Figure 1.4.9 Littlecote Park. Plan of a villa c. AD 260 (top) and c. AD 360 (bottom).

144

The single-apsed hall which opens off the corridor has usually

been identified as an audience chamber on the same order of those

mentioned above in the `palaces' of Ephesus, Aphrodisias, and

Apollonia. 35 However, Ellis has noticed that the supposed audience

chamber would not show the same street-side position of the other

houses, being axially aligned with the central peristyle, in a position

where we would usually find the triclinium. For that reason, he argues,

the single-apsidal hall should be identified as the main triclinium of the

dwelling, and the triconch as a grand dining hall used for the reception of

distinguished visitors. Its separate peristyle would have guaranteed

enough privacy for the rest of the house, similarly to the separate

entrance and peristyle found at the grand dining hall in the House of

Bacchus at Djemila. 36

This trend seems to have been brought to an extreme at the mid- to

late fourth century phase of the villa at Littlecote, in Wiltshire, where a

large triconch hall is interestingly located away from the main villa

building, almost isolated from the rest of the complex. " (Fig. 1.4.9)

Since the hall is paved with a mosaic depicting Orpheus, Bryn

Walters has interpreted the triconch and the adjoining structures as an

35 WILSON, Piazza Armerina, p. 25. 36 ELLIS, "Power, Architecture and Decor", pp. 121-122.

145

Orphic temenos. The supposed religious shrine would have been entered

from an antechamber located on its eastern side, used by the celebrants to

pass into the main courtyard. Adjacent to the triconch was also a small

suite of baths. The triconch centre of the cult, projecting from the south

west corner, would have been approached either from the baths or from

the courtyard. According to Walters, the setting for the Orphic cult at

Littlecote would have influenced early Christian architecture,

representing "a crucial stage in the development of what a church should

look like". " It would have been provided with both a large assembly

area (eventually to be roofed in the great Christian basilicas) and the hall

where the actual ceremonies took place. The entrance hall would have

been then developed into the atrium in the Christian church, while the

suite of baths would have been transformed into the baptistery.

This interpretation of the complex and of its influence on early

Christian architecture clearly looks too simplistic and does not seem to be

based on any real evidence. Walters based his hypothesis of the whole

complex as an Orphic temenos only on its vague resemblance with

several other Orphaeus mosaics known in Britain, which would appear to

37 The date is provided by a sealed terminus-post-quern 357 coin of Constantius II. Cf. B. WALTERS, "Littlecote", Current Archaeology 80 (1981), pp. 264-68, at p. 265. 38 WALTERS, "Littlecote", p. 268.

146

be set into structures not dissimilar from Littlecote's. '9 The presence of a

religious decoration related to Orpheus does not necessarily imply

connotations with a place of worship. The use of images of Orpheus, in

fact, had become a common symbol of classical culture and a fashionable

theme by the third century, when Orpheus was associated by intellectual

Christians with Christ. 40 The triconch hall could have been simply a

normal triclinium or another kind of reception room, located in a more

secluded part of the complex in order to allow the owner of the house to

conduct his business and his social meetings away from the domestic

range. °' If this was the case, both the mosaic and the architectural setting

would have emphasised the social division between the dominus and

client in the same way that they did in the examples discussed above.

As indicated by literary sources, the two major public rooms in the

house were also used together for two distinct stages of the same

convivium, the reception and entertainment of the guests before the meal,

and the gathering of the guests for the dinner itself. In the mid 460s, for

39 Walters mentioned the case of the villa at Whatley, in Somerset, the buildings at Winterton, in Lincolnshire, and the site at Withington, in Gloucestershire, which is known only from 18th century drawings. Cf. WALTERS, "Littlecote", p. 268. 40 See for this point S. C. MURRAY, Rebirth and Afterlife. A study of the transmutation of some pagan imagery in early Christian funerary art (Oxford, British Archaeological Reports 1981), pp. 37-62. 41 Walters' theory has been criticised by J. M. C. TOYNBEE, "Apollo, Beasts and Seasons: Some thoughts on the Littlecote mosaic", Britannia 12 (1981), pp. 1-5. See also Roger Ling's and Michael Insley's replies in Current Archaeology 82 (1982), p. 350. However, Walters'

147

example, Sidonius Apollinaris records a visit made to the villa of his

friend Tonantius Ferrcolus near Nimes, in southern Gaul. Although he

does not describe the villa in detail, Sidonius gives a detailed account of

some of the social activities which took place during his visit. In

particular, he tells of a gathering of guests in a large room of the villa

before lunch. From Sidonius' description, 42 it is clear that this room was

the villa's library:

In another part were books in any number ready to hand; you might have imagined yourself looking at the shelves of a professional scholar or at the tiers in the Athenaeum or at the towering presses of the booksellers. The arrangement was such that the manuscripts near the ladies' seats were of a devotional type, while those among the gentlemen's benches were works distinguished by the grandeur of Latin eloquence.

Sidonius also tells how some of the house guests sat in one corner

of the room and engaged in a debate on the subject of Origen's writings,

whilst elsewhere in the library other guests amused themselves at gaming

tables. Thus the guests passed their time in conversation and recreation

until a slave entered to announce that the meal was ready, and the

company moved to the villa's dining room for the proper meal which was

interpretation of the triconch as a shrine has been defended by Martin Henig; see M. HENIG, Religion in Roman Britain (London 1984), p. 219. 42 SIDONIUS APOLLINARIS, Ep. II, IX.

148

lavish in the style of senators. As we sat over out wine there were short stories, for amusements or instruction; they were started in two sets, bringing mirth and edification respectively. To sum up, our entertainment was moral, elegant and profuse. 43

A similar account, in this case in an urban context, is given by

Macrobius in the Saturnalia. The setting is a house in Rome, belonging

to the aristocrat Vettius Praetextatus, in the penultimate decade of the

fourth century. " Macrobius describes a gathering of twelve guests, this

time all male, convening before dinner in the library (bibliotheca), one of

the main reception rooms of the house. The room was large and elegantly

furnished and decorated. The pre-dinner continued there for several

hours, with guests having a long debate on topics ranging from the kind

of activities permitted on feast days to the proper treatment of slaves.

However, as Praetextatus himself comments, the gathering of guests in

the library before dinner was more usually an occasion for games of

backgammon and draughts. As in Sidonius' account, the prc-dinner in the

library was eventually interrupted by an announcement from a slave that

the dinner was served and the guests then proceeded from the library and

43 Ibid.

44 However, the work was written in the first half of the fifth century. Cf. J. ROSSLTER, "Convivium and Villa in Late Antiquity", in SLATER, Dining in a Classical Context, pp. 199- 214, at p. 201.

T-1

11.

Figure 1.4.10 Ecija. Plan of a villa.

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Figure 1.4.12 Rioseco de Soria. Plan of a villa.

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Figure 1.4.13 Butrint. Plan of a domes.

149

took their place in the dining room where they would eat and watch

spectacles until late at night. "

The rooms used to accommodate this pattern of aristocratic

hospitality are a distinctive feature of a number of wealthy dwellings

from the fourth century AD. They can be located not only in most of the

examples of wealthy houses discussed so far, but also in a large series of

other dwellings located throughout the territory of the late Roman

Empire, such as, for instance, the villas at Ecija and Rioseco de Soria in

Spain, 46 or at Patti Marina, in Sicily. °7 (Figg. 1.4.10-12)

The rich domus recently excavated at Butrint, Albania, indicates

the presence of a similar combination of two reception rooms in a urban

context. (Fig. 1.4.13) The large triconch hall was possibly used as a

grand dining room, while the single-apsed hall could have been

alternatively used as an audience chamber or as a room for the pre-dinner

entertainment of guests. 48

45 MACROBIUS, Saturnalia, 1.6.1. 46 Cf. J. G. GORGES, Les Villas Hispano-romaines. Inventaire et Problematique archeologiques (Paris 1979), pp. 374-5 and p. 403. 47 Cf. WILSON, Sicily under the Roman Empire, pp. 204-206. 48 Oliver Gilkes, pers. comm. Also see W. BOWDEN, Town and country in Late Antique Epirus Vetus, Ph. D Thesis (University of East Anglia 2000), pp. 60-63. For other examples of wealthy houses provided with magnificent reception rooms in a urban context, cf. the evidence for late antique domus in Rome in F. GUIDOBALDI, "L'edilizia abitativa unifamiliare nella Roma Tardoantica", in A. GIARDINA (ed. ), Societä romana e impero tardoantico, II, Roma:

politica, economia, paesaggio urbano (Bari, Laterza 1981), pp. 165-240; by the same author, see also "Le domus tardoantiche di Roma come `sensori' delle trasformazioni culturali e sociali", in W. V. HARRIS (ed. ), The Transformation of `Vurbs Roma' in Late Antiquity

150

1.4.5 Entertaining at dinner-parties

Entertaining seems to have become more important thin it was

before. 49 It has been conjectured that one of the reasons for the transfer of

the stibadium in indoor banquets could have been that this arrangement

would leave more space available for entertainment, as with outdoor

banquets where the constraints of space did not apply. 5° In the traditional

rectangular triclinium, in fact, the space for service and entertainment

must have always been limited and somewhat crowded. Music and some

dance would generally accompany the dinner, but the conversation

within the group - in other words, the concept of a convivium as a

`spectacle in itself for the participants - was still the rule. By contrast,

the semicircular couch kept the main area of the room free, leaving a

conveniently large space in front of the diners. This was even better in

the triconch, where the entire central square could be used for service and

entertainment. Servants would use this area to carry the food from the

(Journal of Roman Archaeology, Suppl. 33) (Portsmouth, Rhode Island 1999), pp. 53-68. Cf. also the examples provided in J. P. Sodini, "Habitat de l'Antiquite Tardive (1)", Topoi 5/1 (1995), pp. 151-218 and, by the same author, "Habitat de l'Antiquite Tardive (2)", Topoi 7/2 (1997), pp. 435-577. 49 For after-dinner entertainment in Late Antiquity, see M. BONAM, "La musica conviviale dal mondo latino antico al medioevo", in Spettacoli conviviali dall'antichit6 classica alle corti italiane del '400 (Viterbo 1983), pp. 119-47. so DUNBABIN, "Triclinium and Stibadium", pp. 132-36.

151

entrance to a table, which stood in the curve of the couch, accessible to

all, without blocking the rest of the room. This arrangement would leave

more space for entertainers, making it possible to host shows more

elaborate than before. s' Moreover, most of the guests would have a much

better view of the front of the room, whereas in the traditional

arrangement this would have been blocked by their neighbours. 52

This last point is reflected by the development of a new place of

honour. At first, the order of preference saw the middle position as the

more honourable one, but by the Late Empire, the guest of honour would

recline at the right end of the sigma. Describing a dinner given by the

emperor Marjorian, Sidonius Apollinaris gives an explicit description of

this arrangement of places according to social rank, with the emperor

reclining at the cornu dextro of the couch, and the other guests in

descending order of social status, down to Sidonius at the left ends'

As we have seen, dining on stibadia would ensure a much better

view of the spectacle going on in the hall. At the same time, however,

this arrangement would make the conversation within the group much

less convenient. Entertainment would take precedence over it, becoming

one of the essential components of the dinner.

51 Macrobius talks of dancers performing ante triclinium, which may mean ìn front of the couches' but also òutside the dining room'. Cf. MACROBIUS, Sat., 3.14.4.

152

Behind this whole phenomenon lies something more subtle than

just a change of fashion in dining. The decline of the central government

saw the end of magnificent public spectacles and, at the same time, an

increasing tendency toward a privatisation of entertainment, which

became a private concern of the upper classes.

This would accord with our current view of late Roman patronage,

which seems to have had a more autocratic and pervasive nature than

before. Members of the aristocracy filled part of the power vacuum left

by the disintegration of civic government, while their houses absorbed a

variety of public functions. Service and protection were the reciprocal

links which held the system together: at the same time, the patron

increased his prestige through the possession of clients, while the client

received protection and also participated in the glory of his patron.

If feeding and entertaining friends and clients had always been one

of the major social obligations of the Roman aristocrat, this had become

even more important in Late Antiquity. The splendour of the

entertainment that the host could offer would be one of the main

opportunities he had to impress his guests, and it would reflect his status

52 BEK, "Questions Convivales", pp. 91-96. 53 SIDONlus APOLLINARIS, Ep. 1.11.10.

Figure 1.4.14 San Giovanni di Ruoti. Plan and reconstruction of the villa, c. 350-400.

-J Lý

Figure 1.4.15 San Giovanni di Ruoti. Plan and reconstruction of the villa, c. 400-460.

153

and power, at the same way that the impressive architecture of his house

would do.

1.4.6 The end of the Roman peristyle house.

The latest known peristyle house that was probably built in toto is

the House of the Falconer at Argos, dating to around 530-550.54 Rich

houses, built at an earlier date, continued to be occupied in Late

Antiquity, but they were increasingly converted into groups of small,

poor-quality apartments. The disappearance of the Roman peristyle house

has been associated with `the concentration of wealth and the changing

nature of social relations and society itself in Late Antiquity. "

This concept seems to explain the peculiarity of the villa-complex

excavated at San Giovanni di Ruoti, near Potenza, in Italy's southern

region of Basilicata. 56 (Figg. 1.4.14-15) The archaeological sequence

shows that a new villa was built around AD 400 over the top of an earlier

one, abandoned in the early third century. Its main features were a large

54 Cf. ELLIS, "The end of the Roman house", p. 565. For the House of the Falconer at Argos,

see G. AKERSTöM-HOUGEN The Calendar and Hunting Mosaics of the Falconer in Argos (Stockholm 1974). 55 ELLIS, "The end of the Roman house", p. 576. 56 A. M. SMALL and R. J. BUCK, The Excavations of San Giovanni di Ruoti (Toronto 1994).

Cl

Figure 1.4.16 San Giovanni di Ruoti. Plan and reconstruction of the villa, c". 460-535.

154

apsidal hall in the south-eastern side, and a bath building. As normal, the

apsidal hall would have been used by the master of the house for his

social encounters.

Around AD 460 the apsidal hall collapsed and some of the other

buildings were damaged. The villa was reconstructed and practically

doubled in size. (Fig. 1.4.16) However, the new complex was not

arranged around a main peristyle, and its main units were separated only

by narrow passageways. The apsidal hall was demolished and replaced

with a new one located on the upper floor at the north end of the site.

Moreover, several new buildings were put up, such as a tower and

antechambers adjoining the apsidal hall. Some parts of the complex were

then paved with mosaics. Most of the new buildings had two storeys,

with the principal rooms being located on the upper floor, as was the case

with the new large apsidal hall. Visitors who wished to go into the hall,

would have entered the complex from a porticoed entrance on the

northern side, close to a small room identified as a porter's lodge; then

they would have reached the upper floor using the stairs, to arrive finally

at the antechambers of the hall without approaching the central part of

the complex.

This arrangement led the excavators of San Giovanni di Ruoti to

the conclusion that the villa was perhaps now inhabited by new

4 Vic: t

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Figure 1.4.17 Monte Barro. `Palazzetto'. Hypothetical reconstruction.

I

Figure 1.4.18 Monte Barro. `Palazzetto'. Reconstruction.

155

occupants with un-Roman social customs. 57. However, the ùnusual'

arrangement of the San Giovanni villa was more likely related to the

changing nature of social relations in late antique society which led to the

disappearance of the peristyle house. "R

A similar tendency can be located at the `palazzetto' excavated at

Monte Barro, near Lecco, in northern Italy, dated at the first half of the

sixth century. 59 (Fig. 1.4.17-18) The building, in this case, was

symmetrically organised around three sides of a large square courtyard.

However, the main room of the complex seems to have been located on

the upper floor of the building, above a large room probably used for

food-storing. 60 Remarkably, fragments of painted plaster and important

metal finds, such as a bronze, hanging crown, have been found during the

excavations, suggesting that the upper floor chamber was used as a sort

of aula regia by the owner of the house. b'

The `palazzetto' at Monte Barro has been related by its excavators

to two structures identified, without certainty, as hunting lodges built by

57 SMALL AND BUCK, The Excavations of San Giovanni di Ruoti ", pp. 4-5. 58 R. HODGES, "Henri Pirenne and the Question of Demand in the Sixth Century", in R. HODGES and W. BOWDEN (eds), The Sixth Century. Production, distribution and demand (The Transformation of the Roman World, 3) (Leiden, Boston, Cologne, Brill 1998), pp. 6-7. 59 G. P. BROGIOLO & L. CASTELLETTI (eds), Archeologia a Monte Barro. I. Il grande edificio c le torri (Lecco, Editrice Stefanoni 1991), pp. 48-49. 60 Ibid., pp. 49-50. 61 Cf. P. M. DE MARCHI, "Reperti metallici e miscellanea", in BROGIOLO & CASTELLETTI (eds), Archeologia a Monte Barro, pp. 105-124.

Figure 1.4.19 Palazzolo. Plan of the `palazzetto'.

.. ---

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Figure 1.4.20 Galeata. Plan of the `palazzetto'.

156

Theoderic in the surroundings of Ravenna. The first is the palatium

modicum in Porte Lionis, identified with the structures found in

Palazzolo, 8 km north of Ravenna. 62 (Fig. 1.4.19) The excavations

revealed part of a quadrangular structure with a large internal peristyle

court with several rooms grouped around it. The main entrance appears

to have been on the eastern side, where the facade seems to have been

flanked by polygonal towers. South-west of the building was also a bath.

The second building, located near Galeata, seems quite similar to

the previous example. " (Fig. 1.4.20) The excavations brought to light

part of a structure built on a Roman villa of the second century. Once

again, the building was arranged around a large court. On its north-east

side a rectangular atrium, with flanking rooms on its sides, led to a room

62 The palatium modicum at Palazzolo is mentioned by Agnellus in his Liber Pontificalis. Agnellus attributed its construction to Theodoric, but did not mention the date. In the first half of the ninth century the palace was presumably in a ruined state, if Agnellus ordered his demolition in order to reuse its material for the construction of his domus presbiteralis in Ravenna. AGNELLUS, LP, 303: "... [Theoderic] ... et abiit ad Arintinum, et venit exinde cum dormonibus in Porte Lione, ubi posten palati: un modicum hedificare iussit in insula, non longe a litore maris, ubi nunc ntonasterio sancte Marie esse videtur, infra balneum, non Longe ab Ravenna miliario VI. Et nunc in nostris temporibus predicttun palatium servos meos deniolire iussi et Ravenna perduxi in hedificia domus meae, quam a fondamentis hedificavi iure ntaterno, quae vocatur donuts presbiteralis". The building at Palazzolo has been first surveyed between 1966 and 1970, and then partly excavated in 1972. See M. G. MAIOLI, "Palazzolo, il palazzo di Teodorico", in L. PRATI (ed. ), Flurren Agvadvctus. Nuove scoperte archeologiche dagli scavi per l'acquedotto delta Romagna (Forli 1988), pp. 90-93. Cf. also G. BERMOND MONTANARI, "La zona archeologica di Palazzolo", Corso di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina 30 (1983), pp. 17-21. 63 The so called `Theoderic's Palace' at Galeata was excavated in 1942 by S. Fuchs, F. Krischen and E. Homann-Wedeking from the Istituto Archeologico Germanico, but, due to the difficult and delicate political situation of that moment, the excavation was never completed and fully published. See M. G. MAIOLL, "Galeata, il palazzo di Teodorico", in L. Prati (ed. ), Annen Agvicedvctus, pp. 56-58.

Figure 1.4.21 Polke, Mijet (Meleda). Palace. Hypothetical axonometric reconstruction.

/

Figure 1.4.22 Polace, Mljet (Meleda). Palace. Axonometric plan.

157

with a rectangular apse. A quite arbitrary reconstruction of the elevation

of the building led this room to be identified with an aula regia set in a

building `strongly influenced by noble architecture from an Anatolian

and Mesopotamian context'. `

Both complexes have also been associated to the remains of the

complex located on the isle of Meleda (the modem Mljet), not far from

Dubrovnik, in southern Dalmatia. " (Figg. 1.4.21-22) Ascribed to the end

of the fifth century, this building is entered directly from the sea, through

an atrium flanked by two towers which leads straight to a basilican apsed

hall, the highest and largest structure of the whole complex, flanked by

rooms on both its sides.

The central hall has been related by Cagiano de Azevedo to the

Germanic saal, and has been considered as one of the first instances of a

Germanic motif being incorporated in Roman domestic architecture. "

However, as for the case at San Giovanni di Ruoti, the peculiarity of the

ùnusual' arrangement of the complex at Meleda may have been related

instead to the changing nature of late antique society.

64 Monneret De Villard argued that the Goths would have acquired such a model during their time in the south of Russia. Cf. U. MONNERET DE VILLARD, "Sul Palazzo di Theodorico a Galeata", Rendiconti dell 'Accademia dei Lincei, VI (1952), pp. 26-32. 65 M. CAGIANO DE AZEVEDO, "Il Palatium di Porto Palazzo a Meleda", in Tardo Antico ed Alto Medioevo. La forma artistica nel passaggio dall'Antichitä al Medioevo (Rome 1968) pp. 273- 284. 66 CAGIANO DE AZEVEDO, "Il Palatium", 281-83.

158

1.4.6 Conclusions

In this chapter we have considered the ways in which the

reception areas of wealthy residences were used for dining and

entertaining, and their social and architectonic implications. The

tendency towards a richer and more ceremonious architectural style has

been related to the growth in the form of private patronage and to the

changing nature of socio-economic relations in Late Antiquity.

The analysis of wealthy late Roman dwellings has: indicated the

presence of a strong hierarchy of access: not only different classes of

clients were received in different places, but they were also led through

the house on different routes. In this organisation of the space, the

peristyle was a critical focal point, being usually the central space around

which the rooms of the house were arranged. For Vitruvius the peristyle

was still a public place, and everyone, even if not invited, had the right to

come in it. In the late Roman house, the peristyle became increasingly

private, until it disappeared.

Often complemented by subordinate areas that served the same

purpose, such as antichambers, vestibules" and corridors, the peristyle

functioned not only as an element of architectural composition, but also

159

as a subtle device for organizing activity within the house, as well as for

linking different areas connoting different degrees of intimacy with the

master of the house. Directing and controlling the movements of the

people through the house was an important design consideration; and

through the systematic use of peristyles, courtyards, and corridors, all

rooms would have been related to each other according to a conscious

design. The organisation of corridors and doorways encouraged patterns

of movement which avoided entering inappropriate spaces, since they

suggested movement in straight lines, in a set direction. Any deviation

from this route would necessarily have been intentional and/or invited.

This organisation of the space allowed the owner of the house effectively

to control movement around the house. Visitors from outside would have

been well aware of their social position and of their degree of intimacy

with the master of the house, according to how far they were allowed to

penetrate its architecture. "

Late Roman elite residences were one of the principal media

through which daily interaction could be controlled, and positions within

the social order established and maintained.

67 Vestibules and antichambers are also considered public spaces by Vitruvius. 68 See for this point B. HILLIER and J. HANSON, The Social Logic of Space (Cambridge 1984),

pp. 143-175.

160

PART 2-ELITE DWELLINGS IN POST-ANTIQUITY

2.1 PAPAL PALACES

2.1.1 Introduction

In this chapter I shall analyse and discuss the spatial arrangement

of papal residences at Rome, in the eighth and ninth centuries. In

particular, I shall analyse in detail the construction of a number of new

reception halls, and discuss the relationship with contemporary similar

structures at the imperial palace at Constantinople.

2.1.2 The Lateran Palace

As we have seen in our discussion of late antique episcopal

residences, from at least the seventh century the papal palace at the

Lateran was double-storied and divided into two main areas. The inner

part included the private apartments of the pope, his bath and his private

chapel, various administrative buildings, plus the basilica Vigilii and the

161

basilica Theodori, while the outer part included buildings such as the

basilica Iuliae and the oratory of St Silvester. '

At the beginning of the eighth century, John VII (705-707), son of

Plato, the curator palatii at the Palatine, left the Lateran and moved to a

new episcopium he had built above the church of St Maria Antiqua. ' His

plan to supplement or perhaps replace the Lateran with a new bishop's

palace on the Palatine was probably motivated by the fact that the

Lateran was quite unsafe, especially under threat from the Lombards.

Moving to the Palatine, John symbolically took possession of part of the

imperial residence, the seat of power par excellence, but at the same time

he could also rely on the protection of the Byzantine authorities. These,

in fact, were presumably lodged in the Domus Augustana. ' It is known

that the emperor Eraclius used the throne-room in the imperial palace on

his visit to Rome in 629; 4 the emperor Constans may also have stayed at

the Palatine during his visit to the city in 664.5

1 Cf. chapter 1.3.4. 2 LP I, p. 385: "Super eandem ecclesiam episcopium quantum ad se construere malmt, illicque pontificati sui tempus vitam finivit". 3 A. AUGENTI, 11 Palatino nel medioevo. Archeologia e topografia (secoli VI-X111) (Rome, «L'Erma» di Bretschneider 1996), pp. 56-58. 4 See P. VERZONE, "La distruzione dei palazzi imperiali di Roma e Ravenna e la ristrutturazione del Palazzo Lateranense nel IX secolo nei rapporti con quello di Costantinopoli", in Roma e I'etä carolingia (Atti delle giomate di studio, 3-6- maggio 1976) (Rome 1976), pp. 39-54. 5 The only other reference to the Palatine in this sense pertains to the late tenth century, when Otto III might have established his Roman residence there. See WARD-PERKINS, From

162

Very little is known of John's new episcopal palace. Presumably,

it was located in the Domus Tiberiana, since this building was already

equipped with structures for residential and reception purposes; John,

therefore, might have only needed to restore and readapt it.

His project, however, was cut short by his premature death. No

indication of the papal residence is to be found for the following thirty-

four years, until Zacharias' pontificate (741-42). Presumably, though, the

popes had not returned to the Lateran in this period: Zacharias may have

had to restore the whole Patriarchium since it was in an advanced state

of decay, not having been lived in for more than thirty years. '

Strangely enough, Zacharias is generally remembered for the

building of only one triclinium at the Lateran. ' The Liber Pontificalis,

however, is quite clear in recalling that he built two instead, as well as an

entrance tower and a portico. The first of Zacharias' triclinium, located

Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, p. 167. Cf. also VERZONE, "La distruzione dei palazzi imperiali di Roma e Ravenna", p. 40, who argues - without any real evidence, however - that the imperial palace had been already destroyed between 745-54. 6 LP 1, p. 432: "Et omnen: patriarchium paene a novo restauravit: in magnam enim penuriam eundem locum invenerat". 7 See, for example, WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, p. 175 ("Pope Zacharias built a triclinium"). Also, KRAUTHEIMER, Profile of a city, p. 121 ("the triclinium that he built"); in both cases the italics are mine. The index of the latter books also mentions just one triclinium, and the same mistake is kept in the Italian translation of the book, R. KRAUTREIMER, Roma. Profilo di una cittä 312-1308 (Rome, Edizioni dell'Elefante 1981). Also Davis, in a note on his translation of the Life of Leo III, specifies that the Liber Pontificalis claims that the triclinium built by Leo III was larger than earlier such halls in the Lateran, but that "only one has been mentioned so far", referring to the first one built by Zacharias, while ignoring the second. See DAVIS, Eighth-Century Popes, p. 183, n. 21.

; may.

Figure 2.1.1 Rome. Lateran. Triclinium of Leo III. Plan by Alemanni.

163

ante the basilica of pope Theodore, was decorated with marble

revetment, mosaics and paintings. ' The second hall was located on the

upper floor of the tower building, had bronze doors and a painted map of

the world with explanatory verses. '

Other two magnificent triclinia were added to the Lateran palace

by Leo III (795-816). The older, in use by 799, was the so-called Aula

Leonina, which consisted in an oblong hall with three apses, two of

which were situated opposite each other in the middle of the hall. (Fig.

2.1.1) The Liber Pontificalis claims that this triclinium, built on

fundanzenta firmissima, was larger than similar earlier halls in the

Lateran. It was splendidly decorated with porphyry and white columns

and paved with precious marbles; the central apse and its vault were

adorned with mosaics, while the two lateral apses were painted with

various representations placed above the marble revetment. "

The triconch hall was located on the upper floor of the

Patriarchium and was accessed through a simple chamber, quadrangular

8 LP I, p. 432: "Hic in Lateranense patriarchio ante basilicam beate memorie Theodori papae a novo fecit triclinium quern diversis marmorn: et vitro metallis atque musibo et pictura ornavit". 91bid.: "et per ascendentes scales in superioribus super eandem turrem triclinium et cancellos aereos construxit, ubi et orb is terranum descriptione depinxit atque diversis versiculis ornavit". 10 LP II, pp. 3-4: "Fecit gutem et in patriarchio Lateranense tricliniurn maiorem super omnes triclineos nomini suo mire magnitudinis decoratum, ponens in eo fundamenta firmissinza et in circuitu lamminis marmoreis ornavit, clique marmoribus in exemplis stravit et diversis columnis tam purfireticis quamque albis et sculptis cum basibus et liliis simul postibus

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Figure 2.1.2 The Lateran in the Middle Ages. Reconstruction by Rohault de Fleury.

164

in the plans given by Contini, Ciampini and Lauer, but apsidal in both a

drawing of the sixteenth century (Arch. Lat., Q. 7) and the plan given by

Rohault de Fleury. (Fig. 2.1.2) According to the description of the

Lateran Palace made by Onofrio Panvinio in the sixteenth-century, às

soon as one enters the Lateran Palace and climbs a flight of stairs, one

sees a large hall with three apses, which in the old days was called Aula

Leonina after its founder Leo III'. " The sixteenth-century antiquarian

also recalls that `the triclinium was used as a banqueting hall by the pope

and the cardinals on certain feasts, such as the second and third day of

Easter week. Public assemblies and consistories used also to be held in

this place'. "

Slightly later, in 1617, the triconch hall was also described by

Jacopo Grimaldi, another Roman antiquarian and the papal librarian. " At

that time, the Aula Leonina was still visible but in ruins, and it had been

made into a garden. Of its three apses, only the central one still stood

entirely, while the others were half destroyed. Grimaldi gives a detailed

decoravit. Et camera cum absida de musibo seu alias II absidas diversas storias pingens super marmorum constructione pariter in circuitu decoravit".

See ONOPHRIUS PANVINIUS, De Sacrosanta Basilica, Baptisterio et Patriarchio Lateranensi, in LAUER, Le Palais, pp. 481-484. For an English translation of Panvinio's description of Leo III's triclinia, see C. DAVIS-WEYER, Early Medieval Art 300-1150. Sources and Document (Englewood Cliff, New Jersey 1971), pp. 89-90. 12 Ibid.. 13 JAC013US GRIMALDI, De Aula Lateranensi, in LAUER, Le Palais, pp. 581-82, and DAVIS- WEYER, Early Medieval Art, pp. 91-92.

us w. ý:,: L7

Figure 2.1.3 Rome. The Lateran before 1588. Detail of a fresco in the Vatican Palace.

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Figure 2.1.4 Vatican Library, Barb. lat. 2160, fol. 209". The "Council Room". Sketch by Onophrius Panvinius, c. 1588.

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Figure 2.1.6 Rome. The Lateran-complex after Leo III's intervention. Plan.

165

account of the mosaics of the main apse and the surrounding wall, which

were èxposed to the inclemency of the skies'. " The subject of these

mosaics was the Mission of the Apostles, flanked by St Peter with Leo

and Charlemagne, as still visible on the eighteenth-century copy of the

mosaics which now stands near the Scala Santa, on the square before the

Lateran Basilica. "

Shortly after 800, Leo III built a second triclinium at the Lateran.

Also located on the upper floor of the palace, it projected from the

northern flank of the basilica. (Figg. 2.1.3-6) A full sixty-eight metres

long, the large hall had a principal central apse, decorated with mosaics,

and five conchs on either flank, painted, again, with various

representations of the Apostles preaching to the nations. The interior, as

in the triconch hall, was fitted with marble revetment and paving, with a

porphyry fountain in the centre. 16 From an anteroom, a balcony projected

14 Ibid.. 15 There have been numerous interpretations of the subject of the mosaics and its political meaning; see especially LAUER, Le Palais, pp. 105-119; C. DAVIS-WEYER, "Die Mosaiken Leos III. und die Anfänge der karolingischen Renaissance in Rom", in Zeitschrift für

Kunstgeschichte 29 (1966), pp. 111-132; H. BELTING, "I mosaici dell'Aula Leonina come testimonianza della prima renovatio nell'arte medievale di Roma", in Roma e 1'etä carolingia (Atti delle giornate di studio, 3-8 maggio 1976) (Rome, Multigrafica Editrice 1976), pp. 166- 182; A. IACOBINI, "Il mosaico del Triclinio Lateranense", in Fragmenta Picta. Affreschi e

mosaici staccati del Medioevo Romano (catalogue of the exhibition held in Rome, Castel

Sant'Angelo, 15 December 1989-18 February 1990) (Rome, Argos 1989), pp. 189-196. 16 LP II, p. 11: "Itemgue fecit in patriarchio Lateranense triclinium mire magnitudinis decoratum cum absida de musibo, sett et alias absidas decem dextra levaque, diversis storiis depictas apostolos gentibus praedicantes, coherentes basilicae Constantinianae; in quo loco et

166

north overlooking the area facing the palace. The hall and the balcony

were linked to the parts of the palace near the facade of the church with a

long porticoed corridor, which bore the Greek name of macrona. "

Panvinio saw the hall when it was still standing with its roof and

pavement intact and left a detailed description: "

On the side of the Lateran Basilica is a door from which by marble stairs one ascends to a large and spacious hall, which today is called `The Council Room'. Apart from a main apse it has ten smaller apses on both sides, a brick floor, and a wooden roof, covered with tiles. On its north side the aula is supported by several arcades and extremely heavy pillars. The main apse is decorated by mosaics, done by very inept artists, representing Christ, the Holy Virgin, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and several other saints. On the wall which precedes the apse are the twenty-four seniors and some of the signed one hundred and forty-four thousand in the Apocalypse and four angels depicted in mosaic by an unskilled artist. On the arch of the apse is the monogram: LEOPA, i. e. Leo Papa. The smaller apses all have a central window. Between the apses and the pilasters flanking them are twenty-two other windows which were restored by Julius II during the Lateran Council. At the entrance wall toward the pulpit of Boniface VIII, that is, towards the north, there are six arches, three above and three beneath, carried by four supports, the two above being of porphyry. After this comes a second wall with three doorways from which one reaches the loggia of Boniface VIII. 19 This hall we now refer to as `The Council Room', because here, as I believe, Eugene IV20 decided to

accubita collocavit, et in medio concam porphireticam aquam f undentem; necnon et pavimentum ipsius marmoribus diversis stratis". " LP, II, pp. 28-29: "Macronam vero ipsius Lateranensis patriarchii, quae extenditur a campo et usque ultra imagines apostolorum, quae prae nimia vetustate ruitura erant, a f: undamenta simul et sarta tecta necnon et solarium ab imo usque ad summum noviter restauravit, et in meliusfirmissimis marmoribus stravit, atque cameram ipsius macronae noviterfecit et diversis istoriis pictura mirifice decoravit". Macrona should mean 'prolongation' or èxtension'. Duchesne explains it as the north-portico of the western palace (LP I, 378, n 26). If we accept this hypothesis, the macrona had already exhisted at the time of Sergius I (687-701) and was only restored by Leo III. 18 PANVINIUS, De Sacrosanta Basilica, in LAUER, Le Palais, pp. 481-82 and DAVIS-WEYER, Early Medieval Art, pp. 89-90. 19 Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) added a benediction loggia on the north. 20 Pope Eugenius IV (1383-1447).

167

celebrate a council and here Julius recently celebrated another. '' Formerly it was called `The Large House' on account of its size, or the `Basilica of Leo' on account of its founder, Leo III, who built and adorned it to be used by the popes.

The use of this grandiose triclinium as a state banqueting hall for

solemn occasions would explain the numerous apses on its lateral walls

as being designed to hold dining couches. This is confirmed by

Panvinio: u

At that time, on certain feast days such as Easter and Christmas, the Roman bishops customarily dined with a solemn ritual. The basilica was renovated by Leo IV as Anastasius the Librarian writes: `Leo III built from its foundations the large dining hall and endowed it with the necessary furnishings. When these had been lost on account of time and the neglect of his papal successors, Leo IV generously and swiftly restored everything that had been taken away... '. All this seems to be in agreement with the prayer written underneath the main apse: LORD, WHOSE RIGHT HAND SUSTAINED THE BLESSED PETER WALKING ON THE WATER LEST HE SHOULD SINK AND LIBERATED HIS CO-APOSTLE PAUL THREE TIMES SHIPWRECKED FROM THE DEEP SEA, MAY YOUR HOLY RIGHT HAND PROTECT THIS HOUSE AND TILE FAITHFUL DINING IN IT, WHO ENJOY HERE THE GIFTS OF YOUR APOSTLE.

Cord Meckseper has recently suggested that the two triclinia built

by Leo III were not built ex novo, but were rebuilds or re-adaptations of

older basilicae. He argues that the triconch hall was rebuilt over the

Basilica Theodori and the Basilica Vigilii, while the triclinium ad

accubita was a re-adaptation of the Basilica Iulia. Z'

21 This should be the council called by Pope Julius II in 1512. 22 PANVINIUS, De Sacrosanta Basilica, in LAUER, Le Palais, pp. 483-84 and DAMS-WEYER, Early Medieval Art, p. 90. 23 MECKSEPER, "Zur Doppelgeschossigkeit", pp. 122-26.

168

This hypothesis presents interesting connotations. As we have

conjectured before, the Basilica Theodori should have been located in the

interior pars patriarchii, to the south of the chapel of St Lawrence. 24

Since the first triclinium built by Zacharias was located ante basilicam

beate memorie Theodori papae, 25 Meckseper suggests that the Basilica

Vigilii was located between the basilica Theodori and the triclinium built

by Zacharias, and that Leo III built the triconch triclinium on top of these

halls. Z" However, I believe it is more likely that Zacharias' triclinium had

been built above the basilica Theodori instead, and that these two halls

had soon come to be referred to as a single complex. Still in the twelfth

century, in fact, the Ordo Romanus XI by Benedictus Canonicus refers

indiscriminately to both a basilica Theodori and a basilica Zachariae

papae as the place where the pontiff was acclaimed by the assembled

cardinals when he returned from the various stations scheduled for feast

days. 27

In any case, a dining-hall located on the upper floor existed at the

Lateran from at least the time of Stephen III. In the life of this pope, in

24 Cf, chapter 1.3.4. 25 LP I, p. 432. 26 MECKSEPER, "Zur Doppelgeschossigkeit", p. 126. 27 BENEDICTUS CANONICUS, Benedicti beati Petri canonici Liber Pollicitus (Ordo Romanus XI), in J. MABILLON, Museum Italicum seu collectio veterum scriptorum ex bibliothecis italicis eruti, 2 vols. (Paris 1724-26), pp. 128,137,141.

Figure 2.1.7 Rome. Lateran. Triclinium of Leo III. Hypothetical reconstruction.

Figure 2.1.8 Rome. Lateran. The "Council Room". Hypothetical reconstruction.

169

fact, it is described how the antipope Philip was brought into the Lateran

patriarchate and there, sitting on the pontifical throne, he gave the peace

to everyone; then he went up and, as pontiffs normally do, he held a

banquet, with some of the church `s chief men and the militia's chief

officers sitting with him. 28 Most likely, this hall was one of the triclinia

built by Zacharias. If this hypothesis is correct, Leo's triconch would

have been built on top of the basilica Vigilii, next to the other double-

storied hall. (Fig. 2.1.7)

Even more intriguing is Meckseper's conjecture for the

construction of Leo's second hall. As we have noted before, the location

of the Basilica Iulia on the site where Leo III was subsequently to build

the triclinium ad accubita is indicated quite clearly in the Liber

Pontificalis, in the life of Sergius 1 (687-701). 29 Since the Basilica Iuliae

already existed in the early fifth century, it would have been at least 400

years old at the time of Leo III's pontificate and most likely in a ruin

state. That would have been the reason why Leo III would have decided

to rebuild it.

Nevertheless, the name of the Basilica Julia is still found, around

300 years after the construction of Leo's Aula concilii, in the Ordines

28 LP I, p. 471. 29 Cf. chp. 1.3.4.

170

coronationis imperialis, in the account of how emperors and popes made

their way from St Peter to the Lateran as part of the emperor's coronation

ceremony: J° on reaching the stairs of the palace, the emperor and the pope

would go up to the chapel of St Lawrence for the laudes; 3' then the pope

would be led by the emperor and the prefect of Rome to the hall of the

main palace, where they separated. 32 At the same time, the empress would

be led down by the primicerius and secunderius to the `hall of the

empress Julia', where she would eat with the bishops and their retinues. "

Later, the pope would retire to his apartment, while the emperor would

go to the `hall of Julia'. "

The survival of the memory of the Basilica Iuliae through the

centuries, as testified in this text, may well indicate that Leo III did not

built ex novo on the site of the Basilica Iuliae, but constructed his council

chamber on top of the old building. " (Fig. 2.1.8) This would also

explain why the triclinium ad accubitam needed substantial repairs

30 R. HELZE, Ordines coronation is imperialis. Die ordines für (lie Weihe und Krönung des Kaisers und der Kaiserin, in MGH Fontes, v. 9, p. 47. Cf. MECKSEPER "Zur Doppelgeschossigkeit", p. 122. 31 See Ordines coronationis imperialis, p. 17 "Cumque pervenerint ad ascensorium, prior cardinalium Sancti Laurentii foras muros incipit laudes". 32 Ibid.: "Deinde ducitur dominus papa ab imperatore et prefecto urbis usque ad camerae: maioris palatii, ubi finde separentur". According to Meckseper, this hall should be the Leonian Aula concilii. See MECKSEPER "Zur Doppelgeschossigkeit", p. 122. 33 Ordines coronationis imperialis, p. 17: "Imperatrix vero deducitur a primicerio et secunderio iudicium usque ad cameram Julie imperatricis; in qua ipsa comedere debet Curn episcopis et ceteris baronibus suis".

171

already in the time of Leo IV (847-55). The Liber Pontificalis claims that

this dining-room had been previously built and equipped by Leo III with

all its adornments; but then, because of its great age and because of

neglect of his predecessors, these had been removed, so that on

Christmas day neither Gregory IV (827-44) nor Sergius 11 (844-47) could

dine there. However, Leo IV, with joy and great delight, newly replaced

all the ornaments and dining furniture, and magnifically restored the

triclinium to its ancient use. 36 If the Leonian hall had been newly built by

Leo III, its deterioration would have taken place in quite an exceptionally

short space of time; however, if the hall was built on top of the

considerably older walls of the basilica Iuliae, then it is easier to

understand how it could have began to collapse so quickly.

According to Meckseper, a further indication that Leo III's

triclinia had been not built ex novo is to be found in the building

expressions used in the Liber Pontifccalis. He observes that, in this text,

the verb `facere' is commonly used to mean `to build on', `noviter

341bid.: "Dominus papa redeat ad cameram suam, imperator ad cameram Julie". 35 MECKSEPER, "Zur Doppelgeschossigkeit", p. 122. 36 LP II, p. 109: "Nan: et accubitum, quod domnus Leo bonae memoriae tertius papa a fundamentis construxerat et omnia ornamenta ibi paraverat, tunc prae nintia vetustate et oblivione antecessorum pontificum deleta stint, et in die Natalis domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum carnem tam domnus Gregorius quart ei domnus Sergius sanctae recordationis ibidem minime epulabantur. Iste vero beatissimus et summus praesul Leo quartus cum gaudio et nimia delectatione omnia ornamenta sive alimenta quae finde deleta fuerant noviter reparavit et ad usum pristinunt magnifice revocavit".

172

facere' for `to restore', à fundamento restaurare' for `to restore from the

ground', and à fundamento facere' for `to build from the ground'.

Therefore, the fact that Leo III's building activity in the Lateran was

characterised by the use of the lowest and more general qualification,

`facere', would provide supplementary evidence for his conjecture. In the

case of a newly built hall, the Liber Pontificalis would have used the

expression à fundamento facere' instead. 37

However, the use of building expressions in the Liber Pontificalis

is not so clear and precise as is claimed by the German scholar, who does

not even state from which examples his hierarchy of terminology is

drawn. Robert Coates-Stephens, on the other hand, has argued in favour

of the use of `facere' in the same context to indicate only newly built

palaces. 38 Coates-Stephens's argument is based on the fact that some of

the buildings described in the Liber Pontificalis can be well-dated by

other evidence, such as inscriptions, texts, and archaeological data. The

analysis of these cases can lead us to a better understanding of the text's

building expressions.

37 MECKSEPER "Zur Doppelgeschossigkeit", pp. 122-123. 38 R. COATES-STEPIIENS, "Dark Age Architecture in Rome", Papers of the British School at Rome 65 (1997), pp. 177-232. See especially "Appendix. Building expressions in the Liber Pontificalis", pp. 224-227.

173

This methodology is correct in principle. However, the problem is

that Coates-Stephens includes in his list of buildings which can be dated

from independent evidence structures whose evidence is actually quite

confused and unclear: for example, the Leonian triclinia, which is

considered here as built ex novo, only on the basis of the mosaic

inscription and on the vague description of the masonry given by Lauer. 39

Both Coates-Stephens' and Meckseper's arguments are not very sound

and convincing; only a more accurate and complete study of the building

expressions of the Liber Pontificalis can provide a reliable foundation for

a better understanding of what the different building expressions actually

mean.

However, all this does not affect our argument. Not only was the

palatial-complex at the Lateran provided in this phase with a multiplicity

of triclinia; it also seems likely that at least one, and possibly more than

one, were double-storied halls.

This might also have been the case of the lavishly decorated

triclinium built later by Gregory IV (827-844). The location of this hall is

uncertain. However, considering that Gregory IV's building activity in

39 COATES-STEPHENS, "Dark Age Architecture", pp. 226-27. See LAUER, Le Palais, p. 103.

174

the Lateran seems to have focused especially in the eastern part of the

complex, the hall may have been located there.

Gregory's triclinium is generally referred to as a triconch. 40

However, according to the Liber Pontificalis, the hall had one apse with

mosaic decoration while two other apses, located in the cellars (posita

paracellaria) on the right and the left, were painted with various

representations. ' The mention of the other two apses in the cellars seems

to confirm the hypothesis that we could be dealing with another example

of a double-storied hall rather than a one-storied triclinium.

The same pope also built an apartment for the pontiffs own use,

located in a quiet area of the complex, close to St Lawrence's oratory. 42

He also rebuilt and restored some of the old buildings, almost on the

point of collapse because of their great age, such as the stairs facing the

cellar, which previously had been as dark as night. 43 From this place to St

40 For example in LAvIN, "The House of the Lord", p. 13 and in KRAUTHEIMER, Profile of a city, p. 122; also in the plans of the Lateran complex given by Severano and Lauer. 41 LP II, p. 76: "Verum etiam fecit in patriarchio Lateranense triclinium mire magnitudinis decoratum, cum absida de musibo; seit et alias absidas duas, dextra levaque posita in paracellaria, variis storiis depictas". 42 LP II, p. 81: "Igitur inter cetera bone operation is exempla fecit in patriarchio Lateranensi, pro utilitate sive usu pontificis, prope oratorium sancti Christi martyris Lauren iii, habitaculum satis idoneum, ubi et quies est optima, et cum clericis Buis pontifex inde egrediens omnipotenti Domino debitas potest laudes persolvere". 43 Ibid.: "Igitur post haec omnia quae superius hedificata leguntur, de aedificiis iam dirutis et praemagnitudine temporum pene casuris quae infra palatium ab antiquis patribus videbantur esse constructa, beatissimum iam sepias nominates papa Gregorius novo cultu et opere a fundamentis erexit atque conposuit. Nam descensum qui paracellarium respicit, per quem

175

Lawrence's oratory he restored all that was old and added other new

buildings, including three heated rooms. 44 He also renewed the old bath

located close to the cellar, and adorned it with marble and other pleasing

works. "

Gregory IV building-intervention in the Patriarchium, therefore,

seems to have focused especially on the private areas of the palatial

complex, which presumably was falling into disrepair. Significantly, he

restores and provides with appropriate fenestration the stairs, presumably

to facilitate and embellish the access to his new triclinium.

Subsequently, Nicholas 1 (858-867) built a beautiful and very fine

hall in the Lateran patriarchate; 46 this was perhaps the basilica

Nicolaitana mentioned in the life of Hadrian 11 (867-72), who decorated

a splendid basilica raised from its foundations by his predecessor, that

antea homines veluti in nocte ascendebant vel descendebant, ita noviter reformavit tit nulla inde transeuntes deinceps tit ante obscuritas valeat praepedire". as Ibid.: "A quo videlicet loco usque ad oratorium sancti Laurentii cuncta quae erant vetera restauravit, et alia nova adiecit, in quibus III caminatas freri iussit". Davis translates caminata with `parlours' (DAVIS, Ninth-Century Popes, p. 67). However, the term was used specifically to indicate heated rooms. ' Ibid.: "Renovavit immo et balneum, quod iuxta paracellarium situm est, a fundamentis per totum, et marmoribus ceterisque placabilibus operibus decoravit. Nam prius vetustatis longitudinem casurum esse videbatur nisi mens vel optimum tan Ii pontificis studium eum ad priorein statum reducere decrevisset". 46 LP, 11, p. 166: "In patriarchio siquidem Lateranensi, domum pulcherrimama nimisque decorum fieri iussit".

176

surpassed all the Lateran basilicas in its beauty and included three

artificial water-channels. ̂ '

Nicholas also built a large dwelling in the church of St Maria in

Cosmedin, including a triclinium and heated rooms, where pontiffs and

their retinue could be fully accommodated. 48 We do not know the reasons

why Nicholas decided to built a new, large apartment outside the Lateran

palace; however, from the account of his life in the Liber Pontificalis it

seems clear that there never was a full transferral of the papal seat, as had

been in the case with John VII. Most likely, the apartment at St Maria in

Cosmedin was a provisional lodging to be used whenever needed, in

circumstances unknown to us, therefore more a sort of pied-ä-terre. 49

According to Giovenale's reconstruction, the `palace' was double-

storied and organised around two main courtyards. The ground-floor

included two large rooms, possibly used as an entrance-hall and a dining-

47 LP, II, p. 176: "Post haec summus pontifex basilicam Nicolaitanam quarr sanctissimus papa Nicolaus a fimdamentis adeo luculenter cum tribus aquaeductibus fabrefactis extruxerat, ut omnes Lateranenses basilicas sui pulchritudine superaret, iuxta votum decessoris sui picturis variis decoravit". 48 LP, 11, p. 154: "Verum etiam et in aecclesia eiusdem genitricis Dei et domini nostri Jesu Christi qui vocatur Cosmidi fecit hospitium largum ac spaciosum satisque precipuum, ad opus atque utilitatem pontificum, ubi quoteins oportunum fiuerit, cum omnibus qui eis famulantur,

amplissime hospitentur"; also LP, 11,161: "Nam renovavit in basilica Dei genitricis Mariae

quae dicitur Cosmidi secretarium, ibique pulchri operis fecti triclinium cum caminatis, ad honorem et decorem eius. Pari modo iuxta iden: secretarium porticum renovans illic construxit atque edificavit oratorium in honore sancti martyris Christi Nicolai et plurima dona ibi

contulit almus". 49 G. GIOVENALE, La basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin (Rome 1927), pp. 406-19, at p. 410.

177

room, on top of which were placed two rooms of the same size, perhaps

the pope's cubiculum and his reception hall. "

Only new archaeological investigations or, at least, a detailed

analysis of the masonry surviving in loco in the modern Via della Greca

could clarify, at least in part, the arrangement and the function of this

dwelling. However, it is interesting to note that this papal apartment was

arranged over two different floors, probably with a reception hall on the

upper floor or even with the possible existence, once again, of double-

halls.

2.1.3 The papal palace at the Vatican

The presence of one or more reception halls on the upper floor of

a palatial structure is a feature which is found in the early-medieval phase

of the papal palace at the Vatican. Some sort of residential structure

existed there as early as the beginning of the sixth century, when Pope

Symmachus (498-514) built episcopal rooms, at a time when the Lateran

was occupied by an antipope. " In the eighth century, Gregory III (731-

so Ibid., pp. 411-12. 51 LP I, 262: "Item episcopia in eodem loco dextra levaquefecit".

178

41) restored and decorated the accubita, which were in ruins. "Z Duchesne

associated these with the cubicula restored by Sergius 1 (687-701), " and

was followed in this by Davis. " However, it seems quite unlikely that

Gregory III would found these chambers already in ruins, only some

thirty-forty years after they had been repaired by Sergius I. Perhaps, as

conjectured by Bryan Ward-Perkins, the chambers restored by Gregory

III should rather be identified with the episcopal rooms built at the

Vatican by Pope Symmachus, ss while the cubicula repaired by Sergius I

should be associated with the chambers later rebuilt by Leo III (795-

816). 56

This same pope also provided the complex with a lavishly

decorated bath close to the Needle, the Vatican obelisk in its former

position south of the church. " Leo also built a great triconch triclinium,

located on the upper floor. The hall was wondrously decorated like the

similar halls at the Lateran: the central apse was adorned with mosaics,

52 LP 1,420: "Item accubita quite stint ad bealum Petrum in ruinis posita a fundamentis noviter restauravit atque depinxit". 53 LP 1, p. 375: "Hic tegnum et cubicula quae circumquaque eitusdem basilicae sent, quae per longa tempora stillicidiis et ruderibus fiuerant disrupta, [Sergius I] studiosius innovavit ac reparavit". 54 LP I, p. 424, n. 27 and DAVIS, Eighth-Century Popes, p. 26, n. 42. 55 WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, p. 176. LP 1,262: "Item episcopia in eodem loco dextra levaque [Symmachus] fecit". 56 LP II, p. 27: "Cubicula vero iuxta ecclesia beati Petri apostolorum principis quae nimia vetustate marcuerant et iam pene ruitura erant isdem egregis praesul a fiindamentis firmissimum ponens aedificium in meliorem erexit statuin. "

179

the side apses were embellished with paintings imitating marbles and the

pavement was laid with opus sectile. Other spacious and elegant

buildings were constructed by the stairs up to the triclinium and behind

it. 58 Since the schola Francorum and Charlemagne's palace were on the

same side of the Vatican basilica, the domus Aguliae could have served

for the papal reception of the Carolingian emperors during their sojourns

in Rome. 59

Close to the steps at the entrance of the basilica, on the right-hand

side of the atrium - and therefore on the north side, where the Vatican

Palace is now - Leo also built a beautifully decorated residence where he

placed dining couches, and another lavishly decorated bath, for the

benefit of Christ's poor and pilgrims. 60

Even though no traces of these buildings have survived, it seems

evident that at the beginning of the ninth century the Vatican was

57 Ibid.: "Fecit et ubi supra iuxta columnam maiorem balneum in superiore positum, constructum in rotundumt, mirifice decoratuin". 58 LP II, p. 8 "Prelatus vero sanctissintus pontifex iuxta ecclesian: beati Petri apostoli in Acoli fecit triclinio maiore mire pulchritudinis decorato et absidas duas dextra levaque super marmores picture splendentes. Et in pavimento marmoreis exemplis stratum et caeteris ampliis aedificiis tam in ascensum scale quamque post ipsum triclinium comptefecit". 59 Cf. I. BELL! BARSALZ, "Sulla topografia di Roma in periodo carolingio: la civitas leoniana e la Giovannopoli", in Roma e 1'e1ä carolingia (Atli delle giornate di studio, 3-6- maggio 1976) (Rome 1976), pp. 200-214 and L. CASSANELLI, "Gli insedamcnti nordici in borgo: le scolae peregrinorum e la presenza dei Carolingi a Roma", ibid., pp. 217-22. See also M. D'ONOFRIO, Roma e Aquisgrana (Roma, Rari Nantes 1983), pp. 177-9. 60 LP II, p. 28 "Gradus vero in introitu eiusdem basilicae tam sub porticum guam etiam in introitu noviter restauravit. Fecit et iuxta eosdem grados parte dextra atrii domum a fimdamentiis mire magnitudinis et pulchritudinis decoratam, in qua etiam et accubitos

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provided with beautifully decorated structures; these included not only

facilities for pilgrims but also a palatial complex for papal use, with

dining rooms, reception halls and a bath. Slightly later, Gregory IV (827-

44) built there a small but beautifully decorated apartment for the repose

of the pope, to be used after morning prayers or the offices of mass. 6'

There can be no doubt that the palatial complex at the Needle was

double-storied since, as noted above, the triconch hall built by Leo III

was located on the upper floor. Possibly the main reception hall at the

Vatican, this triclinium was used for solemn audiences: in 855, for

instance, the emperor Louis and Pope Leo IV (847-55) were in session

with all the Roman dignitaries and the noble Franks "in domo quarr

beatae memoriae Leo tertius papa iuxta ecclesiam beati Petri apostoli

fecerat". 62 Later in 901, under Benedict IV (900-903), a charter of Louis

III refers to an audience held in the palace founded close to St Peter's, in

the laubia maiore ipsius palacii. 63 Davis has interpreted this laubia as the

collocavit. Fecit et iuxta eandem domum pro subsidiis Christi pauperum atque peregrinorum balneum a fundamentiis mire decoratum". 61 LP II, p. 81: "Fecit etiam iuxta Accolam, pro quietam pontificis, ubi post orationes matutinales vel missarum ofcis eius valeant membra soporari, hospicium parvum, sed honeste

constructum, et picturis decoravit eximifs". 62 LP II, p. 134. 63 C. MANARESI (ed. ), Iplaciti del 'Regnum Italiae' (Fonti per la storia d'Italia 37), 29.

Figure 2.1.9 Bayeux. Musee de la Tapisserie. Harold at Bosham.

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central apse of the triconch hall' However, one is quite tempted to see it

as a laubia, a porticoed hall with another hall above it.

Cagiano De Azevedo's studies have shown that laubia were some

kind of portico used for public functions, surmounted by an upper-floor

room. " His analysis of a conspicuous number of early medieval

documents, including the charter referring to the Vatican palace,

indicates that a laubia could also have be a simple portico, or a room

surrounded by a loggia, surmounted by another hall. This was the case,

for example, of the Torhalle at Lorsch and also of the scene depicted in

the Bayeux Tapestry of Harold's banquet in his residence at Bosham;

here, in fact, the feast takes place in an upper-floor hall, which surmounts

a porticoed ground-floor and is accessed via an outer staircase. (Fig.

2.1.9)

Cagiano De Azevedo proposed a northern origin for this feature,

recognising it as one of the signs of the introduction of Germanic

traditions into Roman territory. " In support of his theory, he pointed out

not only the indisputable Germanic origins of the term laubia but also the

fact that this word is only found in documents relating to Lombard

64 DAVIS, Eighth-Century Popes, p. 193, n. 68. 65 M. CAGIANO DEAZEVEDO, "Laubia", Studi Medievali 10, (1969), 2, pp. 431-63. 66 Ibid., pp. 461-63.

182

territories. ' In my view, though, this need not mean that similar double-

storied structures could not be found in other parts of the former Roman

Empire, which were not controlled by the Lombards. The word laubia

was used only in `Germanic' contexts; the kind of structure it represented

was actually to be found also outside Lombard territory, called by various

names, as is clear from the examples of double-storied halls at the

Lateran and at the Vatican., but also from a number of other instances,

some of which will be discussed in more detail in the following chapter.

2.1.4 The relationship with the Great Palace at Constantinople

A similar double-storied hall seems to have existed in the ninth

century at the Great Palace at Constantinople. According to Theophanes

Continuatus, between the many additions made to the imperial residence

by the emperor Theophilus (829-42) were a Sigma monumental entrance

and a triconch hall with a gilded roof: 68

67 Cagiano also notes that the mention of a laubia in the Vatican palace is no exception since the charter is related to a Germanic sovereign; cf. ibid., p. 444.

183

The latter [Triconchos] rises up in three conches, one of which is built towards the east and is supported on four columns of Roman stone, while the other two are transverse, facing north and south respectively. The western part of the building is borne on two columns and has three doors leading out. The middle door is made of silver, while those on either side are of burnished bronze. The exit leads into the Sigma, so named because of its resemblance to the letter, the walls of which bloom with as much beauty as those of the Triconchos, for both are reveted with slabs of variegated marble. The Sigma has a firm and splendid roof supported on fifteen columns of Docimian stone. If you go down the staircase to the basement, you will find it to be similar in shape [to the Sigma] and to be supported on nineteen columns: its ambulatory is paved with speckled marble. Next to this ambulatory, further towards the east, the builder has erected a kind of Triconch that lies above it, except that whereas one of them faces east, the other two are directed towards the west and the south respectively. The northern bay of the tetraseron has, separated off by two columns of speckled porphyry, a mysterion which has received this appropriate name for the following reason: just as resonant caves transmit to the listener the complete echo of sounds, so likewise if one approaches the wall of the eastern or the western conch and says something in secret to oneself, another man standing diametrically opposite is able to hear those secret sounds by applying his ear to the wall. Such is the extraordinary thing that happens here. This building adjoins the peristyle of the Sigma, which we have already mentioned, so that the two form a kind of unit. The latter gives on to an open terrace in the middle of which is a bronze fountain having a rim crowned with silver and a gilded cone. This is called the Mystic Fountain of the Triconch on account of the adjoining buildings, namely the Mysterion and the Triconch. Next to the fountain are set up steps of white Proconnesian marble, and in the middle of the said steps is a marble arch supported on two columns slender as reeds. There, too, next to the long side of the Sigma have been erected two bronze lions with gaping mouths. These spouted water and flooded the entire hollow area of the Sigma, thus providing no small amount of pleasure.

From the detailed description, it seems clear that the triconch was

laid out on two levels: below, a quatrefoil grotto, where, thanks to a

sophisticated acoustic device, sounds whispered in one corner of the

chamber were transmitted aloud to another; above, a trefoil, its main apse

resting on four columns, the facade opening in a triple arcade. Both

68 TIlEOPHANES CONTINUATUS, III, 42, in PL 109,153. For an English translation, see C. Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire. 312-1453. Sources and Documents (Englewood

184

grotto and triconch opened into the Sigma, a hemicycle of colonnades,

superimposed on a double level, the lower sheltering an elaborate

fountain.

Theophanus Continuatus also gives indication on the way in which

the complex was used:

At the time of reception, the fountain was filled with pistachios and almonds, as well as pine nuts, while spiced wine flowed from the cone for the enjoyment of all those who played the organs and those who sang in a choir. The demes and the citizens together with the suburban contingents stood on the steps and performed the order of the imperial ceremony, having at their centre, under the said marble arch, both the doniestici of the Schools and the Excubita, if they happened to be on hand, and the demarchs of the two factions, the Green and the Blue.... " The emperor, who sat on a gold throne encrusted with gems, watched these proceedings and took great pleasure in them; in fact, he did not arise, as laid down in the books of rules (taktika) and imperial ceremonial, until he had enjoyed the spectacle of those dances and leaps performed by the citizens. It was for this purpose that these constructions were made by Theophilus, and he took such great joy in them that he performed at the Triconch both the conduct of his normal affairs and the daily processions., '

Furthermore, later in the tenth century, Constantine VII

Porphyrogenitus' Book of Ceremonies indicates that the complex had

soon become one of the most important ceremonial centres of the whole

Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall 1972), pp. 161-62. 69 The demes of Constantinople were civic groups whose function, by the ninth century, was limited to conducting games in the hippodrome and appearing at various celebrations and processions. There were four demes associated with the four circus factions (Blue, Greens, Whites, Reds) and each was divided into an urban and a suburban section. The urban sections of the demes were headed by two demarchs, that of the Blues (and Whites) and that of the Greens (and Reds). The suburban sections, who had a military organization, were governed by the chiefs of the palace guard, the domestic of the Schools and that of the Excubita. See MANGO, Sources and Documnents, p. 162, nn. 55-56. 70 Ibid.

185

imperial palace, since it was used at every imperial reception for the

imperial salutation: in these occasions, the emperor, would enter the

triconch after having traversed the gallery of the Forty Saints; then he

would put on the chlamys and would be crowned by the praepositus,

while the dignitaries of the court arranged themselves on either side. The

praepositus, having received a sign from the emperor, would signal the

ostiarius (the ceremonial steward), who would introduce the patricians

and the strategi (provincial military commanders). Once all those present

were in their proper places, the emperor would eventually receive their

salutations. Then he would pass to the Sigma through the silver portal in

the central apse - the lateral two were made of bronze - where he would

sit on the throne. From there, he would bless the people three times and

the factions - first the Blues, then the Greens - would intone their chants

and acclamations. Then the emperor would return to the triconch-hall,

where he would be relieved of the chlayms and the crown, and from

where he would proceed to the Chrysotriclinos, where he would

distribute gifts and promotions while enjoying performances of ballet

dancers and further acclamations. "

71 CONSTANTINE PORPHYROGENITUS, De Cerinroniis Aulae Byzantinae, ed. A. Vogt, 2 vols (Paris 1939), I, ch 75 (66), p. 105.

186

However, it should be noted that the Pseudo-Codinus attributes the

building of the Sigma to Constantine the Great; it is quite likely,

therefore, that Theophilus only restored these buildings, probably finding

the immediate inspiration for them already in the Great Palace at

Constantinople itself. "

The presence of an older, perhaps double-storied triconch

triclinium, together with other elements of the Great Palaces, could have

been one of the sources of inspiration for the Roman pontiffs in their

restoration of the papal palaces. As convincingly argued by Richard

Krautheimer, in fact, papal palace buildings seem to have been set on

rivalling with the Great Palace at Constantinople, from at least as early as

the eighth century. " The entrance-tower with a bronze gate built by

Zacharias at the Lateran undoubtedly derived from the Chalke, the

similar double-storied structure which gave access to the Imperial Palace

in Constantinople, and the triclinia built by the same pope were probably

also inspired by other structures in the Great Palace.

The intention of competing with the palace of the Byzantine

emperors was more apparent, though, in the numerous addition to the

72 As conjectured in LAVEN, "The House of the Lord", p. 11, nn. 84 and 87. See also PSEUDO- CODINUS, ed. T. Preger, Scriptores Originum Constantinopolitanarum, II (Leipzig 1907), p. 145 JANIN, Constantinople, pp. 424-426.

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Patriarchium and the Vatican palace made by Leo III. Significantly, the

portico which linked different parts of the Lateran palace, added or

simply restored by Leo III, was called macrona, as was a similar corridor

in the Great Palace at Constantinople. ' Moreover, the Aula Leonina and

the triconch triclinium built at the Vatican by Leo III, may have mirrored

an existent triconch triclinium at the Great Palace, the predecessor or

model for Theophilus' Triconchos. It could be that Theophilus built - or

rebuilt -a wondrously decorated triconch triclinium to rival in richness

and decoration the similar structure just built by the pope at the Lateran.

Even clearer, though, is the derivation of Leo III's second hall at

the Lateran from the Triclinium of the Nineteen Couches at the Great

Palace. As noted by Krautheimer, the two triclinia not only shared the

same peculiar design, but were also very similar in size and function.

Leo's triclinium ad accubita seems to have been clearly and consciously

inspired by, and possibly meant to compete with, the Hall of the Nineteen

Couches in the Great Palace at Constantinople. 75

73 See especially KRAUTHEIMER, "Die Decanneacubita", pp. 195-99 and, by the same author, Rome: Profile of a City, pp. 120-123. 74 Cf. LP, II, pp. 28-29. 75 KRAUTHEIMER, "Die Decanneacubita", pp. 195-99. The Lateran banqueting hall was already associated with the Constantinopolitan triclinium in N. ALEMANNI, De Lateranensibus

parietinis (Rome 1625), p. 18, and in LAUER, Le Palais, pp. 103-4.

188

As mentioned before, this large triclinium was built if not by

Constantine, then shortly after his death and, from the fifth century

onwards, it is mentioned in a number of sources. 76 Its location is still a

much-discussed and uncertain issue. As we have already pointed out in

our discussion on late antique elite dwellings, some scholars of

Costantinopolitan topography believe that this triclinium should be

identified with the great seven-apsed hall excavated to the north-west of

the Hippodrome, previously believed to be part of the Palace of Lausus,

but now generally recognised as belonging to the Palace of Antiochus. "

However, this identification is unconvincing: if, as it is generally

claimed, the name of the hall reflected its plan, the triclinium had

nineteen apses, and not seven. Most probably, therefore, the Hall of the

Nineteen Couches was located on the other side of the Hippodrome,

towards the sea. "

The hall, used as a grand hall for official banquets, played a

prominent part in courtly ceremonial. Liudprand of Cremona, envoy of

Berengarius in 949 at the court of Costantine VII Porphyrogenetus (912-

76 Cf. 1.1.11. See also GUTLLANO, "Les XIX Lits", pp. 88-90. 77 This identification has gained acceptance, among others, by VERZONE, "La distruzione dei palazzi imperiali di Roma e Ravenna", pp. 41-47 and BEK, "Questiones Convivales", p. 96. Cf. 1.4.3. 78 See KRAUTREIMER, "Die Decanneacubita", pp. 195-99.

189

959), gave an account of a luxurious banquet which took place in the

magnificent tricliniunc"

Next to the Hippodrome, looking northwards, is a hall of remarkable height and beauty called `Decanneacubita'. The reason of its name is obvious: `deca' is Greek for `ten', ènnea' for `nine', and `cubits' means couches for lying down,

with curved ends. And on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ was born

according to the flesh nineteen covers are always laid up there. The Emperor

and his guests do not sit up at dinner, as they usually do, but recline on couches; and everything is served in vessels not of silver, but of gold.

Liudprand' s account makes clear that, as late as the tenth century,

the Emperor in Constantinople was still holding banquets in full 'Roman'

style, complete with stibadia and entertainers.

The Book of Ceremonies also indicates that in the twelve days

between Christmas and Epiphany, the hall was used for a series of

banquets in which the Emperor would dine at the main table with twelve

guests, a clear symbolical reference to the banquet of Christ with the

Apostles. The other eighteen couches would seat twelve guests each, for

a total of two hundred and twenty-nine people. S°

Presumably, the main couch was set in the main central apse, with

the other eighteen in the side niches. It is quite difficult to determinate

the position of the various participants at the banquet. Most likely,

79 LIUDPRAND OF CREMONA, Antapodosis, ed. J. Becker, MGH SS 3.338, VI. 7-8. 80 Cf. EBERSOLT, Le gran Palais de Costantinople, p. 59, n. 5.

190

though, the series of couches next to the Emperor's one would have been

the most sought-after ones, with the Emperor's couch reserved for the

guests of honour. 8' Significantly, while reporting on a disastrous

expedition to Constantinople, probably around 969, to the court of

Nicephorus, Liudprand complains of the treatment he received there,

emphasising the affront of having to dine far from the Emperor, in a

position where no-one of the imperial suite would sit, at a lower position

even than the Bulgarian envoy. 82

It is quite certain that the triclinium ad accubitam built by Leo III

at the Lateran was used in a similar way. As noted above, the Liber

Pontilcalis testifies that the hall was used as a banqueting hall on very

special occasions, such as at Christmas. This use of the triclinium, as at

the Great Palace at Constantinople, was kept alive for quite a long time.

The Liber censum, 83 a medieval text concerning curial ceremonies at the

end on the twelfth-beginning of the thirteenth centuries, recalls that, on

higher feast days, eleven benches were prepared around the pope's table

in the basilica magna Leoniana - also called Casa Major, the `Large

81 GUILLAND, "Les XIX Lits", pp. 91-92. 82 LIUDPRAND OF CREMONA, Relatio de Legatione Constantinopolitana, ed. and trans. B. Scott (Bristol, Classical Press 1993), ch. XIX. 83 P. FABRE, L. DUCHESNE, Le Liber censuni de l'eglise romaine, vols. 1-3 (Paris 1889-1952) See also B. SCIHIMMELPFENNIG, Die Zeremonienbilcher der römischen Kurie im Mittelalter (Tübingen 1973).

191

House' - to represent the eleven Apostles at Christ's table. From here,

after dinner, the pope was led to a place called the cubitoriunt, where

further ceremonies took place. " Even if recently there has been an

attempt to identify this basilica magna Leoniana with the older Leonian

triconch - and, consequently, the cubitorium with the grand triclinium ad

accubita85 - Onofrio Panvinio's old identification of the basilica magna

Leoniana with the multiapsed triclinium still seems more convincing, "

confirming a striking similarity not only in their peculiar architectural

shape, but also in their functions, between the two similar halls at

Constantinople and at the Lateran.

Krautheimer has argued in favour of a revival of Late Antique

architectural forms, adopted in Rome to express the revival of the city as

the imperial capital of both the pope and emperor in the west. 87 Thus, in

seeking to build prestigious new structures, between the eighth and the

ninth century the popes deliberately turned again to ancient architectural

84 LC I, 298: "in basilica magna Leonina, que dicittur Casa major, tubi stint preparata undeciºn scanna circa mensam pontifcis. [... ] et lectus ipsius pontificis ibident. sollentpniter preparatus, in figura undeciºn apostoloruºn recuntbentiuºn circa ntensant Christi... pontlfex ducitur... ad locum qui dicitur Cubitorium". 85 See, for example, I. HERKLOTZ, "Die Beratungsräume Calixtus II. im Lateranpalast und ihre Fresken. Kunst und Propaganda am Ende des Investiturstreits", Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 52 (1989), pp. 145-214: 165-65. 86 MECKSEPER "Zur Doppelgeschossigkeit", p. 122. 87 See KRAUTHEIMER, Profile of a city, pp. 120-122.

+

A1"iia.

Figure 2.1.10 Qasr ibn-Wardan. Plan of the ground-floor of the palace and of the first floor of the south wing.

192

formulas, such as the triconch and the multiapsidal hall, long since

extinct in the Wcst. 88

Unlike in Rome, though, this classical or neo-classical vocabulary,

may well have remained alive in the east from Late Antiquity. Especially

interesting is the case of the triconch triclinium, virtually unknown in the

east until the fifth century, but whose use there afterwards seems to have

been unbroken, while it disappeared in the west. 89 Particularly well

known are, for instance, the cases of the audience halls at Qasr Ibn-

Wardan, (Fig. 2.1.10) with a double-storied triconch hall dated to the

second half of the sixth century9° - and at Mshatta, probably the best

preserved Umayyad secular site, with its ground-floor triconch hall. "

Due to the absence of more precise information on the Great

Palace of Constantinople and, generally, on early Byzantine palatial

architecture, it is questionable whether Islamic palatial architecture drew

its inspiration for these forms from Constantinople or, vice versa, if

architectonic motifs of this kind referred rather to older Syrian models,

88 For the disappearance of the triconch tricliniumin in the west from the mid-fifth to the end of the eighth century, cf. LAVEN, "The House of the Lord", p. 12. 89 Ibid., pp. 9-12, for the transferral to Byzantium and the survival of the Roman architectural tradition of the triconch. 90 F. DE' MAFFEI, "Il palazzo di Qasr Ibn-Wardan dopo gli scavi ei restauri", in A. lacobini & E. Zanini (eds. ), Arte profana e arte sacra a Bisanzio (Milion - Studi e ricerche d'arte bizantina) (Rome, Argos 1995), pp. 105-187. 91 R. HILLEBRAND, Islamic Architecture. Form, Function and Meaning (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press 1994), pp. 384-90.

193

later transferred from the east to the west. Nonetheless, this issue is

beyond our purposes and would require a far more extensive inquiry. As

regards the aim of this work, though, it is important to emphasise once

again how this symbolic significance was consciously revived, after a

long absence, in Rome and also, as we shall see in a following chapter,

would be chosen for some of the Carolingian residences.

194

2.2 ARISTOCRATIC HOUSING IN EARLY MEDIEVAL ITALY

2.2.1 Introduction

In this chapter I shall analyse and discuss patterns of elite

dwellings which emerged and developed in Italy in the early Middle

Ages. Since the discussion will be mostly centred on urban contexts, I

shall first consider some general changes in the nature of urbanism in

early medieval Italy, as well as reviewing the state of the research on the

subject. Then, I shall proceed to analyse patterns of accommodation

adopted by Lombard rulers. In particular, I shall discuss the reuse of pre-

existing palaces in a first phase, following the occupation of the Italian

territories, and, in a second moment, the building of residences ex novo.

After that, I shall consider the relationship between palatial architecture

and the dwellings of intermediate social classes. In particular, I shall

discuss such issues as the tendency for elite residences to be double-

storied, with reception halls increasingly being situated on the upper

floor. By the early ninth century, I shall argue, this tendency had already

become quite popular, as is evident not only in actual palaces, but also,

on a lower and less impressive scale, in more simple dwellings.

195

2.2.2 Urbanism in early medieval Italy: an on-going debate

It is only since the 1980s that the theme of urbanism in the post-

Roman period has become one of the most popular areas of research in

medieval archaeology in Italy. ' Archaeological research is now beginning

to provide information on the ways in which the buildings and public

spaces of Roman cities were reused, and on the new types of building

which developed in early medieval towns. This new interest in the

subject has fostered a conspicuous number of archaeological

investigations of urban sites in the last two decades, especially in

northern Italy, and has resulted in a large wealth of new data. However,

there has been little agreement on the interpretation of this new evidence,

and a very lively debate, mainly centred on the opposing theses of

decline or continuity with the Roman past, has broken out over it. 2

1 Previously, it had been practically impossible to evaluate the transformations and innovations

which took place in early medieval Italy, because of the lack of necessary evidence and knowledge of excavated structures. Medieval archaeology is a relatively young discipline in Italy. This means that, traditionally, archaeologists have paid little attention to the type and character of medieval secular buildings, and, more importantly, that numerous excavations, carried out before the latter half of the twentieth century have simply destroyed evidence related to early medieval phases, in the process of `liberating' Roman structures. 2 For a detailed account of the discussion and an updated review of the state of the research, see B. WARD-PERKINS, "Continuitists, catastrophists, and the towns of post-Roman northern Italy", Papers of the British School at Rome 65 (1997), pp. 157-175 and G. P. BROGIOLO & S. GELICHI, La cittä nell'alto medioevo italiano. Archeologia e storia, (Roma-Bari, Laterza 1998). See also the essays in N. CHRISTIE & T. S. LOSEBY (eds) Towns in Transition. Urban Evolution in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Aldershot, Scholar Press 1996) and G. P. BROGIOLO & B. WARD-PERKINS (eds), The Idea and Ideal of the Town between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (The Transformation of the Roman World, 4), (Leiden, Boston and Köln, Brill 1999).

196

The investigations carried out in places such as Luni, a site with a

well-known classical Roman past which disappeared entirely during the

early Middle Ages, have shown that the contrast between this early

medieval town and the Roman one beneath it was enormous. 3 The

excavations revealed that, as early as the end of the sixth century, the

Roman forum had ceased to function as a public space, its buildings had

been demolished and the square had, instead, been reoccupied by small

wooden houses. These poor dwellings, divided into two rooms - one for

the household and the other one, with a poorer floor, presumably used for

animals - were very different from the houses of the Roman city and have

been interpreted as an undeniable sign of decline in the post-Roman city.

This new evidence also led Hodges and Whitehouse - while arguing for a

dramatic urban decline throughout the West - to wonder `whether the

decay of Luni can be used as a model for the decay of classical towns

generally in Italy'. '

However, it was only when the excavations carried out at both

Brescia and Verona were published, that the discussion became more

lively and that the same evidence started to be considered and interpreted

in totally divergent ways. At Brescia, the results of the excavations

3 B. WARD-PERKINS, "Two Byzantines houses at Luni", Papers of the British School at Rome 49 (1981), pp. 91-98.

197

conducted in the eastern area of the city led the excavator, Gian Pietro

Brogiolo, to propose quite a catastrophic image of the city in the early

middle ages. ' According to him, early medieval Brescia - and, more

generally, all early medieval towns in Italy - were characterised by the

presence of `Roman buildings destroyed by fire, collapsed masonry left

in situ to encumber streets and private spaces, blocked drains, continuous

and random growth in street and habitational levels, makeshift houses in

wood or the requisition of abandoned rooms of the domus, burials

scattered haphazardly amid the houses, and the reduction to cultivation of

large areas of the urban fabric'. '

At the same time, the picture given by Cristina La Rocca for

Verona, drawn from both archaeological evidence and written

documents, is strikingly divergent from Brogiolo's perspective and

definitely less pessimistic. ' La Rocca argues that many of the features of

4 R. HODGES & D. WHITEHOUSE, Mohammed, Charlemagne and the origins of Europe. Archaeology and the Pirenne thesis (Oxford 1981), p. 32. 5 Among the number of contributions by G. P. Brogiolo on the excavation at Brescia and on its interpretation, see "La cittä tra tarda-antichitä e medioevo", in Archeologia urbana in Lombardia. Valutazione dei depositi e inventario dei vincoli (Modena 1984), pp. 48-56; "Brescia: Building transformations in a Lombard city", in K. RANDSBORG (ed. ) The Birth of Europe. Archaeological and Social Development in the First Millenium A. D. (Rome 1989), pp. 156-165; "Trasformazioni urbanistiche nella Brescia longobarda: dalle capanne in legno al monastero regio di S. Salvatore", in C. STELLA & G. BRENTEGANI (eds), S. Giulia di Brescia. Archeologia, arte, storia di tin monastero regio dai Longobardi a! Barbarossa (Brescia, Comune di Brescia 1992), pp. 179-210; Brescia altomedievale. Urbanistica ed edilizia da! IV

al IX secolo (Mantua 1993). 6 BROGIOLO, "Building Transformations", p. 156. 7 C. LA ROCCA, "`Dark Ages' a Verona. Edilizia privata, aree aperte e strutture pubbliche in

una cittä dell'Italia settentrionale", Archeologia medievale 13 (1986), pp. 31-78. See also P.

198

the early medieval city which had been considered by Brogiolo as signs

of decay - such as build-ups of soil, scattered burials, robbing of Roman

structures and the presence of houses in perishable material - should be

considered as evidence of positive developments: as the result of cultural

changes which do not necessarily have to be considered as impoverished

or inferior, but just different!

The divergent conclusions of Brogiolo and La Rocca clearly show

how the same evidence can be used from remarkably different points of

view for arguing in favour of considerable continuity of urbanism or for a

total decline of it. 9 However, after quite a vigorous and fierce start, the

debate has now shifted towards a more neutral common ground between

the most extremist positions. " Both parties generally agree that what we

HUDSON, "La dinamica dell'insediamento urbano nell'area del cortile del Tribunale di Verona. L'etä medievale", Archeologia medievale 12 (1985), pp. 281-302. e See the elaboration of this concept subsequently made by M. O. H. CARVER, Arguments in stone. Archaeological research and the European town in the first millennium (Oxford 1993),

p. 41. Carver argues that the scholarship is all educationally conditioned to the concept of 'decline and fall', and therefore disposed to search for it, to deny it or explain it. 9 Ward Perkins has labelled them, as well as the other participants at the debate including himself, as `pessimists' and òptimists', i. e. those in favour of a catastrophic vision of urbanism, such as Brogiolo, Hodges, Whitehouse and Carandini, the most pessimistic of all, and those who argue for a more optimistic view, that is those in favour of an idea of city which was different from the Roman one but still kept those characteristics that make for a city, such as La Rocca, Wickham and Ward-Perkins himself. See WARD PERKINS, "Continuitists, catastrophists", p. 161. 10 See, for example, Brogiolo's new position, which Ward Perkins defines as one of 'modified gloom', in G. P. BROGIOLO, "La cittä longobarda nel periodo della conquista (569-in. VII)", in R. FRANcOVICII & G. NOYE, La storia dell'Alto Medioevo italiano (VI- X secolo) alla luce dell'archeologia (Florence 1994), pp. 555-565, and, on the other hand, Chris Wickham in his

summary of the proceedings, definitely less optimistic than his previous view: C. WICKHAM, "Considerazioni conclusive", in FRANCOVICH & NOME, La storia dell'Alto Medioevo italiano, pp. 741-759.

199

could call the `classical city' -a town characterised by close aristocratic

involvement in civic politics and urban culture" - died and disappeared in

Italy, as well as elsewhere, between the third and the seventh centuries.

Still, it is also agreed that if a number of `classical towns' disappeared

more or less completely in this period, most survived in some form or

others, while some new centres, such as, for example, Comacchio and

Ferrara or, by the eighth century, the case of Venice, emerged and

became very important. "

However that may be, the reality which emerges from early

medieval Italy is that of a urban society, a society strongly based in

towns. " As early as the Ostrogothic period, towns had remained centres

of attraction for the aristocracy and nobility. The Lombard political and

administrative system was based in towns, and so was Byzantine

administration. The Church was also firmly urban, with the exception of

the network of rural monasteries - some of them with very extensive

11 For this definition of the `classical city', see WARD-PERKINS, "Continuitists, catastrophists", p. 162. By the same author, see also From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in which, while discussing the destiny of public buildings in pot Roman towns, Ward Perkins argues in favour of considerable urban continuity. 12 For an interesting discussion of what should be the prcrcquisities of an early medieval settlement to be defined as urban, see P. ARTHUR, "Naples: a case of urban survival in early medieval ages? ", in Melanges de I'Ecole Francaise de Rome. Moyen Age 103 (1991), pp. 759- 784. On this point see also C. WICKHIAM, Early Medieval Italy. Central Power and Local Society 400-1000 (London 1981), pp. 80-114. 13 See D. HARRISON, The Early State and the Towns. Forms of Integration in Lombard Italy , 41) 568-774 (Lund Studies in International History, 29) (Lund, Lund University Press 1993), pp. 98-157. See also J. JARNUT, "La funzione centrale della cittä nel regno longobardo", Societä e storia, 46 (1989), pp. 967-71.

200

estates - which began to appear in the eighth century. Besides,

archaeological evidence relating to important rural central places is still

too scant to form the basis for a non-urban interpretation of early

medieval Italian society. Towns were the centres of power, being the

main administrative centres as well as the places where rulers and nobles

chose to live.

2.2.3 Palace building in Langobardia maior

When the Lombards first occupied the Italian territories, they

installed themselves in towns, establishing a town-based regnum which

accepted pre-existing administrative focuses and reused pre-existing

buildings. Each Lombard ducal centre must have possessed a palace or a

suitable residence for its royal appointee. In the absence of more direct

evidence, it is generally assumed that most of these palaces and

residences dated back to late Roman times or were re-workings of

aristocratic insulae or domus. Palatiunt was the term used for the leading

administrative building in certain towns, where they had been called by

this name already in Roman times, as a result of visits by the emperor.

The leading administrative buildings of other towns had previously been

201

called praetoria, but this term had now disappeared and was replaced by

words like Curtis regis and Curtis ducalis. 14

In any case, Lombard administrations became firmly attached to

these buildings. Alboin established the first capital at Verona, where he

reoccupied the palace built by Theoderic, 15 while Agilulf preferred Milan,

the former imperial capital, where he proclaimed himself king in 591 and

where he supposedly lived in the late-imperial palace located near the

Porta Ticinensis. In 604, his son Adaloald was also proclaimed co-ruler

in the circus of the city, in clear imitation of the Byzantine ceremonial

use of the hippodrome. 16 Later, in the eighth century, Liutprand was to

add to this palace a chapel, known as San Giorgio in palatio. "

During Agilulf's reign, Paul the Deacon records the building of a

palace at Monza by Agilulf's queen, Theudelinda, probably used as a

summer retreat. This was the first palace built ex novo by the Lombards,

and, as such, it was recorded with a certain degree of emphasis by the

14 BRÜHL, Fodrum, I, pp. 357-67. 15 This was presumably the place where Alboin was subsequently killed. See Hist. Lang., II. 28. 16 Hist. Lang., IV. 30. See WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, p. 169 and A. MELUCCO VACCARO, I Longobardi in Italia (Milan 1982), pp. 84-85. 17 Hist. Lang., VI. 58.

202

late eighth-century writer, who recalls how it was decorated with frescoes

depicting events of Lombard history. "

Other royal summer retreats and hunting lodges are also attested in

the countryside near the main cities of the Regnum, but the evidence for

these is usually limited to documentary references or to toponymic traces.

A little bit more is known in the case of the palace built in the first half of

the eighth century at Corteolona, near Pavia, by Liutprand and used as a

suburban residence by the Lombard and possibly also by the Frankish

court. 19 On the basis of documentary and aerial investigations, it has been

proposed that this palace consisted of ranges of rectangular buildings

around a central courtyard, similar to the Ostrogothic rural palaces at

Palazzolo and at Monte Barro. 2° The palace must have been quite

luxurious: two inscriptions, now lost, relating to its foundation, record

how Liutprand obtained a rich quantity of mosaics, marbles and columns

to Hist. Lang, IV. 22: "Ibi etiam praefata regina sibi palatittt» condidit in quo aliquit et de Langobardortum gestis depingi fecit ". While mentioning Monza, Paul also recalls that Theodoric had formerly constructed a palace there because the place, nearer to the Alps then Milan, was temperate and healty in summer time. (Hist. Lang., IV. 21: "Quo in loco etiatn Theudericus quondam Gothorttm rex palatiunt constru. rit, pro eo quod aestivo tempore locus ipse, utpote vicinus Alpibus, temperatus ac salubris exist it"). However, the palace built by Theudelinda was not a readaptation of a pre-existent Theodorician structure, but a palace newly built, probably used, like the pre-existent Theodorician structure, as a summer retreat. See MELUCCO VACCARO, I Longobardi in Italia, p. 167. For Monza in this period, see L. CRACCO RUGGINI, "Monza imperiale e regia", in Pavia capitale di regno (Atli del IV Congresso Internazionale di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, Spoleto, Settembre 1967) (Spoleto, Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo 1969), pp. 377-91. 19 C. CALDERINI, "I1 palazzo di Liutprando a Corteolona", Contributi dell'Istituto di Archeologia 5,1975, pp. 174-203. 20 Ibid., p. 192. Cf. chp. 1.4.6.

203

from Rome to adorn his paternal seat, and how the king initially planned

to build a bath-complex there, but piously changed his mind and founded

a monastery instcad. 21

Pavia soon became the most important city of the Regnum and the

permanent royal capital. Here, the Lombards, once again, reoccupied the

palace built by Theoderic, which was then maintained throughout the

Lombard period. 22 The Pavian palatiurn features prominently in Paul the

Deacon's Historia Langobardorum and in the royal charters, not only as

a residence but also as an administrative centre: most of the twenty-eight

royal charters of Lombard times were issued in Pavia in palatio. Z'

Nevertheless, very little is known of its appearance, with the exception of

the presence in the tribunal of a mosaic depicting the equestrian image of

Theoderic. 24 Also, in 680, king Perctarit built a gate next to the palace,

called the Porta Palatiensis, described as opere mirifico, and possibly

conceived as a magnificent backdrop to ceremonial entries into and exits

21 Ibidem, pp. 178-80. The royal residence at Cortelona also included a magnificently constructed church dedicated to St Anastasio. 22 Paul the Deacon tells us how the inhabitants of Pavia, after enduring a siege for more than three years, gathered around Alboin in the palace which Theoderic had formerly built. (Hist. Lang., 11.27: "in palatium quod quondam rex Theudericus constnuxerat"). For Pavia, see D. BULLOUGII, "Urban change in early medieval Italy: the example of Pavia", Papers of the British School at Rome 34 (1966), pp. 82-130. For the Pavian palatium, see C. -R. BRÜHL, "Das `Palatium' von Pavia und die `Honorantiae Civitatis Papiae", in Pavia capitale di regno (Atti del IV Congresso Internazionale di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, Spoleto, Settembre 1967) (Spoleto, Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo 1969), pp. 189-220. 23 BRÜIIL, Fodrum, I, p. 355. 24 AGNELLUS, LP, 94: "Ticinum quae civitas Papia dicitur, ubi et Theudericus palatium struxit et eius imaginem sedentem super equum in tribunalis cam ens tessellis ornati bene conspexi".

204

from the town and palace. " The palace was also provided with its own

bath-suite" and with a palace-chapel dedicated to the Saviour, added by

Liutprand (712-44). The same king appointed priests and churchmen to

perform for him daily divine services there, a thing which no other king

of the time had. Z'Apart from Pavia and the other former royal capitals,

other Lombard towns functioned as centres for royal and ducal

administration. The royal domain, the main financial resource of the

Lombard kings, was managed through a system of cartes regis

administrated by gastalds, who lived in towns. At the same time, many of

these centres also had a Curtis ducalis, the general quarter of the duke,

well distinct from the curtis regis. In these cases of double arrangements,

it seems likely that the duke controlled civil and military functions, while

the gastald took care of financial administration, in particular of the regal

tax system. " In any case, the presence of these two different officers

requested two different residences. At Lucca, for instance - probably the

best-documented city in Langobardia major and, more generally, in the

whole of early medieval Italy - the royal palace (curtis regia) and mint

25 Hist. Lang., V. 36. See WARD-PERKINS, Fron: Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, pp. 168-9. 26 Cf. Hist. Lang., VI. 20, where Paul the Deacon records the murderer of the young king Liutpert in the palace at Pavia in 701 while "in balneo". See also WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, p. 147. 27 Hist. Lang., VI. 58. 28 MELUCCO VACCARO, I Longobardi, p. 194.

205

were close to the forum in the centre, while the duke's palace (curtis

ducalis) was outside the city walls. 29 At Cividale too, the two seats of

power were well distinguished and separated: the curtis ducalis was in

the eastern part of the town, near the church of Santa Maria, so called in

Corte, while the gastaldaga, the seat of the royal power and of the

gastald, was in the south-eastern part of the town, in the area called

`Valle'. The gastald's residence presumably would have been built in the

seventh century, together with the adjacent church of San Giovanni,

while the famous `Tempietto di Santa Maria in Valle' was added to it

only in the middle of the eighth century, presumably as a palatine

chapel. " The same could be said for most of the other important cities of

the Lombard domain. At Brescia, the curtis regis and the curtis ducalis

were located outside the Roman circuit wall in the western side of the

city, adjacent to one another but still distinct. " At Verona, in addition to

the royal palace mentioned above, there was a residence for the gastald

located to the east of the Roman forum, near the church of San Salvatore

à Corteregia', while the curbs duds has been located on the western side

29 BRÜHL, Fodrum, pp. 357-67. See also I. BELLT-BARSALI, "La topograffa di Lucca nei secoli VIII-IX", in Atli del V Congresso Internationale di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo, Lucca 1971 (Spoleto, Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo), pp. 461-554. 30 H. P. L'ORANGE & H. TORP, "II tempietto longobardo di Cividale", Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historian: pertinentia (Institutum Romanuni Novergiae) VII, parts 1-3 (1977 and 1979). 31 G. PANAZZA, "Brescia e il suo territorio da Teodorico a Carlo Magno", in I Longobardi in Lombardia, Saggi (Milan 1978), pp. 121-42.

206

of the forum, where the Palazzo Marescalchi di Cortalta now stands. 32 At

Milan, the modern toponym of Piazza Cordusio unequivocally refers to a

Curtis ducalis, in addition to the royal palace mentioned above. "

However, apart from these references in written sources, almost nothing

is known about the physical appearance of these residences.

2.2.4 Palace building in Langobardia minor: the duchy of Spoleto

The independent duchy of Spoleto is also now generally thought

to have had an urban aspect. Nevertheless, both literary and

archaeological evidence are even more limited for Spoleto than for

northern Italy. Our knowledge of the administration of this ducal domain

is limited to the fact that it was organised in curtes ducales and was

subject to urban gastalds, in a similar way to the royal financial

administration in northern Italy. Spoleto must have acted as a ducal

capital and it was there that the king stayed when he visited the duchy,

presumably in the ducal palace. ' Contemporary and later sources, such

as ducal charts of the eighth and ninth centuries, refer to the residence of

32 MELUCCO VACCARO, I Longobardi, p. 165. 33 Ibid. pp. 166-67.

207

the duke of Spoleto as a beautiful building built, once again, by

Theodoric. The palace must have been quite large, since it included not

only areas for the lodging of the duke and his retinue, but also rooms for

the administration of justice, as well as an archive. The ducal palace was

probably located in the area where the archbishop's palace now stands. 35

Here, the scanty remains of early medieval masonry seem to indicate that

the building, located in a position high above the valley, was built on a

series of rounded arches, probably giving the palace the appearance of a

loggia, with ranges around the sides of an almost rectangular building.

The early church which stood on the same site as the eleventh-century

church of St. Eufemia could have been a palatine chapel. 36

2.2.5 Palace building in Langobardia minor: the duchy of Benevento

The ducal domain of Benevento was organised in a system of

curtes ducales, similarly to the northern Italian and the Spoletan systems.

The curtes ducales were headed by local gastalds, in turn subordinated to

34 HARRISON, The Early State, pp. 126-7. 35 F. BucI1ER & B. TOSCANO, "The Palace of Theoderic (? ) in Spoleto", Gesta, 2 (1964); C. CALDERINI, "I1 Ducato di Spoleto" in M. BROZZI, C. CALDERINI, M. ROTILI, L'Italia dei Longobardi (Milan, Jaca Book 1987), pp. 48-74. 36 CALDERINI, 11 Ducato di Spoleto", p. 48.

208

the duke. The seat of the duke was located in Benevento, where the old

Roman praetoriuin was presumably readapted and reused as a residence

for the first dukes, until, according to later sources, Arechis 11 (758-787)

built his palace there. " Unfortunately, nothing is known of it, since the

site where it was presumably located has never been investigated. We do

not even know if it was newly built or if it was only a readaptation of, or

a substantial addition to, the existing ducal palace. The only surviving

information is in the modern toponym `corte': at Benevento, this refers to

an area close to the surviving centrally-planned church of Santa Sofia,

also built by Arechis II! The church must have been close to the palace,

since Arechis used to go often there at night to pray. 39 Therefore, the

palace has been plausibly located in the area.

37 LEO OF OSTIA, Chronica, p. 591: "utrunnque palatiºun quae idem princeps umun in Beneventum, alterum in Salerno nobiliter construxerat, idea: Paulus veºsibus luculentissimis

exornavit". For the praetorium, see E. GALASSO, "Il tempio di Iside e il sacrum palatium", in Benevento cerniera di sviluppo interregionale (Naples 1968), pp. 144-150. For the construction of a new palace by Arechis II, cf. P. DELOGU, Mito di una cittrt meridionale (Salerno, secoli VIII-XI) (Naples, Liguori Editore 1977), pp. 15-18. For Benevento during the Lombard domination, see MARC. ROTILI, "Una cittä d'etä longobarda: Benevento", in G. C. MENIS (ed. ), I Longobardi (Milan, Electa 1990), pp. 131-142. 38 ERCHEMPERT, Historia Langobardorum Beneventanorurn, p. 236: "Infra Beneventi auten: moenia templum Domino opulentissimum ac decentissimum condidit quod greco vocabulo Agian Sophian, id est Sanctam Sapientiaºn nominavit, dotatumque amplissimis prediis et variis opibus sanctimoniale coenobium statuens idque sub lure beati Benedicti in perpetuum tradidit permanendum". 39 LEO OF OSTIA, Chronica, p. 587: "... quoniam vicinºnn loco illi palatiunn erat, frequentem

consuetudinem in oratione pernoctandi haberel... ". Santa Sofia is also said "grope principis aulam" in the Metrum Heroicun: in honorem ss. XII Fratrum by ALPMANUS OF SALERNO, in A. LENTIN[ & F. AVAGLIANO, I carmi di Alfano I arcivescovo di Salerno (Miscellanea Cassinese 38) (Montecassino 1974), p. 125.

209

Hans Belting has interpreted Santa Sofia as a palace-chapel.

According to the German scholar, the church of San Salvatore in palatio,

testified in Benevento as early as the ninth century, would have been the

same church of Santa Sofia under a different dedication. 4° However, this

interpretation has been rejected by subsequent scholars and the church

has been more generally considered, following the foundation charter, as

the sanctuary of the Lombard nation as well as its memorial chapel. "

Arechis built another palace at Salerno, for which we are

somewhat better informed. 42 In the tenth century, the anonymous writer

of the Chronicon Salernitanum recorded that the church dedicated to SS.

Paul and Peter, also built by Arechis, was situated to the north of the

palace. 43 Fortunately, even if considerably altered, the church is still

standing. Consequently, the site of the palace has been located in an area

south of the church, a zone which, in fact, is still known as ̀ la corte'. 44

40 H. BELTING, "Studien zum beneventanischen Hof im 8. Jahrhundert", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 16 (1962), pp. 141-94, at pp. 175-93. 41 M. CAGIANO DE AZEVEDO, "Esistono una architettura e una urbanistica longobarde? ", in Atti del Convegno Internazionale sul Tema: la Civiltez dei Longobardi in Europa. (Roma e Cividale 1971) (Rome, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 1974), pp. 1-41, at 13; DELOGU, Mito di aura cittä, pp. 22-23; WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, p. 171. 42 LEO OF OSTIA, Chronica, p. 591. For Arechis' palace at Salerno, see CAGIANO DE AZEVEDO,

"Esistono una architettura e una urbanistica longobarde? ", pp. 14-15; DELOGU, Mito di una

cittä, pp. 42-50; P. PEDUTO et al., "Un accesso alla storia di Salerno: stratigrafie e materiali dell'area palaziale longobarda", Rassegna Storica Salernitana 5,2 (1988), pp. 9-63 and P.

PEDUTO, "Insediamenti longobardi del ducato di Benevento", in S. GASPARRI & P.

CAMMAROSANO (eds), Langobardia (Udine, Casamassima 1990), pp. 306-73.

43 Chron. Sal., p. 22: "palatium construxit et ibidem in aquilonis parte ecclesiant in honorem beatorum Petri et Pauli instituit". 44 DELOGU, Mito di una cittd, p. 42.

210

The palatial complex seems to have had quite a simple

arrangement. It consisted of a double-storey building, divided into

different rooms and possibly completed by the abitacula servorum. The

area taken up by the palace was quite large, and could have also included

other buildings for administrative use, maybe built by Arechis'

successors. 45

According to the description given in the Chronicon

Salernitanum, the prince's apartment was located on the upper floor. In

787, in fact, when Arechis received Charlemagne's Frankish embassy

there, he organised a dazzling reception on the monumental stairs which

gave access to the palace. On entering the palace, the ambassadors had to

pass through some loca before arriving to the aula regia, where the

prince's throne was located. 46 This was also the bedroom where the

prince and his wife would sleep, more germanico. 4'

The palatial chapel still preserves interesting and characteristic

feature, even if heavily transformed over the centuries. The church is

elevated at the level of the first floor and can be entered now only by a

staircase, added at a relatively recent date. This arrangement indicates

that in the early Middle Ages access to the church was possible only

as Such as, for instance, the archives mentioned in Chron. Sal., p. 62. 46 Chron. Sal., pp. 18-19.

211

through the piano nobile of the palace, which was directly linked to the

church. 48

The church stands above a room used until quite recently as a

bakery, which actually supports the church. Beneath the floor of this

room, archaeological excavations have revealed a series of rooms with

painted walls, which reused part of a thermal complex of the first-second

century Aß. 49

Judging from the recent archaeological survey, the interior of the

palace chapel was splendidly decorated. Verses probably written by Paul

the Deacon were displayed in gilded-bronze letters on the walls, while

the floor was paved with a magnificent opus sectile pavement of rare and

precious marbles, attesting to the high level of sophistication and

classicism in taste which flourished at the court of Arechis. 5°

47 For the nightly use of the hall, Chron. Sal., p. 181. See also CAGIANO DE AZEVEDO, "Esistono una architettura e una urbanistica longobarde? ", pp. 14-15. 48 DELOGU, Milo di una citti,, p. 45. See also PEDUTO, "Insediamenti longobardi, p. 324, n. 55. 49 M. P. PEDUTO, P. PEDUTO & M. ROMITO, "Chiesa di San Paolo a Corte", Passeggiate Salernitane 3 (1988), pp. 20-27. See also M. ROMITO, "Strutture romane in S. Pietro a Corte a Salerno", Rassegna Storica Salernitana 1,2 (1984), pp. 33-47 and A. CARUCCI, La chiesa pn'' antica di Salerno: 1'ecclesia Dei Genitricis (Salerno 1981). so PEDUTO et al., "Un accesso alla storia di Salerno", pp. 25-26. For the cultural and artistic level at the court of Arechis II, see J. MITCHELL, "The display of script and the uses of painting in Lombard Italy", in Testo e immagine nell'alto medioevo (Settimane di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo 41) (Spoleto, Centro Italiano di Studi sull'Alto Medioevo 1994), pp. 887-951, at pp. 895-6,928-9 and, by the same author, "Arichis und die Künste", in H. -R. MEIER, C. JAGGI & P. BÜTTNER (eds), Für Irdischen Ruh,,: und Hi, nnilischen Lohn. Stifter und Auftraggeber in der Mittelalterlichen Kunst (Berlin, Deitrich Reimer 1995), pp. 47- 64.

212

The archaeological investigations have also indicated that the

ground floor was probably shaped in the form of a loggia, with the

church in the upper storey. Later on, the ground-floor porch was closed

and a crypt opened beneath it. s'

A close parallel with the ducal palace at Salerno is to be found in a

palatial structure found within the monastery of San Vincenzo al

Volturno. ", Extensive archaeological excavations have shown that the

palace complex resulted from the ninth-century restructuring of the eight-

century monastery, which also included the building of a new larger

abbey-church. The original early eighth-century abbey-church, a chapel

on its north side and a garden court to the south were transformed in a

new complex consisting of a large elevated hall, with stables and

subsidiary rooms on the ground floor, a chapel on its north side and a

51 In this phase, therefore, the palatine chapel at Salerno could have been an example of a 'double church', a type which in the eighth and ninth centuries began to come into fashion in various regions of Europe. n interesting comparison in this sense can be found at Salerno, in the church of San Massimo, built less then a century later by the prince Guafiero, next to his residence. The church still stands but, just like the church of San Pietro in Corte, has been heavily transformed and damaged over the centuries. However, it is clear that this church was elevated as well, and possibly entered directly from the prince's residence. Beneath the church was also a lower room, which had an altar dedicated to Saint Bartholomew. Cf. DELOGU, Mito di una cittb, pp. 46-49. See also M. CAGIANO DE AzEVEDO, "Laubia", Studi Medievali 10,2 (1969), pp. 431-463. 52 The first two volumes of the final report have been published: R. HODGES (ed. ), San Vincenzo al Volturno 1: The 1980-86 Excavations, Part I (Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 7), (London, British School at Rome 1993) and, by the same editor, San Vincenzo al Volturno 2: The 1980-86 Excavations, Part II (Archaeological Monographs of the British School at Rome 9), (London, British School at Rome 1995). Cf. also R. HODGES, Light in the Dark Ages: the Rise and Fall of San Vincenzo al Volturno (London, Duckworth 1997) and R. HODGES, S. GIBSON & J. MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city. The

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Figure 2.2.1 San Vincenzo at Volturno. North end of the monastery. Plan.

213

porticoed garden court to the south. A small dining-room to the east of

the garden and, facing it, a large entrance hall which provided access up

to the first floor hall completed the complex. The palace was separated

by the garden and a small courtyard from the monks' living quarters, but

was connected by two thoroughfares to the new abbey-church of San

Vincenzo Maggiore. (Fig. 2.1.1)

The palace was built in two major construction phases. In the first

phase, dated by the excavators to the time of Abbot Joshua (792-817), the

old abbey-church of San Vincenzo Minore was only partially

demolished, and its western end, with its altar, was included into a larger

building, probably to retain the original site of the monastery's principal

cult while the new abbey church was still under constructions' In this

phase, the palace was already double-storied. The ground floor consisted

of three simple undercrofts, presumably used for stables and other

domestic purposes, such as lodging for retainers or storerooms. These

were separated by a cross-passage from a chapel - the old apsidal one -

located at the west end of the ground floor. An outer staircase, located on

architecture of San Vincenzo al Volturno in the ninth century", Papers of the British School at Rome 65 (1997), pp. 233-86. 53 See R. HODGES & S. MYTHEN (with contribution by S. Gibson and J. Mitchell), "The 'south church': a late Roman funerary church (San Vincenzo Minore) and the hall for distinguished guests", in HODGES (ed. ), San Vincenzo al Volturno 1, pp. 123-90. See also HODGES, GiBSON & MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city", pp. 251-57.

UPPER FLOOR PLAN

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Figure 2.2.2 San Vincenzo al Volturno. Reconstruction of the palace, c. 800- 20.

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Figure 2.2.3 San Vincenzo at Volturno. San Vincenzo al Volturno. Reconstruction of the distinguished guests' complex and monks' refectory, c. 830.

214

the south side, provided access to the upper level, where richly decorated

apartments were situated. 54 (Fig. 2.2.2)

The second phase of the construction of the palace has been dated

to the age of Abbot Epyphanius (824-42). In this phase, the apsidal end

of San Vincenzo Minore was demolished and the relics in its altar were

presumably moved to the new abbey-church of San Vincenzo Maggiore.

The old apsidal end of the palace was levelled off to the height of the first

floor of the former nave while a new apse, extending into the terrace

above, was constructed after the demolition of an old late Roman tower,

once situated on this terrace. The undercrofts on the ground floor were

altered too, but probably continued to serve for domestic purposes, while

stabling was transferred elsewhere, probably immediately north of the

crypt church. Vaults were inserted to support the upper level, which does

not appear to have been substantially altered in this phase. " (Fig. 2.2.3)

Another significant change in this phase was the extensive

rebuilding of the so-called crypt church. Situated on the north side of the

palace, the small eighth-century chapel had remained basically unaltered

in the early ninth-century phase, when it was accessed through a

sa The excavations have brought to light a wealth of fragments of fine paintings as well as pieces of marble from a large opus sectile pavement which fell from the upper hall. See HODGES & MITHEN, "The 'south church' ", pp. 168-70 and 183-86; see also HODGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city", p. 257.

215

passageway located under the first-floor rooms of the former `south-

church'. 56 Following the substantial restructuring dated to the period of

Abbot Epyphanius (824-42), the church was provided with a semi-

subterranean crypt containing the well-known cycle of paintings in which

Epyphanius himself is depicted. "

On the south side of the palace, continuing a tradition which may

have dated back to Samnite-Republican times, " lay a porticoed garden

court, clearly echoing the peristyle garden of a Pompeian house. 59 The

56 R. HODGES & J, MITCHELL (with a contribution by S. Gibson), "The crypt church", in HODGES (ed. ), San Vincenzo al Volturno 1, pp. 40-74, at p. 72; HODGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city", p. 261. 57 The restructuring of the chapel also involved alterations to the chancel of the eighth-century church, the remodelling of the presbytery - now a raised triconch sanctuary - and the addition of a narthex and a little atrium on its eastern end, through which the `crypt church' could now be

approached from the riverside. This sunken atrium also served as a small graveyard, probably used for the burials of the local elite or of members of the monastic hierarchy

. On the basis of

its iconography, the crypt has been reinterpreted by John Mitchell as a funerary oratory, probably designed for a child of a member of the local aristocracy. Cf. J. MITCHELL, "The crypt reappraised", in HODGES (ed. ), San Vincenzo al Volturno 1, pp. 75-114. For previous interpretations of the programme, see especially H. BELTING, Studien zur Ben eventanischen Malerei (Forschungen zur Kunstgeschichte und Christlichen Archäeologie 7) (Wiesbaden, Steiner Verlag 1968), pp. 216-22, and F. DE' MAFFEI, "Le arti a San Vincenzo al Volturno: il ciclo delta cripta di Epifanio", in F. AVAGLIANO (ed. ), Una grande abbazia altomedievale ne! Molise. San Vincenzo a! Volturno (Atli del I convegno di studi sul medioevo meridionale) (Miscellanea Cassinese 51) (Montecassino 1985), pp. 269-352, at pp. 296-327. 59 Excavations revealed that an open area certainly existed here as early as the early classical period and that the same open area approximately existed in the fifth and sixth centuries as well, when it formed some kind of atrium or cloister yard for the first monastery. In the first

phase of construction of the palatial complex, a covered portico was added on the east, north and west sides of the garden court; to the south, the garden backed onto the large monks' refectory. In the second phase, a bench painted with large red flowers and poppies was added to the eastern portico. Cf. I. RIDDLER (with contributions by R. Hodges and J. Mitchell), "The garden court", in HODGES (ed. ) San Vincenzo al Volturno 1, pp. 191-209. Also HODGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city", pp. 262-63. 59 The colonnade was supported by reused Roman columns, with finely carved ninth-century capitals; the back wall of the east portico was decorated with paintings depicting a full-size colonnade with plants between the columns, clearly recalling the architecture of the portico, while a large and finely carved marble vase of late second-century date stood either between the columns or in the centre of the garden itself. Cf J. MITCHELL, "Monastic guest quarters and

216

room to the east side of the garden has been interpreted by the excavators

as the palace refectory. 60 On the west side of the garden lay the entrance

hall with the staircase by which the first-floor rooms of the palace could

be reached. In the first phase of construction of the palace, when the

building was erected, the entrance hall consisted of a narrow two-storey

structure with a simple stair, simply designed to gain access to the upper-

floor apartments. When the building was restructured in the following

phase, however, it was transformed into quite an imposing structure, and

the first floor was rearranged as the beginning of a corridor to the ùpper

thoroughfare'. In this phase, the entrance hall was also provided with a

new facade made of monumental blocks from an early Roman building.

At ground-floor level, this was decorated with two blind arcades, while

the first floor was composed of three open arcades, within which may

colonnade with plants between the columns, clearly recalling the architecture of the portico, while a large and finely carved marble vase of late second-century date stood either between

the columns or in the centre of the garden itself. Cf J. MITCHELL, "Monastic guest quarters and workshops: the example of San Vincenzo al Volturno", in H. -R. SENNAttuSER (ed. ), Whon-

und 1Virtschaftbauten Friimittelalterlicher Klöster (Zürich 1996), pp. 127-55, at pp. 138-39. For a comparable example of real columns juxtaposed with illusionistically painted ones on the

surroundings walls, see the House of the Labyrinth at Pompeii: T. KRnus & L. VON MATT, Pompeii and Herculanum: The Living Cities of the Dead (New York 1975), ill. 73 60 Mainly built in the early ninth-century phase, this range had a tiled floor and a thatched roof, like in the monks' refectory. The room was sumptuously decorated: the lower walls were decorated with a fictive veined marble dado, painted with Egyptian blue, a rare pigment made

of cobalt. Cf. I. R DDLER (with contributions by S. Gibson, R. Hodges and J. Mitchell), "The distinguished guests' refectory, in HODGES (ed. ) San Vincenzo a! Volturno 1, pp. 210-15.

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Figure 2.2.4 San Vincenzo at Volturno. The entrance hall to the palace. Plan

and hypothetical elevations.

217

have been windows, creating a sort of loggia-like structure between the

monks' refectory and the palace. " (Fig. 2.2.4)

Beyond the entrance hall was situated the so-called vestibule. In

the early ninth century, this room had consisted of an open courtyard

where four different passages intersected: the stair leading to the ground-

floor rooms of the palace in the north-east corner; the entrance hall,

which provided access to the first-floor apartments, on the east side; a

staircase leading up to the upper thoroughfare and to San Vincenzo

Maggiore on the west side; and, finally, the wide doorway that led into

the assembly room, in the residential quarter of the monks, in the south-

west corner. In the second phase, however, this arrangement was

significantly modified. The open courtyard was now covered, the floor

was paved with tiles, and its walls were decorated with solemn figures of

standing saints, above brightly coloured marble dados. 62

Being located at the juncture between the public and the restricted

claustral areas of the complex, the vestibule was à critical focal point

within the monastery'. 63 After the restructuring of the second quarter of

the ninth century, it may have even functioned not only as a place of

61 R. HODGES (with contributions by S. Gibson and J. Mitchell), "The entrance hall or monumental staircase", in HODGES (ed. ) San Vincenzo al Volturno 1, pp. 216-26. 6' R. HODGES, S. GIBSON & J. MITCHELL, "The vestibule: where the thoroughfares meet", in HODGES (ed. ), San Vincenzo al Volturno 2, pp. 1-19. 63 HODGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The vestibule", p. 18.

218

passage, but also as a parlour in which lay visitors and monks could meet

formally'

The complex palatial structure has been interpreted by the

excavators as an area for receiving and accommodating distinguished

guests of the monastery, possibly Carolingian and Beneventan nobles

who the abbot would have aimed to impress. 61 However, this

interpretation has been recently challenged by Delogu and Fentress, who

believe that the palace was built under the Abbot Joshua (792-817) for

his own use, and tN n was later transformed by one of his powerful

successors to the same end. '

All in all, at the present stage of the archaeological research, both

interpretations could be possible. Besides, this debate does not really

affect our argument: the palatial complex at San Vincenzo would present

a very interesting example of ninth-century palatial arrangement in either

case, residence for distinguished guests or abbot's palace. What is more

`4 Ibid. 65 HODGES & MITIIEN, "The 'south church' ", pp. 188-89. 66 P. DELOGU, Review of HODGES (ed. ) San Vincenzo a! Volturno I, Hispania 55,2 (1995), no. 109, pp. 740-4; E. FENTRESS, Reviews of HODGES (ed. ) San Vincenzo al Volturno I and Part II, in Journal of Roman Archaeology 9 (1996), pp. 604-10. However, this hypothesis has been

rejected by Hodges and Mitchell, who believe that the abbot occupied a building closer to San Vincenzo Maggiore. The excavators of the monastic complex also argue that the provision of stabling in the ground-floor rooms, as well as the finding of fine glassware in this building,

would suggest that the complex was used by distinguished guests of the monastery rather than by the monks. Cf. HOFGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city", p. 251-53

and R. HODGES & J. MITCHELL, The Basilica of Abbot Joshua at San Vincenzo a! Volturno (Miscellanea Vulturnense 2), (Monteroduni, Abbazia di Montecassino 1996), p. 130.

Figure 2.2.5 Naranco. Santa Maria. View of the east-facade.

Figure 2.2.6 Naranco. Santa Maria. View of the north-side.

Figure 2.2.7 Naranco. Santa Maria. View from the south-west side.

Figure 2.2.8 Naranco. Santa Maria. Interior. Upper floor.

Figure 2.2.9 Naranco. Santa Maria. Axonometry.

219

important to insist upon here, is the strong similitude between this palace

and other structures of the same period. As stressed by Hodges and

Mitchell, there are a number of features at San Vincenzo which seem to

derive from the cultural practice of the southern Lombard courts

showing, in particular, a strong resemblance with the `palace of similar

proportions at Salerno'. 67

Hodges and Mitchell have also associated the palace at San

Vincenzo with other contemporary structures, such as the hall built for

the King of Mercia at Northampton, which will be analysed in a

subsequent chapter and, above all, with the palace at Mount Naranco, in

Spain. 68 (Figg. 2.2.5-9)

Located a couple of miles north of Oviedo, the palace, built for the

King of Asturias, Ramiro 1 (842-850), is exceptionally well-preserved. 69

It consists of a handsome, rectangular building, double-storied and built

in roughly-dressed masonry. The ground floor is entered from a door on

67 HODGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city", p. 259. See also HODGES

and MITCHELL, The Basilica ofAbbotJoshua, pp. 113-16. 68 HODGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city", pp. 259-60; see also I-IODGES & MITIIEN, "The `south church' ", pp. 188-89. 69 See P. DE PALOL and M. HIRMER, Early Medieval Art in Spain (London, Thames and Hudson, 1967), pp. 36-38; A. ARBEITER and S. NOACK-HALEY, "The kingdom of Asturias", in The Art of Medieval Spain (catalogue of the exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from November 18,1993 to March 13,1994) (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1993), pp. 113-119; S. NOACK-HALEY and A. ARBEITER, Asturische Königsbauten des 9. Jahrhunderts: San Miguel de Lino, Belvedere am Naranco, Santa Cristina de Lena, San Salvador de Valdediös, 2 vols. (Madrider Beiträge 22) (Mainz am Rehin, Verlag Philipp von Zabern 1994), pp. 115-40, pl. 41-65. See also R. COLLINS, "Doubts

220

the western side of the building, while access to the upper floor was

originally provided by two staircases located on the long sides, one of

which is no longer preserved. At each end there is a loggia, defined by

worked arches resting on ornamental columns, while the side-walls are

furnished with arcades, supported by clusters of decorated shafts. The

interior mainly consists of a large barrel-vaulted hall, with a series of

transverse arches dividing it into bays. Light comes through the three

great doorways at either end that open onto loggias in the west and the

east, as well as through the wide openings that lead to the porches to the

north and the south. The main floor is located over a vaulted undercroft,

of the same area as the hall above it, though barely half the height.

Almost certainly, the hall was surrounded by a complex of other

buildings, including living quarters and other ranges for religious and

administrative purposes. The Chronicle of Alfonso III states that Ramiro

had built a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and, not far from dicta

ecclesia, a palace and a bath-house. 7° The church of San Miguel de Lino,

located near the palace, could have been the royal chapel dedicated to the

Virgin Mary, to whom on 23 June 848 Ramiro I had dedicated the altar

and certainties on the churches of early medieval Spain", in D. LoMAX & D. MACKENZIE (eds), God and Man in Medieval Spain (Warminster, Aris & Phillips 1989), pp. 1-18. 70 COLLINS, "Doubts and certainties", p. 14.

221

now placed in the east loggia of the palace. " In the eleventh century at

the latest, almost two-thirds of the church were destroyed and only its

western part survived. Supposedly, its dedication to Santa Maria could

have then passed to the nearby palatial structure, which came to be used

exclusively as a church until its resecularization in 1930.72

Originally, though, the palatial building seems to have been used

for some kind of royal ceremonial, where a chosen elite was possibly

accommodated inside the building, while more common people were

gathered outside, to follow the proceedings through the open-ended

compartments. 73

Undoubtedly, the resemblance between the palaces at Naranco and

San Vincenzo al Volturno is considerable. Not only the two buildings are

very similar from a structural point of view - both being double-storied,

with the main hall located on the upper floor, above an undercroft - but

71 The dedicatory inscription has been transcribed in J. MANZANARES RODRIGUES MIR, Arte Asturiano. Sintesis de Si' arquitectura (Oviedo 1957), p. 18. Presumably, the altar has been moved to the east loggia on the upper floor in the thirteenth century, when the main hall was converted into the church of Santa Maria de Naranco. 72 DE PALOL and HIRMER, Early Medieval Art, p. 38. On the contrary, Roger Collins reckons that the palace at Naranco is a building that pre-dates the reign of Ramiro, who therefore only restored it in 848 while the site of his palace and baths, as described by the sources, still needs to be located. Cf. COLLINS, "Doubts and certainties", pp. 15-18. In my opinion, though, Collins' arguments against the identification of the palatial structure at Naranco as Ramiro's royal hall is quite feeble and not very convincing. 73 Since the eastern part of the lower floor was once a cistern, this part of the building could perhaps have been the bath-house mentioned by the sources. Cf. ARBEITER and NOACK- HALEY, "The kingdom of Asturias", p. 116.

222

they also seem to share a certain reminiscence of architectonic forms and

decorative motives typical of a late antique repertoire.

It has been pointed out that the general inspiration behind this

palatial arrangement came from the triclinium, the well-known late-

antique palatial form which was becoming fashionable again throughout

early medieval Europe, especially after the construction of new triclinia

at the Vatican, at the Lateran and at the Great Palace at Constantinople,

as analysed in the previous chapter. "

As for thepalaces, magnificent buildings such as Arechis' palace

at Salerno, the palatial complex at San Vincenzo al Volturno and the hall

at Naranco were designed to proclaim and reflect the power, the authority

and the ambitions of their owner. They were part of the same cultural

milieu and were following similar cultural strategies. Therefore, they

used a much similar language, made of the same architectonic and artistic

codes, with apparent reference both to classical Antiquity and the culture

of Byzantium. 75

74 HODGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city", pp. 259-60. 75 Cf. for this point J. MITCHELL, "L'arte nell'Italia longobarda e ncll'Europa carolingia", in C. BERTELLI & G. P. BROGIOLO (eds. ) Il f rturo (lei Longobardi ( forthcoming).

223

2.2.6 Housing in early medieval Italy

Hodges and Mitchell have also noted how some of the features

found at the palatial structure at San Vincenzo can be related to the

aristocratic town houses of ninth-century Gaeta and Naples, which

tended to be dwellings of two floors, built around colonnaded courtyards.

The complex at San Vincenzo, therefore, would have been àn

illustration of ninth-century standards of regal grandeur', 76 while

showing, at the same time, some of the features to which a Beneventan

aristocrat would have been accustomed in his house, even if, obviously,

here presented on a more impressive scale.

But what did these features exactly consist . of? If in late Roman

times, as we have seen in the first part of this work, local elites imitated

practices adopted at the centres of power incorporating in their

dwellings, it could be possible to know something more about the

appearance of regal residential palaces in early medieval Italy from their

reflection in more modest structures. A closer inspection of middle-high

status town houses of the period, therefore, could give some clues.

The analysis of a number of documents relating to early medieval

dwellings indicates a series of interesting elements. In some of the cases,

224

houses were still built in masonry, also using spolia, but there was also

an extensive use of wood, especially for internal subdivision such as

floors, roofs, internal walls and stairs. "

Houses were often double-storey, with the use of expressions such

as casa solarata and casa terrinata to mean a two-storey building and a

single-storey house. A fair number of examples, dating from the eighth to

the tenth centuries, is known from places such as Rimini, Perugia,

Ravenna, Verona, Lucca Viterbo, Naples, Salerno, Rome and

elsewhere. 78

The distribution of different rooms was mainly the same in most

of the examples considered: the ground floor was generally devoted to

agricultural activity, shops and stables and to domestic activity, as

indicated by the quite common presence of a canapha, a sort of

warehouse, and of a coquina, the kitchen, often consisting in a basic open

hearth. Sometimes the kitchen was separated from the real house, maybe

for safety reasons, and used at the same time by different households.

Ground floors were also sometimes characterised by the presence of

76 HODGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The making of a monastic city", p. 261. 77 See especially M. CAGIANO DE AzEVEDO, "Le case descritte net Codex tradition um ravennatis", Rendiconti dell'Accademia (lei Lincei, 27 (1972), pp. 159-81 and, by the same author, "Edifici altomedievali delta costa adriatica settentrionale", Aquileia Nostra, 43 (1972), 18-25. 78 Ibid., and, by the same author, "Esistono una architettura e una urbanistica longobarde? ", p. 298, n. 57; also cf. BELLI-BARSALI, "La topografia di Lucca", pp. 461-554 and LA ROCCA,

"`Dark Ages' a Verona", pp. 58-61.

225

wells, cisterns and also of a balneum or calidarium, possibly a simple

room provided with a basic system of disposal of water. Living activities

were confined to the first floor, with a triclinium - or a sala - and

cubicula. Since sala and triclinium are never mentioned together in the

same document, we might conjecture that they refer to the same room.

Back gardens or orchards were also often mentioned. 79

The scantier archaeological evidence has confirmed, at least in

part, the picture given by written documents. As regards the materials

used in the construction of dwellings, most of the sites excavated have

revealed the presence of wooden buildings, indicated by the presence of

large numbers of postholes. Excavations at the site of San Romano at

Ferrara, for example, have shown a complex sequence of timber

buildings, dating from the eight century onwards, including a possibly

double-storey house, with the ground floor used for storage or industrial

activity. "

The archaeological evidence from Ferrara seems to indicate

gradual but increasing sophistication in domestic architecture and living

standards. Structures with earth-fast timbers and fairly crude carpentry

progressed through a phase of sophisticated timber-framing, showing

79 CAGIANO DE AZEVEDO, "Le case descritte" pp. 164-169.

226

how a house built in wood should not necessarily always be considered

as a mere hut. 81 The buildings from the site at San Romano, therefore,

would seem to fit in the generally accepted idea about early medieval

buildings in Italy - as well as in the whole of western Europe - that in the

post-Roman period the tradition of mortared stone and brick building

either disappeared or at least diminished, leading to a resurgence of the

use of timber and other perishable materials. However, one has to

consider that, unlike most of the sites mentioned so far, the case of

Ferrara is quite peculiar. Ferrara, in fact, had no Roman classical past,

being an early medieval `new town' where brick was introduced very

slowly and gradually, only in the later Middle Ages in preponderant

quantities. Obviously, it is easier to document the gradual introduction of

bricks on a `virgin' site like Ferrara, while the situation is far more

confused on former Roman sites, where a lot of brick rubble is always

present. " The widespread incidence of wooden structures on a series of

excavated sites does not necessarily mean that newly-built houses in

80 D. GADD & B. WARD-PERKINS, "The development of urban domestic housing in northern Italy. The evidence of the excavations on the San Romano site, Ferrara (1981-4)", Accordia Research Paper 2 (1991), pp. 105-127. 81 The use of wood in residential building has often been considered as a sign of economic decline. On the other hand, more optimistically, it has also been interpreted as a signal of cultural changes (Cf. BROGIOLO, "La cittä tra tarda-antichitä c medioevo", pp. 49-51). However, even Chris Wickham, one of the stronger defender of this more optimistic view, now accepts that the prevalence of wooden housing should be seen as evidence of economic decline, and not just of cultural changes: WICKHAM, "Considerazioni conclusive", pp. 745-6.

227

mortared stone ceased to be made. Written sources, as noted above, refer

to houses in stone as early as the eight century. Archaeological evidence

from Verona and Naples confirms this data. One could argue about the

quality of the masonry, but there is no doubt that houses in stone were

still being built in this period. "

The quite common presence of orchard and back garden noted in

the sources appears to be attested archaeologically as `dark earth'

deposits. This is another of those features which could be easily - and

indeed has been - interpreted in very divergent ways. Those scholars in

favour of a more catastrophic vision of early medieval towns have

recognised in dark-earth deposits one of the most indicative signs of

decay and decline of town life, one of the main signals of economic

depression. At the same time, however, more optimistic scholars have

interpreted dark-earth deposits as attesting the presence of cultivated

areas created within the former Roman insulae. a4

The diffusion of two-storey buildings has also been confirmed,

even if only in a limited number of cases, by archaeological practice.

82 GADD & WARD-PERKINS, "The development of urban domestic housing in northern Italy",

pp. 122-3. 83 LA ROCCA, "`Dark Ages' a Verona", pp. 64-67; ARTIIUR, "Naples: a case of urban survival", p. 769. 84 See, for example, BROGIOLO & S. GELICIII, "La cittä nell'alto medioevo italiano", pp. 86-95; ARTHUR, "Naples: a case of urban survival", p. 768 and LA ROCCA, "`Dark Ages' a Verona",

pp. 53-9.

228

This feature has sometimes been interpreted as a signal which would

clearly show a growth in the urban population and the subsequent

expansion of the city on a vertical rather then a horizontal direction. Paul

Arthur has argued in favour of this hypothesis for early medieval Naples,

suggesting that after a drop in the size of the population which set in

during the fourth-sixth centuries, the number of inhabitants rose again.

This would be archaeologically supported by the large quantities of

rubbish produced during early medieval times and regularly encountered

in excavations, as well as by the development of this new medieval house

type. 85

On this thesis, early medieval Naples would thus have been quite a

populated city, with part of the population almost self-sufficient through

the cultivation of the numerous land-plots created within the Roman

insulae, while the Church, the monasteries and their dependant poor, and

the civil and military community, would have depended on their

agricultural estates. This model can be supported by the evidence from

the rich Neapolitan archives, which show how, from the seventh century

onwards, the economic base which ensured the survival of the Neapolitan

militia was created through the assignation of local land plots and no

85 ARTHUR, "Naples: a case of urban survival", pp. 768-9.

229

longer was based on a centralised system of taxation, accountancy and

payment. 86

The increase in population could explain the common adoption of

double-storey building in places such as Naples and Amalfi, where the

available space was quite limited. However, this explanation is not fully

convincing for other contexts. In the case of Rome, it is hardly credible.

Despite being still the greatest city in the western Mediterranean, the

number of Rome's inhabitants - perhaps close to 500,000 in the fourth

century - had dropped quite dramatically. Obviously, Procopius's tale

that only 500 men were left in Rome at the end of the Gothic Wars

sounds catastrophically improbable. However, the estimated figure

remains quite small, and probably fluctuated between 30.000 and 90.000

over the Middle Ages. 87

Logically enough, it has been argued that the stock of housing

surviving from Antiquity in Rome was more than sufficient for the needs

of such a reduced number of people. Both literary and archaeological

evidence demonstrate, in fact, that the surplus of Roman houses

continued to be used throughout our period, and that dwellings were also

installed in other types of pre-existing structures, such as porticoes or

86 Ibid., pp. 773-4 and C. WICKHAM, "L'Italia e 1'altomedioevo", Archeologia niedievale 15 (I 988), pp. 105-24, at pp. 107-8.

Figure 2.2.10 Rome. Forum of Nerva. Reconstruction of the houses

excavated.

Figure 2.2.11 Rome. Forum of Nerva. House 1.

230

other public buildings. " Also, the fact that we do not have any evidence

for newly-built houses until the ninth century should be considered in this

context. The resident population may not have needed to build new

houses because they could still use the large number of existing ones.

At least from the ninth century onwards, though, new houses

started to be built again in Rome, as testified by the recently excavated

site at the Forum of Nerva. This offers the most imposing and best-

preserved residential structures so far uncovered in early medieval Italy. 89

The excavation brought to light the remains of two houses. Dated by the

excavator to the ninth century, they were both irregularly rectangular

structures, built in stone, with walls made of cut blocks of peperino

reused from the Forum. (Figg. 2.2.10-11)

The first house, built on the street front, still shows an

exceptionally well preserved portico in blocks of peperino with insertions

of bricks and mortar of very good quality, forming the facade. The

excavation also revealed part of an outer stair which led to a first floor. A

87 KRAUTREIMER, Rome. Profile of a city, p. 62 and HODGES & D. WHITEHHOUSE, Mohammed, Charlemagne, pp. 48-52. 88 R. COATES-STEPHENS, "Housing in early medieval Rome, 500-1000 AD", Papers of the British School at Rome 64 (1996), pp. 239-59, at pp. 245. 89 Cf. R. SANTANGELI VALENZANI, "Edilizia residenziale e aristocrazia urbana a Roma nell'altomedioevo", in S. GELICHI (ed. ), I Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale (Pisa 1997), pp. 64-70 and, by the same author, "Profanes Bauwesen in Rom um das Jahr 800", in C. STIEGEMANN & M. WEMFIOFF (eds. ), Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Karl der Grosse und Papst Leo III. in Paderborn (catalogue of the exhibition held in Paderborn, 23 July -1 November 1999) (Mainz, Verlag Philipp von Zabern 1999), pp. 550-558.

231

well and a cesspit were included in this structure, as well as a latrine

located on the first floor. Inside the building, the floor consisted of

simple beaten earth, with the base of a simple hearth, consisting of square

terracotta slabs. Nothing remains of the internal partitions of the building,

apart from a large post-hole in the floor, interpreted as the location of a

supporting pier. However, since only a portion of the floor is still

preserved, it is quite likely that there were partitions, possibly made of

wood or other perishable material. On the first floor, there is no evidence

to suggest whether the construction was in wood or brick. However this

was the place where the cubicula, the bedrooms of the household, and

possibly a dining room or some other sort of hall must have been

situated. On both sides of the building, the excavations revealed two

uncovered areas within the enclosure wall. Apart from the cesspit, this

area was probably used for housing domestic animals, as the remains of a

hitching point in the wall and part of a drinking trough show.

The second house is not so well preserved, but still presents

interesting features. The masonry of this building was in peperino

integrated with patches of reused bricks, laid with the typical undulating

rhythm of Roman ninth-century masonry in the city. The room on the

ground-floor was vaulted, presumably in the same phase of its building.

232

This second house also has the traces of an outer stair on the western

wall, leading to a first floor.

The houses at the Forum of Nerva clearly present most of the

features documented in both literary and archaeological sources

mentioned above. Built in masonry, they also possibly made use of wood

for internal partitions, as was the case, for example, with the houses

analysed by Cristina La Rocca for Verona. 9° Furthermore, one of the

houses at the Forum of Nerva was built on the street front, as was the

case in other instances, such as, for example, at Naples, " Verona, 92

Lucca93 and probably in Rome itself, as the house currently being

excavated by Stefano Coccia's team on the Via Iugaria - at the western

end of the Basilica Julia - seems to show. 9'

The siting of houses on the street-line has been seen as one of the

factors which led to the survival of antique street-grids, and has been

used by those arguing for continuity in early medieval towns as a signal

of the maintenance and use of Roman streets. This was certainly the case

90 LA ROCCA, "`Dark Ages' a Verona", p. 65. 91 ARTHUR, "Naples: a case of urban survival", p. 766. 92 LA ROCCA, "`Dark Ages' a Verona", pp. 54-9. 93 BELLT-BARSALI, "La topografia di Lucca", pp. 494-6. 94 Stefano Coccia, pers. comm.

233

in the Forum of Nerva, where the old Roman street was maintained

essentially unchanged until the ninth century. 95

However, it is the translocation of living activities to the upper

floor which seems to have been the most remarkable feature of these

dwellings. As we have pointed out in our discussion of aristocratic

dwellings in Late Antiquity, double-storey dwellings were not a new

feature of eighth-ninth centuries architecture, but were already in use in

earlier times. Nonetheless, we have noted that triclinia and other kinds of

reception halls in late antique prestige dwellings were generally located

on the ground floor, with the exception of the cases of some episcopal

residences and few other examples, such as the `palazzetto' at Monte

Barro and the latest phase of the villa at San Giovanni di Ruoti. 96 From

the eighth century onwards, the main reception halls seem to have been

increasingly located on the upper floor and, by the early ninth century,

this tendency had already became quite popular, not only in proper

palatial structures but also, on a lower and less impressive scale, in more

simple dwellings.

95 Cf. SANTANGELI VALENZANI, "Edilizia residenziale", pp. 66-7. The regular situation of houses on the street-line seems also to indicate a model of housing which was to become quite typical of later medieval cities, anticipated in Rome and also mentioned by written sources for Naples and Lucca. This model involves houses entered from the street through ground-floor porticoes which permitted public thoroughfare. This kind of portico became very common in the later Middle Ages, and has remained a characteristic feature of many Italian cities to this day. 96 Cf. 1.4.6.

234

Cagiano De Azevedo interpreted this tendency of living mainly on

the first floor as something which was typical of Lombard, or more

generally, Germanic culture, as opposed to the Roman or Byzantine

tradition in which dwellings were usually single-storied. According to De

Azevedo, the Lombards wanted to live in open spaces and simple

buildings, and preferred to live on the first floor rather than the ground-

floor because the upper-floor was more airy and cool. 97 However, this

kind of arrangement and this tendency towards a development of the

upper floor as a living area is not only attested in Lombard contexts; it

seems actually to have been quite wide-spread throughout Italy. As we

have seen, written texts and archaeological evidence refer to a number of

buildings dating from the end of the eighth century onwards, at places

such as Rome, Viterbo, Lucca, Verona, Ravenna, Salerno, Rimini and

Ferrara, making De Azevedo's theory in favour of a more germanico

quite unlikely.

In our discussion of late antique episcopal residences we indicated

the defensive reasons as one of the possible causes for this feature. 98

97 CAGIANO DE AZEVEDO, "Esistono una architettura e una urbanistica longobarde? ", p. 324: `Cosi, per abitare, vollero spazi aperti e costruzioni semplici, ma cercarono di non abitare piü al piano terreno.... e del resto in questo si ha un parallelismo perfetto tra i palazzi dei sovrani e dei duchi e le case private: in tutti la vita tende a svolgersi nei locali del primo piano e non piü al pian terreno, probabilmente perche piü ariosi e freschi come fanno pensare i documenti di Paderborn. In questo senso e possibile parlare anche di una architettura longobarda'. 98 Cf. 1.3.13.

235

Nonetheless, a series of other important aspects should be taken into

account. Firstly, one should consider the vertical growth of the city,

largely due to the problems of sewer systems and water provision. 99

Flooding and its disastrous consequences were well enough known to the

ancient Romans, but seem to have become more acute in the sixth and

seventh centuries than it had been earlier. 1°° This was possibly due to the

political fragmentation: hydraulic difficulties were now confronted by

weaker governments, often without the financial and technical means

necessary to the maintenance of the old Roman system. Most likely,

similar problems arose for the control and the maintenance of the

drainage system and the organisation of waste disposal, increasingly

leading to the vertical growth of the city. "'

The translocation of living areas to the upper floor of dwellings

should be considered as one of the consequences of this situation. In this

new settlement pattern, the ground floor became devoted to agricultural

and domestic activities, and was sometimes characterised by the presence

of wells of cisterns. Since the construction and maintenance of wells was

complicated and quite costly, only some proprietors were prosperous

99 Cf. P. SQUATRITI, Water and society in early medieval Italy, AD 400-1000 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press), pp. 66-96. 100 Ibid., p. 67. Also cf. the account of flood of 589 as described by Gregory the Great ad Paul the Deacon: GREGORY THE GREAT, Dialogi, ed. A. de Vogue and P. Antin (Paris 1978-80), 3.10, p. 291 and Hist. Lang., III. 23-24.

236

enough to afford these sources of water provision, and there were

instances in which they were shared by more than one owner. Therefore,

the presence of a well in a dwelling should have been considered as a

sign of social status. "'

Etienne Hubert has shown that the presence of an upper floor in

documents related to housing in Rome for a slightly later period - that is

from the tenth century onwards - is generally associated to aristocratic

dwellings. The distinction between domus terrinee and domus solarate

was one of the characteristic differences between the houses of

individuals of high social status and those of the lower classes, who were

usually confined to single-storey buildings. 10'

In this sense, therefore, the first house excavated at the Forum at

Nerva should be seen as an earlier example of this tradition, which would

consolidate in Rome in the following centuries. Presumably, the house

was owned by a member of the local minor aristocracy, as the presence

of `luxurious' elements such as a well and a latrine, and what is known of

the general social standing of the area in the period would indicate. "

101 Cf. BROGIOLO R. GELICHI, La cittä nell'alto medioevo italiano, pp. 78-95. 102 SQUATRITI, Water and society, pp. 81-83. 103 E. HUBERT, Espace urbain et abitat ä Rome dit Xe siecle n la fin (lit X IIe siecle (Rome 1990), p. 181. 104 SANTANGELI VALENZANI, "Edilizia residenziale", pp. 66-7.

237

However, the simplicity of these buildings, especially when

compared to their earlier counterparts, is still quite striking. This

simplicity not only concerns building techniques and infrastructures, but

also the complete absence of ornamental features, at least in the

structures excavated so far. This is an issue which is worth consideration.

This absence of ornamental elements could be the result of subsequent

spoliation, in some of the cases, as has been proposed for the houses at

the Forum of Nerva. 1°5 It is true, in fact, that the austerity and the formal

simplicity, as well as the simple building techniques and articulation of

the excavated structures, clash quite remarkably with the decorative

richness of the religious buildings of the time.

All this, however, does not necessarily have to be interpreted as

indicative of the reduced circumstances of the contemporary population.

It could also reflect particular ideological factors, characteristic of early

medieval society, which allowed the ostentation of wealth only in a

religious context: the aristocracy, now closely linked to a military ideal,

may have preferred to display an appropriate austerity in their own

residences. Chris Wickham has pointed out how ostentation of wealth

had slowly ceased to be displayed on the exterior of buildings, while the

interior conversely increased in magnificence. The root of this trend has

105 lindem, p. 67.

238

been identified in both economic and ethical causes. With the end of the

tax-based public administration, kings and aristocrats had become

obviously far poorer than Roman rulers and administrators had been. But

it was not only a matter of resources. Wickham suggests that what had

really changed was also `the rhetoric of building, which in the absence of

the leading role of a really rich public power could easily drop sharply in

scale'. 106 Therefore, it seems that early medieval Italian aristocrats

expressed their status and prestige more through the construction and

foundation of monasteries and churches then in their own residences,

similarly - as we shall see in the following chapters - to their Frankish

and Anglo-Saxon counterparts.

106 WICKHAM, "L'Italia e 1'altomedioevo", pp. 109-110.

239

2.3 ELITES DWELLINGS IN MEROVINGIAN SOCIETY

2.3.1 Introduction

In this chapter I shall analyse patterns of aristocratic dwellings

which developed in the Merovingian society. Firstly, I shall consider the

quite meagre evidence available for royal estates in both urban and rural

contexts. Then, I shall proceed to analyse a few better-documented

estates, owned by Merovingian lay and ecclesiastical nobles. In

particular, I shall concentrate on such issues as the continuity (or

discontinuity) with the late Roman villas and the influence of Germanic

elements in Merovingian patterns of accommodation.

2.3.2 Merovingian royal urban residences

A certain continuity of Roman architecture has generally been

claimed in Merovingian royal residences, particularly through the royal

acquisition of imperial property and adoption of imperial practices. In

other words, it has often been assumed that Merovingian kings simply

took over imperial taxation and other forms of imperial revenue and

240

established themselves in imperial estates. ' In fact, this view of

continuity is largely based on assumptions - albeit, as we shall see, quite

reasonable ones - since very little firm evidence is available, in both

literary and archaeological sources.

Before Brühl's studies, the traditional view had been that

Merovingians maintained a Roman practice and stayed almost

exclusively in cities, while the Carolingian avoided urban centres for

their rural estates. ' BrOhl stressed that the distinction was much less rigid,

and that not only Carolingians were no strangers to cities, but also that

Merovingian kings often frequented their rural estates. The fact that the

great majority of the near one hundred Merovingian diplomas were

issued from villas, while only three charters and two capitularies were

issued from civitates, cannot be explained as a simple accident of

survival and would seem to prove this hypothesis?

In a later study, Brühl suggested that one of the reasons for the

preponderance of charters from rural villas is that they post-date 625, and

that the earliest Merovingian kings did reside in their urban palaces more

I Cf. E. JAMES, The Merovingian Archaeology of South-West Gaul (BAR Supplementary Series 25), 2 vols. (Oxford 1977), I, pp. 293-4 and R. SAMSON, "The Merovingian nobleman's home: castle or villa? ", Journal of Medieval History 13 (1987), pp. 287-315, at pp. 308-9. 2 See, for example, O. M. DALTON'S introductive volume to his translation of Gregory's History of the Franks, 2 vols. (Oxford, Clarendon Press 1927), 1, pp. 401-8. 3 C. -R. BRÜHL, Fodrum, Gistum, Servitium Regis, 2 vols (Köln 1968), I, pp. 12-13.

241

frequently that we suppose. ' The earliest kings are found residing at

Tournai, Cambrai, Tongres and Cologne. Clovis chose Soissons, and

later Paris, as his main centre, while with Clovis' death the new sedes

included Orleans, Paris, Soissons and Reims, with Orleans later replaced

by Chalon-sur-Saone, and Reims by Metz. '

Any long stopovers by Merovingian kings within cities were made

on their private property, and not as guests of the resident bishops. The

latter practice, in fact, seems to have grown in importance only following

the reign of Charlemagne's heirs. ' During his visit to Orleans in 585, for

example, King Guntram was briefly entertained by Gregory of Tours at

Gregory's own dwellings (ad metatum nostram/in mansionem mea) but

Guntram stayed in his own residence and asked the assembled bishops to

visit him there (in domo mea). '

A reason for this early preference for urban centres, Brühl argues,

is that the Merovingians ruled as magistri militum rather than as

conquerors, exercising their authority at the place which was familiar to

the Gallo-Roman population and was already, from ancient times, the

seat of Roman magistrates, namely the imperial palace or the

4 C. -R. BRÜHL, "The Town as a Political Centre: General Survey", in M. WILLMORE (ed. ) European Towns (London, Academic Press 1977), pp. 419-30, at pp. 423-4. 5 For the early Merovingian 'capitals' and urban residences, see E. EWIG, "Residence et capitale pendant le haut Moyen Age", Revue historique 230 (1963), pp. 25-72. 6 BRÜHL, Fodrum, I, pp. 25-74.

242

praetorium. 8 As noted in our discussion of late Roman palaces and

praetoria, though, these kind of structures are known in Gaul from only a

few sites. And if it is possible to conjecture from documentary evidence

the existence of some kind of official residences for such places as Paris, '

Saissons1° and Chalon-sur-Saone, " they are archaeologically known only

in the cases of Trier and Cologne. "

Since a palatium regis was recorded at Trier in the History of the

Franks, " it has been assumed that the imperial palace had been taken

over by the Merovingian kings. However, no Frankish material has been

7HF8.2 S BRÜHL, Fodrum, I, p. 10. See also BRüHL, "The Town as a Political Centre", pp. 423-4. 9 According to the Notitia Dignitatum, the praefectus classis Anderetianonrm was stationed in Paris. In 360 the emperor Julian and in 365 the emperor Valentinian I resided there. Paris reappears in documentary sources only after the battle of Soissons in 486, when Clovis established his seat there (HF 2.38). Brühl located the praetorian on the site of the palais de justice, and assumed that Clovis would have resided on the same place one hundred years later. However, where the praetorium was located is today only conjectural. C. -R. BRÜHL, Palatium und Civitas (Cologne 1975), p. 86 10 Although no imperial visits are recorded for Soissons, the magister militum Aegidius and his son Syagrius resided there in the mid-fifth century. Following Merovingian divisions of the regnum, Soissons became one sedes and, on occasion, was the residence of Chlotar I, Chilperic I, Theudebert II and Dagobert I. Brühl suggests that the Merovingian royal residence would have been that of Aegidius, and locates it on the north-east corner of the late Roman walls. See BRÜHL, Palatium, pp. 120-22. 11 According to the Notitia Dignitatum, the praefectus classis Araricae was stationed in Chalon. Although imperial visits were rare, Chalon became an important royal city from about 500. No royal charters prove a royal Merovingian residence, but Fredegar (4.90) mentions a palacium which the patrician Willebadus refused to enter in 642. For the site of the Roman praetoriurn, Brühl suggested the south-west corner of the Roman walls, where later Burgundian dukes had a castle. See BRÜHL, Palatium, p. 135. '2 Cf. chp. 1.1 and 1.2. 13 HF 10.29.

243

discovered there. 14 It is more likely, therefore, that at some stage the

building became episcopal property. 15

At Cologne, Gregory of Tours indicates the presence of a royal

hall in which St Gallus hid from angry pagans. 16 However, there is no

certainty that the building in question was the old Roman praetorium.

Moreover, excavations beneath the Rathaus have shown no

archaeological trace of Merovingian presence. " The absence of

Merovingian material has been considered by Doppelfeld as suggestive

of continued use. In other words, the absence of such features as rubbish

pits, burials and covering layers of debris, by implication signs of

abandonment, would indicate the continued use of the palace, while the

presence of refuse on the site of Carolingian date, and the siting of the

medieval aula regia by the cathedral, would suggest a transferral in the

ninth century. 18 All in all, the little archaeological evidence we have

cannot really either prove nor disprove the reuse of Roman urban

dwellings as royal Merovingian palaces.

14 K. BÖHNER, Die fränkische Altertümer des Trierer Landes (Berlin 1958), p. 291. 15 For the tendency for bishops to take over state administration functions, cf. chp. 1.3.1. 16VP6.2 17 See 0. DOPPELFELD, "Römische Grossbauten unter dem Kölner Rathaus", Germania 34 (1956) pp. 83-101; IDEM, "Das Praetorium unter dem Kölner Rathaus", Neue Ausgrabungen in Deutschland, pp. 313-21; IDEM, "Das Fortleben der Stadt Köln von 5. bis 8. Jahrhundert nach Chr. ", Early Medieval Studies 1 (1970), pp. 35-42. I$ 0. DOPPELFELD, "Von römischen Praetorium zur fränkischen Königspfalz", in P. FUCHS (ed. ), Das Rathaus zu Köln (Göttingen 1973), pp. 27-40, at p. 33.

244

What these urban residences looked like, is difficult to say. A little

information is to be had from Gregory's mention of a royal residence in

Metz: 19

As the king, who was in residence at his palace in Metz, was watching some wild beast which was being harried from all sides by a pack of hounds, Magnovald was summoned to his presence. Without having been told the reason for the summons, Magnovald came and stood watching the animal, laughing loudly with the others. A man who had been told what he was to do

came up to the group and, when he saw that Magnovald was intent upon the sport, pulled out his axe and split his skull. Magnovald fell to the ground dead

and was thrown out of the window of the house.

This passage seems to indicate that there was an open area around

the palace in which the spectacle could take place; almost certainly, this

was enclosed to prevent the wild beasts and dogs from escaping into the

town. The description of Magnovald being thrown out of the window

may imply that they had been watching the spectacles from an upper

storey. However, not much more can be said or conjectured on

Merovingian urban palaces without more precise archaeological evidence

19 HF 8.36.

245

2.3.3 Merovingian royal villas

Little more evidence is available on royal residential villas and

estates. We have already stressed the importance of their rural estates for

Merovingian kings. This was also emphasised by the array of events

which occurred there. Villas and royal estates were the stage for a wide

variety of public events; they were the place were people were

summoned or put on trial, " and where the guilty were imprisoned or

executed. " Also, it was at royal rural estates that individuals" or envoys

from other kings would come for interviews with the king. 23 More

importantly, villas were the place were councils and assemblies were

held. Chilperic invited the bishops of his kingdom at Berny-Riviere to

hear allegations made against Gregory; ̀ a conference between Chilperic

and the notables of Childebert, with the intention of forming an alliance

against Guntram, was held at Nogent-sur-Marne; ZS at Breslingen,

Childebert arranged a meeting with his leading men at which the case

20 For example, at Berny-Riviere (HF 5.25), Chelles (HF 5.39), Malay-le-Roi (Fred. 44). 21 Such as in the cases at Ponthion (HF 4.23), Noisy-le-Grand (HF 5.39) and Marlenheim (Fred. 43). 22 At Berny-Riviere (HF 4.46), Chelles (HF 6.46), and at Bruyeres-le-Chätel (Fred. 36). 23 Magnates sent by Sigibert met Clovis at Compiegne (Fred. 85);, while Judicael, king of the Bretons, met him at Clichy (Fred. 78). 24HF5.49. 25 HF 6.3.

246

against Guntram Boso was heard; 26 and Dagobert assembled at Clichy all

the great men and bishops of Neustria and Burgundy to consider the

country's problems. 27

Indeed, there is enough documentary evidence to claim that

Merovingian kings saw these places as suitable settings in which to play

out their role as the head of the kingdom. 28 Archaeological or even

topographical information concerning these sites, though, is not

particularly revealing; very little work has been done so far and there has

not been a research programme designed to achieve an overall

understanding of such settlements. " Nonetheless, it is still worth looking

at some of these locations in more details.

Chelles (Seine-et-Marne) is located by the banks of the Marne, at

a branching of Roman roads. It was first mentioned by Gregory of Tours,

and it appears as one of King Chilperic's most important villas. "

Chilperic was found there hunting and, while returning from his final

hunt, was assassinated there. Most of Chilperic's treasure was kept at

Chelles, part of which was removed to Paris by Fredegund, Chilperic's

26HF8.21

27 Fred. 55. 28 For this point, see SAMSON, "The Merovingian nobleman's home', pp. 297-8. 29 An attempt for south-west Gaul was made in JAMES, The Merovingian Archaeology. 30 HF 5.39; 6.46; 7.4; 10.19.

V

Cour du Palais Royal

Notre Dame

Sgdenne St{robe t t ýr t

'" i

ý`°'

ýdý ý; ý N `y

ý"\ Palaisdes-TourneUes

M

ý. ý

b0U141ry d rt -lci1Va1 abbey

y. R , J4 0ý tarn inedeval chwdwf

I& burlab (extent ý awwn) 0-

Figure 2.3.1 Chelles. Plan of early medieval burials, abbey site, and possible sites of the royal palace based on place-name evidence.

247

wife. The palace is not mentioned again, although Charlemagne, Louis

the Pious and Charles the Bald all visited Chelles. However, we should

not assume they were staying at their own palace, since they were

probably guests of the very important abbey which existed there until the

French Revolution. Therefore, it is possible that the monastic centre,

founded between 511 and 545, had taken over the royal villa, as the gift

of St Bathild. "

Excavations have shown evidence of Roman occupation. Of

particular interest is the site of the `Cour-du-Palais-Royal', a late-Roman

structure overlain by a supposed Merovingian occupation layer. (Fig.

2.3.1) Nearby is the site of the `Palais-des-Tournelles', which has

yielded Roman rooftiles and a section of a wall built with large blocks, of

uncertain date. Almost certainly, here was a chapel dedicated to St

Martin which disappeared in the seventeenth century. On the south end

of this site, burials in plaster sarcophagi have been discovered, probably

derived from a Merovingian cemetery.

Other valuable information come from Marlenheim (Bas Rhin).

Located by the Mossig stream, near an important Roman road to

Strasburg, the centre of the village has produced some limited evidence

31 See N. BERTHELIER-AJOT, "Chelles ä 1'epoque merovingienne", Revue du Nord 69 (1986),

248

of Roman sculpture. Very small-scale excavations carried out at the

beginning of the twentieth century tried to locate the Merovingian royal

villa in the neighbourhood of the village-church, but failed in their

intent. 32

Gregory of Tours mentions Marlenheim twice. A certain

Septimania was punished by disfigurement and sent to Marilegum villa

`to turn the mill and grind corn each day', 33 and King Childebert

fortunately spied assassins awaiting him, as he entered the oratory at his

residence there. 34 In 613, according to Fredegar, King Lothar and his wife

Bertetrude went to the villa Marolegia where they executed those found

guilty of killing Duke Herpo. 35 Marlenheim remained in royal hands even

after the change in dynasty, and was visited by Louis the Pious.

Most likely, the Merovingian villa lay in the vicinity of the

present-day church, as the excavations tried to demonstrate. Also, it is

quite possible that the church is a descendant of the private royal chapel

mentioned by Gregory. There is also the possibility that Marlenheim was

the site of a Roman villa, although the Roman finds are not very

consistent.

pp. 345-60, at p. 359. 32 K. PLATH, "Die altedeuschen Königspfalzen Kircheim und Marlenheim im Elsass", Mitteilungen der Vereinigung der Saalsburgfreunde, 7 (1904), pp. 90-6. 33 HF9.38 34 HF 10.18: "in oratorium domus Mariligensis ingrederetur".

249

A Merovingian villa at Athies (Somme) is attested as the place of

a long stay by St Radegund, before she became the wife of King Lothar. 36

A Roman villa has been partially excavated some hundred metres from

the modern village of Athies, but dating-evidence suggests that

occupation did not continue into the late empire. However, it has been

suggested that a fourth-century establishment replaced the excavated

villa, on the site underlying the modern village. This late Roman estate

would have been taken over by the Merovingians, whose villa ultimately

would have given birth to the modern village. "

At Quierzy (Coucy-le-Chateau, Aisne), a small village on the

south bank on the Oise, a Roman villa, if not two, were predecessors of

the Merovingian and Carolingian villas. Although direct continuity

cannot be proven, there are the very suggestive facts that a Gothic

monastic enclosure exactly overlay the enclosure of a Roman villa

35 Fred. 5.43. 36 Vita Radegundis 1.22 37 Cf. R. AGACHE, "Typologie et devenir des villae antiques dans les grandes plained de la Gaule septentrionale", in W. JANSSEN & D. LOHRMANN (eds), Villa-Curtis-Grangia (München 1983), pp. 17-29. Agaches notes that nearby Le Mesge offers a similar situation. Here a very large Roman villa can be detected some one or two hundred metres from the centre of the modem village which lies several metres lower in a very small valley. Le Mesge, although not attested as a residence, was a royal villa donated by Childebert III to Amiens cathedral.

250

rustica, and that a ninth-tenth century defensive enclosure enclosed the

domestic range of a Roman villa very neatly. "

The available archaeological evidence for royal Merovingian rural

villas, therefore, can neither prove nor disprove that Roman villa

buildings had been preserved and maintained as the core. It is possible

that such site-continuity may be demonstrated in the future, if French

archaeologist initiate a research programme designed to investigate such

sites and issues.

2.3.4 Merovingian aristocratic estates

A little more evidence, however, is available for a few

exceptional, well-documented estates, owned by lay and ecclesiastical

nobles. Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Nantes, offers us various

descriptions of villas, such as Mediolanum, the villa of Nicetius, bishop

of Trier, the villa of Pontius, bishop of Bordeaux, and others of

38 Cf. G. WEISE, Zwei fränchishe Königspfalzen. Bericht über die an den Pfalzen Quierzy und Samoussy vorgenommenen Grabungen (Tübingen 1923) and F. OELMANN, "Besprechung; Georg Weise, Zwei fränchische Königspfalzen", Bonner Jahrbücher 28, pp. 131-5.

251

unspecified owners. Particularly interesting is Venantius' description of

Nicetius's estatc at Mediolanum: 39

A mountain grows up in a precipitously hanging mass And raises its lofty head on the rocky bank: The leafy point lifts up from exposed rocks, The apex, well protected, reigns from the lofty summit. The hills advance while meadows recede in valleys: On all sides the lesser land falls away as it rises up; The proud Moselle and the smaller Dhron encircle it, and fight to provide this place with their fish. The waves of the river that otherwise ravish the pleasant produce of the earth, For you, Mediolanum, they teem with food. As the waters grow the neighbourhood offers up fish; It presents dishes of food whence otherwise comes rapine. The thankful inhabitant cleaves the fruitful furrows, Making offerings of heavy fertile corn-fields: Farmers feed their eyes with the future harvest, Before it reaps in sight what work the year has done. The pleasant field laughs, hidden in green growing grass, Soft meadows amuse wandering spirits. The pious man Nicetius therefore, wandering the countryside, As shepherd, built his desire for his flock: He girdled the hill with three tens of towers, Presented this construction where none had been before. From the summit branches of the walls were lowered, The terminus reached the Moselle's waters. The constructed hall (aula) shined from the rocky summit, And this home (domus) was a mountain set on another mountain He wanted to enclose a wide area with a wall, And this house (casa) alone nearly formed a castelltun. The lofty hall (aula) was held on marble columns, Which hall super summer-quarters, separated pontoons in the stream. The stretched out fabric, in rows of three were created, So that after you ascend, you can ponder the covered acres.

It is the place of the chapel and holds the arm of men, Also there is a twin ballista of flight,

Water is led in wet sinuous conduits, From which the violent watermill here produces food for the people. He introduced seductive grapes to the senseless hills,

39 Carmina 3.12

252

Cultivated vines grow where once was shrub. Native fruit plants grow everywhere, They feed the place with a variety of flowery odours. They benefit you yet however much we praise them, So much good you grant, richly, pastor of your flock.

Surprisingly, the site of Mediolanum (Bernkastel-Wittlich,

Rheinland-Pfalz), has never been identified on the ground with one

hundred per cent certainty, although several attempts have been made.

Kurt Böhner located it by the confluence of the Mosel and Dhron, 4° and

has been followed in this by Konrad Weidemann, who produced a map

indicating the position where Nicetius' estate and enclosure walls ought

to be. 4' If this suggestion is correct, it is very interesting to note that

numerous Roman remains have been found under the parish church

dedicated to St Martin at Niederemmel and in the large area around it;

including Roman pottery, brick, building foundations, sarcophagi and

luxurious fourth-century glass vessels; these remains could indicate the

presence of a Roman villa.

Fortunatus's description provides some information about the

nature of the settlement. The domestic residence (domus, casa, aula) of

Nicetius was of central importance to the settlement. Given the evidence

for the use of marble and its dominant topographic setting, it seems to

40 Bbi INER, Die fränkische Altertümer, 1, pp. 128-32.

!.

A 4 it "

/r rr /

r

rý

fi r-

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nrlrrh

" yoerhole

a z-

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Figure 2.3.2 Camp de Larina. Plan of the domes and the pressing room to the west.

253

have been designed for ostentation, and was perhaps built of stone.

Secondly, the enclosing wall was a striking feature of the site. Fortunatus

explicitly states that Nicctius `wanted to enclose a large area with a wall'

(conplacuit latum muro concludere campum). Thirdly, within the

enclosure wall there would seem to have been farmers (agricolae) and

inhabitants (vicinius), a chapel apparently set into a tower where arms

were stored and a ballista stood, and a mill, which ground the

inhabitants' flour, with conduits carrying the water that powered it. The

picture depicted by Fortunatus is one of a considerable number of

dependants, who worked in the fields which belonged to Mediolanum

and fished the river, perhaps all living within the confines of a large

enclosure wall, overlooked by the ostentatious domus of the proprietor

Nicetius.

Other evidence comes from the excavations at the Camp de

Larina, near Lyon (Isere), a site on a limestone plateau overlooking the

Rhone plain. " Excavations revealed the Merovingian re-occupation of an

Iron Age hillfort, consisting in a rampart a kilometre long, protecting

three sites in an area covering 21ha. (Fig. 2.3.2) Within the enclosure,

41 K. WEIDEMANN, "Mediolanum", Führer zu vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Denkmälern 34 (1962), pp. 69-74.

254

four distinct areas of activity have been identifies. Along the eastern wall,

there are a series of stone walls interpreted as a `hamlet'. To the west, at

the summit of the hill overlooking the hamlet, is a site which has been

identified as the remains of a chapel and a cemetery. At the northern

extremity of the enclosure is another small burial site. Finally, just south

of this second cemetery, was found the main building complex,

composed of three distinct buildings.

The major building underwent a long and complex evolution. At

the beginning, it was a two-roomed rectangular structure measuring 23 x

9 m, quickly replaced by a similar building, 25 x 12 m, which overlay it

on a completely new orientation. Further phases subdivided these rooms;

small rooms were built on the eastern and western ends, and an L-shaped

corridor was added around the south-west corner. Against this and along

the southern wall, which had not been enclosed by the corridor-like

addition, further rooms were added.

To the north of the main building were found remains of a

building running east-west, the opposite orientation of that of the main

building. To the south, a long rectangular building of several phases has

been found, thought to having been used for pressing grapes.

42 P. PORTE, "Le camp de Larina, forteresse merovingienne", Dossiers de l'archEologie 78 (1984), pp. 79-82.

255

The complex at Camp de Larina does not show signs of the re-

occupation of a Roman site as was the case at Mediolanum; therefore, the

issue of continuity from a Roman into a Merovingian phase is not in

question. However, like at Mediolanum, the significance of such features

as the domestic residence, the enclosure, the presence of servant-

accommodation as well as of a church and a cemetery, would fit in into

the picture of a seventh-century villa hypothetically postulated by

Percival, à village of perhaps a few hundred people, grouped round a

manor house, which would itself be in some form of fortified enclosure;

the manor house would still retain much of its Roman structure, though

this would be to some extent concealed by later accretions and

dilapidation'. 43 Furthermore, Percival suggests that à number of villas

continued to exist in a post-antique period, and evolved gradually as the

centres of nucleated villages, which were ultimately to supersede and

largely obliterate them'' In some cases, especially in France and

Belgium, the actual names of villa estates survived in the names of

modem farms and villages. "

In a very similar way, regarding the importance of fortification

and, consequently, the birth of the village, Chapelot and Fossier have

43 PERCIVAL, Roman Villa, p. 177. 44 Ibid., pp. 179-80. 45 Ibid., pp. 30-32.

256

sustained that à society that is contracted into more or less dense groups

by a sense of community, derived as much from fear and hunger as from

blood relationships, obviously acquires a very hierarchical structure

whose topmost element assumes the role of protector in the event of

danger'. " This view has been completely rejected by Ross Samson, who

argues against the concept of `nucleation' and, above all, against the idea

of fortification and the military function of enclosures. Without being

particularly convincing, Samson prefers to explain the constant existence

of enclosures in Merovingian rural complexes as reflecting the social

implications of the spatial relationship between the residences of lords

and peasants. 47

2.3.5 Discussion

To sum up, then, not much can be said on the physical appearance

of Merovingian aristocratic dwellings, largely because of the paucity of

information. Very little - or, better, almost nothing - is known about

46 J CHAPELOT & R. FOSSIER, The Village and House in the Middle Ages (London, Ratsford 1985), p. 25. 47 See SAMSON, "The Merovingian nobleman's home' and, by the same author, also "Knowledge, constraint and power: the defenseless medieval wall", Historical Archaeology 26 (1992), pp. 26-44.

257

urban residences, while a bit more evidence, still very scanty, though, is

available for countryside estates. Notwithstanding the meagreness of the

archaeological and documentary sources, it is still possible to postulate a

series of general conclusion and remarks.

Firstly, it is interesting to note that the location of the various

Merovingian residences attested suggests a predilection for proximity to

Roman roads and major rivers, showing a certain continuity with what is

believed to have been Roman practice. The central residence, depending

on the source, might alternatively be termed palatium, domus, casa, aula,

mansio, although donius and casa were the most common terms used.

Descriptions of these buildings are generally so vague, that if one was to

choose a Roman villa as a preconceived model, the description would not

disappoint. Nonetheless, the image of timber halls proposed by Chapelot

and Fossier as typical for residences of the period, would completely

support the view as well. 48

Regarding the prevalent material employed in construction,

Fortunatus wrote a poem, De domo lignea, about a wooden house or

better a wooden palace, as he called it, which seems to indicate that

timber played an important role in building, in his time: "

48 CHAPELOT & FUSSIER, The Village and House, p. 247. 49 Carmina 9.15

258

Away from here, you wall of Paros stone: I prefer with reason the wood of the artisan to you. The heavens vibrate his massive palatia of planks, Built by hand so that no gap is showing. All that which binds stone; sand, chalk, clay, Favoured woods alone builds the edifice. A high severe and square porticus surrounds it, And sculptured, it [the porticus] plays in the workman's craft

However, it is almost certain that stone played a major role in

most building of some pretension. Gregory of Tours relates that when

Andarchius was burnt to death in Ursus' domus by Ursus' servants, they

piled combustibles against the doors which were made of wooden

planks. 5° It would therefore seem that the walls were most likely not

made of this material, if Gregory needed to specify that the doors were

made of wood. 5' Also, at both Mediolanum and at the Camp de Larina, as

well as at the other Merovingian sites excavated, buildings were all of

stone, leading to the assumption that many other villas were built of

stone. Another element of building construction which would put

Merovingian villas in a classical tradition is the possibility that houses

were roofed with tiles. At Berny-Riviere, Gregory conversed with Bishop

Salvius, who saw the naked sword of the wrath of God hanging over

so HF 4.46: "ostia domus, quae erantfabricata tabulis". 51 SAMSON, "The Merovingian nobleman's home', p. 299.

259

King Chilperic's domus, while Gregory could only see the new roof tiles

(supertegulum). S2

As regards the composition and arrangement of the various rooms

within a dwelling, it seems reasonable to postulate that beds were found

in separate rooms. Gregory writes that the lover of Ambrosius' wife

entered the donius and killed Ambrosius and his brother in the same bed,

without waking the household, despite the fact the Ambrosius' brother

Lupus screamed repeatedly for help. 53 From this we could infer that they

were in a bedroom which was either far from the remaining rooms, had

very thick walls or was itself a separate building.

In another passage of the History of the Franks, Desideratus

approached the villa called Fleut-sur-Ouche with some of his men with

the intent of killing Syrivald. Firstly he killed one of Syrivald's friend as

he came out of the domus; then he came to the room (cellulam) were

Syrivald was accustomed to sleep but found that the door could not be

forced. Thus he had to knock down a side wall (uno latere parietem)

before he could kill him. 54 Also, Rauching was killed in cubiculum

intromiti and was thrown out of a window, " while Lothar's queen

Bertetrudis was frightened by Leudemund at Marlenheim and withdrew

52 HF 5.50. Also cf. SAMSON, "The Merovingian nobleman's home', p. 299. 53 HF 6.13. 54 HF 3.35.

260

in cubiculum. sb A well-to-do Merovingian residence, therefore, seems to

have had more than one room, and at least one separate bedchamber.

This is confirmed by the archaeological evidence from the Camp de

Larina, where the domus contained a large number of small rooms and a

corridor, and from other sites. It is also interesting to note that some of

the buildings were not connected to the residential block, and that there

was some kind of fragmentation into individual buildings with separate

functions.

The evidence on the presence of multiple storeys is very scanty.

However, the fact that both Rauching and Magnovald were thrown out of

a window seems to indicate the upper storeys existed in some cases.

Moreover, it might be interesting to note that Werpin was killed in

pensilein domus. s' This expression has been translated by Thorpe as

`bathroom'. From classical Latin, however, the word pensilis, `hanging',

originally had the meaning of `suspended on columns/arches', as an

architectural term. Therefore, the expression could reasonably mean an

upper-floor room, built on columns, perhaps similar to the laubia

analysed in the previous chapters.

ss HF 9.9. 56 Fred. 43. 57 HF 8.18.

muýa dl Iaona

schola jr . ýz 4 langobar o um 11

3rf

1. I

2( 5 If

V fl ýý 11

ý II

scholl frsncorum li n 11 d

0 loom

Figure 2.4.1 The Vatican: [1] St Peter [2] St Petronille [3] St Sergius and Baccus [4] Palatium Caroli.

261

2.4 PALACE BUILDING IN THE CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE

2.4.1 Introduction

As was pointed out in our discussion of Merovingian royal

residences, Brühl's studies have put in a much less rigid perspective the

traditional view of a Carolingian society based solely on rural estates.

There is little doubt that the most important Carolingian residences were

rural ones. Still, urban royal palatia must have existed: during the reign

of Charlemagne they were explicitly recorded at Worms, Poitiers and

Regensburg' and their existence is often assumed for places such as

Reims, Metz, Orleans, Noyon, Soissons, Speyer, and Mainz. ' The

presence of a Palatium Caroli in a urban context is also testified at

Rome, beside the basilica of St Peter at the Vatican, as we saw in our

discussion of papal palaces. ' (Fig. 2.4.1)

Carolingian kings also often resided at some of the great

monasteries under royal patronage, which were generally controlled by

BRÜHHL, Fodrum, pp. 56-64. 2 A. GAUERT, "Zur Itinerar Karls des Grossen", in H. BEUMANN (ed. ), Karl der Grosse, (Dusseldorf, Schwann 1965), I, pp. 307-2 1, at p. 313. 3 The palace was probably built in 781, for Charlemagne's second visit to Rome. Cf. D'ONOFRIo, Roma e Aquisgrana, pp. 177-8, F. EiIRLE-H. EGGER, Der Vaticanische Palast in

seiner Entwicklung bis zur Mitte des XV. Jahrhunderts (Vatican City 1935), pp. 18-22 and C. D'ONOFRIO, Castel S. Angelo e Borgo tra Roma e Papato (Rome 1978), pp. 93-7.

262

members of the royal family or by favoured members of the court. The

first palatium explicitly mentioned as having being built at a monastery

for the king's use was by Abbot Fardulf (793-806) at St Denis. Because

of the monastery's importance and the frequent royal visits it received,

this may well have been the first such monastic palace. During the course

of the ninth century, explicit reference is made to such royal palaces at St

Alban at Mainz, St Arnulf at Metz, St Emmeran at Regensburg, St.

Germain at Auxerre, St Jean and Notre-Dame at Laon, St Loup at Troyes,

St Medard a Soissons, and St Remi at Reims. Therefore, it seems logical

to suppose that comparable palatia existed at other great abbeys. '

However, Brühl's research into the royal right to `hospitality'

indicates that dependence on monastic houses is first apparent only in the

reign of Louis the Pious: six percent of his charters were issued from

monasteries. This dependence increased in the reign of Charles the Bald,

who attested twenty per cent of his charters while resident in

monasteries. For the rest of the time, Carolingians appear to have resided

mostly in their own palaces, although sometime they may temporarily

have stayed at episcopal centres. At Lyon, for example, Archbishop

Leidard built a domus cum solario for Charlemagne's uses

4 BRÜHL, Fodnim, pp. 29-32. 5 Ibid., p. 25.

263

Unfortunately, not much more can be said on the appearance of

these residences. The archaeological evidence for such urban palaces,

early Klosterpfalzen and royal apartments at cathedral complexes is

basically non-existent - although one such building is probably

represented in the St Gallen plan' - and a more detailed study of

Carolingian royal residences in urban centres and great abbeys is still to

be written.

The situation for Carolingian country estates is very different, for

the vast majority of the archaeological and literary evidence available on

Carolingian secular buildings concerns them. Royal estates were of

fundamental importance for the Carolingian administration. Since the

publication of James Thompson's and Jan Dhondt's works on the

dissolution of the Carolingian fisc, ' the idea that Carolingian power was

based on land - and that, therefore, royal power largely depended on the

number of estates owned and exploited - has been a cornerstone of

understanding Carolingian politics and ideology. ' Carolingian state

finance, at least in an early phase, seems to have consisted of little more

6 Cf. W. HORN & E. BORN, The Plan of Saint Gall. A Study of the Architecture and Economy of, and Life in, a Paradgmatic Carolingian Monastery, 3 vols. (Berkeley, University of California Press 1979). 7 J. THOMPSON, The Dissolution of the Carolingian Fisc in the Ninth Century (Berkeley, University of California 1935) and J. DHONDT, Etudes sur la Naissance des Principautes Territoriales en France (! Xe-Xe s. ) (Bruges, De Tempel 1948). 8 Cf. J. MARTINDALE, "The kingdom of Aquitaine and the `dissolution of the Carolingian f isc", Francia 11 (1983), pp. 131-91, at p. 173.

264

than the proceeds drawn from the exploitation of royal estates and certain

custom dues. '

To make use of such resources, the Carolingian court was

peripatetic, just as like its Merovingian predecessor. In other words,

kings and their retinue moved from estate to estate, consuming the

produce of each, as is clearly shown in contemporary sources: under the

year 800, for instance the Lorsch Annals record èt circa quadragesime

tempus circumvit villas suas'. 1 ° Other sources of invaluable importance,

such as the Capitulare de Villis and the Brevium Exempla, also indicate

how Carolingian monarchs recognised the importance of their estates for

their agricultural production, taking much care in assuring their good

management. "

The regional representatives of the monarchy, the officials known

as the counts, were in charge of the supervision of the royal estates and

responsible for the revenues they generated. These men were royal

appointees, with authority over a designated district or `county', whose

9 On the royal estates and their administration, see W. METZ, Das karolingische Reichsgut (Berlin 1960), pp. 11-195 and, more generally, J. NELSON, "Kingship and royal government", in MCKITTERICK, New Cambridge Medieval History, pp. 383-430. '° MARTINDALE, "The Kingdom of Aquitaine", p. 166. 11 See W. METZ, Das karolingische Reichsgut, eine verfassungs-und verwaltungsgeschichtliche Untersuchung (Berlin, De Gruyter 1960); IDEM, "Die Konigshöfe der Brevium Exempla", Deutsches Archiv fair Erforschung des Mittelalters 22 (1966), pp. 598- 617.

265

principal duty apart from running the royal estates was the provision of

public justice and the maintenance of local order. 'Z

That one of the primary tasks of country estates was to feed the

king and his household, is also made clear by a passage from the

Àstronomer's Life of Emperor Louis: "

The king showed proof of his foresight and disclosed the disposition of his mercy. He ordained that he would establish winter quarters in four places, namely, the palaces of Doue, Chasseneuil, Angeac, and Ebreuil, so that after a lapse of three years each place would support him during the winter in the fourth year only. Those places would then offer sufficient provision for the royal household when it came back the fourth year.

This passage also indicates how royal movements and activities

were mainly dependant on the seasons. While spring and summer were

used for extensive travelling and campaigning, autumn and winter were

spent in general inactivity. As described by the Àstronomer', relative

immobility during the autumn and winter meant that selected winter

residences would be destined to accommodate the king and his retinue

for a long period, during which the next years' action could be planned.

12 See K. F. WERNER, "Missus-Marchio-Comes Entre l'administration centrale et ]'administration locale de ]'Empire carolingien", in W. PARAVICINI & K. F. WERNER (eds), Historie comparee de ]'administration (IVe-XV11Ie siecles) (Sigmaringen 1980), pp. 191-239

and J. NELSON, "Dispute settlement in Carolingian West Francia", in W. DAVIES & P. FOURACRE (eds), The Settlement of Disputes in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1986), pp. 45-64. 13 THE ASTRONOMER, Vita Hludovici, in A. Cabannis (ed. and transl. ) Son of Charlemagne (Syracuse, Syracuse University Press 1961), 1.7.

266

On the contrary, during the warmer half of the year, Carolingian kings

did not stay in any place for a great length of time.

It was also in this season that assemblies were generally held,

since it was the period of easiest travel. As has been noted in previous

chapters for Merovingian and Anglo-Saxon societies, assemblies were of

fundamental importance for the Carolingians. Later in the ninth century,

this is made clear by Hincmar of Reims in his De Ordine Palatii: 1°

At that time the custom was followed that no more than two general assemblies were to be held each year. The first assembly determined the status of the entire realm for the remainder of the year. No turn of events, saving only the greatest crisis which struck the entire realm at once, could change what had been established. All the important men, both clerics and laymen, attended this general assembly. The important men came to participate in the deliberations, and those of lower station were present in order to hear the decisions and occasionally also to deliberate concerning them, and to confirm them not out of coercion but by their own understanding and agreement. Moreover, all classes were present in order to provide gifts to the king. The other assembly was held with the important men only and the principal councillors. This assembly began the consideration of the affairs of the coming year. It deliberated over some matters which seemed likely to occur and which called for consideration and action, or over the events of the past year which might require decision or further attention.

The annual gifts presented to the king by his faithful men, both lay

and ecclesiastical, constituted one of the major royal resources. 'S This

practice was generally followed by further ritual acts, including rites of

14 HINCMAR OF REIMS, De Ordine Palatii, ed. T. Gross and R. Schieffer, MGH Fontes Iuris Germanici Antiqui 3 (1980), 29-30. Translated by D. Herlihy, The History of Feudalism (London 1971), pp. 208-227.

267

Christian worship, feasts and a final hunt, as indicated by Ermold the

Black in his biography in verses of Louis the Pious. After the baptism of

the Danish prince Heriold and his family in the palace-chapel at

Ingelheim, all the participants returned to the palace, where Louis

presented his godson with gifts, including precious clothing, jewels, a

sword and a crown. From there, they all proceeded to mass and then back

to the hall, where a great feast had been prepared. The following day both

kings and their families, together with a crowd of magnates, attended the

hunt. Then they all returned to the palace-chapel, where they attended the

evening service. Later, in the hall, Louis distributed the rewards of the

hunt: meat, skin and furs. 16

As noted by Janet Nelson, `these were the rituals of patrimonial

kingship, centring on the royal family and the palace, assimilating client-

princes, noble Franks and clergy into an enlarged household. The hunt as

ritual, like the processions and feasts, manifested participation as well as

hierarchy, reciprocity as well as patriarchal authority'. "

15 On this point, cf. T. REUTER, "Plunder and tribute in the Carolingian Empire", Transaction of the Royal Historical Society 30 (1985), pp. 75-94, at 85-6. 16 ERMOLD THE BLACK, Poeme stir Louis le Pieus, in P. GODMAN, Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance (London, Duckworth 1985), pp. 250-5. 17 J. NELSON, "The Lord's anointed and the people's choice: Carolingian royal ritual", in D. CANNADINE & S. PRICE, Rituals of Royalty. Power and Ceremonial in Traditional Societies, (Cambridge, Cambrige University Press 1987), pp. 137-180, at pp. 168-69.

268

Let us now turn to the analysis of the physical places where this

display of royal power and kingship took place. The amount of evidence

provided by written sources and archaeological remains is quite large,

but, at the same time, is also very confusing: suffice it to say that Brühl's

work on charter evidence for the attestation of royal Carolingian

residences have led to the identification of more than one hundred royal

estates. 18 However, only a very small percentage has been identified on

the ground with any certainty, and only a very small number of sites has

been extensively excavated. Therefore, in this chapter, I shall present

only the best preserved evidence of royal Carolingian palaces, starting

from the description of the palatial groups uncovered at Aachen,

Ingelheim, and Paderborn and then proceeding to discuss the main

features of Carolingian palace buildings as drawn from a more general

examination of archaeological and documentary evidence. Finally, I shall

discuss the relationship between Carolingian palaces and possible source

of inspiration, such as the papal palace at the Lateran and the Great

Palace at Constantinople, and the role of ideology in palace design.

18 Cf. the table in R. SAMSON, "Carolingian Palaces and the Poverty of Ideology", in M. LOCOCK (ed. ), Meaningful Architecture: Social Interpretations of Buildings (Aldershot 1994),

pp. 99-131, at pp. 108-9.

269

2.4.2 Aachen

Our first example is the best known of Charlemagne's palatial

groups, the palace at Aachen. 19 According to the Royal Frankish Annals,

a villa existed at Aachen as early as 765, when Pepin celebrated

Christmas there. 2° By 788, Charlemagne had begun to build a

magnificent palace, which was the seat of his court and of the Palace

School. In his vita Karoli, Ehinard indicates the presence at Aachen of

thermal springs as the main reason which led Charlemagne to chose the

site. 2'

During Charlemagne's reign, Aachen rapidly grew in importance

and become a sort of preferred site: very often it was the venue for

19 Aachen (Nordrhein-Westfalen) lies at the northern foot of the Eifel, within a small valley. The site did not lie on a major road. However, a Roman presence in the area is documented by

the excavation of Roman baths, with legionary tiles dating to 89 AD. The Roman site ceased to function around 375 AD. Between the numerous contributions on Charlemagne's palace at Aachen, see B. THORDEMAN, "Die karolingische Palastanlage zu Aachen", Acta Achaeologica 35 (1964), pp. 171-87, L. HUGOT, "Die Pfalz Karl des Grossen in Aachen", in W. BRAUNFELS & H. SCHNITZLER (eds. ), Karl der Grosse: Lebenswerk und Nachleben 3 (Dusseldorf, Schwann 1965), pp. 534-72, H. CUPPERS & W. SAGE (eds), Aquae Grani. Beiträge zur Archäologie von Aachen (Cologne 1982). See also G. BINDING, Deutsche Kbnigspfalzen von Karl der Grossen bis Friederich If. (765-1240) (Darmstadt, Primus Verlag 1996), pp. 72-98,

and M. UNTERMANN, " òpere mirabili constructa'. Die Aachener 'Residenz' Karls des Grossen", in C. STIEGEMANN & M. WEMHOFF (eds. ), Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit. Karl der Grosse und Papst Leo 11l. in Paderborn (catalogue of the exhibition held in Paderborn, 23 July -1 November 1999) (Mainz, Verlag Philipp von Zabem 1999), pp. 152- 164. 20 Continuity through the Merovingian period has not been documented historically and archaeologically. Nevertheless, excavation within the Palatine Chapel has revealed evidence of three altars predating the present one. Since the RFA record the celebration of Christmas by

Pepin at the villa of Aachen in 765, the altar immediately predating that of the Carolingian

construction was most possibly the same one used in 765 by Pepin. On this point, cf. THORDEMAN, "Die karolingische Palastanlage", pp. 173-5.

i

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Figure 2.4.2 Aachen. Model of Charlemagne's Palace.

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Figure 2.4.3 Aachen. Palace complex with modular grid.

-

270

general assemblies and for other important gatherings such as the

reception of foreign embassies and the celebration of the major Christian

festivals of Easter and Christmas. From 794 onwards there was probably

not a year that Charlemagne did not visit it; he spent all but four of his

last twenty Christmases there and visited it more than twice as many

times as the next most frequented royal residence, Herstal. ZZ However,

even if Charlemagne remained more or less continuously in residence

there during the last years of his life, until the moment of his death,

Aachen did not exactly function as a proper capital, since the Carolingian

court was still itinerant, and the executive and administrative bodies of

the government followed the emperor around his kingdom. "

A series of excavations carried out from the 1910s has allowed the

hypothetical reconstruction of the palatial complex and of its main

elements, the aula regia, the Palatine Chapel (or the Minster), the

porticus and the gate-hall. 24 (Figg. 2.4.2-3)

The aula regia - which now exists as the foundations of the

predominantly Gothic Rathaus - was in plan a large rectangular hall with

21 Vita Karoli 3.77. 22 Cf. the itinerary maps in A. GAUERT, "Zum Itinerar Karls des Grossen", in H. BEUMANN (ed. ), Karl der Grosse I (Dusseldorf, Schwann 1965), pp. 307-321. 23 Cf. EWIG, "Residence et capitale", pp. 25-73. See also C-R. BROHL, "Remarques sur lcs

notions de `capitale' et de 'residence' pendant le haut Moyen Age", Journal des Savants 3 (1967), pp. 193-215. 24 HUGOT, "Die Pfalz", pp. 534-72.

Figure 2.4.4 Aachen. Aula regia. Elevation and Plan.

A KOnigshalie

IrA

B Portikus

C Klosett D Raum I E Solarium

I

F Schutzraum G Raum

Figure 2.4.5 Aachen. Granusturm: [A] Aula regia [B] Porticus [C] Toilet [D] Room [E] Solarium (F]-[G] Rooms.

271

three apses - one on the western side and the other two in the middle of

the long sides - measuring 47.42 metres in length and 20.76 in width

(equivalent to 160 x 70 Roman ft. ). (Fig. 2.4.4) A square stair tower,

most of which still survives, was attached to the southern corner of the

east side end of the great hall. It was composed of a partially

underground cellar, above which were four stories, each with a small

stone vaulted square room. Between the second and third floor there was

an exit out of the south-west corner of the tower which would probably

have led out onto a wooden gallery. (Fig. 2.4.5) The function of this

tower, generally referred to as the Granusturm, is still uncertain. It is

frequently called a treasury tower (Schatzturin), although, as Hugot

points out, only the room on the second floor is actually lockable. The

stair, in fact, is too much narrow and steep to serve such a function and

the rooms are similarly too cramped. Hugot suggests that the function of

the tower was primarily that one of access: to the roof, to the gallery, and

to the first floor of an adjoining southern range of buildings, which has

subsequently disappeared, but whose blocked Carolingian doorway can

still be seen in the stonework. 25

A double-storied porticus of 120 x 7.4 m. (450 x 25 Roman ft. )

connected the aula regia and the Minster atrium. On the ground-floor

25 Ibid., p. 555.

272

level, the tunnel-like structure was accessed at either end and from a

central gate-hall. On the first floor, the long passage connected the arcade

of the royal hall with a first-floor door into the Minster, which led into

the tribune where the throne stood. The passage was lit by a series of

small triple windows, in effect forming a two-storied arcade. tim4Ioxj

mentions a collapse of this construction as a portent of Charlemagne's

death: `The immensely strong porticus which he had constructed between

his palace and the cathedral came crashing down to its very foundations

one Ascension Day'. 26 The RFA record the occurrence more fully, and

presumably more accurately, sub anno 817: 27

When the emperor left church on Maundy Thursday after the holy office was over, the wooden arcade (lignea porticus) through which he was walking collapsed on top of him and knocked him to the ground, with more than twenty of his companions. This happened because the arcade was made of shoddy material. The worn-out and rotten cross-beams (Iranstra) could no longer hold up the weight of the framework (contignationem) and wainscoting (tabulatum) above them.

One function of the porticos was therefore to serve as a private

passage to enable the emperor to pass to and from the church. Another

explanation for this enormously long arcade is that it served as a barrier

26 Vita Karoli, 4.32 27 RFA, 817.

273

into the palace courtyard. The facade it presented to the outer world was

quite forbidding and would have easily kept out the unwelcome.

Access into the palace complex was regulated by the double-

storied gate-hall in the centre of the long porticos. The ground floor of

the hall accommodated a wide passage (3.5 m. ) and two staircases

leading to the first floor. A further pair of stairs to the first floor of the

gate-hall was situated in the courtyard. The first floor of the hall remains

largely conjectural. 28 What is generally proposed is a large rectangular

hall with doors opening into the upper corridor of the porticus, an apse at

the eastern end of the hall, and a balcony directly over the entrance at its

western end.

On the other side of the gate-hall, the porticus connected to the so-

called Palatine Chapel, also known as the Minster. 29 The main entrance to

the church was through a monumental atrium with galleries on two

levels. The church itself was built around a tall octagonal central space,

vaulted above clerestory windows, one set in each of the eight walls. A

circular aisle and above it a gallery are created between the central

28 For the similarity between the gate-hall at Aachen and the Torhalle at Lorsch, cf. D'ONOFRIO, Roma eAquisgrana, p. 190. 29 The literature on the Palatine Chapel at Aachen is very large. Between the number of contributions, see especially G. BANDMANN, "Die vorbilder der Aachener Pfalzkapelle", in BRAUNFELS & SCHNITZLER, Karl der Grosse 3: Karolingische Kunst (Dusseldorf, Schwann 1965), pp. 424-62, F. KREUSCII, "Kirche, Atrium and Portikus der Aachener Pfalz", ibid., pp. 463-533 and C. HEITZ, L'architecture religieuse carolingienne: les formes et leurs fonctions (Paris 1980), pp. 64-81.

274

octagon and the sixteen exterior sides of the church. The eastern end

terminated in a simple rectangular choir on the ground floor. Opposite

the choir at the Minster entrance stood a complex westwork, comprising a

central tower and flanking round stair towers. The entrance was formed

by a porch, above which was the tribune, where the throne was situated.

From the tribune a door led to the porticus, allowing direct sheltered

access to the hall.

From both the aisle and gallery, doors led to northern and southern

annex buildings. The northern building was a three-aisled apsidal hall,

about 23.5 x 15.5 m., preceded by a narthex. This may have been

connected to the porticus by an arcade and a further exit on the east side

led perhaps into the open courtyard. The southern annex was of the same

dimensions and form, although it was quite clearly not aisled. The exact

chronology of the construction of the annexes is unclear, although they

cannot have been added as an afterthought, since the doors connecting

them with the Minster are primary features. Moreover, there were never

gallery and aisle windows set in the walls which corresponded to these

two buildings, as they were on the remaining fourteen sides of the

building. Thordemann showed that the plan of a royal hall in Pliska near

Varna (Bulgaria), dating to the first half of the ninth century, was almost

identical to that of the northern annex, and suggested that it was a royal

275

reception hall, the apse being where the enthroned king would have sat.

He argued that the northern annex pre-dated the Minster and the aula

regis and was Pippin's great hall. When Charlemagne's complex was

planned, it incorporated this royal hall with the addiction of the southern

wing to balance the composition. 3° The northern and southern wing could

therefore represent secular and ecclesiastical authority, represented by the

emperor and the bishop, an opposition similarly reflected within the

Minster in the opposing throne and the altar.

The last of the archaeologically detected constructions was the

bath complex, located at some distance to the east of the porticus, where

a rectangular building of almost the same dimensions as the gate-hall (28

x 15 m) has been discovered. This part of the palatial complex should

also be attributed to Charlemagne's reconstruction. According to Notker

the Stammerer, a bath building had not existed there before; and when

King Pippin bathed at Aachen, it was in natural springs, not in baths. "

Residential buildings have so far escaped archaeological detection.

However, they are referred to in the documentary sources, particularly

the domestic quarters for nobles, their retainers, and the numerous

servants and artisans of the palace. It is tempting to reconstruct a variety

30 THORDEMAN, "Die karolingische Palastanlage", pp. 181-183. 31 De Carolo Magno, 2.15

276

of buildings in the eastern side of the courtyard. As we have seen, at least

one construction can be presumed south of the Granusturin, accessed via

the blocked first floor door in the tower. At several other points some

twenty metres east of the porticus, sections of walling have been

discovered, but not enough to allow the reconstruction of the buildings'

plans. It is likely that the bishop's residence was situated at the

southernmost end of this range. Einhard tells us that the cathedral `was

struck by lightning and the golden apple which adorned the highest point

on the roof was dashed off by a thunderbolt and thrown on the top of the

bishop's house which was next door'. " The bishop's house was thus

either one of the two annexes discussed above, or, more likely, it lay to

the east of the cathedral, on the site of the later Gothic choir. " Finally,

the location of Charlemagne's private apartments is still quite uncertain.

Hugot suggested they lay near his beloved baths, somewhere between the

Minster, the aula regia and the bath. 34 In his De Carolo Magno, Notker

indicates they were located on an upper-floor, so that Charlemagne could

have always been in control of his retinue: "

Mansions belonging to men of various rank were erected around the palace of Charlemagne in such a way that, shrewd as he was, through the windows of his

private apartment, he could see everything they were doing, and all their

32 Vita Karoli 4.32. 33 Cf. HUGOT, "Die Pfalz", p. 566. 34 Ibid., p. 545. 35 De Carolo Magno, 1.30.

277

comings and goings, without their realising it. In the same way, all the houses

of his nobles were built high off the ground, so that the retainers of the nobles, the personal servant of those retainers and every other passer-by, could be

protected from rain or snow, cold or heat, and yet the nobles themselves could not hide from the eyes of the ever-vigilant Charlemagne.

According to 6rnka, `there were frequent earth tremors in the

palace at Aachen, and in the apartments where Charlemagne lived the

wooden beams of the ceiling kept on creaking. 36 This led Hugot to

conjecture that the apartments were made of timber. " However, wooden

beams would also normally be found in stone buildings.

2.4.3 Ingelheim

In another chapter of his Vita Karoli, devoted to Charlemagne's

building projects, fl M\ mentions the buildings of other two

magnificent palaces, one near Ingelheim, and the other at Nijmegen. 38 A

first sojourn of Charlemagne at Ingelheim was recorded in 774 when,

36 Vita Karoli, 4.32. 37 Cf. HUGOT, "Die Pfalz", p. 568. 38 Vita Karoli, 2.17. Ingelheim is located on a slope, three kilometres south of the Rhine and a dozen west of Mainz. The main villa farmstead site which predated the palace was probably located in the fields north of the present church of St Remigius. To the west of this church

were also the possible remains of a Roman villa. On Ingelheim, cf. H. SCHMITZ, "Die Pfalz

Ingelheim und die rheinmainische Pfalzenlandschaft", Jahrbuch fir westdeutsche Landesgeschichte 2 (1976), pp. 77-107; W. SAGE, "Die Ausgrabungen in der Pfalz zu Ingelheim am Rhein 1960-70", Francia 4 (1976), pp. 141-60; C. R1UCII & H. J. JACOBI, Die

Ausgrabungen in der Königspfalz Ingelheim 1909-1914 (Mainz, Römisch-Germanisches

Zentral Museum 1979); BINDING, Deutsche Königspfalzen, pp. 99-114 and H. GREWE, "Die

Königspfalz zu Ingelheim am Rhein", in STIEGEMANN & WEMUOFF, Kunst und Kultur, pp. 142-51.

Figure 2.4.6 Ingelheim. Reconstruction of the palace, age of Charlemagne.

Figure 2.4.7 Ingelheim. Palatial complex. Plan.

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Figure 2.4.8 Ingelheim. Aula regia. Reconstruction.

278

according to the Royal Frankish Annals, Charlemagne stayed there on his

return from his victorious campaign against the Lombards and sent four

detachments of the army into Saxony. 39 However, it need not be that any

royal domestic palace already existed at Ingelheim at this time.

Charlemagne was on campaign, and there is no suggestion that he did

any more than stay the night at what may have been simply one of his

agricultural estates. From 787 onwards, however, it is clear that a proper

palatial structures had been constructed, and in 787-88 the king

celebrated both Christmas and Easter there. 4°

Excavations carried out at the beginning of the century and in the

1960s reconstructed, at least in part, the layout of the palatial complex.

(Figg. 2.4.6-7) The complex included an aula regia, a large rectangular

hall measuring 33.2 by 14.5 m. hall, with a round apse of 4.9 m radius

attached to the south end and doors in the east and west long sides. (Fig.

2.4.8) Although the hall was originally thought to contain a double row

of columns - thus producing a basilican effect - subsequent excavation

has rejected this interpretation. The apse had four windows, considerably

lower than those along the main wall; three of these still existed when

39 RFA, 774. For the documentary sources related to the palatial complex at Ingelheim. cf. li. Koirrz, "Ingelheim als Schauplatz. Aus Annalen, Chroniken, Biographien, Briefen und Geschichtsdarstellungen", in Ingelheinz am Rhien (774-1974). Geschichte und Gegenwart (Ingelheim 1974). 40 RFA 787-8.

Figure 2.4.9 Ingelheim. Exedra. Reconstruction.

279

Rauch investigated the hall. The walls were probably painted on the

inside, since a number of fragments of red and brown painted plaster

were found there. 4' Less clear are the extensions to the north of the hall,

investigated only in the first excavations. Rauch had originally conceived

of the extension as buildings clearly distinguished from the hall. Jacobi,

on the other hand, reconstructed the entire west wing as one continuous

structure. 42 Rauch's earlier interpretations was confirmed by the

subsequent excavations in the exedra, in the eastern end of the palace.

Archaeological investigations revealed an otherwise square palace

courtyard complex, with on one side a double-storied curved building,

the outside wall of which formed a semicircle 90 metres in diameter,

divided in rooms in the southern half. Around the inside of the exedra ran

an arcade, with a usable width of 5 metres for passage. (Fig. 2.4.9)

At the mid-point of the exedra was the main entrance to the

palace. In reconstruction, a gate-tower is traditionally set here, although

the foundations at this point are neither wider or deeper than elsewhere in

the exedra. Later Romanesque additions to Ingelheim included the

addition of a battlemented entrance between two flanking circular towers,

41 The decorative programme of the aula regia at Ingelheim depicted seven great rulers of the

ancient pagan world and five great rulers of the new, Christian world, namely Constantine,

Theodosius, Charlemagne himself, his father Pippin and his grandfather Charles Martel. Cf.

W. LAMMERS, "Ein karolingisches Bildprogramm in der Aula Regia von Ingelheim",

Festschrift fair H. Heimpel (Göttingen, Max-Planck Institut für Geschichte 1973), pp. 226-89.

280

which also used to be thought of as later additions. " However,

excavations in the 1960s proved that the five towers so far detected, lying

immediately outside the exedra, have been originally integral parts of the

palace. They were connected by two short stretches of walling to the

exedra which must have housed a passage, although no traces were found

at ground level. " Of the remaining two sides of the complex, the

southern was later occupied by an Ottonian church. At its eastern end,

there seems to have been a large rectangular building to which was added

a circular tower of identical proportions to those attached to the exedra.

The northern range of the palace consisted of a continuous building 13 m.

wide, fronted on the interior by a6m. wide porticus. The long building

was divided into six rooms of varying sizes around an average of 8 m.,

probably including a bath-house.

2.4.4 Paderborn

The excavations carried out at the site of Paderborn, located in the

south-east corner of the Westphalian forest, revealed the main layout of a

42 RAUCH & JACOBI, Die Ausgrabungen, pp. 80-82.

'33 RAUCH & JACOBi, Die Ausgrabungen, pp. 98-101. 44 SAGE, "Die Ausgrabungen", p. 145.

281

Carolingian royal palace complex known from documentary sources. " In

776 a fortified royal residence was established at Paderborn. In 777,

according to the Royal Frankish Annals, Charlemagne held his first

assembly there and large numbers of Saxons were baptised at the source

of the river Pader. 46 In the great Saxon uprising of 778, the church and

the palace were destroyed. A second phase of destruction is associated

with the year 794 when the Saxons were defeated at the Sintfeld, just

south of Paderborn. 47 The palace and the church had been rebuilt by 799,

when they are recorded as the scene of Pope Leo II's meeting with

Charlemagne. "

Excavation immediately to the north of the cathedral in the 1960s

revealed the site and the general plan of the early medieval royal palace. 49

45 On Paderborn, see especially W. WINKELMANN, "Est locus insignis, quo Patra et Lippa fluentant. Über die Ausgrabungen in den karolingischen und ottonischen Königspfalzen in Paderborn", Chateau Gaillard 5 (1972), pp. 203-225, K. HONSELMANN, "Paderborn 777 - ùrbs Karoli': Karlsburg", Westfalische Zeitschrift 130 (1980), pp. 398-402, U. LOt3t3EDY, "Vorbericht über die Grabungen im Dom zu Pderborn 1978-80", Westfalen 61 (1983), pp. 130- 4, BINDING, Deutsche Königspfalzen, pp. 123-30, B. MECKE, "Die Pfalzen in Paderborn. Entdeckung und Auswertung", in STIEGEMANN & WEMHOFF, Kunst und Kultur, pp. 176-182

and S. GAI, "Die Pfalz Karls des Grossen in Paderborn. Ihre Entwicklung von 777 bis zum Ende des 10. Jahurhunderts", ibid., pp. 183-196. 46 RFA, 777. Cf. Also U. LOBBEDY, Der Paderborn Dom (Munich, Deutsche Kunstverlag 1990), pp. 9-10. 47 Ibid., 794. 48 The pope stayed at Paderborn for probably three months before heading south, while Charlemagne remained some days longer and received envoys from Byzantium. 49 The site can be conveniently divided chronologically by the great fire of 1000 AD. Underlying the Ottonian complex was the Carolingian royal palace and cathedral of at least four phases, although each successive phase largely maintained the plan of the previous. There is evidence of three construction phases of the main hall and the buildings lying to the north of it. Each reconstruction was clearly necessitated by fire damage, since the stonework surviving from previous phases was often fire-reddened. Dates for the construction of each phase have

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282

The palace complex, as recovered archaeologically, was composed of a

hall, a church and annex buildings assumed to be residential. (Figg.

2.4.10-12)

The hall consisted of a rectangular building measuring 10.3 by

30.9 m. It was never aisled and began as a large hall with small chambers

at either end (that in the eastern end being perhaps a latrine). Entrance

was gained through a small stair tower. Later additions to the west of the

hall included an additional room with a rectangular recess, though to be a

niche for a throne. Along the southern wall of the hall, a parallel wall was

found, maybe added for strength. The interior of the hall was painted, as

the numerous fragments of painted plaster recovered in the excavations

indicate. "

To the south of the hall a courtyard grew as new ranges were

added to the east and west. Within this courtyard a small structure,

consisting of five steps leading to a small plinth was found. Once thought

to be the base for a throne, supposedly covered by a baldachin supported

on four posts, " the structure is now interpreted as a flight of stairs. 52

been derived from the documentary evidence concerning Saxon attacks, with which the fire

damage is generally associated. so Cf. M. PREISSLER, "Fragmente einer verlorenen Kunst", in STIEGEMANN & WEMMHOF"F,

Kunst und Kultur, pp. 197-206. 51 Cf. W. WINKELMANN, "Zum Thronunterbau in der karolingischen Pfalz Paderborn", Kölner

Römer-Illustrierte 2 (1975), pp. 275-91. 52 MECKE, "Die Pfalzen in Paderborn", p. 179.

283

There is little surviving evidence for the earliest church

constructed in 777. It appears to have been an aisleless hall, 52 x 18 m.,

terminating in three apses. Following a fire, it was rebuilt along the same

lines, the floor level slightly raised and an atrium added. Excavation from

1978 to 1980 revealed that the new Carolingian cathedral was built over

the cemetery of the first church. " The new church was shorter than its

predecessor (44 x 23 m. ) and provided with aisles. To this new church

was later added a 34.5 m. wide western transept and a western atrium.

This may have been built on occasion of the translation of St Liborius'

relics in 836. Also, at some time in the early ninth century, a monastic

complex was built to the north of the church. "

The last buildings to be considered at Paderborn are the small,

probably single-storied buildings north of the aula regia and church.

These were carefully constructed and a large amount of painted plaster

was found inside, as was the case with the hall and the church. No

mention of secular Carolingian building is to be found in the

documentary sources, with the exception of the Epos. This poems records

that after the pope's arrival, Charlemagne and Leo went on foot up to the

church, where the pope celebrated mass. Afterwards, the pope was

53 Cf. LOI3BE[$Y, "Vorbericht über die Grabungen", pp. 130-4. The excavator suggests that the

people buried in the cemetery were the victims of one of the documented Saxon raids. 54 WINKELMANN, "Est locus insignis", pp. 204-211.

284

invited to take a meal with Charlemagne in the royal hall, which was

decorated with wall tapestries. " Charlemagne ascended his throne to give

judgement, conclude treaties and even to call the great men to an

occursus for the pope. " The Epos also records that, following the meal in

the hall, the pope returned to his entourage, while the king retired to his

secret halls' The court and pope would appear to have been lodged in

apartments located on an upper-floor, since they were referred to as tecta

on three occasion, and once as sedes.... ad cuhnina. 58

2.4.5 Discussion

As was noted at the beginning of this chapter, the machinery of

government and the process of forming consensus mainly through

assemblies demanded of royal residences the presence of very large halls.

Archaeological investigation has undoubtedly confirmed the prominence

and fundamental role of the aula regia: together with the church, the hall

was the largest building of a palatial complex. With its surface of 47.43 x

55 Epos 5.533: "clara intus pictis conlucet vestibus aula". 56 Epos 5.449 ("ipse sedet solio Kaolus rex iustus in alto") and 463 ("Rear plus interea solium conscendit"). 57 Epos 5.533: "aule secreta revisat rex". 58 Cf. Epos 5.432,523,527,512.

Figure 2.4.13 Frankfurt. Palatial complex. Plan.

Figure 2.4.14 Bodman. Palatial complex.

f: l ýwwýwoý wvýaw. , "" o w. rwýa ý rý

285

20.76 m., the hall at Aachen was certainly without rivals, but the halls at

Ingelheim and Paderborn were also large.

Other interesting examples of halls have been found on other less-

known Carolingian estates: at Frankfurt am Main, for instance,

excavations brought to light an uncommon example of a large (12.2 x

26.5 m. ) rectangular hall, divided into two aisles by a central line of

columns, presumably supporting an upper storey, and linked to the

palatine church by a passage-way similar to the porticus at Aachen. "'

(Fig. 2.4.13) Another large rectangular building - 38.8 x 13.8 m., with

stone walls some 2.8 wide, and, therefore, possibly designed to carry

more than one storey - was found at the royal estate of Bodman, near

Lake Constance. 60 (Fig. 2.4.14)

Another extremely large (50 x 25 m. ), rectangular hall was

excavated in the modern village of Samoussy, possibly identified with

the royal Salrnontiagum villa, mentioned twice, sub annis 766 and 771, in

59 The first documented reference is in the Royal Frankish Annals, which record that in 794 Charlemagne stayed in villa Franconovurd over winter with his wife, and convened there an important ecclesiastical synod. However, the excavated royal hall is usually attributed to the time of Louis the Pious, who, according to the Royal Frankish Annals, had constnuctis ad hoc

opere novo aedificiis in 822. Charles the Bald was born there, in palatio novo, the following

year. The attribution seems all the more likely to be correct, given that Charlemagne is knot known to have returned to Frankfurt whereas Louis the Pious made frequent visits. Cf. 1-1. J. HUNDT & U. FISCHER, "Die Grabungen in der Altstadt von Frankfurt am Main 1953-7", Neue Ausgrabungen in Deutschland (1958), pp. 391-408,0. STAMM, "Zur karolingischen Königspfalz in Frankfurt am Main", Germania 33 (1955), pp. 391-401 (with all the textual references) and BINDING, Deutsche Königspfalzen, pp. 117-22.

ý 1-21 1

at, 'Ck

0 10 20 30 40 50 m IIIIII

Figure 2.4.15 Samoussy. Palatial complex. Plan.

286

the Royal Frankish Annals. " The long walls were 2 m. thick and suggest

that the building may have been two storied. Also traces of what might

have been the first step of a stairway were discovered in the south-east

corner. (Fig. 2.4.15) The excavator suggested that the ground-floor

rooms were used for storage or work, while the main hall was located on

the first floor. " On the ground level, the large building was subdivided

into a range of rooms along the north side, and one or two rooms on the

western end. At the eastern entrance were two small 5 m. square

constructions, which may have been towers flanking the doorway.

To the south of the hall was a quadrilateral enclosure, subdivided

near the hall, while to the east, close to the entrance to the hall, was a

remarkable semi-circular enclosure. This feature has been identified by

the excavator as an ornamental garden. " However, in De Ordine Palatii,

Hincmar of Reims informs us that ìf the weather was pleasant, the

assembly was held out of doors'' Therefore, the large area delimited by

the semi-circular enclosure at Samoussy perhaps could be identifies as an

60 Cf. W. ERDMANN, "Zur archäologischen und baugeschichtlichen Erforschung der Pfalzen im Bodenseegebiet. Bodman, Konstanz, Reichenau, Zürich", Deutsche Königspfal en 3 (1979),

pp. 136-210 and BINDING, Deutsche Königspfalzen, pp. 138-141. 61 See G. WEISE, Zwei fränkische Königspfalzen. Bericht über die an den Pfaken Quierzy und Samoussy vorgenommenen Grabungen (Tübingen 1923). 62 Ibid., pp. 37-41. 63 Ibid., pp. 42-43.

M HINCMAR OF REIMS, De Ordine Palatii, ed. T. Gross and R. Schieffer, MGH Fontcs Iuris Germanici Antiqui 3 (1980), chp. 35. Translated by D. Herlihy, The History of Feudalism (London 1971), pp. 208-227.

287

area for outdoor assemblies. " Such distinctions were presumably due to

more than just the weather or the size of the gathering, but were related to

the types of audience and the degree to which it was expected to

participate in a meeting or passively to receive a message. This is

apparent in a subsequent passage of the same chapter: "

If [the assembly] it was held indoors, different places were designated where the important persons could gather in sufficient number and could hold their meetings, separate from the remaining throng; other, less important persons were then unable to participate in the deliberations. In either case, however, the meeting place of the great men was divided into two sections. In the first, all the bishops, abbots, and more exalted clerics could meet without any lay participation. Similarly, the counts and the princes of comparable rank could honourably gather in the morning apart from the other throng, for the time needed, in either the presence or the absence of the king. Thus the great men in the accustomed manner were summoned, the clerics to their own designated hall, the laymen to their own hall, both of which were suitably furnished with seats. When the great men were separated from the others, they had the power of deciding when they should sit together and when separately, as the nature of the case dictated, whether it concerned spiritual or secular mixed issues. So also it was in their discretion to summon outsiders, as for example, when they wished provisions or when they wanted to pose questions. Once answers were received, those summoned would depart. This is what happened when those matters which the king wished to have considered were presented to them.

In indicating the division of assemblies into two sections, this

passage seems to give a logical explanation for the presence of the two

halls on either side of the Minster at Aachen. While the most important

meetings, whether assemblies or the reception of envoys, would have

taken place in the august settings of the reception halls, especially

65 The excavations at Samoussy were carried out during the First World War and should accepted only cautiously. Cf. SAMSON, "Carolingian Palaces", p. 117.

288

decorated for the purpose, 67 other public functions were carried out in

different locations. Aachen is a perfect example, for there the king could

have appeared to different audiences in different contexts: enthroned in

the main apse of the aula regia, in the gate-hall, in one of the halls by the

Minster and on his throne inside the church.

As regards the function of the first-floor room of gate-halls, it is

possible that they served as judgement halls. The parallel can be drawn to

the Chalke gate-hall at the Great Palace in Constantinople, where the

Byzantine emperor sat in judgement in the entrance hall. One immediate

advantage of such a position for a judgement hall was that the accused

could be brought in without otherwise defiling the palace complex. It

also seems probable that a balcony existed above the gateway, from

which pronouncements of the judgements of the court could be made and

on which the king could make public appearances, and perhaps distribute

alms: this function was recorded by Charlemagne's biographers, " and

also ascribed by the Brevium Exempla to the solarium ad dispensandum,

66 HINCMAR of REIMS, De Ordine Palatii, chp. 35. 67 A large amount of fragments of painted plaster, it was noted, was found at Paderborn and Ingelheim. 68 For instance, Vita Karoli, 3.27.

289

an upper storey room of a stone-built gate-tower of the royal villa of

Asnapius. 69

If something is known of the appearance of the halls, very little

can be said about the residential quarters. At Ingelheim, the court and the

pope were accommodated in apartments located on the upper floor of the

palace. Charlemagne's apartments at Aachen, if we are to believe Notkcr

and fi mVw4 were also located on the upper floor of the palace and were

made of timber, while the royal apartments (sala regalis) on the royal

estate of Asnapius were built of stone: three rooms, surmounted by ten

small rooms on another floor, with a cellar below. There were also two

wooden porches and, in the court, seventeen wooden houses, including

two granaries, a bakery, a stable and three granges. 7°

Another interesting architectural feature of these royal palaces was

the presence of a porticus joining the hall to the church, as found at

Aachen, Ingelheim, Frankfurt and Paderborn. This seems to have been a

rather peculiar characteristic of elite early medieval residences: as noted

in previous chaptE_ý.:, this was an important feature at both the Lateran

complex and the Great Palace at Constantinople, where different ranges

of buildings were connected through long porticoed corridors.

69 Brevium exempla ad describendas res ecclesiasticas et fiscales (vedi Loyn and Percival),

chp. 25. 70 Capit 1,250 and 254.

CCLES»FýgB pVIGflgErtTO"APVD"CT: W VLAL! -AT1"DCC XCJX CObiSYRVCTtývM E"SCSI? TO " CODiCE

- EKMATLIo}

Figure 2.4.16 Centula. The Abbey of St Riquier, by Petau, 1612.

290

A monastic reflection of this feature is found not only at the

monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno, but also in other prominent

monastic settlements such as Benedict Biscop's Wcarmouth" or Centula/

Saint-Riquier. 12 At this latter complex, built by Angilbert, Charlemagne's

son-in-law, the big monastic church was connected to two other smaller

churches through the ionganiae, a 750 m. long arcade, strikingly similar

to the porticus which connected the aula regia and the palatine chapel at

Aachen. (Fig. 2.4.16)

This kind of passageways played a very important role in the

organization of early medieval elite communities. Not only they served

both to distinguish and to unite the various ranges of buildings in a

complex, but also provided a means of directing and controlling the

movements of people. " As regards the specific cases of passageways in

Carolingian palaces, although there is no evidence to suggest any special

function other from being a sheltered passage, one could easily imagine

those accompanying the king into something resembling a liturgical

procession. As in all the other aspects of Carolingian palaces, therefore,

71 Cf. R. CRAMP, "Monastic sites", in D. M. WILSON (ed. ), The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England (London, Methuen 1976), pp. 201-52, at 233-34. 72 H. M. TAYLOR, "Tenth century church building in England and on the continent. In D. PARSON (ed. ), Tenth-Century Studies. Essays in Commemoration of the Afilleni« m of the Council of Winchester and 'Regularis Concordia' (London, Phillimore), pp. 141-68, at pp. 145-52. 73 Cf. HODGES, GIBSON & MITCHELL, "The vestibule", p. 19.

291

we can see in these corridors a sort of `route of glorification' of the

king. 74

Krautheimer's studies have pointed out that the one of the main

points of reference for the construction of Charlemagne's palaces, at least

for Aachen, was the Lateran palace. " In 799, in the Epos De Karolo rege

et Leone papa, the poem celebrating the meeting of Charlemagne and

Leo III, Aachen was described as a `second Rome'. 76 The epithet Roina

nova was very appropriate, for it looked ideologically both to Rome and

Constantinople, which was Constantine's Roma nova. As Roma nova,

Aachen could be seen as the western equivalent of Constantinople and as

the secular equivalent of Rome. The palace at Aachen was also called

`the Lateran' in at least three documents: in the Chronicon Moissiacense

we read: 'Fecit autem ibi et palatium quod nominavit Lateranis'; " an

ecclesiastical council was held in 817 in domo Aquisgrani palalii quas

Lateranis dicitur; 78 while another synod was held in 836 irr Aquisgrani

palatii secretario basilicae sanctae genetricis Dei ivIariae quoll dicitur

74 SAISON, "Carolingian Palaces", pp. 126-27. 75 For the Lateran as one of the ideal models for Aachen, cf. KRAUTIIEIMI R, "Carolingian Revival", pp. 34-38. 76 Epos De Karolo rege et Leone papa, ed. E. Dununler, MGH Poetae 1, p. 377. 77 Chronicon Moissiacense, MGH SS, I, p. 303. 78 MGH, Legum Sectio III. Concilia Aevi Carolini, ed. A. Werminghoff, (hannover-Leipzig

1906-1908), p. 464.

292

Lateranis. '9 Some scholars, however, believe that the term was used to

refer only to a part of the palace, to the secretarium, identified with the

annex-building to the south of the Minster. 8° While this could be true for

the last two cases, there can be no doubt that the author of the Chronicon

Moissiacense was referring to the palace as a whole. "

Moreover, the statues and the ornaments with which Aachen was

embellished all have close parallels with Rome and the papal palaces: the

famous pine-cone fountain which sat in the middle of St Peter's atrium in

Rome was without doubt the model for the pine-cone fountain at

Aachen. 82 The bronze figure of a she-bear/she-wolf which sat in the

porch of Aachen's Minster may have been intended to parallel the

Roman Lupa which was kept at the Lateran palace, in the same way that

the equestrian statue brought from Ravenna to Aachen by Charlemagne

seems to have emulated the equestrian bronze of Marcus Aurelius, the

so-called caballus Constantini, at that time at the Lateran. "

791bidem, p. 705. 80 See especially L. FALKENSTEIN, Der 'Lateran' der karolingischen Pfalz _u Aachen (Cologne

1966) and, by the same author, "Zwischenbilanz zur Aachener Pfalzenforschung", Zeitschrift

des Aachener Geschichtsvereins 80 (1970), pp. 7-7 1. 81 Cf. KRAUTHEIMER, "Carolingian Revival", p. 35. 82 WARD-PERKINS, From Classical Antiquiz)' to the Middle Ages, p. 143. However, the date of the Aachen pine-cone is debatable, Traditionally it has been associated with Charlemagne, but

recent scholarship dates it c. 1000. Cf. P. LASKO, Ars Sacra 800-1200 (2nd edition) (Yale,

Yale University Press 1994 ), p. 11. 83 KRAUTHEIMER, "Carolingian Revival", pp. 35-36.

293

Another element would seem to corroborate the idea of a

conscious emulation of the Lateran in the construction of the palatial

complex at Aachen. The resemblance of the aula regier to the triconch

triclinium built by Leo III is too striking to be simply fortuitous. Not only ck

the two buildings share the same peculiar shape in plan, but also in both

the main apartments are at first storey level, and they are connected to the

other parts of the palace via a similar porticoed corridor. "

However, Leo III's triconch triclinium was erected only in c. 799,

while Charlemagne's Aula regia at Aachen was probably built already by

794. Therefore, it looks like both Charlemagne and Leo III might have

used the same source of inspiration for their triconch triclinia. As noted

in our discussion of the early medieval phase of the Lateran complex, the

presence at the Great Palace of an older triconch triclinium, together with

other elements, seems to have been the main source of inspiration for the

Roman pontiffs in their restoration of the papal palaces and could

therefore have played a similar role in Charlemagne's palace-building

activity. "

84 The Late Roman Basilica at Trier has been more generally associated to the royal hall at Aachen, and often taken to have been the source of inspiration for its construction. See, for

instance, D'ONOFRio, Roma e Aquisgrana, p. 191-93 or SAMSON, "Carolingian Palaces", p. 121. 85 Cf. chp. 2.1.4.

294

More recently, the artistic and cultural strategies and practices of

the eighth-century courts of Lombard Italy have been indicated as one of

the main sources for Charlemagne's establishment of new palaces. 86

When he marched down into Italy in 773 and defeated the Lombard king,

Charlemagne must have been particularly impressed by the high culture

and standards of living of his enemies. From the Lombards, the great

Frankish ruler could also have acquired the idea of a fixed domicile,

provided with an impressive royal chapel which, as noted in our

discussion of Lombard palaces, was a characteristic feature of Lombard

palaces. It would have been no coincidence, it has been argued, that the

first of his grand new palaces, that of Paderborn, was begun as early as

776, when the memory of the Lombard royal palace in Pavia was still

fresh in Charlemagne's mind. "

To sum up, a certain absence of a common architectural form can

be discerned in Carolingian palaces. The reception hall, for example,

might be basilican, or three-aisled or two aisled or unaisled. The same

could be said for the palatial chapel, the Minster at Aachen being very

different from the church at Paderborn. Royal private apartments were

86 Cf. J. MITCHELL, "L'arte nell'Italia longobarda e nell'Europa carolingia", in C. BERTCI. LI &

G. P. BROGIOLO (eds. ) Il futuro dei Longobardi (forthcoming). 87 Ibid.

295

sometime made in timber and in other instances made of stone.

Notwithstanding this eclecticism, though, the presence of similar features

characterised these estates, or at least the larger and more important ones.

An unedited manuscript from Laon records what one Carolingian writer

believed was essential for a palace to be worthy of its name: reception

rooms, dining rooms for both winter and summer, baths, a `gymnasium

equipped for the practice of the various arts'. Moreover, there must be a

chapel and lodgings for clerks and clerics, apartments for guests, rooms

for administration, a safe room for the royal-treasury and quarters for

armed men"

Undoubtedly, the requirements for the ideal palace as described by

the anonymous Carolingian writer were not different from those found at

the early medieval aristocratic residences analysed in the previous

chapters; and, in a sense, the role of these residences was very similar

too: palaces were the main places where power was displayed, the place

where the greatness of the ruler, either the pope, the king, the duke or the

emperor, would be proclaimed.

6s S. M1AR1INE: T, "Un palais decrit dans un manuscrit carolingien", Memoires de la Federation

Iles Docictrs savuntes tie ! 'Aisne 12 (1966), pp. 1-13.

296

2.5 THE NORTHERN TRADITION

2.5.1 Introduction

In this chapter I shall examine patterns of elite accommodation

which emerged in northern Europe between the sixth and the ninth

century. In particular, I will analyse the central and fundamental role of

the hall in the Anglo-Saxon society, but also consider more simple, basic

timber-halls and grubenhäuser. I shall also discuss the influence of

Carolingian ideas on the highest ranks of the Anglo-Saxon society, and

the reflection of continental palatial architecture in the dwellings of the

Middle Saxon aristocracy.

2.5.2 The role and function of the hall in Anglo-Saxon society

The hall has always played a central and fundamental part in

Anglo-Saxon life and society. This is reflected by the large number of

references to halls contained in literary sources, especially in Old English

297

heroic poems which exploit the Germanic legend-cycles, ' above all in

Beoit"u1J. 2 In describing the setting of the first part of the poem, the

anonymous writer gives us some interesting information on the

construction and use of the high hall of Hrothgar, which plays such an

important role as to lead Crossley-Holland to assert that it could be

considered as much the hero of the story as Beowulf himself'

I lrothgar won honour in war, glory in battle, and so ensured his flowers' support - young men whose number multiplied into a mighty troop. And he resolved to build a hall,

a large and noble feasting-hall of whose splendours men would always speak, and there to distribute as gifts of old and young all the things that God had given him - but not men's lives or the public land. Then I heard that tribes without number, even to the ends of the earth, were given orders to decorate the hall. And in due course (before very long) this greatest of halls was completed. llrothgar, whose very word was counted far and wide as a command, called it Hereot. lie kept his promise, gave presents of rings and treasure at the feasting. The hall towered high, lofty and wide-gabled - fierce tongues of loathsome fire had not yet attacked it, nor was the time yet near when a mortal feud should flare between father-

and son-in-law, sparked off by deeds of deadly enmity. Then the brutish demon who lived in darkness impatiently endured a time frustration: day after day he heard the din of merry-making inside the hall, and the sound of the harp

K. HUME, The concept of the hall in Old English poetry", Anglo-Saxon England 3 (1974), pp. 63-74. For Old English heroic poetry, see als D. G. CALDER, R. E. BMORK, P. K. FORD and D. F. MEt. I, (eds. and trans. ), Sources and Analogues of Old English Poetry. /1: The Major Germanic and Celtic Texts in Translation (Cambridge 1983).

Cf. R. E. BMORK & J. D. NILES (eds), A Beowulf Handbook (Exeter 1997). 3 K. CROSSLEY.. HOLLAND, The Anglo-Saxon 1Vorld (Woodbridge 1984), pp. 69-105, at p. 75.

298

and the bard's clear song. '

Though set in Scandinavia, Beowulf is written in Old English,

composed sometime between the seventh and the beginning of the ninth

century. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that the poet described

the sort of Anglo-Saxon hall with which he was familiar. The large hall

was clearly seen as a symbol of the king's power, òf whose splendours

men would always speak'. ' The hall was used for feasts where a variety

of forms of entertainment would take place. These included heroic story-

telling, dancing and music, usually accompanied by copious amounts of

food and ale, which must have made everything (and everyone) even

more entertaining. And it was in fact the sound of merry-making that

roused the monster Grendel from his lair and led him to the hall, where

he atrociously murdered Hrothgar's companions, fast asleep after

drinking beer all evening. ' From this, we can infer that Hrothgar must

have slept somewhere else, as did Beowulf himself after the first night,

when he stayed in the hall in order to inflict a mortal wound on Grendel.

In this occasion, we are told not only that the feasting-hall was `gleaming

Cf. Beowidlf. The Fight at Finnsburh, translated by K. Crossley-Holland (Oxford, Oxford University Press 1999), 64-90. 5 Beowulf, 70. 6 /bid., 115-37.

299

with gold" but also that it was bound with iron bands, ' and so was

presumably constructed with upright timbers.

The different names given to the hall in the poems - mead-hall,

wine-hall, feasting-hall, gifts-hall, give some indication of the functions

that it should have served. Notably, during feasting the king would

generously give presents and donations. However, the hall was not used

only for feasting and entertaining: primarily, it was the place where the

king met his «"itan, the council of wise men from the ecclesiastical and

secular nobility which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and

other important individuals. The function of these assemblies included

discussions on home and foreign policy and defence, dispensation of

royal justice and the implementation and confirmation of land-grants by

charters and other rights and duties. ' The favoured sites for these council

meetings were halls in royal residences at royal towns, villages and

hunting seats, with a possible preference for countryside residences, since

considerable space was needed to accommodate the large amount of

people attending and their retinues. "

7 Ibid., 715-6. 8 Ibid., 720-1 and 771-7. 9 On assemblies in the Anglo-Saxon period, see H. R. LOYN, The Governance of Anglo-Saxon England 500-1087 (London 1984), pp. 96-106. to D. \VIII I LLOCK, The Beginning of English Society (Harmondsworth 1952), pp. 88-92.

ýA ý -ý

."

. Z>- -

Figure 2.5.1 Chalton, Hampshire. Hypothetical reconstruction of structure

with posts set in continuous trenches.

Figure 2.5.2 Chalton, Hampshire. Hypothetical reconstruction of structure

with individually set posts.

300

2.5.3 The timber-hall and the sunken featured building

However, the picture which emerged from the archaeological

evidence was, until fairly recently, rather different from the

sumptuousness suggested by the literary sources. Until 1950, almost no

domestic buildings were known in Anglo-Saxon England other than

sunken huts, and it was only from the late 1950s onwards, with the late

adoption of excavation methods first developed in the Netherlands, north

Germany and Denmark in the 1920s and 1930s, that British archaeologist

became able to begin to recover the scant traces of timber buildings. "

A number of subsequent excavations clarified, at least in part, the

organisation and layout of rural settlements. Investigations at the site of

Church Down, in the parish of Chalton (Hampshire), produced

particularly clear results. (Figg. 2.5.1-2) Of the sixty-one buildings

revealed in the excavations, fifty-seven had rectangular plans, based on a

double square separated in the middle by the width of two doorways,

placed opposite one another at the centre of each long wall. They were

hung on earthfast timber uprights, and their floors were either of beaten

earth or of timber planking suspended above ground level. The larger

halls also had an internal wooden partition separating off one end of the

301

building, an area of about one fifth of the total. Occasionally a patch of

less-worn chalk within the main area of the hall was found, perhaps the

site of a hearth for both cooking and heating the building.

The remaining four buildings at Chalton belong to a completely

different building-type, based on a hollowed-out rectangular pit with

rounded corners dug unto the chalk bedrock. The roof which covered this

hollow would have rested on a horizontal timber, or ridge pole, which ran

between two upright posts. The earthfast uprights were set in post-holes

at either end of the hollow, though in one case at Chalton, the post-holes

were located outside an unusually small pit. The standard term used for

this building-type is the German word grubenhäus, meaning a `pit

house', with the expression `sunken feature building' (SFB for short)

being preferred by British archaeologists. This name is generally used

whether the base of the hollow pit formed the floor of the building or

whether there was a suspended wooden floor at a higher level.

The excavation at West Stow (Suffolk) brought to light a series of

buildings similar to those found at Chalton, with both rectangular post-

built halls and a variety of grubenhäuser. However, it is the proportion of

halls to sunken featured buildings which distinguishes West Stow from

Chalton. At West Stow, in fact, there were many more grubenhäuser,

It Cf. P. V. ADEY . 1AN, "The Anglo-Saxon house: a new review", Anglo-Saxon England I

302

sixty-nine in all, but only seven halls, together with a further seven or

more smaller rectangular post-built structures. '2

A Germanic origin has usually been assumed for both sorts of

building, and prototypes have been identifies in numerous archaeological

sites in Germanic territories, such as, for instance, at Ezinge, in the Dutch

province of Groningen, at Einswarden, near the mouth of the Elbe, at

Hodorf in Schleswig-Holstein, or at Feddersen-Wierde near

Bremerhaven. " The existence of a similar phenomenon can also be

traced outside the territories of the former Roman Empire. Frands

Herschend has demonstrated that the southern Scandinavian long hall

was a creation of the fourth-fifth century, and had already become the

norm by the sixth century. 14 Through an analysis of numerous

excavations of timber dwellings from the Later Roman Age, Hersehend

has pointed out how in some of the cases analysed the hall could

represent `the will of the owner of a large farm to separate a part of his

social life from immediate contact with the main house collectives"'. In

other cases, however, ideological and military considerations seem to

take precedence over the economic ones. The hall excavated at the

(1972), pp. 273-307. 12 Cf. S. E. WEST, "West Stow", Medieval Archaeology 13 (1969), pp. 1-20. 13 See E. FERNE, The architecture of the Anglo-Saxons (London, Batsford 1983), pp. 13-16. 14 F. HERSCHEND, "The Origin of the Hall in Southern Scandinavia", Tor 25 (1994), pp. 175-

99.

303

Eketorp ring-fort on Oland, for example, has been considered as the

product of a society which was egalitarian in principle, but also in need

of a primus inter pares for protection. "

The Germanic background was questioned by Dixon, who

suggested a Romano-British inspiration instead. " A re-examination of

the question, however, has quite convincingly demonstrated that the

origins of this building tradition are not wholly to be found in either

Roman Britain or the Germanic territories, but should rather be

considered as a hybrid of both traditions. In other words, we could be

dealing either with Germanic immigrants adopting British buildings from

their indigenous neighbours, but still using their own constructional

techniques, or, on the other hand, with descendants of the Romano-

British, building houses which were native in plan, but structurally and

externally imitating the fashions of the new, politically ascendant

Germanic elite. "

Whatever the ethnic origins of the people who occupied these

settlements and of their building tradition, it is clear that both

grubenhäuser and the simple, basic timber-halls constructed in these

is Ibid., p. 184. 16 Ibid., p. 195. 17 P. DIXON, "How Saxon is a Saxon House", in P. J. DRURY (ed. ), Structural Reconstruction (Oxford 1982), pp. 275-88.

304

settlements did not have the slightest resemblance to the impressive halls

celebrated by the poets, who were often assumed to be exaggerating the

splendour of what they described. 19

The problem was also exacerbated by the difficulty of recognising

any hierarchy within both these individual settlements for an early phase.

Excavation of domestic rural sites had not produced much evidence to

indicate that social differentiation was physically expressed in fifth-sixth

century England, and no dwelling-complex could be interpreted as that of

a `headman' from the size of its buildings or from the quality of the

contents of the rubbish deposits. 2°

A rather different picture for this phase is emerging from

excavations in urban centres, which indicate a lot of abandoned building

space but, at the same time, a considerable human involvement in the

sometimes deliberate accumulation of rubbish to level up uneven ground.

This has led to conjecture that some of the old walled Roman towns were

being used into the fifth century as centres for the collection of

agricultural products, under the autocracy of a few opportunists who

were able to usurp local authority after the disintegration of centralised

18 S. JAMES, A. MARSHALL & M. MILLETT, "An Early Medieval Building Tradition", Archaeological Journal 141 (1984), pp. 79-118. 19 HUME, "The concept of the hall in Old English poetry", p. 63.

305

state power. The loss of central authority inevitably affected different

areas of the country in different ways. A site like Caistor-by-Norwich, for

example, had been the centre of the local area in the fourth century but

rapidly declincd in the fifth; on the other hand, fifth-century timber

buildings have been found inside the walls of Gloucester, indicating that

this town may have remained an important centre in the area. 2'

2.5.4 Yeavering

The discovery and excavation of elite sites in rural Anglo-Saxon

England, one of the major achievements of medieval archaeology in the

last forty years, have considerably widened our knowledge of aristocratic

life-style in the period. The earliest known Anglo-Saxon royal residence -

and, so far, the only royal site uncovered for the early Middle Saxon

phase - is the settlement near the modem village of Yeavering, in

Northumberland. The site was first located by aerial photography, which

revealed virtually the whole plan of the scattered buildings of the

complex; this was subsequently confirmed by the excavations carried out

20 D. A. HINTON, "The Fifth and Sixth Centuries. Reorganisation Among the Ruins", in C. E.

KARKOV (ed. ), The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England: Basic Readings (New York,

Garland Publishing 1999), pp. 53-77, at pp. 54-56.

306

by Brian Hope-Taylor in the fifties, which brought to light a series of

timber buildings, replaced at various times during a period of occupation

which ended during the seventh century. 22

After its initial use as a cemetery in the Bronze Age, the site was

probably reoccupied around the end of the fourth-beginning of the fifth

century. The earliest feature was a massive palisaded enclosure,

conjecturally a cattle corral where the herds could be periodically

gathered; outside this enclosure were located the halls, undefended by

enclosing walls. The first buildings were small, but they were

successively replaced by larger and stronger halls. The most massive of

these measured 25 m by 12 m, and was constructed of enormous timbers

set in foundations two metres deep. The halls were possibly plastered

internally and externally, and probably fitted with raised floors and

balconies. To the north of the site there were subsidiary buildings, while

to the south was an area of metalworking and craft activity. In the centre

of the site was a unique structure with tiered seats and a wooden staging,

probably a timber theatre to be used as an assembly point for the region.

Hope-Taylor calculated that about three hundred people could be seated

21 Ibid., pp. 60-61. 22 B. HOPE-TAYLOR, Yeavering: An Anglo-Saxon Centre of Earl)' Northumbria (London

1977).

;, ý ý, ,,,..,

Figure 2.5.3 Yeavering (Northumberland). Reconstruction of the villa during Edwin's visit, c. 626.

307

within this structure. " This, according to Hodges, implied that Yeavering

could have been a regional centre for about 10,000 people, if it was the

meeting place for the headmen from as many as three hundred villages. "

Hope-Taylor believes that the small cluster of later sixth-century

buildings had become an important palatial complex by 626, to be

identified with Ad Gefrin, a royal site mentioned by Bede in his Historia

Ecclesiastica. According to Bede, the missionary Paulinus travelled with

King Edwin of Northumbria (616-32) and his wife in 626 to Ad Gefrin,

in the kingdom of Bernicia, and there conducted a mass baptism in the

nearby river Glen, which lasted thirty-six days. 25 (Fig. 2.5.3) Bede does

not mention any of the buildings at the royal palace, but a few line

earlier, when he recounts the scene of Edwin's conversion in York, he

puts into the mouth of one of the noblemen the well-known parable in

which the life of a man is compared to a sparrow passing through a hall

(from which it can be inferred that halls normally had two doors and a

central hearth on the floor): "

Your majesty, when we compare the present life of man on earth with that time of which we have no knowledge, it seems to me like the swift flight of a single sparrow through the banqueting-hall where you are sitting at dinner on a winter's day with your thegns and counsellors. In the midst there is a

23 Ibid., pp. 119-22. 24 R. HODGES, The Anglo-Saxon Achievement, (London, Duckworth 1989), p. 60. 25 HE, II, 14. 26 HE, II, 13.

308

comforting fire to warm the hall; outside, the storms of winter rain or snow are raging. This sparrow flies swiftly in through one door of the hall, and out through another. While he is inside, he is safe from the winter storms; but after a few moments of comfort, he vanishes from sight into the wintry world from

which he came.

The great hall and its ancillary buildings revealed by the

excavations indicate that the egalitarian settlement structure described

above no longer existed. The king was now attended by a large retinue,

and accommodation for his warrior band, his retainers, his wife (and

perhaps his concubines) needed to be provided. Also, the absence of

settlement debris from the excavations suggests that the site was not a

permanent residence, but only served as temporary accommodation for a

peripatetic community.

Yeavering, however, was occupied for only a short period,

perhaps no more than a century, and was already abandoned by the mid-

seventh century. For the following period, there is virtually no evidence

on royal residences, apart from mere references to Redwald's seventh-

century palace in East Anglia and Offa's eighth-century one at

Verulamium.

Figure 2.5.4 Northampton. Reconstruction of the timber hall, nmid-8th century-c. 820.

309

2.5.5 Northampton

Excavation at Northampton have revealed a large timber-hall with

an annex at either end, similar to the halls found at Yeavering in its last

two phases. (Fig. 2.5.4) This wooden hall was replaced by a stone-built

hall as part of a larger complex of stone buildings, extending under the

present church of St Peter, immediately to the west. The stone hall

incorporated material robbed from other stone buildings, while the

substantial foundations and the width of its walls seems to indicate that it

was a double-storied structure. Radiocarbon dates indicates a date of 840

± 60 for the demolition of the timber hall and the construction of its stone

successor; this would suggest a mid-eighth-century date for the building

of the timber hall and an early ninth-century date for the one in stone. 27

The excavators' interpretation of the complex as a sequence of

Mercian palaces has recently been challenged by Blair, who identifies it

as part of a monastery, with the timber hall being the residence of the

abbot, the place where he entertained important visitors and delivered

justice to those who worked his estates. 28

27 J. H. WILLIAMS, M. SHAW & V. DENHAM, Middle Saxon Palaces at Northan tpon (Northampton 1985). 28 J. BLAIR, "Palaces or Minsters? Northampton and Cheddar reconsidered", Anglo-Saxon

England 25 (1996), pp. 97-121.

310

Whatever its function, it seems that the Northampton stone hall

was the central element of a more articulated palace complex, which

probably included a minster church, a graveyard and possibly a chapel to

the east of the hall. 29 Remarkably, the complex was built in stone, a

material which, as noted above, was seldom employed in residential

buildings in Anglo-Saxon England. Very few stone secular buildings are

known, and nothing compares in size with the Northampton hall. Similar

structures, however, must have been present at important royal centres, at

least by the time of Alfred. In his biography of King Alfred, in fact,

Asser describes `royal halls and chambers constructed admirably in stone

and timber at his [Alfred's] command'. 3° Moreover, he also mentions

`royal residences in stone, moved at the royal command from their

ancient sites and beautifully erected in more suitable places'. " This

passage not only indicates that royal residences built in stone must have

existed before the time of Alfred, but also that they were considered as

prestigious and valuable buildings, to be carefully dismantled and

reassembled in different places. The use of stone in building, therefore,

should be considered in this context as a status symbol, an indicator for

the wealth, power and prestige of the owner.

29 Cf. WILLIAMS, SHAW & DENHAM, Middle Saxon Palaces, pp. 31-35. 30 D. WHITELOCK (ed. ), English Historical Documents (London 1955), p. 272. 31 Ibid.

311

The complex at Northampton seems to have followed an

arrangement quite similar to some of the palaces illustrated in the

previous chapters, even though on a less magnificent scale. In particular,

the stone hall, the central and larger element of the complex, has been

associated to similar continental structures, with living areas generally

concentrated on the upper floors and facilities for stabling and storage on

the ground floor. 32 The stone hall at Northampton, it has been argued,

would indicate and reflect the impact of Carolingian ideology in Middle

Saxon England, particularly in the kingdom of Mercia. "

2.5.6 Cheddar

This appreciation and understanding of Carolingian ideology,

however, did not last for long, as the remains of the Late Saxon royal

palace excavated at Cheddar seems to indicate. "

A royal estate and minster in North Somerset, Cheddar was

referred to in Alfred's will, but not necessarily as a palace. The estate and

32 WILLIAMS, SHAW & DENHAM, Middle Saxon Palaces, pp. 31-35.

33 For the larger implications of the Carolingian connection, cf. HOFGES, The Anglo-Saxon

Achievement, pp. 115-49.

Figure 2.5.5 Cheddar. Reconstruction of the Saxon `palace', pre-c. 930.

Figure 2.5.6 Cheddar. Reconstruction of the Saxon 'palace', late 1 Uth to 11th century.

rr ýN..

Vii { ýs

ý- -- y� vyý.

r? Jr arý*r

312

buildings may have been rather the residence of a branch of the royal

family or of a religious community. Meetings of the king with his witan

are recorded in three surviving charters of 941,956 and 968, in the reigns

of Edmund, Eadwig and Edgar. 35

Extensive excavations in the 1960s defined a series of buildings

and other features in six phases, only the first three of which are of

interest for us, being pre-Conquest. The first phase is dated to the ninth

century; it comprises a two-storey hall set in an enclosure with other

smaller buildings, protected from periodic flooding by a storm-water

ditch. (Fig. 2.5.5) There was much domestic rubbish from this phase

including thousands of food bones, high-status metal objects and coins.

This was followed by a major re-organisation of the site, shortly

after c. 930, generally attributed to King ýEthlestan; this should have been

the setting for the royal visit of 941. A small stone chapel was

constructed over the site of the earlier hall, and a new timber hall which

was both shorter and wider than its predecessor was built to the south of

the chapel. (Fig. 2.5.6) This layout was retained in the third phase, of the

late tenth or early eleventh centuries, when the hall and chapel were

rebuilt.

34 P. RAHTZ, The Saxon and Medieval Palace at Cheddar (Oxford 1979). As for Northampton,

the interpretation of Cheddar as a royal palace has recently been challenged in BLAIR, "Palaces

or Minsters? ", pp. 98-105.

313

In many respect, therefore, Cheddar in the tenth and eleventh

centuries was not very different from Yeavering in the seventh, but was

definitely quite distant from the ninth century complex in stone examined

at Northampton.

2.5.7 Conclusions

To sum up, we know relatively little from excavation and literary

sources about the appearance of Anglo-Saxon elite dwellings. However,

it seems possible to sustain that the stereotype of an Anglo-Saxon society

isolated from the continental reality needs to be revised. On the one hand,

connections with Carolingian buildings of the Middle-Saxon period,

namely for the stone-hall built in the second phase at Northampton, and

possibly for other buildings have been indicated. On the other hand, the

extent of the influence of Italian cultural and artistic practice on Anglo-

Saxon England in the Middle Saxon period has often been described, but

it has been generally limited to the significance of Rome. "

35 Ibid. 36 Cf. R. CRAMP, "The Anglo-Saxons and Rome", Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Nothuntberland, n. s. 3 (1974), pp. 27-38; G. M.

PORRU, "I rapporti tra Italia e Inghilterra nei secoli VII e VIII", Rontanobarbarica 5 (1980),

314

John Mitchell has recently postulated that the cultural strategies

and practices of the eighth-century courts of Lombard Italy also played

an important role in the formation of Anglo-Saxon visual production. " A

number of connections between the Lombard Kingdom and the British

Isles is known. For example, around 771, King Perctarit thought about

seeking refuge from the usurper Grimoald in England, " while his son and

successor Cunincpert married the Anglo-Saxon Hermelinda. J9 Anglo-

Saxon travellers going to Rome had to pass through the Lombard

territories: on his way down to Rome in 678, Wilfrid, bishop of

Northumbria, stayed at the court of Perctarit, while in 689 Caedwalla,

king of Wessex, stayed at Pavia with Cunincpert and Hermelinda. 4°

However, the extent of English contacts with Italy in this period, is

nowhere more evident than in a famous letter of St Boniface to Cuthbert,

Archbishop of Canterbury, in which the great Anglo-Saxon missionary

inveighs against the number of English people travelling to Italy:

it would be well and favourable for the honour and purity of your Church and a sure protection against vice if your synod and your princes would forbid

matrons and nuns to make their frequent journeys back and forth to Rome. A

great part of them perish and few keep their virtue. There are many towns in

pp. 117-69; C. L. NEUMAN DE VEGVAR, The Northumbrian Renaissance: A Study in the

Transmission of Style (London and Toronto, 1987).

37 MITCHELL, "L'arte nell'Italia longobarda", (forthcoming). 38 Hist. Lang., V. 32-33. 39 Ibid., V. 37. 40 Ibid., VI, 15.

315

Lombardy and Gaul where there is not a courtesan or a harlot but is of English

stock. It is a scandal and a disgrace to the whole Church. 41

Therefore, it looks as Anglo-Saxons may have been attracted to

Italy not only for religious reasons, but also for the sophisticated southern

standards of living. At some stages, these may have been reflected and

re-elaborated in the dwellings of the local Anglo-Saxon elite.

41 C. H. TALBOT, The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany (London 1981), p. 133.

316

Àlthough churches remain to its front the Middle Ages, we have not one private house: yet nothing is

more full of meaning than an old house. "

CONCLUSIONS

The idea behind this project was to analyse some aspects of the

transformation of elite lifestyles in the period between the dissolution of

the Roman imperial system and the rise of the Carolingian Empire. In

particular, one of the main concerns has been to look at the ways in

which rulers and aristocrats defined and articulated the architectural

contexts of their dwellings so as to express their power, wealth and

status.

In the first part of the thesis I have outlined the evidence for a

relatively formal and ceremonial domestic architecture in the later

Roman Empire, characterised by the presence of very elaborate reception

facilities. This trend was identified in official dwellings, such as imperial

palaces and praetoria, but also in the private residences of the emerging

A. CARANDINI, "A Policy for Archaeology", Times Literary Supplement 4524 (15-21 Dec. 1989), p. 3.

317

class of bishops and in those of wealthy aristocrats; houses of this

category show a certain degree of consistency and conformity throughout

the Roman Empire. By emulating imperial palaces and their audience-

chambers, the architecture of wealthy houses and villas of the fourth

century provided a spectacular setting for receiving and impressing

clients and guests.

It was suggested that these trends were related to the changing

nature of socio-economic relations in Late Antiquity. Through the

polarisation of wealth which characterised the later history of the Roman

Empire, resources had become increasingly concentrated in the hands of

a restricted number of people, forcing the lower classes to seek protection

through a patronus. This growth of the patronage system was reflected in

the careful ways in which powerful aristocrats shaped the `public' areas

of their houses. Elite residences were one of the principal media through

which daily interaction could be controlled, and positions within the

social order established and maintained.

In the second part of the thesis, I have examined the ways in

which the transformations of the elites which gradually emerged after the

318

dissolution of the Roman Empire reflected on contemporary prestige

dwellings.

On the one hand, it has been argued, there were the magnificent

palaces of the rulers: with their sophisticated evocations of the grandeur

of Antiquity, characterised by the presence of lavish triclinia, and by

their lavish embellishment of marbles, spolia, frescoes, mosaics and

fountains, these palaces were the perfect expression of the ambitions of

their owners.

An analysis of the transformation of the papal palace at Rome

between the seventh and the ninth century has indicated that not only

were the new additions built in imitation of similar structures at the

imperial palace at Constantinople; it also suggests that the popes were set

on rivalling the eastern emperors. Smaller but still impressive complexes,

such as the palace of the Lombard duke of Benevento, Arechis II, at

Salerno and the palatial guest-range excavated at the monastery of San

Vincenzo al Volturno were part of the same cultural milieu and followed

similar cultural strategies. Designed to proclaim and reflect the power,

the authority and the ambitions of their owners, they used a similar

language, following the same architectonic and artistic codes, with

319

apparent reference both to the grandeur of classical Antiquity and to the

culture of Byzantium.

Papal and Lombard cultural initiatives have been identified as one

of the main sources of inspiration behind the evolution of Carolingian

palatial architecture. Also, the extent of Italian and Carolingian relations

with the Anglo-Saxon world, in the field of prestige construction, has

been considered and evaluated.

On the other hand, an analysis of the relationship between early

medieval palatial architecture and contemporary dwellings of

intermediate social classes has indicated a rather different picture from

the pattern identified for Late Antiquity. To judge from the austerity and

simplicity of these dwellings, the desire to emulate an elite modus vivendi

appears to have considerably diminished.

This trend has been seen as having both an economic and an

ethical dimension. On the one hand, these changes may be considered as

a consequence of the lack of resources which followed the collapse of the

old Roman system of taxation. This situation might have led to the

emergence of a new social system, characterised by the decline or the

disappearance of intermediate social classes, and therefore radically

320

divided between a rich and powerful minority and the rest of the

population. On the other hand, it has been conjectured that another

consequence of the transformation of the hierarchical structure may have

been the formulation of new particular ideological factors, characteristic

of early medieval societies, which sanctioned the ostentation of wealth

only in religious contexts. Therefore, it has been argued that early

medieval aristocrats may have preferred to express their status and

prestige more through the construction and foundation of monasteries

and churches then in their own residences.

From the fifth-sixth century onwards, we have noted a gradually

increasing tendency for elite residences to be double-storied, with

reception halls being situated on the upper floor. It has been argued that,

by the early ninth century, this convention had already become quite

popular, being followed not only in actual palaces, but also, on a lower

and less impressive scale, in more simple dwellings.

This doppelgeschossigkeit has been identified as one of the most

characteristic features of early medieval elite dwellings. Although a

number of instances occurs in episcopal complexes from the sixth

century onwards, the translocation of living activities to the upper floor

321

has not been considered as typical of or exclusive to episcopal

residences. Both the latest phase of the villa at San Giovanni di Ruoti and

the `palazzetto' at Monte Barro incorporate this feature in secular

contexts as early as the fifth century. Therefore, the more common

presence of this feature in episcopal residences has been explained as the

result of the unbroken continuity of use and the consequent greater

survival-rate of these structures.

The relocation of the main reception hall to the upper floor has

sometimes been seen as a defensive strategy, for instance in the cases of

the episcopal residences at Aquileia or at Geneva. However, this

explanation is not particularly convincing. It is proposed here that the

origins of this feature should rather be associated with the increasing lack

of maintenance of water-conduits and drainage systems and the

abandonment of effective waste disposal, which gradually led to a

vertical growth of the city. In this sense, therefore, the relocation of

living areas on the upper floors of dwellings can be considered as another

consequence of the dissolution of urban administration in the late Roman

and postclassical world.

322

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