Figlie e sorelle peregrinae. Le migrazioni delle donne nell’altomedioevo (secoli VI-VIII)

Abstract

The article discusses the multiple (social and cultural) identities spread in the early Middle Ages through the recurrent practice of marriages of the daughters of the early medieval kings into another kingdom. This practice, which finds a setback during the Carolingian period, is visible in the sources of the sixth until the eighth century and is closely related to mutual competition between the early medieval kings. It examines in particular the case of Theoderic’s female relatives, through a significant number of sources, especially from Cassiodorus’s Variæ. The foreign wives were active players in the new territories of arrival, proposing new models and texts, and were also the bearers of new ethnic identities for their children. Nevertheless, the foreign wife is politically weak and may be affected by the unfortunate policy of his father and be accused of being a dangerous foreign body.