Papers by Dmitry Starostin
The investigation of the cultural constants of the Carolingian period in relationship to the reck... more The investigation of the cultural constants of the Carolingian period in relationship to the reckoning of time necessarily brings up the question of observation of the skies and of natural phenomena within the natural limitations of the traditional, Ancient and medieval societies, and its relationship to construction of identities. Chronology was one critical element of the medieval system of knowledge and it constituted the basic set of rules and constants for all educated people.(Ware, 1992, p. 252-277) An investigation of recent publications suggests that the theme of the development of calendar in the Middle Ages has become an important topic for recent studies and that more problems were found in the construction of medieval time reckoning than has been thought before.(C. Nothaft, 2018) The reason for this, in very general terms, may be found in fundamental change that, as scholars argued, might have taken place between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Even though this approach would more suit those who address philosophical worldview, it might nevertheless be noticed that the time as imagined by Augustine and the time of early medieval communities differed in one significant aspect. For Augustine the time was "aloof", universal and distant from human existence, while before him and after, in the early Middle Ages people look at it as part of their immediate social experience and as a method of defining the community's social fabric.(Kleinschmidt, 2008, p. 18-20) There was a critical dichotomy between the universal time of longue durée and the dating by much shorter time periods like regnal years.(Delyannis, 2002, p. 11-12, 21-22) One of the greatest achievements of this period has long been considered the development of the calculations of the Christian era and its introduction, in the time of Dionysius Exiguus, into the general mainstream, although the time of it becoming the standard came after in the time of Venerable Bede and after.(Declercq, 2000, p. 100-120) Time was one critical concern that made medieval scholars ask questions about its meaning and made the discipline of time-reckoning taught even to Charlemagne.(W. M. Stevens, 2003, p. 28) But the achievement of Dionysius Exiguus was also in setting, without much pressuring for it, of the year 532 as the time of the conjunction of the Solar and Lunar Easter cycles, and thus confirming that the "Anno Domini" can only be considered according to the Easter cycle, and in no other way.
Addressing the representations of the Merovingian kingdom in the narrative sources, hagiography, ... more Addressing the representations of the Merovingian kingdom in the narrative sources, hagiography, and legal records, this book seeks to examine the relationship between "fact" and "representation" in the Frankish history of the V to VIII centuries. Taking for analysis the key events in the history of the Merovingian Gaul, this study attempts to investigate the discordant aspects of their representation and to analyse the ways in which these incongruences or conflicts in representation are due to the limitations of discourses and narratives predicated on the sources' genre. The book also investigates the ways in which differences in source genre may help explain the traditional and yet highly subjective chronological picture of the development of the Frankish kingdom over two and a half hundred years. Drawing parallels between the main events of particular periods, the sources and their authors, the study seeks to suggest that the traditional picture of the sig...
Historiographies of Science
Addressing the representations of the Merovingian kingdom in the narrative sources, hagiography, ... more Addressing the representations of the Merovingian kingdom in the narrative sources, hagiography, and legal records, this book seeks to examine the relationship between "fact" and "representation" in the Frankish history of the V to VIII centuries. Taking for analysis the key events in the history of the Merovingian Gaul, this study attempts to investigate the discordant aspects of their representation and to analyse the ways in which these incongruences or conflicts in representation are due to the limitations of discourses and narratives predicated on the sources' genre. The book also investigates the ways in which differences in source genre may help explain the traditional and yet highly subjective chronological picture of the development of the Frankish kingdom over two and a half hundred years. Drawing parallels between the main events of particular periods, the sources and their authors, the study seeks to suggest that the traditional picture of the sig...
Научный диалог, Dec 1, 2021
Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2003
“Documentary Practices and Their Context: Memory, History, and Contemporary Concerns in the Surve... more “Documentary Practices and Their Context: Memory, History, and Contemporary Concerns in the Surveys of Marmoutier and Sindelsberg.” The paper addresses an intricate balance between imagining, recording, and forging the past, and reminds of the need to examine documents in their historical context. It shows that medieval plans of Alsatian monasteries Marmoutier and its priory Sindelsberg cannot be adequately interpreted outside their cultural and political environment: for writing history where no sources were available, their authors wavered between conflicting desires to record the authentic past and to invent a history of the monastery that would help claim its lost possessions. An attempt to capture the past in this atmosphere produced a plan that was chronologically ambiguous, a plan that amalgamated bits of oral tradition and the monastery’s documentary history in an anachronistic representation. The study of Marmoutier’s plan should remind historians of the Middle Ages of the intricate balance between text and context, paleographical and diplomatic evidence, and the environment in which written evidence originates.
Nauchnyi dialog
The article deals with the ideas of Claude de Seyssel (1450—1520). Attention is paid to the fact ... more The article deals with the ideas of Claude de Seyssel (1450—1520). Attention is paid to the fact that these ideas were based on an analysis, based on the model proposed by Plato, of the oligarchic form of government as a real form of existence of the republic in contemporary Venice and a study of the applicability of this model to France. The relevance of the work is due to the appearance of a number of works in which one can see that the views of Claude de Seyssel were similar not only to the views of the Italian humanists, but also to the utopian ideas of the reorganization of Byzantium by George Gemistus Plethon (1355/1360—1452/1454). The authors of the article argue that the ideas of Claude de Seyssel should be considered in a broader context than was previously accepted in historical science. It is shown in the article that it was Claude de Seyssel who drew attention to the importance of the military class and its rights as the most important principle for the formation of Euro...
Istanbul University - DergiPark, Dec 25, 2020
Addressing the representations of the Merovingian kingdom in the narrative sources, hagiography, ... more Addressing the representations of the Merovingian kingdom in the narrative sources, hagiography, and legal records, this book seeks to examine the relationship between "fact" and "representation" in the Frankish history of the V to VIII centuries. Taking for analysis the key events in the history of the Merovingian Gaul, this study attempts to investigate the discordant aspects of their representation and to analyse the ways in which these incongruences or conflicts in representation are due to the limitations of discourses and narratives predicated on the sources' genre. The book also investigates the ways in which differences in source genre may help explain the traditional and yet highly subjective chronological picture of the development of the Frankish kingdom over two and a half hundred years. Drawing parallels between the main events of particular periods, the sources and their authors, the study seeks to suggest that the traditional picture of the sig...
Nauchnyi dialog, 2021
The periodization of history and the definition of the framework of Antiquity and the Middle Ages... more The periodization of history and the definition of the framework of Antiquity and the Middle Ages were questions open for scientific discussion at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, when the Russian school of ancient and medieval studies was actively developing in Russia and especially in St. Petersburg. The concept of I. M. Grevs was that the Roman Empire marked the beginning of Late Antiquity with its special economic structure in the form of large land ownership, but this period ended with the onset of the era of barbarian kingdoms. I. M. Grevs separated the Roman Empire from the period of classical Antiquity and at the same time showed its difference from the way of the early Middle Ages. In his courses on general history, read after I. M. Grevs, N. I. Kareev described the ancient universal monarchies, which sought to extend their power to the limits of the ecumene and unite the various traditions of organizing power. It should be concluded that N. I. Kareev supplemented the p...
História da Historiografia
The essence of historian’s craft or his or her ability to construct narratives where only bits of... more The essence of historian’s craft or his or her ability to construct narratives where only bits of information had reached him or her by way of written or oral tradition is one of the main problems of investigation in the discipline of history. Historians of the Carolingian age present a particularly difficult task for researchers because their work joined in one narrative both their own attitudes and judgments and the attempts to construct a pro-Carolingian, universal and thus non-partisan historical outlook. Looking to the past, Carolingian historians balanced on the verge between providing a contemporary account of recent events, the narrative being shaped in favor of ruling kings, their patrons, and the need to look deeper into the past in search of forces that underlay the Carolingian success. The historical picture we use today was constructed by contemporary historians and it could not have been produced by relying only on documents. It was not a “fabrication” in the negative ...
Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta
História da Historiografia, 2016
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Papers by Dmitry Starostin