The impact of the Latin-Christian Cultural Tradition on the Politcal Thought in Sourthern Italy at the Turn between the first and the second Millennium

Those regions of southern Italy which, from the end of the VI until the XI century, where settled by Lombard polities, the so-called Langobardia Minor, were home to a vibrant culture. A culture that resulted from the amalgam of Latin Christianity with influences coming from many, different directions: from the Byzantine world to the northern Caroligian (later Ottonian) sphere, to the (perhaps less conspicuous, but not less important) Islamic cultural and political constellation. A culture that, combined with the intricacies of southern Lombard history, inevitably resulted also in the elaboration of a peculiar vision of the political sphere, what could be easily labelled a peculiar form of political thought, if not outright political philosophy, mainly aimed at conceptualizing the role of the ruler (the duke, then princeps Langobardorum) and that found its expression through a multitude of media, from artistic representation to literary narrative (including poetry) and everything that lies in between. 
An attempt to properly identify at least part of those external influences upon southern Lombard political and strategic culture, in particular those most connected with the traditions of Latin Christianity (Isidore of Seville; Gregory the Great; St. Augustine) has yet to be made, also due to the apparent lack of available viable evidence. Starting from existing scholarship, and then supplementing it with a wide array of sources (chronicles; praecepta and other documents similarly issued by the princes; poetry; ars grammaticae; etc…) an attempt will be made to identify some key elements composing southern Lombard political and strategic culture. From this ground it will then be possible to proceed with a comparative analysis aimed at localizing the influence exercised by Latin Christian tradition, and eventually those other cultural worlds which ‘impacted’ between each other upon the southern Italian frontier, a comparative analysis which will by necessity profit from a deeply interdisciplinary approach, at the intersection between political history, cultural history, historical sociology, and history of philosophy and thought.

 

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