Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Vitiello, Massimiliano
Titre(s) : Amalasuintha [Texte imprimé] : the transformation of queenship in the post-Roman world / Massimiliano Vitiello
Publication : Philadelphia (Pa.) : University of Pennsylvania Press, copyright 2017
Description matérielle : 293 pages : illustrations, map, genealogical table ; 24 cm
Note(s) : Includes bibliographical references and index
"In this book, Massimiliano Vitiello situates the life and career of the Ostrogothic
queen Amalasuintha (c. 494/5-535), daughter of Theoderic the Great, in the context
of the transitional time, after the fall of Rome, during which new dynastic regimes
were experimenting with various forms of political legitimation. A member of the Gothic
elite raised in the Romanized palace of Ravenna, Amalasuintha married her father's
chosen successor and was set to become a traditional Gothic queen-a helpmate and advisor
to her husband, the Visigothic prince Eutharic-with no formal political role of her
own. But her early widowhood and the subsequent death of her father threw her into
a position unprecedented in the Gothic world: a regent mother who assumed control
of the government. During her regency, Amalasuintha clashed with a conservative Gothic
aristocracy who resisted her leadership, garnered support among her Roman and pro-Roman
subjects, defended Italy from the ambitions of other kings, and negotiated the expansionistic
designs of Justinian and Theodora. When her son died unexpectedly at a young age,
she undertook her most dangerous political enterprise: forming an unmarried coregency
with her cousin, Theodahad, whom she raised to the throne. His final betrayal would
cost Amalasuintha her rule and her life. Vitiello argues that Amalasuintha's story
reveals a key phase in the transformation of queenship in late antiquity and the early
Middle Ages, a time in which royal women slowly began exercising political power.
Assessing the ancient sources for Amalasuintha's biography, Cassiodorus, Procopius,
Gregory of Tours, and Jordanes, Vitiello demonstrates the ways in which her life and
public image show the influence of late Roman and Byzantine imperial models on the
formation of female political power in the post-Roman world."--Publisher's description
Sujet(s) : Amalasonthe (0498-0535 ; reine des Ostrogoths)
Ostrogoths -- Reines
Indice(s) Dewey :
945.010 92 (23e éd.) = Histoire - Italie - Des origines à 0774 - Biographie
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9780812249477. - ISBN 081224947X (rel.)
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb455814330
Notice n° :
FRBNF45581433
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
Table des matières : Map of Europe and the Mediterranean world at the beginning of Amalasuintha's regency,
late A.D. 526 ; Genealogy. The family of Theodoric ; Mother, regent, and queen:
Amalasuintha and the institutions of power ; Amalasuintha at the palace of Ravenna:
the making of a queen ; A regent with imperial ambitions ; Balancing Gothic tradition
with Roman ideals ; Amalasuintha: a meeting point between kingdoms and empire ;
Epilogue: Amalasuintha's legacy in early medieval Italy.
