Diplomatic Exchanges between the Austrasian Court and the Byzantine Empire (Epistulae Austrasicae 25–39)
Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod
Financing: This research has been conducted with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 20-18-00374.
For citation: Vershinina, Yuliya E. Diplomatic Exchanges between the Austrasian Court and the Byzantine Empire (Epistulae Austrasicae 25–39) // Graphosphaera. 2022. Vol. 2. № 2. P. 209–241. URL: http://writing.igh.ru/index.php?id=2022-2-2-209-241
DOI: 10.32608/2782-5272-2022-2-2-209-241
Abstract: This work is an attempt of consolidation of the experience of source study and historiographic research of letters 25–39 from the collection of Epistulae Austrasicae (Austrasian Letters), which have never been translated into Russian before. The defining characteristics of this collection of letters are discussed in comparison with other epistolary collections created in the period of late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages in the territory of the former Western Roman Empire. The most topical issues of the source study of Epistulae Austrasicae are considered. The paper examines the main ideas existing about the time, place, and reasons for the compilation of the collection, as well as the personality of its possible compilator. The historiography of the study of Epistulae Austrasicae 25–39, the features of the structure, content and language of individual letters are scrutinized. The reasons that prompted the authors of the letters to write them, and the compiler of the collection to include them in it, are investigated. Particular attention is paid to Letter 27, which stands out because of its emotional intensity in contrast to other purely official letters from this part of the Epistulae Austrasicae collection. The appendix provides a translation of letters 25–39 from Latin into Russian.
Key words: Epistulae Austrasicae, letter, Merovingians, Byzantine Empire, early Middle Ages, embassy, diplomacy
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