1 - Introduction

Summary

The Introduction sets out the methodological approach of the book, and the major themes to be addressed. It is a ‘history in art’, a notion that provides for a primary focus on the evidence adduced from material culture (archaeology, standing remains and their decoration, surviving objects including manuscripts) integrated with information derived from written sources (in this instance primarily the series of papal biographies known as the Liber pontificalis, supplemented by other documents such as the Ordines Romani and the chronicles of Frankish and Italian historians). The two other overarching themes are the gradual decline of the Roman economy, and the resulting impoverishment of the Roman Church over the course of the ninth century and its effects on papal patronage, and the continuing adherence of Roman artistic production to the broader context of Mediterranean Christian visual culture. A historiographical survey/analysis is also included.