Forging Memory: Falsified Documents and Institutional History in Europe, c. 970-1020

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Over the last two decades historians have shown great interest in how group and institutional identities were constructed and contested within (and beyond) the Middle Ages. Particular attention has been given to the years around the turn of the first millennium, which is seen as a period of decisive change, when such identities became more clearly articulated in written form. This process found expression in new documentary forms, such as the cartulary (a collection of documents recording grants of land and legal rights to an institution), and a flowering of narrative history, often of an institutional nature. Though these developments have long been appreciated, one of their most important and enduring consequences has received little if any treatment: a rise in documentary forgery. This project seeks to redress the balance, placing forgery at the centre of our understanding of these years. The project examines how and why falsification became widespread across large swathes of Western Europe in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. It builds on earlier work on counterfeiting, arguing that this was one of the means by which churchmen began to order (and re-order) their institutional pasts in these years. By bridging the gap between studies of historical memory (which typically take narratives as their starting point) and forgery (which tend to focus on documentary evidence) the project breaks new ground, arguing that forged documents provide precious insights into changing attitudes towards the past, especially in these crucial years. It aims to dispel the rather Whiggish disdain sometimes expressed towards falsified documents, arguing that they are amongst the most interesting and important historical records of the Middle Ages. Far from reflecting childish naivety and blithe anachronism, the counterfeits of the era - which often closely mimic earlier visual and linguistic forms - bear witness to a highly developed sense of the past. Though much has been written on the subject of medieval forgery, previous work has focused on the 'paradox of forgery': how an 'Age of Faith' was also an 'Age of Fabrication'. As a consequence, individual groups of falsified documents are often still neglected, treated as isolated aberrations rather than part of a broader European culture of counterfeiting. Indeed, attempts at synthesis are particularly rare, and this will be the first major study to go beyond a single realm or region. The subject is approached through five carefully chosen case studies: Worms, Passau, Abingdon, Vercelli and Fleury. These have been selected in order to cover a range of regions (two from modern Germany - and then from its eastern and western borders; and one each from France, England and Italy) and institutions (three bishoprics and two monasteries). The intention is to examine each set of documents in insolation, then draw together the common strands, examining the complex interplay of local and general factors behind this activity. By pursuing the subject of forgery across medieval and modern borders, this project offers a unique opportunity to engage and collaborate with scholars across Europe and North America. Few historians can claim expertise across all the regions examined, and this will position me at the forefront of a field still all too often divided by national historiographical traditions. Project findings will be discussed in papers at a series of international conferences, including one organised at the host institution, and will reach their final form in a research monograph and edited volume. Elements of the research will be disseminated to a broader audience through a set of school workshops and events at the local Cathedral in Exeter (which boasts its own intriguing set of forgeries of the 1050s). By strengthening ties with these organisations, the project will also place me at the forefront of local and institutional public engagement and impact activities.