Land and Loyalty: The Politics of Land in the Later Roman World (4th-6th c.)

土地与忠诚：后期罗马世界的土地政治（公元四世纪至六世纪）

• 批准号: AH/Y00762X/1
• 负责人: Carlos Machado
• 金额: $ 44.81万
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FY00762X%2F1
• 关键词: Land; Loyalty; Politics; Later; Roman

Land was a key component in the economic and political fabric of the later Roman world. It was a source of wealth, prestige, and social control. Land was the defining element of elite life as well as the basis of state power, generating revenue through direct exploitation, leases, and taxes. Scholars have traditionally paid great attention to the economic, social, and political significance of land-ownership in the final centuries of Antiquity. And yet, the broader social and political role played by this crucial asset in the relationship between rulers, their elites, and local societies remains largely unexplored. Land was controlled to a large degree by emperors and kings, who distributed it through grants of property and other rights to different social groups, redefining social and economic hierarchies. Imperial and municipal elites as well as barbarian aristocrats and church leaders competed for access to this important economic resource or, in moments of crisis, feared losing it through confiscations. Land was, as a result, a defining element in power relations. Our collaborative project presents a new vision of the late Roman period, analysing the role played by land grants in the re-configuration of Mediterranean societies between AD 300 and 600. By combining the areas of expertise of the two principal investigators, it will analyse the use of this key asset through two complementary perspectives: it will examine the politics of land grants, the agents involved, the legal forms assumed, and the political contexts in which this practice took place; at the same time, it will chart the impact of land grants on local societies, investigating how these initiatives redefined social hierarchies and landscapes of property. Emperors and kings used land as a form of asserting their authority and constructing their legitimacy, granting property rights, tenancy, or exemptions in response to pressure from members of new and old elites. In doing this, different agents gained access to this valuable resource, acquiring social prominence, consolidating political networks, and expanding their property portfolios. Land was a powerful element in the consolidation (or contestation) of political power, at the same time that it transformed centuries-old social structures. The project will produce an online database collecting all the evidence and instances of land grants, making this rich body of legal, literary, and documentary evidence readily available to the public. This will serve as the base for a comprehensive reassessment of the wider implications of land for late antique society in a collective volume exploring fiscal regimes, legal frameworks, and processses of state building. The politics of land, its role in the working of government, and its transformative impact on local societies will be examined in a monograph that will show for the first time the comprehensive nature of this practice and its role in the making of the late antique world.

土地是后来罗马世界的经济和政治结构中的关键组成部分。它是财富，声望和社会控制的来源。土地是精英生命的决定性要素，也是国家权力的基础，通过直接剥削，租赁和税收产生收入。传统上，学者们非常重视土地所有权的经济，社会和政治意义。然而，这种关键资产在统治者，精英和当地社会之间的关系中所扮演的更广泛的社会和政治角色仍然很大程度上没有探索。皇帝和国王在很大程度上控制了土地，他们通过财产的赠款和其他权利分配给不同的社会群体，重新定义了社会和经济等级。帝国和市政精英以及野蛮的贵族和教会领袖争夺获得这一重要经济资源的机会，或者在危机时期，担心通过没收而失去它。结果，土地是权力关系中的定义因素。 Our collaborative project presents a new vision of the late Roman period, analysing the role played by land grants in the re-configuration of Mediterranean societies between AD 300 and 600. By combining the areas of expertise of the two principal investigators, it will analyse the use of this key asset through two complementary perspectives: it will examine the politics of land grants, the agents involved, the legal forms assumed, and the political contexts in which这种做法发生了；同时，它将绘制土地赠款对当地社会的影响，并调查这些计划如何重新定义社会等级制度和财产景观。皇帝和国王利用土地作为主张其权威并建立合法性，授予财产权，租赁或豁免的一种形式，以应对新老精英成员的压力。在此过程中，不同的代理商可以访问这一宝贵资源，获得社会知名度，巩固政治网络并扩大其财产组合。土地是政治权力（或竞争）政治权力的有力元素，同时它改变了数百年历史的社会结构。该项目将制作一个在线数据库，收集所有土地赠款的证据和实例，从而使公众容易获得丰富的法律，文学和文献证据。这将是对已故古董社会对土地对财政制度，法律框架和国家建设过程的集体批量进行全面重新评估的基础。土地政治，其在政府工作中的作用以及其对当地社会的变革性影响将在专着中进行研究，该专着将首次展示这种做法的全面性质及其在制造已故古董世界中的作用。