Naples : a case of urban survival in the early Middle Ages ? - article ; n°2 ; vol.103, pg 759-784

Arthur Paul

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Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome. Moyen-Age - Année 1991 - Volume 103 - Numéro 2 - Pages 759-784
Paul Arthur, Naples: a case of urban survival in the early Middle Ages?, p. 759-784. Working from both written sources and from a body of new archaeological evidence, the paper intends to demonstrate the quality of Naples through early medieval times. It is argued that the evidence demonstrates its continued urban status at a time when many old Roman towns effectively vanished or become minor centres, no longer possessing urban characteristics. The reasons for the singular status of Naples are discussed and an attempt is made to review its importance within the context of the changing European and Mediterranean worlds of the later first millennium.
26 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: MELANGES_DE_L-ECOLE_FRANCAISE_DE_ROME
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1991
• Nombre de lectures: 26
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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Paul Arthur
Naples : a case of urban survival in the early Middle Ages ?
In: Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome. Moyen-Age, Temps modernes T. 103, N°2. 1991. pp. 759-784.
Abstract
Paul Arthur, Naples: a case of urban survival in the early Middle Ages?, p. 759-784.
Working from both written sources and from a body of new archaeological evidence, the paper intends to demonstrate the quality
of Naples through early medieval times.
It is argued that the evidence demonstrates its continued urban status at a time when many old Roman towns effectively
vanished or become minor centres, no longer possessing urban characteristics. The reasons for the singular status of Naples are
discussed and an attempt is made to review its importance within the context of the changing European and Mediterranean
worlds of the later first millennium.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Arthur Paul. Naples : a case of urban survival in the early Middle Ages ?. In: Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome. Moyen-
Age, Temps modernes T. 103, N°2. 1991. pp. 759-784.
doi : 10.3406/mefr.1991.3200
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/mefr_1123-9883_1991_num_103_2_3200PAUL ARTHUR
NAPLES : A CASE OF URBAN SURVIVAL
IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES?
Campania is one of most reknowned areas of ancient Rome : for its
agricultural produce, and particularly the wine from the ager Falernus -
for the oriental link furnished by Puteoli - for the splendid archaeologic
al data bank that is Pompeii - as a paradigm for the slave mode of pro
duction - as a subject in much of Cicero's correspondence - and not least
as the subject of the late Martin Frederiksen's magnum opus. Despite its
capital importance during the late Republic and early Empire and its
continuing Mediterranean-wide significance, especially as regards Nap
les, right through to modern times, after the early Empire its history
has attracted little interest on the part of scholars, with a few notable
exceptions1.
However, the history of the Mediterranean would probably have
been profoundly different had not Naples and Campania maintained a
certain pre-eminence throughout late antiquity and the dark ages for it to
partecipate in Lopez' medieval commercial revolution, alongside towns
such as Genova and Venice, and for it to have become the centre respect
ively of Norman, Angevin, Arragonese and eventually Bourbon power in
Italy.
The purpose of this paper is to present some new data and some
thoughts concerning the region from the decline of Rome's hegemony to
the rise of the south Italian commercial states under the watchful eye of
Byzantium2. I will maintain that geographical conditions of Campania
1 It is perhaps true to say that the body of Neapolitan medieval historical stu
dies has been nurtured almost entirely by local scholars of international repute,
from Bartolomeo Capasso, in the last century, through Benedetto Croce and his
school, to the modern scholarship of Giuseppe Galasso.
2 This paper, presented in abbreviated form at the conference La Calabre, de
l'Antiquité au Moyen Age held in Rome, was also presented at Oxford where I had
the opportunity to benefit from discussions with Neil Christie, John Lloyd and
MEFRM - 103 - 1991 - 2, p. 759-784. PAUL ARTHUR 760
and traditional links with the East guaranteed a quality of cultural deve
lopment through the second half of the first millennium A.D. that facili
tated the rise of Naples to the position of a major Mediterranean power
that it was to retain up until the unification of Italy. This I will attempt
to demonstrate by showing that Naples maintained the characteristics of
an urban settlement throughout the so-called dark ages and that such
quality put her in a position to actively participate in the regeneration of
Mediterranean trade and the economy around the end of the first millen
nium A.D. The need to demonstrate that Naples was a city stems from
recent criticisms that this was possibly not the case, and in particular the
arguements advanced by my friend and colleague David Whitehouse 3.
Given that many Roman towns or cities did effectively vanish or became
minor centres dependent on ecclesiastical or military power rather puts
the burden of proof on those who want to demonstrate the contrary4. In
the case of Naples I think that this paper will show that the burden is
well worth the effort.
First of all, it should be noted that there is no mutual agreement
amongst scholars as to the definition of a city or town when applied to
extinct cultures. Richard Hodges has discussed this point, and I shall
take the lead from his Dark Age Economics, subtitled The origins of towns
and trade, A.D. 600-10005. He concludes that "an urban community is a
settlement of some size and population which is markedly larger than
communities concerned with subsistence alone; the majority of its inhabi
tants, moreover, are not engaged in full-time agrarian pursuits. Such a
community should include the presence of more than one institution, so
that a monastery or palace can only be termed urban if it is the focus of
more people than merely monks or ministers and royalty". This seems a
fair definition, though does not provide the specific elements needed to
identify an urban community through historical or archaeological ev
idence, or both. A resolution may be found by resorting to a bundle of
accepted criteria which individual elements may be represented and sus
tained by one or more concrete objects or data-sets.
Hodges does, in fact, present such criteria, originally advanced by
Gordon Childe in one instance, and by Martin Biddle in another. Work-
Bryan Ward-Perkins. I should like to thank Dott.ssa Elena Lattanzi for having
read the Rome version.
3 Whitehouse 1986, 1988 and 1989. See also Galasso 1965, p. 68.
4 See now the interesting general review by Barnish 1989.
5 Hodges 1982, esp. p. 20-25. : A CASE OF URBAN SURVIVAL ? 76 1 NAPLES
ing upon their views, I would suggest that the following seven points
should be satisfied by a settlement for it to be defined as urban :
1 . The settlement must be a central place, possessing a dependent
ry, and preferably should also be a node in an economic network.
2. Administration of the settlement should be autonomous or
omous.
3. This should lead to the creation of public worL·.
4. The economic base should be diversified insofar as, though agriculture
may play a leading part in the sustenance of the urban structure, a
surplus is fundamental in stimulating manufacturing activities and
an interregional exchange system, upon which wealth and power
may be based.
5. It thus follows that the town should possess a substantial proportion
of non-agricultural adult labour (say greater than 1/3), excluding sub-
siduary domestic labour or household activity.
6. Administration, a diversified economic base and diversified labour
should, in turn, lead to the development of a social hierarchy.
7. Finally, these conditions should bring about a concentrated and
titatively substantial population, or citizen body.
As we shall see, Naples seems to satisfy, on all seven counts, the crite
ria that I have advanced above, on the basis of previous opinions, for a
medieval town.
Though I shall develop my arguement using both material, or ar
chaeological, and textual data, I want to stress the lacunosity of the vari
ous types of evidence for the construction of real temporal sequences,
whether they be historical or of material culture. The latter may soon be
rectified through the archaeological research that continues in the town.
Nonetheless, given the mass of evidence, and despite the ups and downs
of its political and economic history, I doubt that Naples ever evaded the
required conditions that conferred it its urban status.
We may start our examination of Naples with a bird's-eye view of its
territory. Little should be said for Roman times, apart from the observat
ion that the dependent ager Neapolitanus extended to about 17 Km2, and
that by virtue of its limited size and irregular morphology was perhaps
one of the least productive territories of central Campania. However,
with the decline of Puteoli during the later fifth and sixth centuries,
much of the ager Putheolanus passed under the administrative control of
Naples. As a result of the Lombard invasions of 568 and the creation of
a duchy at Beneventum, the territory remaining in Byzantine hands
became, to all effects, dependent upon Naples. By the end of the sixth PAUL ARTHUR 762
century, Pope Gregory's letters, and other sources, illustrate the creation
of a series of castra, positioned at key-sites throughout central Campania
which, apart from safeguarding the network of surviving bishoprics,
effectively acted as fortified outposts and administrative satellites of the
city.
The great Roman port of Puteoli seems to have became one of these
castra. Though once independent, the city succumbed to the increasing
political domination of neighbouring Naples to be absorbed by the duchy
of Naples until regaining its autonomy in the early twelth century6. The
reasons for this submission are not known, though both coastal