Walter Pohl
Biographic Data
| ID | 238591 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Walter Pohl |
| GIVEN NAMES | Walter |
| FAMILY NAME | Pohl |
| SIGNATURE | POHL W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Vienna |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6885-2248 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 55 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 90 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 46 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 14 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1968 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Origin Myths
Since the 1980s, early medieval historiography has undergone a wave of deconstruction, being credited with little credibility as historical sources. Even more, origin myths have been dismissed not only for their factual information, but also as indirect witnesses of indigenous constructions of identity. The article reopens the debate acknowledging the inspiring challenge of constructivism, but also questioning the new ontology that has spread in …
Ethnic Origin Narratives in Early Medieval Europe
In the first part, this article presents a concise overview of brief or longer passages in early and high medieval historiography that deal with ethnic origins, and their context, ranging from the relatively extensive accounts in Jordanes’ Getica and the Origo gentis Langobardorum or the Frankish myth of Trojan ancestry, to the scattered brief references about Burgundian origins, the different versions of Anglo-Saxon and Irish migration legends, …
The Future of Medieval Ethnicity
Emerging Powers in Eurasian Comparison, 200–1100
This book compares the ways in which new powers arose in the shadows of the Roman Empire and its Byzantine and Carolingian successors, of Iran, the Caliphate and China in the first millennium CE. These new powers were often established by external military elites who had served the empire. They remained in an uneasy balance with the remaining empire, could eventually replace it, or be drawn into the imperial sphere again. Some relied on dynastic …
The Hun and Avar Empires
Historiography and Identity IV
Integrating Genetic, Archaeological, and Historical Perspectives on Eastern Central Europe, 400–900 AD
Few parts of Europe witnessed so many population shifts in a few centuries as the Carpathian Basin in 400–900 CE. In this macro-region along the middle Danube, Pannonians, Romans, Goths, Gepids, Longobards, Avars, Bulgars, Slavs, Franks and many others came and went. This is an intriguing test case for the relationship between ethnic identities constructed in texts, cultural habitus attested in the archaeological record, and genetic profiles that…
Historiography and Identity IV
Introduction
Historiography and Identity I: Ancient and Early Christian Narratives of Community
Historiography and Identity I
Historiography and Identity
Ethnicity and Empire in the Western Eurasian Steppes
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Narratives of Origin and Migration in Early Medieval Europe
This contribution concentrates on the origin narratives of the post-Roman peoples and kingdoms in Latin Europe between c. 500 and 1000, including some observations on the elaborate production of origin stories in the later Middle Ages. It thus addresses a period in which a durable multiplicity of polities with ethnic designations emerged in Europe and was anchored in the mental maps of (at least) the political elites through a set of foundational…
The Avars
In recovering the story of the fascinating encounter between Eurasian nomads who established an empire in the heart of Europe and the post-Roman Christian cultures of Europe, this book provides a new perspective on the origins of medieval Europe itself
Transformations of Romanness
Few pre-modern empires had an impact on their subjects comparable to that of the Roman Empire. Over time, being Roman could mean many different things, e.g. Latin speakers under barbarian rule, subjects of the Byzantine empire or Christians in post-Roman Syria. This volume explores the changes Roman identity underwent in most of the former provinces of the empire between c. 400 and c. 1000, offering the first comprehensive overview on this topic
Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is merely to underline the well-known fact that in reality there has never been anything like a uniform people or nation. In contrast, in 381, the year before the first treaty between the Visigoths on Roman soil and the Emperor Theodosius was concluded, the second ecumenical council of Constantinople solemnly condemned Arianism. Now it was the Roman land-owning upper class into which the newcomers had to be integrated …
Visions of Community in the Post-Roman World
Meanings of Community across Medieval Eurasia
How did Christianity, Islam and Buddhism frame the emergence and significance of particular communities in medieval Eurasia? This volume of well-linked comparative studies addresses the terminology of community, genealogies, urban communities and monasteries in medieval Europe, South Arabia and Tibet. Readership: Scholars, students and anyone interested in Medieval, Global, Cultural and Comparative History, Asian Studies, Historical Anthropology …
Introduction
The FWF Special Research Programme (SFB) Visions of Community studies the influence of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism on the conception of religious and political communities in the medieval period. The central research question revolves around the meaning of spiritual and over-arching ideas and discourses about the concept of â communitiesâ , and how these affect the formation and legitimation of particular communities, ranging from empires, t…
Comparing Communities-The Limits of Typology
Across the disciplines, communities and identities are usually classified into general categories, such as ethnic, tribal, territorial, civic, religious or political communities/identities. This may be useful in many instances to structure the field and highlight certain distinctive features. But, as this contribution will argue, such typologies do not provide a sound basis for comparison. This holds true both for intercultural and for interdisci…
Goths and Huns
Recent research has shown that Goths and Huns were not coherent peoples of common origin, but a number of groups that were more or less related to each other, each of which had also incorporated people of different origins. How important ethnicity was for the Goths has recently been the subject of controversial debates. Were they only perceived as an ethnic group by the Romans? However, the ample use of the ethnic labels in our sources makes it l…
Kingdoms of the Empire
Walter Pohl: Introduction - The Empire and the Integration of Barbarians. Gerhard Wirth: Rome and its Germanic Partners in the Fourth Century. Peter Heather: Foedera and Foederati of the Fourth Century. Walter Pohl: The Empire and the Longobards - Treaties and Negotiations in the Sixth Century. Wolf Liebeschuetz: Cities, Taxes and the Accommodation of the Barbarians - The Theories of Durliat and Goffart. Jean Durliat: Cite, impot et integration d…
Die Awaren
Perceptions of Barbarian Violence
Collaboration between the natural, social and human sciences in Global Change Research
The Avars
In recovering the story of the fascinating encounter between Eurasian nomads who established an empire in the heart of Europe and the post-Roman Christian cultures of Europe, this book provides a new perspective on the origins of medieval Europe itself
Archaeology of Identity - Archäologie der Identität
Können archäologische Funde und Befunde Ã1⁄4ber vergangene Identitäten Auskunft geben? In dem Band wird ein Kernproblem der historischen Interpretation materieller à berreste thematisiert. Wie und unter welchen Bedingungen erlauben Grabungsergebnisse RÃ1⁄4ckschlÃ1⁄4sse auf vergangene Zugehörigkeiten? Ist â Archäologie der Identitätâ in diesem Sinn Ã1⁄4berhaupt möglich und welche methodischen Anforderungen stellt sie? Diese Fragen knÃ1⁄4pfen an di…
History in fragments
Most of what we know about the history of the Lombard principalities of southern Italy was preserved by the monks of Montecassino. Their perception of past and present from the ninth to the early eleventh century can be studied in three manuscripts that contain a variety of short texts with abundant corrections and marginal notes – a construction kit for the social memory of a monastic community that was never turned into a coherent narrative. Th…
Transformations of Romanness
Few pre-modern empires had an impact on their subjects comparable to that of the Roman Empire. Over time, being Roman could mean many different things, e.g. Latin speakers under barbarian rule, subjects of the Byzantine empire or Christians in post-Roman Syria. This volume explores the changes Roman identity underwent in most of the former provinces of the empire between c. 400 and c. 1000, offering the first comprehensive overview on this topic
Comparing Communities-The Limits of Typology
Across the disciplines, communities and identities are usually classified into general categories, such as ethnic, tribal, territorial, civic, religious or political communities/identities. This may be useful in many instances to structure the field and highlight certain distinctive features. But, as this contribution will argue, such typologies do not provide a sound basis for comparison. This holds true both for intercultural and for interdisci…
Meanings of Community across Medieval Eurasia
How did Christianity, Islam and Buddhism frame the emergence and significance of particular communities in medieval Eurasia? This volume of well-linked comparative studies addresses the terminology of community, genealogies, urban communities and monasteries in medieval Europe, South Arabia and Tibet. Readership: Scholars, students and anyone interested in Medieval, Global, Cultural and Comparative History, Asian Studies, Historical Anthropology …
R omanness
In the often controversial debates about early medieval ethnicity and identities, R omanness has received little attention. But it should, because it is a particularly interesting case of the transformations of identity. What did it mean to be R oman after R ome? Early medieval R oman identities could be civic, regional, imperial, religious, cultural, legal or military; by self‐identification or by outside ascription; they could constitute one fa…
Narratives of Origin and Migration in Early Medieval Europe
This contribution concentrates on the origin narratives of the post-Roman peoples and kingdoms in Latin Europe between c. 500 and 1000, including some observations on the elaborate production of origin stories in the later Middle Ages. It thus addresses a period in which a durable multiplicity of polities with ethnic designations emerged in Europe and was anchored in the mental maps of (at least) the political elites through a set of foundational…
Rome and the Barbarians in the 5 th century
Cette contribution répond aux récents débats menés sur le rôle des Barbares dans la chute de l'Empire romain. Trois positions fondamentales ont été proposées. Nombre de chercheurs, aux points de vue divers, s'orientent vers le paradigme de la «transformation du monde romain» développé en partie au cours du programme européen du même nom lancé dans les années 1990. En reconnaissant la nature dramatique des événements, ils tentent de trouver l'élém…
Toward the Analysis of a Functional Deficit
Toward the Analysis of a Functional Deficit
Ergebnisse und Probleme der Awarenforschung
Kingdoms of the Empire
Introduction
Telling the Difference
Introduction
Strategies of Distinction
Between the fourth and the eight century, a number of 'experimental' polities had to create new forms of legitimacy and organisation to overcome a Roman world based on Empire, city and tribe. In the course of time, a new world developed that relied on Christendom, kingdom and people to pull an increased variety of local communities together. Of these three factors, the ethnic one certainly is the most elusive. This volume discusses the process of…
The transformation of frontiers
The definition and notion of frontiers changed in the process of the transformation of the Roman world. This volume goes beyond topography to explore the meaning and impact of new frontiers as they were establised. It becomes clear that the transformation of frontiers was not a linear process in which the imperial frontiers were abandoned and the means of controlling them declined, but depended on specific circumstances. Four of the contributions…
Le origini etniche dell'Europa
History in fragments
Most of what we know about the history of the Lombard principalities of southern Italy was preserved by the monks of Montecassino. Their perception of past and present from the ninth to the early eleventh century can be studied in three manuscripts that contain a variety of short texts with abundant corrections and marginal notes – a construction kit for the social memory of a monastic community that was never turned into a coherent narrative. Th…
Ethnicity, Theory, and Tradition
Ethnicity has been central to medieval studies since the Goths, Franks, Alamanni and other barbarian settlers of the former Roman empire were first seen as part of Germanic antiquity. Today, two paradigms dominate interpretation of barbarian Europe. In history, theories of how tribes formed (‘ethnogenesis’) assert the continuity of Germanic identities from prehistory through the Middle Ages, and see cultural rather than biological factors as the …
Regna and Gentes
In the research on "The transformation of the Roman world" relatively little attention has been paid to the transformation of early medieval peoples and the development of their communities into kingdoms, and we lack a comparative study on this subject. The aim of this volume is, therefore, to examine the relationship between gens and regnum by systematically comparing the "Germanic" and non-Germanic successor states of the Roman Empire, a questi…
A Non-Roman Empire in Central Europe
The Early Slavs
Aux origines d’une Europe ethnique. Transformations d’identités entre Antiquité et Moyen Âge
Le haut Moyen Âge représente un champ tout à fait approprié à la recherche des processus très complexes de formation d’identités ethniques. L’ethnicité comme ressource politique, un phénomène caractéristique de l’Occident, n’est pas un héritage des peuples dits barbares, mais le résultat des efforts pour rendre signifiante une réalité transformée par le développement de leurs royaumes et par la christianisation de la res publica romaine. Les rela…
Une question en débat
Depuis l'histoire grecque, l'histoire de l'Europe a souvent t vcue comme celle d'une civilisation entoure (voire assige) de barbares. Pourtant, mme la Grce de Pricls n'tait pas insensible l'Orient ou l'or des Scythes, et l'hellnisme est la marque d'une fusion entre les Grecs et les autres
Rome and the Barbarians in the 5 th century
Cette contribution répond aux récents débats menés sur le rôle des Barbares dans la chute de l'Empire romain. Trois positions fondamentales ont été proposées. Nombre de chercheurs, aux points de vue divers, s'orientent vers le paradigme de la «transformation du monde romain» développé en partie au cours du programme européen du même nom lancé dans les années 1990. En reconnaissant la nature dramatique des événements, ils tentent de trouver l'élém…
Der frühmittelalterliche Staat - europäische Perspektiven
„Staat“ im Frühmittelalter ist ein kontroverses Thema. Noch immer gibt es deutliche Unterschiede zwischen Methoden und Forschungsinteressen der verschiedenen europäischen Forschungstraditionen. Ziel dieses Bandes ist es, die nationalen Forschungstraditionen zum Thema zu überschreiten und dadurch die Debatte aus der einseitig rechtlich-institutionellen Sicht der älteren Forschung herauszulösen, um neue Gesichtspunkte aufzunehmen. Die Beiträge des …
The Fall Of Rome and the End of Civilization
Journal Article The Fall Of Rome and the End of Civilization Get access The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, by Bryan Ward-Perkins (Oxford: Oxford U.P., 2005; pp. 239. £14.99). W. Pohl W. Pohl University of Vienna Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume CXXIV, Issue 506, February 2009, Pages 109–111, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cen393 Published: 01 February 2009
Telling the Difference
Gender and Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages
Archaeology of Identity - Archäologie der Identität
Können archäologische Funde und Befunde Ã1⁄4ber vergangene Identitäten Auskunft geben? In dem Band wird ein Kernproblem der historischen Interpretation materieller à berreste thematisiert. Wie und unter welchen Bedingungen erlauben Grabungsergebnisse RÃ1⁄4ckschlÃ1⁄4sse auf vergangene Zugehörigkeiten? Ist â Archäologie der Identitätâ in diesem Sinn Ã1⁄4berhaupt möglich und welche methodischen Anforderungen stellt sie? Diese Fragen knÃ1⁄4pfen an di…
Imperium
Collaboration between the natural, social and human sciences in Global Change Research
Strategies of Identification
History (33 works) · Art (20 works) · Ancient history (19 works) · Archaeology (19 works) · Political science (18 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Byzantine Studies and History (15 works) · Anthropology (13 works) · Ethnic group (13 works) · Historical and Archaeological Studies (13 works)