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Eric J. Goldberg, Ph.D., professor of history at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will visit Lycoming College as the annual Ewing lecturer to deliver a talk entitled, “Soldiers, Rapine, and the Decline of an Empire,” at Lycoming College on Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m., in Trogner Presentation Room in Krapf Gateway Center. The event is free and open to the public.
In his talk, Goldberg will discuss the Frankish ruler Charlemagne (768–814) and his dynasty, the Carolingians, who conquered the peoples of Europe and created an empire. The Carolingian empire entered a period of political and military crisis during the later ninth century and abruptly came to an end in the year 888. Historians have proposed a range of explanations for the decline this empire: the incompetence of Charlemagne’s descendants and their squandering of royal lands, their failure to drive out the Vikings or curb the growing power of the Frankish “feudal” magnates, their misfortunes with premature royal deaths and childless marriages.
Goldberg’s talk proposes an alternative explanation: the inability of Charlemagne’s descendants to supply their armies. Fundamental transformations in Frankish warfare made it increasingly difficult for the later Carolingians to feed their soldiers and horses and maintain discipline among their troops. The result was a mounting epidemic of Frankish soldiers seizing supplies from their fellow countrymen and committing acts of violence against them. Kings and chroniclers referred to such alarming behavior as “rapine,” a technical term that went back to Roman law and described illegal requestions committed by men in the army. The late Carolingians never found a solution to the problem of rapine committed by their soldiers. Rapine ultimately undermined the legitimacy of the Carolingian dynasty and led to the breakup of their empire.
A specialist in the history of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Goldberg’s research focuses on the politics and culture of the Merovingian, Carolingian, and Anglo-Saxon worlds. His first book, “Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German, 817-876,” offers the first study in English of the reign of Charlemagne’s grandson, Louis the German (840-876). His second book, “In the Manner of the Franks: Hunting, Kingship, and Masculinity in Early Medieval Europe” explores the fascinating and little-understood history of hunting from the late Roman empire to the turn of the first millennium.
Among other awards, Goldberg has been awarded fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study, the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Counsel for Learned Societies, the Medieval Academy of America, and the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst.
Goldberg was a tenured professor at Williams College before coming to M.I.T. in 2009. Goldberg received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 1998 and his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991. He was born and raised in San Francisco.
The Ewing Lecture Series was established in 1973 to honor Robert H. Ewing for his 27 years of teaching and service at Lycoming College. A revered teacher and friend of the College, his life was characterized by a deep religious faith, a passion for history, and a strong devotion to a liberal arts education. These qualities touched the lives of all who came in contact with him and led his many friends to establish this annual Lecture Series, which seeks to bring distinguished historians to campus to share their expertise with the Lycoming community.