Rèsidences, richesse et aristocraties du Haut Moyen Age dans le Regnum Langobardorum (VIe-VIIe siècles) entre sources écrites et données archéologiques

In 1994 Chris Wickham pointed out that Italian early medieval archaeological research lacked excavations of aristocratic urban residences that could establish the practical limits of the technological and economic means of private individuals. As well as the data that can be inferred from the written sources, the chance to identify the houses of the higher ranking members of society in the archaeological contexts of central and northern Italy has various potential implications: on the one hand, it might prove possible to explore surviving monuments or monuments known from old excavations in order to search for further traces linked to buildings of the same kind and, on the other, it might lead to a better understanding of the economic means, lifestyle and mindset of the early medieval aristocracy, a class which has, until now, been, poorly documented by the available evidence.