Family Continuity and Territorial Power in West Francia

Abstract

The political history of early medieval West Francia is often conceived of as the story of influential lineages. This article explores the territorial power and social status of the “house of Vermandois” in the ninth and tenth centuries, suggesting that (a) there is only rare proof of large-scale continuity between different generations of the lineage, (b) there is no evidence that the accumulation of wealth into the hands of the family was the chief purpose of the actions of individual “Herbertians,” and (c) the traditional picture of a “house” is indebted to modern historians confused by post–tenth-century sources.