As É. Thoreau-Girault notes from the outset, this study is a revised and expanded version of his doctoral thesis, Encadrement pastoral et vie religieuse dans les duchés tyrrhéniens (Naples, Amalfi, Gaète) du VIe au XIIe siècle, defended in 2012 at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. The purpose of the work, as reiterated in the introduction, is to trace the history and structures of the ecclesiastical institutions in coastal Campania (Naples, Amalfi, and Gaeta) from Late Antiquity to the establishment of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily (1130). It also attempts to delineate how local society interacted with the fait religieux in a region affected by multiple political and religious influences (p. 12). The study is based on a limited corpus of sources: the epistolary of Gregory the Great; the Gesta episcoporum Neapolitanorum, a chronicle of the Neapolitan bishops from Saint Aspreno to the ninth century; the vitae and translationes of local saints; and documents related to the duchies of Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi, published in the Regii Neapolitani archivi Monumenta (RNAM) and the Codex Diplomaticus Cajetanus.
The work begins with a historical and geographical framework that emphasizes the breakdown of Campania’s administrative structure following the arrival of the Lombards. This event led to the development of two distinct areas – coastal and inland – where ancient church structures survived in different ways. The first part of the study delves into the organization of episcopal sees in late antique Campania and the strategies employed by the Apostolic See to protect ecclesiastical property and ensure the continuity of the episcopal mission in southern Italy. Capua, conquered by the Lombards, lost its political and administrative centrality to Naples (pp. 21, 91). Thoreau-Girault also clarifies the situation of Campanian monasteries from the fourth century onward, highlighting the significant role played by the coast and the islands. Considerable attention is given to the religious influences exerted by Rome and Constantinople on Naples, leading Thoreau-Girault to assert the dependence of Neapolitan ecclesiastical institutions on the model of early Christian Rome (p. 100, pp. 144–145).
The second part of the work initially examines the family background, education, recruitment methods, and social role of clerics in the Campanian duchies. The investigation reveals that clerics were not significantly distinguished from secular men; indeed, family origin influenced their careers, social relations, and estate assets (p. 277). It was not uncommon for clerics to engage in professional activities, provided these were compatible with their ecclesiastical roles. Thoreau-Girault then conducts a parallel investigation into monks and nuns, tracing their origins, hierarchies, and specific functions. He appropriately notes the coexistence of both the Rule of Saint Benedict and the Rule of Saint Basil in the Campanian area. The following section addresses the pastoral actions of the clergy in urban and rural areas and presents the suffragan dioceses of Naples, Amalfi, and Sorrento, with a specific focus on the establishment and enhancement of the episcopal seat of Gaeta, which is connected to the decline of Formia (p. 340).
The third part of the study explores the daily religious practices and forms of piety among the faithful, with particular attention to the relationship with death and the veneration of local saints’ relics. In the Neapolitan diocese, the cult of local saints gained strength through the compilation of a significant number of hagiographical texts. Finally, the author turns his attention to the family (p. 463) and the most important phases of life: birth, growth, marriage, death, burial, and prayers for the deceased.
Thoreau-Girault’s study is conducted through a rigorous examination of sources and brings to the attention of scholars significant results concerning the fate of papal estates in southern Italy after the Iconoclastic period (pp. 148–162); the internal hierarchy of the diocesan clergy and the use of titles such as archdeacon and archpriest, which denote a cleric’s seniority and charisma (p. 249). The author’s findings on the religious life and pastoral care of the islands off the coast of the Tyrrhenian duchies (pp. 373–377), the political structure of Neapolitan society beneath the magister militum, and the processes of territorialization of the élite, particularly concerning the counts of Ischia (pp. 374, 480, 507), are equally noteworthy.
Despite these merits, the study presents some critical aspects that however do not diminish the overall quality of the work. In general, the analysis is overly dependent on the limited selection of sources chosen a priori by the author. This issue is particularly evident when Thoreau-Girault addresses certain socio-political phenomena preserved also in sources from the Lombard area or the Tyrrhenian duchies during the late Middle Ages. For instance, in his list of local rulers (pp. 283–284) who left politics to become monks, he omits the earliest case, that of Prefect Manso Fusile, whose story is recorded in a thirteenth-century source, the Chronicon Amalphitanum. Moreover, although published in 2022, the book’s bibliography is only updated to 2014, and it noticeably lacks fundamental studies on the social and cultural history of Naples, such as those by Edoardo D’Angelo and Stefano Palmieri. The study of hagiographical sources relies exclusively on the Monumenta Germaniae Historica editions, despite the availability of more recent and valuable editions, such as the vita et translatio of Neapolitan Bishop Athanasius I, republished in 2001 by Antonio Vuolo for the Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medioevo.
In conclusion, Une société chrétienne. Naples, Amalfi, Gaète (VIe–XIIe siècle) stands as an effective and comprehensive work on the religious life of the coastal cities of Campania between the sixth and twelfth centuries. It will undoubtedly become a primary bibliographical reference for studies on early medieval Naples, though many of its findings must be adequately complemented by available studies on Lombard southern Italy.
