The Lands of Saint Ambrose: Monks and Society in Early Medieval Milan by Ross Balzaretti (review)

In this monograph in two parts, Ross Balzaretti examines the early medieval legacy of the Monastery of Sant’Ambrogio both in Milan and in the wider hinterland. The monastery enters the historical record in the last decades of the eighth century as the first Carolingian monastic foundation south of the Alps. The monastery had a significant and influential heritage. Attached to the basilica built by church father Bishop Ambrose of Milan (c. 337/340–397) to house the martyr relics of Gervasius and Protasius (and where Ambrose himself was eventually interred), the monastery came to be a significant player within patronage networks in early medieval Italy and Francia. Balzaretti examines the surviving charters attached to the monastery to narrate a ‘thick description’ of the processes by which religious and secular negotiated networks of ownership in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. The first part focuses on Milan, while the second engages with Milan’s hinterland. The result is an observation of the profound and dynamic connection between town and country in this period, and the increasing and contested role of monasticism in this connection.

Balzaretti begins by examining and contextualizing the evidence: the surviving charter collection held at Sant’Ambrogio. The approach is both descriptive and historiographical, placing the charter collection in complex discussions framed around authenticity, and noting the importance of the collection as constructs or ‘dossiers’ rather than ‘ad hoc’ voices. Subsequently, Balzaretti moves into a brief discussion of the contested nature of early medieval ‘urbanism’ through an examination of the archaeology of the Po Valley. This methodology is then repeated for the reception of Bishop Ambrose himself, emphasizing the impact of the church father on both Milan and the wider landscape.

Having established the context, Balzaretti moves to the Monastery of Sant’Ambrogio and its place within Milanese society. Internal and external sources are utilized to describe both the history of Milan in the early medieval period, and the history of monasticism in Milan in the same period. The evidence for the transition from Roman imperial capital to a medieval metropolis is limited, and it is only with the earliest charter evidence for the eighth century that Balzaretti is able to engage with positioning the Monastery of Sant’Ambrogio in the urban landscape. Sant’Ambrogio’s foundation is placed in 784–789 in the context of Charlemagne’s conquests. This royal connection set in train significant patronage for the monastery in the following centuries, but also, as Balzaretti points out, the monastery became a ‘pinch point’ for royal intrigue. Balzaretti traces the gifts to the monastery from the charter evidence over the next 250 years, detailing the urban networks of power and their relationship with estates in the hinterland. He marshals this evidence to confirm Milan’s status as a ‘real city’ with a distinct urban society in the early medieval period.

In the second part, Balzaretti moves to situating the Monastery of Sant’Ambrogio in the hinterland of Milan, utilizing the charter evidence as dossiers that establish and connect communities. A brief overview of the history of the ‘manorial system’ in Italy is followed by an examination of the monastery’s relationship with the estates of Campione, Gnignano and Colgono, Valtellina, and Limonta and Inzago, all in the Po valley or on the lakes of Como or Lugano. This is, perhaps, the most effective part of Balzaretti’s monograph. His emphasis on charter collections as dossiers gives voices to communities and the profound changes to society caused by increasing land gifts to monastic foundations. Legal charters detail increasing monastic control leading to profound tensions between religious and secular over ownership and roles. It also details the profound interactivity between religious and secular, with the majority of monastic holdings being worked by the laity.

The presentation of this monograph as...