Elite territoriality and the development of early medieval states

Elite territoriality and the development of early medieval states: a comparative approach to Ireland and NW Iberia Alvaro Carvajal Castro UCD SCHOOL OF ARCHAEOLOGY The emergence of early medieval polities was linked to the development of different patterns of elite domination. Elite power could be materialized in a variety of ways, of which halls, hillforts, and enclosures, but also churches and monasteries are some of its most visible expression in both the archaeological and the written sources. These centres were important in as much as they represented the foci of different networks of relationships that could, in themselves, find other material expressions. Even though it was constrained by the conditions at the local level, the imposition of elite power and the dynamics it generated could affect the patterns of land management and the appropriation of natural resources, as well as the circulation of produce, the distribution of goods, the settlement patterns, and the configuration of local spaces of sociability, to mention but some. Thus, elite centres can be said to represent elite territoriality at large, that is, the particular way in which space was articulated as a result of the dialectical relationship between elite agency and the local spatial conditions and social, economic, and political micro-dynamics. The aim of this paper is to propose a comparative approach to the construction of elite territoriality in early medieval states. In order to do so, it will focus on two case studies, Ireland and NW Iberia.