Early Medieval Property Transfers in Favour of the Church Between Religion and Economy

At least since Karl Polanyi, the idea has prevailed in large parts of research that pre-modern economies were characterised in a special way by an embeddedness of economic as well as ethical-religious spheres that was supposedly characteristic of them. However, the question of how exactly this interconnectedness was shaped has seldom been examined so far. Yet it can be analysed using the example of the property transfers by the laity in favour of churches, monasteries and bishoprics in the early Middle Ages. It becomes apparent that although theological motives such as securing of the salvation of the soul could be behind these transfers, pragmatic economic and strategic ownership considerations also came into play. Based on an evaluation of the Bavarian private charters from the eighth to tenth centuries this article will, firstly, establish which religious and economic motives the various individuals and ecclesiastical institutions involved in the property transfers pursued in these transactions, and, secondly, analyse which mutual influences the religious as well as the economic spheres exerted on each other. Against this background, a better understanding of the early medieval moral economy and the contemporary conceptions of the embeddedness between religion and economy can be gained.