Die Granatscheibenfibeln der Merowingerzeit.

By gathering together these scattered objects, often previously unpublished, the author is able to put forward a morphological classification comprising eight groups, characterised by several types and variants. Typical contextual associations, such as bow brooches and beads, form the basis for a precise chronology for each group and its variants. The distribution of these brooches from France to Hungary, from the mouth of the Rhine to central Italy, is illustrated for the first time by several maps. As well as a series made by the Franks, other sources, perhaps in the southern Alps, can be recognised by stylistic and technical details. The volume ends with a examination of the function, the value, and the symbolic meaning of these elaborate and costly female dress accessories of the early Middle Ages. The brooches are individually described in a detailed catalogue, with each type illustrated by plates and tables which will no doubt form a solid comparative basis for the classification of new finds from female graves of the Merovingian period.