Foreign dangers: activities, responsibilities and the problem of women abroad

This paper deals with the construction of the foreign woman as a category that could explain, in the sixth century, the agency or the dangers of wives in different narrative contexts. The diffusion of foreign women in the sixth and seventh centuries as brides of kings and aristocrats is compared to contemporary archaeological funerary evidence. The very important role of Theoderic as wife-giver king and the context of his power – Italy – developed the concept of a new foreign subject, identifiable in particular among peregrini both from and within Italy. This development heightened the possibility of creating networks and exporting foreign models.