INTRODUCTION

Among the landed aristocrats associated with Farfa in the eighth-century charters, several families stand out. Their prominence does not, however, always or necessarily indicate that their association with the abbey was one of unqualified support, material or otherwise. They appear sometimes simply because their influence in the Sabina meant that they had a hand in all important aspects of the region's life. Farfa could not avoid dealing with them; nor, on the other hand, could they ignore Farfa, an indication if any were needed that the abbey quickly became the most important religious institution in the region.

Farfa, however, was not the only institution in the region. We must always be aware that its dominance of our record might encourage us to inflate its dominance in reality. At least before the intervention of the Carolingians, the Sabine elite could choose where to lavish their patronage, so the fact that they so often chose to direct it to Farfa itself needs investigation.

Although Farfa stood, and still stands, in a distinctly rural part of central Italy, an account of its relations with its patrons in this period must begin in the nearest city, Rieti. We have already seen that Rieti was the seat of the diocese in which most of Farfa's lands lay, and its bishop was the one with whom the abbey had by far the most interaction. From the bishop's perspective, Farfa's position was anomalous, to say the least.