Quentovic was a Frankish emporium in the Early Middle Ages that was located on the European continent close to the English Channel. The town no longer exists, but it was thought to have been situated near the mouth of the Canche River in what is today the French commune of Étaples. Archaeological discoveries led by David Hill in the 1980s found that the actual location of Quentovic was east of Étaples, in what is now the commune of La Calotterie.[1] It was an important trading place for the Franks and its port linked the continent to England, specifically to the southeastern county of Kent. From what we know today, Quentovic was founded by a Neustrian king in the early 6th century.[2] It was one of the two most prominent Frankish ports in the north (the other being Dorestad) until it was abandoned, probably in the 11th century.[3] Merchants were drawn to this place because the number of trading posts at the time was limited. Quentovic was also the place where Anglo-Saxon monks would cross the English Channel on their pilgrimage to Rome.[4] A lack of physical evidence, and the sudden disappearance of this emporium, make the town difficult to interpret. Some of the most important historical evidence on Quentovic comes from documents of taxation and especially through the town's minting of coinage.[5] Coins minted during both the Merovingian and the Carolingian dynasties have been found.
- ^ David Hill et al., "Quentovic defined," Antiquity, 64, no. 242 (1990): 51-58.
- ^ Richard Hodges, The Anglo-Saxon Achievements, (London: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd., 1989), 84-86.
- ^ Renée Doeheard, The Early Middle Ages in the West: Economy and Society, (New York: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1978), 176-181.
- ^ Georges Duby, The Early Growth of the European Economy, (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), 100-103.
- ^ Simon Coupland, "Trading Places: Quentovic and Dorestad reassessed," Early Medieval Europe, 11, no. 3 (2002): 209-232.