Wanderers between Two Worlds: Irish and Anglo-Saxon Scholars at the Court of Charlemagne

However, it is far from clear to what extent a so-called “foreign” origin was really regarded as a distinguishing feature in early medieval society. To express it in sociological terms: how much did birth and origin constitute identity? Were these people “strangers” to the society they lived and worked in as a result of their “foreignness?” Did they perceive themselves as “strangers?” And if so, what is the relationship between “being a stranger” and “being a foreigner?”