Rethinking Authority in the Carolingian Empire
Year: 2018
Type: book
Abstract: In July of 2008, Barack Obama held a campaign speech at the Siegessäule in Berlin.'People of the world', he proclaimed in his closing statement, 'the scale of our challenge is great.The road ahead will be long.But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom.We are a people of improbable hope.With an eye towards the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again'.A lofty sentiment, which nonetheless inspired me in a way that may not have been the intention behind the speech: I had moved to Berlin a couple of months earlier, and had just embarked on my own journey that would -eventually -lead to this very book.Reading back his words, I remember sitting in the blistering heat of the Brandenburg summer to ponder the 'improbable hope' that brought me there.Indeed, I find myself thinking about it once again.The pursuit of an academic career is made of improbabilities, after all.But, even then, I knew that there was one certainty that I could count on: this book would eventually be finished.And here we are.It would be an understatement that the world of 2018 is no longer the world that Obama so optimistically encouraged to do better, but the book is here.The culmination of ten years of reading, writing, asking, answering, bleeding, sweating and crying.In the process, everybody who asked me about my progress, and everybody who had some kind words of encouragement along the way, has found their way onto these pages.In his own small way, this includes Barack Obama, who inspired me that day and unwittingly continued to do so by showing the world that the will to reform matters.Mostly, however, it includes my friends, parents, family and colleagues who have helped me reach this point, and who are therefore partially responsible for these pages.To thank all of them would easily double the size this book, but it would feel incomplete without at least acknowledging the support, constructive criticism, and friendship I have received over the years.While some people have been more closely involved with my progress than others, in the end, every single person who ever sat through one of my rants on Carolingian politics, or who listened to me patiently explain why we could still learn a thing or two from this or that ninth-century intellectual, has helped me write this book.Mayke de Jong and Stefan Esders, my two PhD supervisors, have been part of this book right from the start, and continue to exert an inspiring presence in my life.The same goes for the DFG/ANR research group 'Hludowicus: Die Produktivität einer Krise', which provided the framework for many of Prologue Great ExpectationsIn 822, in a royal residence near Attigny in the Ardennes, an assembly of bishops, abbots and other notables met to discuss how to improve the state of the Frankish Church.Their conclusions were put on record so that later generations could benefit from the know-how of those gathered there.Judging from this record, their deliberations were predominantly concerned with education and the future of the Frankish Church in general. 1 Schooling was to be made available to people who wished to become part of the clergy, and those so educated had a responsibility to guide and preach to their flocks.The people, in turn, had a responsibility to attend these sermons and heed the guidance provided by their pastors, so they could learn how to live better lives. 2 Finally, in stressing that clerical offices should not be obtained through payment or nepotism, the prelates confirmed that only those worthy of the office, those who had actually learned enough to bear the burden of responsibility for their flock, should be allowed to walk the corridors of ecclesiastical power. 3 These were important matters.As if the participants were reminding themselves of their priorities, the record of these decisions provides us with a comprehensive picture of which improvements were still deemed necessary after several decades of Carolingian rule over the Frankish Church. 4 Although the composition of the group involved in drafting this text remains unknown, it is clear that it was made up of high-ranking members of the Carolingian imperial court, abbots of monasteries with long and venerable histories, as well as newcomers eager to make a mark. 5 Through it all, however, the internal hierarchy had a clear focal point, a figure who 1 For a general overview of this synod, see Hartmann, Synoden der Karolingerzeit, pp.166-167; De Jong, 'Power and humility', esp.pp.31-32; De Jong, Penitential State, pp.34-38; Depreux, 'The penance of Attigny'.2 Concilium Attiniacense, c. 3, p. 471; c. 5, p. 472.On preaching and its role in strengthening a community, see Pollheimer, 'Of shepherds and sheep'; Diesenberger, 'Der Prediger'.3 Concilium Attiniacense, c. 6, p. 472. 4 On the Carolingian reforms up to and beyond 822, see among many others, McKitterick, The Frankish Church; Claussen, Reform of the Frankish Church; Brown, 'Introduction: the Carolingian Renaissance'; Moore, Sacred Kingdom; Gaillard, D'Une Réforme.Generally on the Carolingian world, see Costambeys et al., Carolingian World.5 For instance, Agobard of Lyon wished for the 'management of ecclesiastical possessions' to be put on the agenda: Wood, Proprietary Church, p. 795. Framing the Carolingian Reforms : The Early Years of Louis the PiousThe year Louis the Pious was born -778 -was the year Charlemagne had to acknowledge that his realm had become too big for one person to handle.With the Saxons stirring up trouble in the north-east, and the Basques having destroyed a sizable Carolingian army as it crossed the Pyrenees, Charlemagne set about organizing his realm and making sure it was in order. 1 One of the most immediate results of this was the division of the Frankish realm among his three sons, a mere three years later in 781. 2 This was meant to be a precursor to Charlemagne's succession: the eldest, Charles the Younger, was taken under his father's wing and groomed to inherit the Carolingian heartlands, if not the empire itself, whereas Pippin and his brother Louis became kings of the newly created sub-kingdoms of Italy and Aquitaine, respectively. 3For Aquitaine, situated in the south-west of Francia, this meant that Charlemagne appeased the locals who may have remained resentful about their conquest in 768, while he simultaneously ensured the defence of the area by having an entourage consisting of members of the Frankish elite accompany his son, aristocrats who were charged with keeping the new kingdom and its borders under control. 4 For Louis, it meant that he remained in the long shadow of his father, although he was hardly ever able to benefit directly from his father's tutelage.Louis, still only three years old, would have to fend for himself when it came to acquiring direct experience of the business of ruling, surrounded by his father's courtiers as he gradually came into his own. 5Although it would have been assumed that this was the end of the line for young Louis, fate decided differently. 6Thirty years later, in 811, when 1 On the Saxon Wars and their impact on Carolingian discourse, see Flierman, Saxon Identities, pp.89-117; Rembold, Conquest and Christianization, pp.39-84.On the latter expedition into Iberia and how it is represented in contemporary sources, see Wolff, 'L'Aquitaine et ses marges ', pp.22-26; as well as, more generally, Chandler, 'Carolingian Catalonia'. 2 As told in the ARF, a. 781, pp.56-57.3 Kasten, Königssöhne, pp.138-141 and p. 157; Hammer, 'Christmas Day 800'; Innes, 'Charlemagne's Will'; Jarnut, 'Chlodwig und Chlothar', pp.646-649, suggest that Louis' name was even chosen with a view towards his rule of Aquitaine, given that it served as a reminder of Clovis, the first Frankish conqueror of the region.4
DOI: 10.2307/j.ctvd1c74c
Author: Rutger Kramer
Language: English
Subfield: Classics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4232409907