Work

Tractoriae and the logistics of Carolingian entourages

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Entourages played a central role in Carolingian politics and military organization. Yet historians have neglected the important question of how kings and magnates supplied their retinues. This article investigates that topic by examining an overlooked genre of evidence: tractoriae or royal letters of requisition. Louis the Pious revived the use of these late Roman and Merovingian documents to authorize magnates to collect supplies for their followers and horses. The provisions enumerated in tractoriae give us rare insight into the composition and scale of ninth‐century retinues and armies. Their disappearance during the reign of Charles the Bald was bound up with larger transformations of late Carolingian politics.

Source: Early Medieval Europe

DOI: 10.1111/emed.12761

Author: Eric J. Goldberg

Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Medieval Literature and History

Subfield: Classics

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,900

Funders: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen