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An archchancellor ( Latin : archicancellarius , German : Erzkanzler ) or chief chancellor was a title given to the highest dignitary of the Holy Roman Empire , and also used occasionally during the Middle Ages to denote an official who supervised the work of chancellors or notaries.

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130-595: The Carolingian successors of Pepin the Short appointed chancellors over the whole Frankish realm in the ninth century. Hincmar refers to this official as a summus cancellarius in De ordine palatii et regni and an 864 charter of King Lothair I refers to Agilmar, Archbishop of Vienne , as archchancellor, a word which also begins appearing in chronicles about that time. The last Carolingian archchancellor in West Francia

260-768: A Septimanian Visigoth , whom he made abbot of the newly established Inden Monastery at Aix-la-Chapelle and charged him with the reform of the Frankish church. One of Benedict's primary reforms was to ensure that all religious houses in Louis's realm adhered to the Rule of Saint Benedict , named for its creator, Benedict of Nursia . From the start of his reign, his coinage imitated his father Charlemagne's portrait, which gave it an image of imperial authority and prestige. In 816, Pope Stephen IV , who had succeeded Leo III , visited Reims and again crowned Louis on Sunday 5 October. As

390-451: A council of clerics and nobles of the realm that had been convened for the reconciliation of Louis with his three younger half-brothers, Hugo whom he soon made abbot of St-Quentin, Drogo whom he soon made Bishop of Metz , and Theodoric. This act of contrition, partly in emulation of Theodosius I , had the effect of greatly reducing his prestige as a Frankish ruler, for he also recited a list of minor offences about which no secular ruler of

520-604: A court. Charlemagne constituted this sub-kingdom in order to secure the border of his realm after the destructive war against the Aquitanians and Basques under Waifar (capitulated c. 768) and later Hunald II , which culminated in the disastrous Battle of Roncesvalles (778). Charlemagne wanted Louis to grow up in the area where he was to reign. However, wary of the customs his son may have been assimilating into in Aquitaine, Charlemagne, who had remarried to Fastrada after

650-596: A divorce from his wife, which caused repeated conflicts with the pope and his uncles. Charles of Burgundy died in 863, and his kingdom was inherited by Louis II. Lothar II died in 869 with no legitimate heirs, and his kingdom was divided between Charles the Bald and Louis the German in 870 by the Treaty of Meerssen . Meanwhile, Louis the German was involved in disputes with his three sons. Louis II died in 875, and named Carloman ,

780-472: A final placitum held at Worms on 20 May, Louis gave Bavaria to Louis the German and disinherited Pepin II, leaving the entire remainder of the empire to be divided roughly into an eastern part and a western. Lothair was given the choice of which partition he would inherit and he chose the eastern, including Italy, leaving the western for Charles. The emperor quickly subjugated Aquitaine and had Charles recognised by

910-571: A large Lombard army, but Louis had promised his sons Louis the German and Pepin of Aquitaine greater shares of the inheritance, prompting them to shift loyalties in favour of their father. When Lothair tried to call a general council of the realm in Nijmegen , in the heart of Austrasia , the Austrasians and Rhinelanders came with a following of armed retainers, and the disloyal sons were forced to free their father and bow at his feet (831). Lothair

1040-486: A military effort that would typically take place through the summer as this would ensure there were enough supplies for the fighting force. Charlemagne passed regulations requiring all mustered fighting men to own and bring their own weapons; the wealthy cavalrymen had to bring their own armour, poor men had to bring spears and shields, and those driving the carts had to have bows and arrows in their possession. In regards to provisions, men were instructed not to eat food until

1170-414: A pity if any man lost his life or limb on my account." The resigned emperor was taken to Saint-Médard de Soissons , his son Charles to Prüm , and the queen to Tortona . The despicable show of disloyalty and disingenuousness earned the site the name Field of Lies , or Lügenfeld, or Campus Mendacii, ubi plurimorum fidelitas exstincta est . On 13 November 833, Ebbo , with Agobard of Lyon , presided over

1300-469: A portion of his brother Louis's land. Louis the German promptly rose in revolt, and the emperor redivided his realm again at Quierzy-sur-Oise , giving all of the young king of Bavaria's lands, save Bavaria itself, to Charles. Emperor Louis did not stop there, however. His devotion to Charles knew no bounds. When Pepin died in 838, Louis declared Charles the new king of Aquitaine. The nobles, however, elected Pepin's son Pepin II . When Louis threatened invasion,

1430-566: A result, most French kings were crowned in Reims, following the custom established by Louis the Pious. On 9 April 817, Maundy Thursday , Louis and his court were crossing a wooden gallery from the cathedral to the palace in Aachen, when the gallery collapsed, killing many. Louis, having barely survived and feeling the imminent danger of death, began planning for his succession. Three months later among

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1560-400: A specific location was reached, and carts should carry three months worth of food and six months worth of weapons and clothing along with tools. Preference was shown towards mobility warfare in place of defence-in-depth infrastructure; captured fortifications were often destroyed so they could not be used to resist Carolingian authority in the future. After 800 and during the reign of Louis

1690-452: A symbolic permanence as well as exclaiming royal authority. Einhard suggested the construction of so-called 'public buildings' was a testament to Charlemagne's greatness and likeness to the emperors of antiquity and this connection was certainly capitalised upon by the imagery of palace decorations. Ingelheim is a particular example of such symbolism and thus the importance of the palace system in more than mere governance. The palace chapel

1820-593: A synod at the Church of Saint Medard in Soissons which saw Louis undertake public penance for the second time in his reign. The penitential ritual that was undertaken began when Louis arrived at the church and confessed multiple times to the crimes levied against him. The crimes had been historic and recent, with accusations of oath breaking, violation of the public peace and inability to control his adulterous wife, Judith of Bavaria . Afterwards, he threw his sword belt at

1950-768: A tenth out of so many thousands are said to have survived." Shortage of horses played a role in preventing Carolingian forces from continuing a campaign against the Avars in Pannonia. The Frankish royal bodyguards, the continuation of the Merovingian institution of the antrustion , were consciously modelled on Late Roman precedents. These guards were organized into schola and entitled scholares , and used armour based on Late Roman and early Byzantine models. Frankish artistic depictions of these bodyguards also mirrored Late Roman traditions. No permanent capital city existed in

2080-693: Is a notably difficult task. In his comprehensive Framing the Early Middle Ages, Chris Wickham suggests that there are currently no reliable calculations for the period regarding the populations of early medieval towns. What is likely, however, is that most cities of the empire did not exceed the 20–25,000 speculated for Rome during this period. On an empire-wide level, populations expanded steadily from 750 to 850 AD. Figures ranging from 10 to 20 million have been offered, with estimates being devised based on calculations of empire size and theoretical densities. Recently, however, Timothy Newfield challenges

2210-534: Is written to have been 'lined with images from the Bible' and the hall of the palace 'decorated with a picture cycle celebrating the deeds of great kings' including rulers of antiquity as well as Carolingian rulers such as Charles Martel and Pippin III. Louis the Pious used the palace system much to the same effect as Charlemagne during his reign as king of Aquitaine, rotating his court between four winter palaces throughout

2340-555: The Chasseneuil . Charlemagne's intention was to see all his sons brought up as natives of their given territories, wearing the national costume of the region and ruling by the local customs. Thus were the children sent to their respective realms at a young age. The marches—peripheral principalities—played a vital role as bulwarks against exterior threats to the empire. Louis reigned over the Spanish March . In 797, Barcelona ,

2470-758: The Emirate of Córdoba and, after 824, the Kingdom of Pamplona ; to the north it bordered the kingdom of the Danes ; to the west it had a short land border with Brittany , which was later reduced to a tributary; and to the east it had a long border with the Slavs and the Avars , who were eventually defeated and their land incorporated into the empire. In southern Italy, the Carolingians' claims to authority were disputed by

2600-591: The Holy Roman Empire . After a civil war (840–843) following the death of Emperor Louis the Pious , the empire was divided into autonomous kingdoms, with one king still recognised as emperor, but with little authority outside his own kingdom. The unity of the empire and the hereditary right of the Carolingians continued to be acknowledged. In 884, Charles the Fat reunited all the Carolingian kingdoms for

2730-632: The Pyrenees . Only the remaining Saxon realms, which he partly conquered, Lombardy , and the Marca Hispanica south of the Pyrenees were significant additions to the Frankish realms after his death. Martel cemented his place in history with his defense of Christian Europe against a Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732. The Iberian Saracens had incorporated Berber light horse cavalry with

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2860-486: The 790s when construction picked up at Aachen Charlemagne's court became more centred compared with the 770s where court so often found itself located in tents during campaigning. Though Aachen was certainly not intended to be a sedentary capital it was built in the political heartland of Charlemagne's realm to act as a meeting place for aristocrats and churchmen so that patronage might be distributed, assemblies held, laws written, and even where scholarly churchmen gathered for

2990-493: The Alps, they did not lose their freedom. The next revolt occurred a mere two years later, in 832. The disaffected Pepin was summoned to his father's court, where he was so poorly received he left against his father's orders. Immediately, fearing that Pepin would be stirred up to revolt by his nobles and desiring to reform his morals, Louis the Pious summoned all his forces to meet in Aquitaine in preparation of an uprising, but Louis

3120-653: The Austrian Empire. The title is continued by the present-day Chancellors of Germany and Austria . In France the title of "Archchancellor of the Empire" was given to Napoleon I 's chief legal advisor, Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès . Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Frankish -dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages . It

3250-641: The Avar confederation ended in 803 after Charlemagne sent a Bavarian army into Pannonia. He also conquered Saxon territories in wars and rebellions fought from 772 to 804, with such events as the Massacre of Verden in 782 and the codification of the Lex Saxonum in 802. Prior to the death of Charlemagne, the Empire was divided among various members of the Carolingian dynasty . These included King Charles

3380-505: The Bald into the will was marked by the resistance of his eldest sons. Whilst this was part of the reason for strife amongst Louis' sons, some suggest that it was the appointment of Bernard of Septimania as chamberlain which caused discontent with Lothar, as he was stripped of his co-Emperorship in 829 and was banished to Italy (although it is not known why; The Astronomer simply states that Louis 'dismissed his son Lothar to go back to Italy' ) and Bernard assumed his place as second in command to

3510-487: The Bald , his sons Lothar, Pepin and Louis refused to accept. The rule of sons being favoured over brothers in succession remained also untouched. The ordinatio imperii of Aachen left Bernard in Italy in an uncertain and subordinate position as king of Italy, and he began plotting to declare independence. Upon hearing of this, Louis immediately directed his army towards Italy, and headed for Chalon-sur-Saône . Intimidated by

3640-603: The Basque revolt south of the western Pyrenees, so sparking off a Basque uprising that was duly put down by the Frankish emperor in Dax. Seguin was replaced by Lupus III , who was dispossessed in 818 by the emperor. In 820 an assembly at Quierzy-sur-Oise decided to send an expedition against the Cordoban caliphate (827). The counts in charge of the army, Hugh , count of Tours , and Matfrid , count of Orléans , were slow in acting and

3770-604: The Byzantines and the vestiges of the Lombard kingdom in the Principality of Benevento . In its day, it was known by various Latin names; the term "Carolingian Empire" arose later. The term "Carolingian Empire" is a modern convention and was not used by its contemporaries. The language of official acts in the empire was Latin . The empire was referred to variously as universum regnum ("the whole kingdom", as opposed to

3900-482: The Carolingian court throughout reigns of many Carolingian rulers. Stuart Airlie has suggested that there were over 150 palaces throughout the Carolingian World which would provide the setting for court activity. Palaces were not merely locations of administrative government but also stood as important symbols. Under Charlemagne their excellence was a translation of the treasure built up from conquest into

4030-463: The Fat's Kingdom, and Francia and Neustria were granted to Carloman of Aquitaine who also conquered Lower Burgundy. Carloman died in a hunting accident in 884 after a tumultuous and ineffective reign, and his lands were inherited by Charles the Fat, effectively recreating the empire of Charlemagne. Charles, suffering what is believed to be epilepsy, could not secure the kingdom against Viking raiders, and after buying their withdrawal from Paris in 886

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4160-793: The Frankish custom of partible inheritance , Louis had expected to share his inheritance with his brothers, Charles the Younger , King of Neustria , and Pepin , King of Italy . In the Divisio Regnorum of 806, Charlemagne had slated Charles the Younger as his successor as ruler of the Frankish heartland of Neustria and Austrasia , while giving Pepin the Iron Crown of Lombardy , which Charlemagne possessed by conquest. To Louis's kingdom of Aquitaine, he added Septimania , Provence, and part of Burgundy . However, Charlemagne's other legitimate sons died—Pepin in 810 and Charles in 811—and Louis

4290-582: The Frankish emperor's power and dared not stir up any trouble. In 816, however, the Sorbs rebelled and were quickly followed by Slavomir , chief of the Obotrites, who was captured and abandoned by his own people, being replaced by Ceadrag in 818. Soon, Ceadrag too had turned against the Franks and allied with the Danes, who were to become the greatest menace to the Franks in a short time. A greater Slavic menace

4420-428: The Frankish host to go on a campaign, to discuss political and ecclesiastical matters affecting the kingdom and to legislate for them, and to make judgments. All important men had to go to the meeting and so it was an important way for Charles to make his will known. Originally the meeting worked effectively however later it merely became a forum for discussion and for nobles to express their dissatisfaction. Louis

4550-539: The Franks after his father's death in 814, a position that he held until his death except from November 833 to March 834, when he was deposed. During his reign in Aquitaine, Louis was charged with the defence of the empire's southwestern frontier. He conquered Barcelona from the Emirate of Córdoba in 801 and asserted Frankish authority over Pamplona and the Basques south of the Pyrenees in 812. As emperor, he included his adult sons, Lothair , Pepin and Louis , in

4680-458: The German against his brother Lothar and his uncle Charles the Bald in 858. Lothar reconciled with his brother and uncle shortly after. Charles was so unpopular that he could not raise an army to fight the invasion and instead fled to Burgundy. He was only saved when the bishops refused to crown Louis the German king. In 860, Charles the Bald invaded Charles of Burgundy's kingdom but was repulsed. Lothar II ceded lands to Louis II in 862 for support of

4810-500: The German garnered an army of Slav allies and conquered Swabia before the emperor could react. Once again the elder Louis divided his vast realm. At Jonac , he declared Charles king of Aquitaine and deprived Pepin (he was less harsh with the younger Louis), restoring the whole rest of the empire to Lothair, not yet involved in the civil war. Lothair was, however, interested in usurping his father's authority. His ministers had been in contact with Pepin and may have convinced him and Louis

4940-622: The German to rebel, promising him Alemannia, the kingdom of Charles. Soon Lothair, with the support of Pope Gregory IV , whom he had confirmed in office without his father's support, joined the revolt in 833. While Louis was at Worms gathering a new force, Lothair marched north. Louis marched south. The armies met on the plains of the Rothfeld. There, Gregory met the emperor and may have tried to sow dissension amongst his ranks. Soon much of Louis's army had evaporated before his eyes, and he ordered his few remaining followers to go, because "it would be

5070-472: The Kingdom of Italy to Charles. Another partition in 832 completely excluded Pepin and Louis the German, making Lothar and Charles the sole benefactors of the kingdom, which precipitated Pepin and Louis the German revolting in the same year, followed by Lothar in 833, and together they imprisoned Louis the Pious and Charles. Lothar brought Pope Gregory IV from Rome under the guise of mediation, but his true role

5200-475: The Lombards'. He later led a failed campaign into Spain in 778, ending with the Battle of Roncevaux Pass , which is considered Charlemagne's greatest defeat. He then extended his domain into Bavaria after forcing Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria , to renounce any claim to his title in 794. His son, Pepin, was ordered to campaign against the Avars in 795 since Charlemagne was occupied with Saxon revolts. Eventually,

5330-581: The Pious Louis the Pious ( Latin : Hludowicus Pius ; French : Louis le Pieux ; German : Ludwig der Fromme ; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire , was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne , from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only surviving son of Charlemagne and Hildegard , he became the sole ruler of

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5460-462: The Pious finally died in 840, Lothar claimed the entire empire irrespective of the partitions. As a result, Charles and Louis the German went to war against Lothar. After losing the Battle of Fontenay , Lothar fled to his capital at Aachen and raised a new army, which was inferior to that of the younger brothers. In the Oaths of Strasbourg , in 842, Charles and Louis agreed to declare Lothar unfit for

5590-495: The Pious mustered a massive force and marched against them. They fled, but it would not be the last time they harried the northern coasts. In 838, they even claimed sovereignty over Frisia , but a treaty was confirmed between them and the Franks in 839. Louis the Pious ordered the construction of a North Sea fleet and the sending of missi dominici into Frisia to establish Frankish sovereignty there. In 837, Louis crowned Charles king over all of Alemannia and Burgundy and gave him

5720-423: The Pious' reign as Emperor was unexpected; as the third son of Charlemagne, he was originally crowned King of Aquitaine at three years old. With the deaths of his older siblings, he went from 'a boy who became a king to a man who would be emperor'. Although his reign was mostly overshadowed by the dynastic struggle and resultant civil war, as his epithet states, he was highly interested in matters of religion. One of

5850-588: The Pious' reign lacked security; he often had to struggle to maintain control of the Empire. As soon as he heard of the death of Charlemagne, he hurried to Aachen, where he exiled many of Charlemagne's trusted advisors, such as Wala. Wala and his siblings were children of the youngest son of Charles Martel, and so were a threat as a potential alternative ruling family. Monastic exile was a tactic Louis used heavily in his early reign to strengthen his position and remove potential rivals. In 817 his nephew, King Bernard of Italy, rebelled against him due to discontent with being

5980-427: The Pious, efforts of expansion dwindled. Tim Reuter has shown that many military efforts during Louis' reign were largely defensive and in response to external threats. It had long been held that Carolingian military success was based on the use of a cavalry force created by Charles Martel in the 730s. However, it is clear that no such "cavalry revolution" took place in the Carolingian period leading up to and during

6110-469: The Rhine near his palace at Ingelheim . He died on 20 June 840 in the presence of many bishops and clerics and in the arms of his half-brother Drogo as he pardoned his son Louis, proclaimed Lothair emperor and commended the absent Charles and Judith to his protection. Soon dispute plunged the surviving brothers into yet another civil war. It lasted until 843 with the signing of the Treaty of Verdun , in which

6240-418: The Younger , son of Charlemagne, who received Neustria ; King Louis the Pious , who received Aquitaine ; and King Pepin , who received Italy. Pepin died with an illegitimate son, Bernard , in 810, and Charles died without heirs in 811. Although Bernard succeeded Pepin as king of Italy, Louis was made co-emperor in 813, and the entire Empire passed to him with Charlemagne's death in the winter of 814. Louis

6370-598: The approval of his Aachen court and the clergy he issued an imperial decree of eighteen chapters, the Ordinatio Imperii , that laid out plans for an orderly dynastic succession. The term Ordinatio Imperii is a modern (19th-century) creation. The decree is called divisio imperii in the only surviving contemporary manuscript. In 815, Louis had already given his two eldest sons a share in the government, when he had sent his elder sons Lothair and Pepin to govern Bavaria and Aquitaine, respectively, though without

6500-515: The army (e.g. Seneschal Andorf against the Bretons in 786). Possibly associated with the chaplain and the royal chapel was the office of the chancellor, head of the chancery, a non-permanent writing office. The charters produced were rudimentary and mostly to do with land deeds. There are 262 surviving from Charles’ reign as opposed to 40 from Pepin ’s and 350 from Louis the Pious . There are 3 main offices which enforced Carolingian authority in

6630-764: The attending nobles. Upon arriving at the imperial court in Aachen in an atmosphere of suspicion and anxiety on both sides, Louis's first act was to purge the palace of what he considered undesirable. He destroyed the old Germanic pagan tokens and texts which had been collected by Charlemagne. He further exiled members of the court he deemed morally "dissolute", including some of his own relatives. He quickly sent all of his many unmarried (half-)sisters and nieces to nunneries in order to avoid any possible entanglements from overly powerful brothers-in-law. Sparing his illegitimate half-brothers Drogo, Hugh and Theoderic, he forced his father's cousins, Adalard and Wala to be tonsured , sending them into monastic exile at St-Philibert on

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6760-504: The base of the altar and received judgement through the imposition of the hands of the bishops. Louis was to live the rest of his life as a penitent, never to hold office again. The penance divided the aristocracy. The anonymous biographer of the Vita Hludovici criticized the whole affair on the basis that God does not judge twice for sins committed and confessed. Lothair's allies were generously compensated. Ebbo himself received

6890-495: The death of Charlemagne, was accused of having supported the rebellion, and was thrown into a monastic prison, dying soon afterwards; it was rumored that he had been poisoned. The fate of his nephew deeply marked Louis's conscience for the rest of his life. In 822, as a deeply religious man, Louis performed penance for causing Bernard's death, at his palace of Attigny near Vouziers in the Ardennes , before Pope Paschal I , and

7020-895: The death of Charles the Bald, was under attack in the north and west by the Vikings and was facing internal struggles from Italy to the Baltic, from Hungary in the east to Aquitaine in the west. Charles the Bald died in 877 crossing the Pass of Mont Cenis , and was succeeded by his son, Louis the Stammerer as king of the Western Franks, but the title of emperor lapsed. Louis the Stammerer was physically weak and died two years later, his realm being divided between his eldest two sons: Louis III gaining Neustria and Francia , and Carloman gaining Aquitaine and Burgundy . The Kingdom of Italy

7150-708: The death of Hildegard, sent for Louis in 785. Louis presented himself in Saxony at the royal Council of Paderborn dressed in Basque costumes along with other youths in the same garment, which may have made a good impression in Toulouse, since the Basques of Vasconia were a mainstay of the Aquitanian army. In 794, Charlemagne gave four former Gallo-Roman villas to Louis, in the thought that he would take in each in turn as winter residence: Doué , Ebreuil , Angeac and

7280-648: The disaster at Teutoburg Forest (9 AD), Charlemagne defeated the Germanic resistance and extended his realm to the Elbe more lastingly, influencing events almost to the Russian Steppes. Charlemagne's reign was one of near-constant warfare, participating in annual campaigns, many led personally. He defeated the Lombard Kingdom in 774 and annexed it into his own domain by declaring himself 'King of

7410-490: The division of the empire into three souvereign entities was settled. West Francia and East Francia became the kernels of modern France and Germany respectively. Middle Francia , that included Burgundy , the Low Countries and northern Italy among other regions was only short-lived until 855 and later reorganized as Lotharingia . The dispute over the kingship of Aquitaine was not fully settled until 860. Louis

7540-598: The early eleventh century, this office was perennially held by the Archbishop of Cologne . Theoretically, the archbishop of Mainz took care of Imperial affairs for Germany and the Archbishop of Cologne for Italy, though the latter often used deputies, his see being outside of his kingdom. A third office was created about 1042 by Emperor Henry III for the recently acquired Kingdom of Burgundy . He initially bestowed it on Archbishop Hugh I of Besançon . It only appears in

7670-399: The eldest son of Louis the German, his heir. Charles the Bald, supported by the pope, was crowned both king of Italy and emperor. The following year, Louis the German died. Charles tried to annex his realm too, but was defeated decisively at Andernach , and the Kingdom of the eastern Franks was divided between Louis the Younger , Carloman of Bavaria and Charles the Fat . The empire, after

7800-399: The emperor's swift action, Bernard met his uncle at Chalon, under invitation, and surrendered. He was taken to Aachen by Louis, who there had him tried and condemned to death for treason. Louis had the sentence commuted to blinding, which was duly carried out; Bernard did not survive the ordeal, however, dying after two days of agony. Others also suffered: Theodulf of Orléans , in eclipse since

7930-428: The emperor. With Bernard's influence over not only the emperor, but the empress as well, further discord was sowed amongst prominent nobility. Pepin, Louis' second son, too, was disgruntled; he had been implicated in a failed military campaign in 827, and he was tired of his father's overbearing involvement in the ruling of Aquitaine. As such, the angry nobility supported Pepin, civil war broke out during Lent in 830, and

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8060-503: The empire, the itinerant court being a typical characteristic of all Western European kingdoms at this time. Some palaces can, however, be distinguished as locations of central administration. In the first year of his reign, Charlemagne went to Aachen ( French : Aix-la-Chapelle ; Italian : Aquisgrana ). He began to build a palace there in the 780s with original plans being thought up perhaps as soon as 768. The palace chapel, constructed in 796, later became Aachen Cathedral . During

8190-487: The events of the previous year. Known as the Synod of Thionville , Louis himself was reinvested with his ancestral garb and the crown, symbols of Carolingian rulership. Furthermore, the penance of 833 was officially reversed and Archbishop Ebbo officially resigned after confessing to a capital crime, whilst Agobard of Lyon and Bartholmew, Archbishop of Narbonne were also deposed. Later that year Lothair fell ill; once again

8320-578: The events turned in Louis favour. In 836, however, the family made peace and Louis restored Pepin and Louis, deprived Lothair of all save Italy, and gave it to Charles in a new division, given at the diet of Crémieu . At about that time, the Vikings terrorized and sacked Utrecht and Antwerp . In 837, they went up the Rhine as far as Nijmegen, and their king, Rorik , demanded the weregild of some of his followers killed on previous expeditions before Louis

8450-483: The expectations of his new title. The political reforms wrought in Aachen were to have an immense impact on the political definition of Western Europe for the rest of the Middle Ages. The Carolingian improvements on the old Merovingian mechanisms of governance have been lauded by historians for the increased central control , efficient bureaucracy, accountability, and cultural renaissance . The Carolingian Empire

8580-400: The expedition came to naught. In 818, as Louis was returning from a campaign to Brittany , he was greeted by news of the death of his wife, Ermengarde . Ermengarde was the daughter of Ingerman , the duke of Hesbaye. Louis had been close to his wife, who had been involved in policymaking. It was rumoured that she had played a part in her nephew's death and Louis himself believed her own death

8710-504: The extent of the impact of these findings on the empire's populations is difficult to discern. Studies of ethnicity in the Carolingian Empire have been largely limited. However, it is accepted that the empire was inhabited by major ethnic groups such as Franks, Alemanni, Bavarians, Thuringians, Frisians, Lombards, Goths, Romans, Celts, Basques and Slavs. Ethnicity was just one of many systems of identification in this period and

8840-470: The first things he did was 'ruling the people by law and with the wealth of his piety', namely by restoring churches. "The Astronomer" stated that, during his kingship of Aquitaine, he 'built up the study of reading and singing, and also the understanding of divine and worldly letters, more quickly than one would believe.' He also made significant effort to restore many monasteries that had disappeared prior to his reign, as well as sponsoring new ones. Louis

8970-454: The government and sought to establish a suitable division of the realm among them. The first decade of his reign was characterised by several tragedies and embarrassments, notably the brutal treatment of his nephew Bernard of Italy for which Louis atoned in a public act of self-debasement. In the 830s his empire was torn by civil war between his sons that was only exacerbated by Louis's attempts to include his son Charles by his second wife in

9100-608: The hands of the Archbishop of Trier in the twelfth century as the chancellory of Arles, as Burgundy was then known. By the Golden Bull of 1356 , Emperor Charles IV confirmed the threefold division of the archchancellory among the three ecclesiastical Prince-electors of the Empire. Actual governmental functions like calling the Imperial elections , however, were carried out by the Mainz archbishops alone. The office in this form

9230-511: The heavy Arab cavalry to create a formidable army that had almost never been defeated. Christian European forces, meanwhile, lacked the powerful tool of the stirrup . In this victory, Charles earned the surname Martel ("the Hammer"). Edward Gibbon , the historian of Rome and its aftermath, called Charles Martel "the paramount prince of his age". Pepin III accepted the nomination as king by Pope Zachary in about 741. Charlemagne's rule began in 768 at Pepin's death. He proceeded to take control of

9360-639: The idea of demographic expansion, criticising scholars for relying on the impact of recurring pandemics in the preceding period of 541-750 AD and ignoring the frequency of famines in Carolingian Europe. A study using climate proxies such as the Greenland Ice core sample 'GISP2' has indicated that there may have been relatively favourable conditions for the empire's early years, although several harsh winters appear afterwards. Whilst demographic implications are observable in contemporary sources,

9490-580: The imperial throne. This marked the east–west division of the Empire between Louis and Charles until the Verdun Treaty. Considered a milestone in European history, the Oaths of Strasbourg symbolize the birth of both France and Germany. The partition of Carolingian Empire was finally settled in 843 by and between Louis the Pious' three sons in the Treaty of Verdun . Lothar received the imperial title,

9620-623: The island of Noirmoutier and Corbie , respectively, despite the latter's initial loyalty. He made Bernard, margrave of Septimania , and Ebbo , Archbishop of Reims his chief counsellors. The latter, born a serf, was raised by Louis to that office, but betrayed him later. He retained some of his father's ministers, such as Elisachar , abbot of St. Maximin near Trier , and Hildebold, Archbishop of Cologne . Later he replaced Elisachar with Hildwin , abbot of many monasteries. He also employed Benedict of Aniane (the Second Benedict),

9750-426: The king but many offices became hereditary. They were also sometimes corrupt although many were exemplary e.g. Count Eric of Friuli. Provincial governors eventually evolved who supervised several counts. The Missi Dominici ( Latin : dominical emissaries ). Originally appointed ad hoc, a reform in 802 led to the office of missus dominicus becoming a permanent one. The Missi Dominici were sent out in pairs. One

9880-583: The kingdom following his brother Carloman's death, as the two brothers co-inherited their father's kingdom. Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor in the year 800. The Carolingian Empire during the reign of Charlemagne covered most of Western Europe, as the Roman Empire once had. Unlike the Romans, whose imperial ventures between the Rhine and the Elbe lasted fewer than twenty years before being cut short by

10010-843: The kingship of Italy, and the territory between the Rhine and Rhone Rivers, collectively called the Central Frankish Realm . Louis was guaranteed the kingship of all lands to the east of the Rhine and to the north and east of Italy, which was called the Eastern Frankish Realm which was the precursor to modern Germany. Charles received all lands west of the Rhone, which was called the Western Frankish Realm . Lothar retired Italy to his eldest son Louis II in 844, making him co-emperor in 850. Lothar died in 855, dividing his kingdom into three parts:

10140-525: The largest city of the Marca , fell to the Franks when Zeid, its governor, rebelled against Córdoba and, failing, handed it to them. The Córdoban authority recaptured it in 799. However, Louis marched the entire army of his kingdom, including Gascons with their duke Sancho I of Gascony , Provençals under Leibulf , and Goths under Bera , over the Pyrenees and besieged it for seven months , wintering there from 800 to 801, when it capitulated. King Louis

10270-407: The last time, but he was deposed by the Frankish nobility in 887 and died in 888 and the empire immediately split up. With the only remaining legitimate male of the dynasty a child, the nobility elected regional kings from outside the dynasty or, in the case of the eastern kingdom , an illegitimate Carolingian. The illegitimate line continued to rule in the east until 911, while in the western kingdom

10400-487: The last two decades of his reign were marked by civil war. At Worms in 829, Louis gave Alemannia to Charles, with the title of king or duke (historians differ on this), thus enraging his son and co-emperor Lothair, whose promised share was thereby diminished. An insurrection was soon at hand. With the urging of the vengeful Wala and the cooperation of his brothers, Lothair accused Judith of having committed adultery with Bernard of Septimania , even suggesting Bernard to be

10530-420: The last years of his reign were plagued by civil war. Shortly after Easter, his sons attacked Louis' empire and dethroned him in favour of Lothar. The Astronomer stated Louis spent the summer in the custody of his son, 'an emperor in name only'. The following year Louis attacked his sons' kingdoms by drafting new plans for succession. Louis gave Neustria to Pepin, stripped Lothar of his Imperial title and granted

10660-452: The legitimate Carolingian dynasty was restored in 898 and ruled until 987 with an interruption from 922 to 936. The population of the empire was roughly between 10 and 20 million people. Its heartland was Francia , the land between the Loire and the Rhine , where Aachen , which Charlemagne chose as his primary residence, was located. In the south it crossed the Pyrenees and bordered

10790-542: The localities: The Comes ( Latin : count ). Appointed by Charles to administer a county . The Carolingian Empire (except Bavaria) was divided up into between 110 and 600 counties, each divided into centenae which were under the control of a vicar. At first, they were royal agents sent out by Charles but after c. 802 they were important local magnates. They were responsible for justice, enforcing capitularies, levying soldiers, receiving tolls and dues and maintaining roads and bridges. They could technically be dismissed by

10920-400: The loyal barons of Austrasia and Saxony against Lothair, and the usurper fled to Burgundy , skirmishing with loyalists near Chalon-sur-Saône . Louis was restored the next year, on 1 March 834. On Lothair's return to Italy, Wala, Jesse and Matfrid, formerly count of Orléans, died of a pestilence. On 2 February 835 at the palace Thionville , Louis presided over a general council to deal with

11050-453: The missatica system and the itinerant household. Outside this was the regna where Frankish administration rested upon the counts, and outside this was the marcher areas where ruled powerful governors. These marcher lordships were present in Brittany , Spain, and Bavaria . Charles also created two sub-kingdoms in Aquitaine and Italy, ruled by his sons Louis and Pepin respectively. Bavaria

11180-470: The monastery of St Vaast whilst Pepin was allowed to keep the lands reclaimed from his father. Men like Rabanus Maurus , Louis's younger half-brothers Drogo and Hugh, and Emma, Judith's sister and Louis the German's new wife, worked on the younger Louis to make peace with his father, for the sake of unity of the empire. The humiliation to which Louis was then subjected at Notre Dame in Compiègne turned

11310-399: The nobility – some suggest it opened him up to 'clerical domination'. Nonetheless, in 817 Louis had established three new Carolingian kingships for his sons from his first marriage: Lothar was made King of Italy and co-Emperor, Pepin was made King of Aquitaine, and Louis the German was made King of Bavaria . His attempts in 823 to bring his fourth son (from his second marriage), Charles

11440-558: The nobles and clergy at Clermont-en-Auvergne in 840. Louis then, in a final flash of glory, rushed into Bavaria and forced the younger Louis into the Ostmark . The empire now settled as he had declared it at Worms, he returned in July to Frankfurt am Main , where he disbanded the army. The final civil war of his reign was over. Louis fell ill soon after his final victorious campaigns and retreated to his summer hunting lodge on an island in

11570-708: The north-western parts of Bulgaria acknowledged Louis's suzerainty and after he was reluctant to settle the matter peacefully with the Bulgarian ruler Omurtag , in 827 the Bulgarians attacked the Franks in the March of Pannonia and regained their lands. On the far southern edge of his great realm, Louis had to control the Lombard princes of Benevento whom Charlemagne had never subjugated. He extracted promises from Princes Grimoald IV and Sico , but to no effect. On

11700-441: The place is usually identified with Chasseneuil , near Poitiers . He was the third son of Charlemagne by his wife Hildegard . He had a twin brother named Lothair, who died young. Louis and Lothair were given names from the old Merovingian dynasty , possibly to suggest a connection. Louis was crowned King of Aquitaine as a three-year-old child in 781. In the following year he was sent to Aquitaine accompanied by regents and

11830-428: The purposes of learning. Aachen was also a centre for information and gossip being pulled in from across the Empire by courtiers and churchmen alike. Of course, despite being the centre of Charlemagne's government, until his later years, his court moved often and made use of other palaces at Frankfurt, Ingelheim and Nijmegen. The use of such structures would signal the beginnings of the palace system of government used by

11960-399: The region. During his reign as Emperor he used Aachen, Ingelheim, Frankfurt, and Mainz which were almost always the locations for general assemblies held 'two or three [times] a year in the period 896–28...' and while he was not an immobile ruler, his reign has certainly been described as more static. In this way the palace system can also been seen as a tool of continuity in governance. After

12090-417: The regional kingdoms), Romanorum sive Francorum imperium ("empire of the Romans and Franks"), Romanum imperium ("Roman empire"), or even imperium christianum ("Christian empire"). Though Charles Martel chose not to take the title of king (as his son Pepin III would) or emperor (as his grandson Charlemagne ), he was the absolute ruler of virtually all of today's continental Western Europe north of

12220-416: The reign of Charlemagne. This is because the stirrup was not known to the Franks until the late eighth century and soldiers on horseback would therefore have used swords and lances for striking and not charging. Carolingian military success rested primarily on siege technologies and excellent logistics. However, large numbers of horses were used by the Frankish military during the age of Charlemagne. This

12350-471: The royal titles. He proceeded to divide the empire among his three sons: If one of the subordinate kings died, he was to be succeeded by his sons. If he died childless, Lothair would inherit his kingdom. In the event of Lothair dying without sons, one of Louis the Pious's younger sons would be chosen to replace him by "the people". Above all, the Empire would not be divided: the Emperor would rule supreme over

12480-503: The silver coinage of the realm, controlling its composition and value. The name of the emperor, not of the minter, appeared on the coins. Charlemagne worked to suppress mints in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea . The Frankish kingdom was subdivided by Charlemagne into three separate areas to make administration easier. These were the inner "core" of the kingdom ( Austrasia , Neustria , and Burgundy ) which were supervised directly by

12610-529: The sons of powerful men, holding ‘benefices’ and forming a contingent in the royal army. They also went on ad hoc missions. Around 780 Charlemagne reformed the local system of administering justice and created the scabini , professional experts on the law. Every count had the help of seven of these scabini, who were supposed to know every national law so that all men could be judged according to it. Judges were also banned from taking bribes and were supposed to use sworn inquests to establish facts. In 802, all law

12740-501: The southwestern frontier, problems commenced early when c. 812, Louis the Pious crossed the western Pyrenees 'to settle matters' in Pamplona. The expedition made its way back north, where it narrowly escaped an ambush attempt arranged by the Basques in the pass of Roncevaux thanks to the precautions he took, i.e. hostages. Séguin , duke of Gascony , was then deposed by Louis in 816, possibly for failing to suppress or collaborating with

12870-537: The splintering of the Empire the palace system continued to be used by succeeding Carolingian rulers with Charles the Bald centring his power at Compiègne where the palace chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 877, something remarked on as a sign of continuity with Aachen's Mother of God chapel. For Louis the German, Frankfurt has been deemed his own 'neo-Aachen' and Charles the Fat's palace at Sélestat in Alsace

13000-595: The subordinate kings, whose obedience to him was mandatory. With this settlement, Louis attempted to combine his sense for the Empire's unity, supported by the clergy, while at the same time providing positions for all of his sons. Instead of treating his sons equally in status and land, he elevated his first-born son Lothair above his younger brothers and gave him the largest part of the Empire as his share. The decree failed to create order as it omitted Bernard, who immediately began to conspire. When Louis began to issue changes in favor of his second wife Judith's son Charles

13130-495: The succession plans. Though his reign ended on a high note, with order largely restored to his empire, it was followed by three years of civil war. Louis is generally compared unfavourably to his father but faced distinctly different problems. Louis was born in 778 while his father Charlemagne was on campaign in Spain, at the Carolingian villa of Cassinogilum, according to Einhard and the anonymous chronicler called Astronomus ;

13260-542: The support of the Neustrian magnates, all the way to Paris. At Verberie , Louis the German joined him. At that time, the emperor returned from another campaign in Brittany to find his empire at war with itself. He marched as far as Compiègne , an ancient royal town, before being surrounded by Pepin's forces and captured. Judith was incarcerated at Poitiers and Bernard fled to Barcelona. Then Lothair finally set out with

13390-423: The territory already held by Louis remained his, the territory of the former Kingdom of Burgundy was granted to his third son Charles of Burgundy , and the remaining territory for which there was no traditional name was granted to his second son Lothar II , whose realm was named Lotharingia . Louis II, dissatisfied with having received no additional territory upon his father's death, allied with his uncle Louis

13520-469: The third great civil war of his reign broke out. In the spring of 839, Louis the German invaded Swabia, Pepin II and his Gascon subjects fought all the way to the Loire , and the Danes returned to ravage the Frisian coast (sacking Dorestad for a second time). Lothair, for the first time in a long time, allied with his father and pledged support at Worms in exchange for a redivision of the inheritance. At

13650-410: The time would have taken any notice. He also made the egregious error of releasing Wala and Adalard from their monastic confinements, placing the former in a position of power in the court of Lothair and the latter in a position in his own house. At the start of Louis's reign, the many tribes— Danes , Obotrites , Slovenes , Bretons and Basques —which inhabited his frontierlands were still in awe of

13780-441: The true father of Charles. Ebbo and Hildwin abandoned the emperor at that point, Bernard having risen to greater heights than either of them. Agobard , Archbishop of Lyon , and Jesse of Amiens, bishop of Amiens , too, opposed the redivision of the empire and lent their episcopal prestige to the rebels. In 830, at Wala's insistence that Bernard of Septimania was plotting against him, Pepin of Aquitaine led an army of Gascons , with

13910-407: The vassal of Lothar, Louis' eldest son. The rebellion was quickly put down by Louis, and by 818 Bernard of Italy was captured and punished - the punishment of death was commuted to blinding. However, the trauma of the procedure ending up killing him two days later. Italy was brought back into Imperial control. In 822 Louis' show of penance for Bernard's death greatly reduced his prestige as Emperor to

14040-421: The works of Carolingian historians such as Matthew Innes, Rosamond McKitterick, and Stuart Airlie suggest that the use of palaces were important in the evolution of Carolingian governance and Janet Nelson has argued that "palaces are places from which power emanates and is exercised..." and the importance of palaces to Carolingian administration, learning, and legitimacy has been widely argued. The royal household

14170-497: Was Archbishop Adalberon of Reims (969-988), with the accession of Hugh Capet the office was replaced by a Chancelier de France . At the court of Otto I , then King of Germany , the title seems to have been an appanage of the Archbishop of Mainz . After Otto had finally deposed King Berengar II of Italy and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962, a similar office was created for the Imperial Kingdom of Italy . By

14300-464: Was a way to show social status and political agency. Many regional and ethnic identities were maintained and would later become significant in a political role. Regarding laws, ethnic identity helped decide which codes applied to which populations, however these systems were not definitive representations of ethnicity as these systems were somewhat fluid. Evidence from Carolingian estate surveys and polyptychs appears to suggest that female life expectancy

14430-470: Was also under the command of an autonomous governor, Gerold , until his death in 796. While Charles still had overall authority in these areas they were fairly autonomous with their own chancery and minting facilities. The annual meeting, the Placitum Generalis or Marchfield, was held every year (between March and May) at a place appointed by the king. It was called for three reasons: to gather

14560-503: Was an attempt to organize the kingdom, church, and nobility around him, however, its efficacy was directly dependent upon the efficiency, loyalty and support of his subjects. Almost every year between the accession of Charles Martel and the conclusion of the wars with the Saxons Frankish forces went on campaign or expedition, often into enemy territory. Charlemagne would, for many years, gather an assembly around Easter and launch

14690-408: Was an ecclesiastic and one secular. Their status as high officials was thought to safeguard them from the temptation of taking bribes. They made four journeys a year in their local missaticum , each lasting a month, and were responsible for making the royal will and capitularies known, judging cases and occasionally raising armies. The Vassi Dominici . These were the king’s vassals and were usually

14820-440: Was an itinerant body (until c. 802) which moved around the kingdom making sure good government was upheld in the localities. The most important positions were the chaplain (who was responsible for all ecclesiastical affairs in the kingdom), and the count of the palace ( Count palatine ) who had supreme control over the household. It also included more minor officials e.g. chamberlain, seneschal, and marshal. The household sometimes led

14950-539: Was because horses provided a quick, long-distance method of transporting troops , which was critical to building and maintaining such a large empire. The importance of horses to the Carolingian military is revealed through the Revised version of the Royal Frankish Annals. The annals mention that whilst Charlemagne was on campaign in 791 "there broke out such a pestilence among the horses [...] that barely

15080-532: Was crowned co-emperor with an already ailing Charlemagne in Aachen on 11 September 813. On his father's death in 814, he inherited the entire Carolingian Empire and all its possessions (with the sole exception of the kingdom of Italy; although within Louis's empire, in 813 Charlemagne had ordered that Bernard , Pepin's son, be made and called king). While at his palace of Doué, Anjou, Louis received news of his father's death. He rushed to Aachen and crowned himself emperor to shouts of Vivat Imperator Ludovicus by

15210-464: Was designed specifically to imitate Aachen. The palace system as an idea for Carolingian central administration and governance has been challenged by historian F. L. Ganshof, who argued that the palaces of the Carolingians "contained nothing resembling the specialised services and departments available at the same period to the Byzantine emperor or the caliph of Baghdad." However, further reading in

15340-477: Was divine retribution for that event. It took many months for his courtiers and advisors to convince him to remarry, but eventually he did, in 820, to Judith , daughter of Welf , count of Altdorf . In 823 Judith gave birth to a son, who was named Charles . The birth of this son damaged the Partition of Aachen , as Louis's attempts to provide for his fourth son met with stiff resistance from his older sons, and

15470-461: Was elected King of Western Francia (France), Ranulf II became King of Aquitaine , Italy went to Count Berengar of Friuli , Upper Burgundy to Rudolph I , and Lower Burgundy to Louis the Blind , the son of Boso of Arles, King of Lower Burgundy and maternal grandson of Emperor Louis II . The other part of Lotharingia became the duchy of Burgundy. The study of demographics in the early Middle Ages

15600-463: Was finally granted to King Carloman of Bavaria, but a stroke forced him to abdicate Italy to his brother Charles the Fat and Bavaria to Louis of Saxony. Also in 879, Boso of Vienne founded the Kingdom of Lower Burgundy in Provence . In 881, Charles the Fat was crowned emperor while Louis III of Saxony and Louis III of Francia died the following year. Saxony and Bavaria were united with Charles

15730-648: Was formally invested with his armour in 791 at the age of fourteen. However, the princes were not given independence from central authority as Charlemagne wished to implant in them the concepts of empire and unity by sending them on remote military expeditions. Louis joined his brother Pippin at the Mezzogiorno campaign in Italy against the Duke Grimoald of Benevento at least once. Louis was one of Charlemagne's three legitimate sons to survive infancy. His twin brother, Lothair, died during infancy. According to

15860-585: Was gathering on the southeast. There, Ljudevit , duke of Slavs in Lower Pannonia , was harassing the border at the Drava and Sava rivers. The margrave of Friuli , Cadolah , was sent out against him, but he died on campaign and, in 820, his margravate was invaded by Slovenes. In 821, an alliance was made with Borna , duke of the Dalmatia , and Liudewit was brought to heel. In 824 several Slav tribes in

15990-416: Was lower than that of men in this period, with analyses recording high ratios of males to females. However, it is possible this is due to a recording bias. The government, administration, and organization of the Carolingian Empire were forged in the court of Charlemagne in the decades around the year 800. In this year, Charlemagne was crowned emperor and adapted his existing royal administration to live up to

16120-424: Was pardoned, but disgraced and banished to Italy. Pepin returned to Aquitaine and Judith—after being forced to humiliate herself with a solemn oath of innocence—to Louis's court. Only Wala was severely dealt with, making his way to a secluded monastery on the shores of Lake Geneva . Although Hilduin , abbot of Saint Denis , was exiled to Paderborn and Elisachar and Matfrid were deprived of their honours north of

16250-604: Was part of the constitution of the Empire until the German Mediatisation in 1803, when Mainz was secularised. The last elector, Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg , however, retained the title of archchancellor until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806. There was a marked resemblance between the medieval archchancellor and the later chancellors of the German Empire , the Weimar Republic , and

16380-490: Was perceived by the court as being cowardly and incompetent. The following year his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia , the illegitimate son of King Carloman of Bavaria, raised the standard of rebellion. Instead of fighting the insurrection, Charles fled to Neidingen and died the following year in 888, leaving a divided entity and a disorderly succession. The Empire of the Carolingians was divided: Arnulf maintained Carinthia , Bavaria, Lorraine and modern Germany; Count Odo of Paris

16510-528: Was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty , which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lombards in Italy from 774. In 800, the Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III in an effort to transfer the status of Roman Empire from the Byzantine Empire to Western Europe. The Carolingian Empire is sometimes considered the first phase in the history of

16640-468: Was the largest western territory since the fall of Rome , but historians have come to suspect the depth of the emperor's influence and control. Legally, the Carolingian emperor exercised the bannum , the right to rule and command, over all of his territories. Also, he had supreme jurisdiction in judicial matters, made legislation, led the army, and protected both the Church and the poor. His administration

16770-512: Was to legitimise Lothar and his brothers' rule by deposing and excommunicating Louis. By 835, peace was made within the family, and Louis was restored to the Imperial throne at the church of St. Stephen in Metz. When Pepin died in 838, Louis crowned Charles king of Aquitaine, whilst the nobility elected Pepin's son Pepin II , a conflict which was not resolved until 860 with Pepin's death. When Louis

16900-740: Was written down and amended (the Salic law was also amended in both 798 and 802, although even Einhard admits in section 29 that this was imperfect). Judges were supposed to have a copy of both the Salic law code and the Ripuarian law code. Most people in the Carolingian Empire lived under a legal code that directly copied from Roman law . Coinage had a strong association with the Roman Empire, and Charlemagne took up its regulation with his other imperial duties. The Carolingians exercised controls over

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