In the Middle Ages , the ban (Latin bannus or bannum , German Bann ) or banality (French banalité ) was originally the power to command men in war and evolved into the general authority to order and to punish. As such, it was the basis for the raising of armies and the exercise of justice. The word is of Germanic origin and first appears in fifth-century law codes. Under the Franks it was a royal prerogative, but could be delegated and, from the tenth century, was frequently usurped by lesser nobles.
66-469: The adjective "banal" or "bannal" describes things pertaining to the ban. Its modern sense of "commonplace" (even "trite") derives from the fact that tenants were frequently required to use common mills, presses, ovens, etc. for the benefit of their lord exercising his banal rights. Under the Merovingian dynasty (481–751), the ban was used mainly by the kings to summon free men to military service. In
132-501: A knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight . It would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish himself and his retinue with horses and armour to fight for his overlord in battle. It was effectively the size of a fief (or "fee" which is synonymous with "feif") sufficient to support one knight in the ongoing performance of his feudal duties ( knight-service ). A knight's fee cannot be stated as
198-483: A Christian. My country is a Christian country and I reckon the history of France beginning with the accession of a Christian king who bore the name of the Franks". The Merovingians feature in the novel In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust : "The Merovingians are important to Proust because, as the oldest French dynasty, they are the most romantic and their descendants the most aristocratic." The word "Merovingian"
264-549: A Merovingian figurehead ( Childeric III ) to stem rebellion on the kingdom's periphery. However, in 751, Pepin finally displaced the last Merovingian and, with the support of the nobility and the blessing of Pope Zachary , became one of the Frankish kings. The Merovingian king redistributed conquered wealth among his followers, both material wealth and the land (including its indentured peasantry), though these powers were not absolute. As Rouche points out, "When he died his property
330-633: A Roman military leader who competed with the Merovingians for power in northern France. He won the Battle of Tolbiac against the Alemanni in 496, according to Gregory of Tours , Clovis adopted his wife Clotilda 's Orthodox—i.e., Nicene — Christian faith at a time when other Germanic tribes were largely Arian . He subsequently went on to decisively defeat the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in
396-595: A closer inspection for that fact alone: like Gregory of Tours , they were almost without exception from the Gallo-Roman aristocracy in regions south and west of Merovingian control. The most characteristic form of Merovingian literature is represented by the Lives of the saints. Merovingian hagiography did not set out to reconstruct a biography in the Roman or the modern sense, but to attract and hold popular devotion by
462-458: A knight's fee was inherited by joint heiresses, the fee would be split into two or more moieties , that is two separate parts, each a manor of itself with its own manorial court , each deemed half a knight's fee, and so-on down to smaller fractions. Thus a magnate could be overlord to, say, 12 1 ⁄ 2 knight's fees. A knight's fee was not only originally created by the process of subinfeudation, but could itself be split into smaller units by
528-477: A son called Merovech, from whom the kings of the Franks have subsequently been called Merovingians. In the past, this tale was regarded as an authentic piece of Germanic mythology and was often taken as evidence that the Merovingian kingship was sacral and the royal dynasty of supernatural origin. Today, it is more commonly seen as an attempt to explain the meaning of the name Merovech (sea-bull): "Unlike
594-462: A standard number of acres , as the required acreage to produce a given crop or revenue would vary depending on many factors, including its location, the richness of its soil and the local climate, as well as the presence of other exploitable resources such as a fishing weir , quarries of rock, or mines of minerals. If a knight's fee is deemed coterminous with a manor , an average size would be between 1,000 and 5,000 acres, of which much in early times
660-497: Is the Liber Historiae Francorum , an anonymous adaptation of Gregory's work apparently ignorant of Fredegar's chronicle: its author(s) ends with a reference to Theuderic IV 's sixth year, which would be 727. It was widely read; though it was undoubtedly a piece of Arnulfing work, and its biases cause it to mislead (for instance, concerning the two decades between the controversies surrounding mayors Grimoald
726-550: Is used as an adjective at least five times in The Way By Swann’s . The Merovingians are featured in the book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982) where they are depicted as descendants of Jesus , inspired by the " Priory of Sion " story developed by Pierre Plantard in the 1960s. Plantard playfully sold the story as non-fiction, giving rise to a number of works of pseudohistory among which The Holy Blood and
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#1732776076866792-731: The Anglo-Saxon rulers the Merovingians—if they ever themselves acknowledged the quinotaur tale, which is by no means certain—made no claim to be descended from a god". In 1906, the British Egyptologist Flinders Petrie suggested that the Marvingi recorded by Ptolemy as living near the Rhine were the ancestors of the Merovingian dynasty. In 486 Clovis I , the son of Childeric, defeated Syagrius ,
858-521: The Battle of Vouillé in 507. After Clovis's death, his kingdom was partitioned among his four sons. This tradition of partition continued over the next century. Even when several Merovingian kings simultaneously ruled their own realms, the kingdom—not unlike the late Roman Empire —was conceived of as a single entity ruled collectively by these several kings (each ruling one section much as the late Roman Empire had been divided between up to four emperors). The death of one or more of these kings could result in
924-535: The Byzantine Empire . The few surviving Merovingian edicts are almost entirely concerned with settling divisions of estates among heirs. Byzantine coinage was in use in Francia before Theudebert I began minting his own money at the start of his reign. He was the first to issue distinctly Merovingian coinage. On gold coins struck in his royal workshop, Theudebert is shown in the pearl-studded regalia of
990-500: The Carolingian dynasty . The 7th-century Chronicle of Fredegar implies that the Merovingians were descended from a sea-beast called a quinotaur : It is said that while Chlodio was staying at the seaside with his wife one summer, his wife went into the sea at midday to bathe, and a beast of Neptune rather like a Quinotaur found her. In the event she was made pregnant, either by the beast or by her husband, and she gave birth to
1056-486: The Lombards since 568) and Visigothic Septimania remained fairly stable. Internally, the kingdom was divided among Clovis's sons and later among his grandsons and frequently saw war between the different kings, who allied amongst themselves and against one another. The death of one king created conflict between the surviving brothers and the deceased's sons, with differing outcomes. Later, conflicts were intensified by
1122-725: The Valois era. In this the Franks lagged behind the Burgundians and the Visigoths, that they had no universal Roman-based law. In Merovingian times, law was handled by officials called rachimburgs , who memorised the set of legal precedents which formed the basis for their society's laws, for Merovingian society did not allow the concept of creating new law, only of maintaining tradition. Nor did its Germanic traditions offer any code of civil law required of urbanised society, such as Justinian I caused to be assembled and promulgated in
1188-695: The Visigoths (507) and the Burgundians (534), and also extended their rule into Raetia (537). In Germania , the Alemanni , Bavarii and Saxons accepted their lordship. The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful of the states of western Europe following the breakup of the empire of Theodoric the Great . The dynastic name, medieval Latin Merovingi or Merohingii ("sons of Merovech"), derives from an unattested Frankish form, akin to
1254-424: The banvin , the right to compel subjects to buy the lord's wine during prescribed periods, was described as ad bannum . These "banalities" were not uniform throughout France. Banal mills, for example, were more common in the north and ovens more common in the south. Payment for the use of the banal mill, oven and press was usually in kind and proportional to use, e.g. every sixth loaf to the lord or one twentieth of
1320-405: The counts (Latin comites ), who were royal appointees and exercised the power in public courts called placita . The ban was also often delegated to prelates whose ecclesiastical jurisdictions had been granted royal immunity. One of the duties of a count was to summon the people to swear an oath to the king. The counts combined their banal authority with the management of the royal fisc and
1386-422: The "privatising" of the ban, the word itself acquired a new expanded meaning by the early eleventh century. It was an "unrestricted territorial authority" and "the whole of the powers enjoyed by the castellan lord over the men of his district[,] a general power of constraint, whose forms varied according to times and regions." The word bannum was gradually displaced in its original meaning of the right to command by
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#17327760768661452-658: The 11th century. Merovingian coins are on display at the Monnaie de Paris in Paris; there are Merovingian gold coins at the Bibliothèque Nationale , Cabinet des Médailles . Christianity was introduced to the Franks by their contact with Gallo-Romanic culture and later further spread by monks . The most famous of these missionaries is St. Columbanus (d 615), an Irish monk. Merovingian kings and queens used
1518-447: The 19th century. The first well-known Merovingian king was Childeric I (died 481). His son Clovis I (died 511) converted to Nicene Christianity , united the Franks and conquered most of Gaul. The Merovingians treated their kingdom as single yet divisible. Clovis's four sons divided the kingdom among themselves, and it remained divided until 679 with the exception of four short periods (558–561, 613–623, 629–634, 673–675). After that it
1584-616: The Byzantine emperor; Childebert I is shown in profile in the ancient style, wearing a toga and a diadem . The solidus and triens were minted in Francia between 534 and 679. The denarius (or denier ) appeared later, in the name of Childeric II and various non-royals around 673–675. A Carolingian denarius replaced the Merovingian one, and the Frisian penning , in Gaul from 755 to
1650-513: The Elder and Ebroin : 652–673). Aside from these chronicles, the only surviving reservoirs of historiography are documentary sources (letters, charters, laws, etc.) and hagiography . Clerical men such as Gregory and Sulpitius the Pious were letter-writers, though relatively few letters survive. Edicts, grants, and judicial decisions survive, as well as the famous Lex Salica , mentioned above. From
1716-635: The Emperor of Byzantium Leo III the Isaurian over the Arabs led by Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik prevented the attempts of Islam to expand into eastern Europe, the victory of Charles Martel at Tours limited its expansion onto the west of the European continent. During the last years of his life, he even ruled without a king, though he did not assume royal dignity. His sons Carloman and Pepin again appointed
1782-624: The Frankish settlements being located along the Lower and Middle Rhine . The further south in Gaul one traveled, the weaker the Frankish influence became. Hen finds hardly any evidence for Frankish settlements south of the Loire . The absence of Frankish literature sources suggests that the Frankish language was forgotten rather rapidly after the early stage of the dynasty. Hen believes that for Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitania, Vulgar Latin remained
1848-431: The Franks, who commonly cut their hair short. Contemporaries sometimes referred to them as the "long-haired kings" (Latin reges criniti ). A Merovingian whose hair was cut could not rule, and a rival could be removed from the succession by being tonsured and sent to a monastery. The Merovingians also used a distinct name stock. One of their names, Clovis, evolved into Louis and remained common among French royalty down to
1914-575: The Holy Grail was the most successful. The "Priory of Sion" material has given rise to later works in popular fiction, notably The Da Vinci Code (2003), which mentions the Merovingians in chapter 60. The title of " Merovingian " (also known as "the Frenchman") is used as the name for a fictional character and a supporting antagonist of the films The Matrix Reloaded , The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections . Knight%27s fee In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland,
1980-502: The Latin terms districtus and potestas in northern France and mandamentum in southern France by the twelfth century. This left the term bannum only its newly acquired sense of economic monopoly power. There came to be three common powers the lord exercised per bannum : the power to compel subjects to use the lord's mill for their grain, the lord's oven for their bread and the lord's winepress for their grapes. A fourth power, called
2046-479: The Middle Ages. Merovingian dynasty The Merovingian dynasty ( / ˌ m ɛ r ə ˈ v ɪ n dʒ i ə n / ) was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul . By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gallo-Romans under their rule. They conquered most of Gaul, defeating
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2112-412: The attested Old English Merewīowing , with the final - ing being a typical Germanic patronymic suffix. The name derives from Salian King Merovech , who is at the center of many legends. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies , the Merovingians never claimed descent from a god, nor is there evidence that they were regarded as sacred . The Merovingians' long hair distinguished them among
2178-419: The backdrop of a newly isolated Europe without its Roman systems of taxation and bureaucracy , the Franks having taken over administration as they gradually penetrated into the thoroughly Romanised west and south of Gaul. By the time of Dagobert I , governmental documents were recognizably Roman, it is by then written in Latin on imported papyrus similar to Roman bureaucratic norms and where it also made use of
2244-436: The ban over monasteries that had received ecclesiastical immunities. The ban thus came to refer to both the authority and the district (smaller than a county) over which it was exercised. The authority to summon men for military service extended to labour service in the upkeep of roads, bridges and castles. This in turn justified levying of tolls on the use of roads, bridges and fords. Eventually, labour service, called corvée ,
2310-482: The collection of taxes and were thus the king's representatives in every aspect of his public authority. Under the Carolingians, the ban itself still retained a primarily military significance. Since the counts had charge of the public fortresses in their counties, their ability to recruit and command men was critical to garrisoning these fortresses and defending the kingdom. The historian Georges Duby first used
2376-446: The east, is commonly seen as the last powerful Merovingian King. Later kings are known as rois fainéants ("do-nothing kings"), despite the fact that only the last two kings did nothing. The kings, even strong-willed men like Dagobert II and Chilperic II , were not the main agents of political conflicts, leaving this role to their mayors of the palace, who increasingly substituted their own interest for their king's. Many kings came to
2442-572: The formulas of elaborate literary exercises, through which the Frankish Church channeled popular piety within orthodox channels, defined the nature of sanctity and retained some control over the posthumous cults that developed spontaneously at burial sites, where the life-force of the saint lingered, to do good for the votary . The vitae et miracula , for impressive miracles were an essential element of Merovingian hagiography, were read aloud on saints' feast days. Many Merovingian saints, and
2508-477: The greatest discoveries of lost objects was the 1653 accidental uncovering of Childeric I's tomb in the church of Saint Brice in Tournai . The grave objects included a golden bull's head and the famous golden insects (perhaps bees, cicadas, aphids, or flies) on which Napoleon modelled his coronation cloak. In 1957, the sepulchre of a Merovingian woman at the time believed to be Clotaire I 's second wife, Aregund ,
2574-483: The history of the Merovingian Franks, but those that survive cover the entire period from Clovis's succession to Childeric's deposition. First among chroniclers of the age is the canonised bishop of Tours , Gregory of Tours . His Decem Libri Historiarum is a primary source for the reigns of the sons of Clotaire II and their descendants until Gregory's own death in 594, but must be read with account of
2640-440: The inheritance of older Merovingian children. This pragmatic use of monasteries ensured close ties between elites and monastic properties. Numerous Merovingians who served as bishops and abbots, or who generously funded abbeys and monasteries, were rewarded with sainthood. The outstanding handful of Frankish saints who were not of the Merovingian kinship nor the family alliances that provided Merovingian counts and dukes, deserve
2706-574: The king leader of the warrior-band. Furthermore, the king was expected to support himself with the products of his private domain ( royal demesne ), which was called the fisc . This system developed in time into feudalism , and expectations of royal self-sufficiency lasted until the Hundred Years' War . Trade declined with the fall of the Roman Empire , and agricultural estates were mostly self-sufficient. The remaining international trade
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2772-436: The kings in return for their support. These concessions saw the very considerable power of the king parcelled out and retained by leading comites and duces ( counts and dukes ). Very little is in fact known about the course of the 7th century due to a scarcity of sources, but Merovingians remained in power until the 8th century. Clotaire's son Dagobert I (died 639), who sent troops to Spain and pagan Slavic territories in
2838-415: The late eighth and early ninth century, under the Carolingian dynasty (751–987), a series of capitularies defined the ban's three components: the right to defend the defenceless, that is, churches, widows and orphans; jurisdiction over violent crimes such as murder, rape and arson; and the right to summon free men for military service. In the ninth century, the exercise of banal power was often delegated to
2904-517: The majority of female saints, were local ones, venerated only within strictly circumscribed regions; their cults were revived in the High Middle Ages, when the population of women in religious orders increased enormously. Judith Oliver noted five Merovingian female saints in the diocese of Liège who appeared in a long list of saints in the late 13th-century Lardanchet psalter–hours . The vitae of six late Merovingian saints that illustrate
2970-501: The newly forming ecclesiastical power structure to their advantage. Monasteries and episcopal seats were shrewdly awarded to elites who supported the dynasty. Extensive parcels of land were donated to monasteries to exempt those lands from royal taxation and to preserve them within the family. The family-maintained dominance over the monastery by appointing family members as abbots . Extra sons and daughters who could not be married off were sent to monasteries so that they would not threaten
3036-532: The old legal formulae. While laymen made up most of the administrators, there was a gradual shift to a clerical presence from the reign of Clotaire II. The counts had to provide armies, enlisting their milites and endowing them with land in return. These armies were subject to the king's call for military support. Annual national assemblies of the nobles and their armed retainers decided major policies of war making. The army also acclaimed new kings by raising them on its shields continuing an ancient practice that made
3102-399: The personal feud around Brunhilda . However, yearly warfare often did not constitute general devastation but took on an almost ritual character, with established 'rules' and norms. Eventually, Clotaire II in 613 reunited the entire Frankish realm under one ruler. The frequent wars had weakened royal power, while the aristocracy had made great gains and procured enormous concessions from
3168-504: The phrase "banal lordship" (French seigneurie banale ) to describe the development of a form of lordship based not merely on the ownership of land but on the bannum . This had its origins in West Francia (France) in the late tenth century. First, the commanders of the public fortresses— castellans —were delegated or else usurped the authority of the counts. Powerful landlords likewise usurped public authority, sometimes even usurping
3234-580: The political history of the era have been translated and edited by Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding , and presented with Liber Historiae Francorum , to provide some historical context. Yitzhak Hen stated that it seems certain that the Gallo-Roman population was far greater than the Frankish population in Merovingian Gaul, especially in regions south of the Seine , with most of
3300-510: The pro-church point of view of its author. The next major source, far less organised than Gregory's work, is the Chronicle of Fredegar , begun by Fredegar but continued by unknown authors. It covers the period from 584 to 641, though its continuators, under Carolingian patronage, extended it to 768, after the close of the Merovingian era. It is the only primary narrative source for much of its period. The only other major contemporary source
3366-531: The realm among each other under the rule of a single king. After Pepin's long rule, his son Charles Martel assumed power, fighting against nobles and his own stepmother. His reputation for ruthlessness further undermined the king's position. Under Charles Martel's leadership, the Franks defeated the Moors at the Battle of Tours in 732. After the victory of 718 of the Bulgarian Khan Tervel and
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#17327760768663432-406: The reign of Clotaire II and Dagobert I survive many examples of the royal position as the supreme justice and final arbiter. There also survive biographies of saints of the period, for instance Saint Eligius and Leodegar , written soon after their subjects' deaths. Finally, archaeological evidence cannot be ignored as a source for information, at the very least, on the Frankish mode of life. Among
3498-481: The reunification of the whole kingdom under a single ruler. Even when divided under different kings, the kingdom maintained unity and conquered Burgundy in 534. Upon Clovis's death in 511, the Merovingian kingdom included all of Gaul except Burgundy and all of Germania magna except Saxony . After the fall of the Ostrogoths , the Franks also conquered Provence . After this their borders with Italy (ruled by
3564-507: The spoken language in Gaul throughout the Merovingian period and remained so even well in to the Carolingian period. However, Urban T. Holmes estimated that a Germanic language was spoken as a second tongue by public officials in western Austrasia and Neustria as late as the 850s, and that it completely disappeared as a spoken language from these regions only during the 10th century. A limited number of contemporary sources describe
3630-512: The throne at a young age and died in the prime of life, weakening royal power further. The conflict between mayors was ended when the Austrasians under Pepin the Middle triumphed in 687 in the Battle of Tertry . After this, Pepin, though not a king, was the political ruler of the Frankish kingdom and left this position as a heritage to his sons. It was now the sons of the mayor that divided
3696-521: The throne in Austrasia. Grimoald was arrested and executed; but his son ruled until 662, when the Merovingian dynasty was restored. When King Theuderic IV died in 737, the mayor Charles Martel continued to rule the kingdoms until his death in 741. The dynasty was restored again in 743, but in 751 Charles's son, Pepin the Short , deposed the last king, Childeric III , and had himself crowned, initiating
3762-450: The wine processed. This made the ban an important source of revenue, since it was tied to productivity and commodity prices, both of which rose throughout the thirteenth century while tenurial rents were fixed by custom and thus remained low. Banal revenues could be granted in whole or in part as knight's fees , and thus supported the professionalisation of military service. The following are Latin terms derived from bannum and in use in
3828-501: Was a vow of loyalty to his overlord, with corresponding vow of protection received, and an undertaking to provide a specified form of service commonly due under feudal land tenure in England . Broadly speaking such service was either military ( knight-service ) or non-military ( serjeanty , etc.). Military service was generally to a maximum of 40 days per annum, signifying that he would have to fight for his overlord in battle. No cash rent
3894-409: Was demanded on the castellan or lord's own land, his demesne . The use of common land, such as ponds, forests and pastures, was regulated by the lord and could likewise be described as banal. There were in the end few limits to what a lord could justify as a banality. The primary meaning of the ban remained for a long time, however, the ability to summon to court and to dispense justice. As a result of
3960-577: Was discovered in Saint Denis Basilica in Paris . The funerary clothing and jewellery were reasonably well-preserved, giving us a look into the costume of the time. Beyond these royal individuals, the Merovingian period is associated with the archaeological Reihengräber culture . The Merovingians play a prominent role in French historiography and national identity , although their importance
4026-425: Was divided again only once (717–718). The main divisions of the kingdom were Austrasia , Neustria , Burgundy and Aquitaine . During the final century of Merovingian rule, the kings were increasingly pushed into a ceremonial role. Actual power was increasingly in the hands of the mayor of the palace , the highest-ranking official under the king. In 656, the mayor Grimoald I tried to place his son Childebert on
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#17327760768664092-434: Was divided equally among his heirs as though it were private property: the kingdom was a form of patrimony." Some scholars have attributed this to the Merovingians' lacking a sense of res publica , but other historians have criticized this view as an oversimplification. The kings appointed magnates to be comites (counts), charging them with defense , administration , and the judgment of disputes. This happened against
4158-488: Was dominated by Middle Eastern merchants, often Jewish Radhanites . Merovingian law was not universal law equally applicable to all; it was applied to each man according to his origin: Ripuarian Franks were subject to their own Lex Ripuaria , codified at a late date, while the so-called Lex Salica ( Salic Law ) of the Salian clans, first tentatively codified in 511 was invoked under medieval exigencies as late as
4224-534: Was partly overshadowed by that of the Gauls during the Third Republic . Charles de Gaulle is on record as stating his opinion that "For me, the history of France begins with Clovis , elected as king of France by the tribe of the Franks, who gave their name to France. Before Clovis, we have Gallo-Roman and Gaulish prehistory. The decisive element, for me, is that Clovis was the first king to have been baptized
4290-490: Was payable, although military service was later transformable into scutage . A knight was required to maintain the dignity of knighthood, which meant that he should live in suitable style and be well-turned out in battle, with the required number of esquires to serve him and with horses, arms and armour for all. A feudal tenant-in-chief of the king was assessed for certain feudal aids according as to how many knight's fees he held , whether tenanted or held in demesne. Where
4356-492: Was still "waste", forest and uncultivated moorland. A knight's fee could be created by the king himself or by one of his tenants-in-chief by separating off an area of land from his own demesne (land held in-hand), which process when performed by the latter was known as subinfeudation , and establishing therein a new manor for the use of a knight who would by the process of enfeoffment become his tenant by paying homage and fealty to his new overlord. This homage and fealty
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