Academic literature on the topic 'Carolingian'

The Carolingian period, roughly the eighth and ninth centuries, was dynamic and decisive in European religious history. The ruling dynasty and the clerical elite promoted wave after wave of reform that I call “unifying,” “specifying,” and “sanctifying.” This presidential address argues that religion was the key unifying and universalizing force in the Carolingian world; that the Carolingians were obsessed with doing things the right way—usually the Roman way; and that the Carolingians sought to inculcate Christian behavior more than religious knowledge. The address concludes by arguing that the Carolingians put a markedly European stamp on Christianity and that they Romanized Christianity well before the papacy attempted to do so.

Uniformity was at the heart of the Carolingian reforms, and it is apparent more than anywhere else in the liturgical reforms pursued by the Carolingians. It is logical to assume that the early Carolingian reformers’ stress on liturgical uniformity was, at least in part, a reaction to the diversity of Merovingian practice. This paper offers some preliminary observations on liturgical diversity and attitudes towards unified liturgical practices in Merovingian Gaul.

Abstract From prince to black sheep and back. Royal prince Pippin in Carolingian historiography This article investigates the rather fluid process of character assassination of Pippin, nicknamed “the Hunchback”. In 792 Pippin joined a conspiracy led by more than a few noblemen against his father, Charlemagne. However, the plot came out just in time and Pippin was confined to a monastery for the rest of his life. His memory was subsequently besmirched by quite a number of writers, who walked the line between blackening Pippin while at the same time ensuring that Pippin’s misstep was never presented as a stain on the reputation of the Carolingian dynasty as a whole. As a result, the character assassination had to be modified time and again to constantly fit the present-day needs of the dynasty. As long as the Carolingians were safe and sound, as a ruling dynasty, Pippin could be blackened. But when the Carolingian family found itself in trouble with regard to securing the family bloodline, the literary Pippin made a spectacular comeback in order to contribute to the preservation of the Carolingian royal dynasty.

With their steady series of conquests during the eighth century, adding Alemannia, Frisia, Aquitaine, the Lombard kingdom in northern Italy, Septimania, Bavaria, Saxony, and Brittany to the Frankish heartlands in Gaul, the Carolingians created what Ganshof regarded as an unwieldy empire. Was the Carolingian Church unwieldy too? Recent work, notably that of Janet Nelson, has underlined not only the political ideologies that helped to hold the Frankish realms together, but also the practical institutions and actions of individuals in government and administration. Can the same be done for the Church? Despite the extraordinary diversity of the Carolingian world and its ecclesiastical traditions, can it be described as a unity? What sense of a ‘Frankish Church’ or of ‘Frankish ecclesiastical institutions’ can be detected in the sources?

Abstract The inquest (Latin inquisitio) was an important administrative tool in the hands of government officials of the later Roman empire and of the Regnum Francorum. Imperial and royal officials used inquests to safeguard the fisc, and also to assure accurate tax assessments. Scholars long have recognized that the inquest also served similar roles in the hands of government officials in the Carolingian empire during the reigns of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious. By contrast, most specialists in the history of the east Frankish kingdom and of its German successor under the Ottonian dynasty have argued that the lands east of the Rhine lacked the sophisticated administrative institutions that were characteristic Carolingian government in the first half of the ninth century. This study offers a corrective to the traditional view that both the eastern Carolingians and the Ottonians presided over administratively backward realms. It was rather the case that the eastern Carolingian rulers and their Ottonian successors used inquisitiones to safeguard the royal fisc from misuse, neglect, and theft. In addition, these rulers used inquests to maintain control over the assets of ecclesiastical institution.

The study of medieval liturgy is well served by a fuller appreciation of the unique richness of individual manuscripts. One example, Vat. Lat. 7701, is a key piece of evidence for uncovering the reception of the Carolingian project to ‘correct’ liturgy in Chieti, Abruzzo. This manuscript is a ‘pontifical’, created for the personal use of a ninth-century bishop of Chieti. Within this book, he described and prescribed his own liturgical duties, those which made up his office as the Carolingians understood it. The peculiarities of the manuscript and some of its unique features are best understood by reference to this imperative. Alongside other products of the Carolingian scriptorium at Chieti, the manuscript reveals that even bishops at the southernmost tip of the Carolingian Empire saw themselves as fully engaged in an Empire-wide programme to amend liturgical practice, which did not aim for uniformity but led to significant creativity. This programme was associated with imperial authority, but led by bishops themselves. Local liturgical variation is undeniable in our manuscript, but the sharing of texts and communication with sees all across the Empire are equally visible components.

This essay seeks to refute the idea that doubt is an essentially modern phenomenon and to show that doubt was also a feature of earlier medieval existence. It argues that in the Carolingian period, for both individuals and groups, debate, disturbance and religious doubt coexisted uneasily with religious faith and cultic community. Religious experience is examined at the level of individuals, groups, and larger social organizations. Three case studies focus on the noblewoman Dhuoda, unique in having left a detailed record of a spiritual life lived out within a family and in social and political relationships at once collaborative and conflictual; the heretic Gottschalk, whose voluminous works reveal something of his spirituality and much about the religious and political pressures that taxed his faith; and Archbishop Elipand of Toledo, a Church leader living under Muslim rule, and accused of heresy by Christian scholars themselves uncertain of their ground. Two further sections discuss particular contexts in which doubts were harboured: conversion from paganism, in a world of Christian mission; and local cults of relics which depended on the establishing of authenticity where there had been doubt, and then the forming of believer-solidarities. Finally the figure of Doubting Thomas is considered in a period when faith and cult sustained individual identities in dyadic relationships founded on oaths of fidelity and mutual trust but also on collective solidarities.

Summary: The central aim of the new Barcelona research project “From Carolingian Periphery to European Central Region: The Written Genesis of Catalonia” in the framework of the HERA-project “After Empire: Using and Not Using the Past in the Crisis of the Carolingian World, c.900–c.1050 (UNUP)” is to show that it is indispensable for 21st-century Europe and its integral parts to make the rich Carolingian culture publicly accessible in a modern and innovative way. Keywords: Early medieval Catalonia, Carolingian culture, manuscripts, identity building, Public History

In 751, the Carolingians supplanted the traditional ruling dynasty of Francia. This article surveys Carolingian political rituals between 751 and 800, and argues that ritual was one means through which this new royal family sought to construct and legitimate its authority against its dynastic competitors. This article also highlights the neglected spiritual dimension of many of these rituals. Whilst tradition often formed an important part in these ceremonies, early medieval ritual was not static, and there is evidence of innovation and improvisation. The meaning of rituals was also unfixed, as reflected and conditioned by competing textual accounts.

Fa exactament 1220 anys, el dia 25 de desembre de 800, el vell continent va rebre el primer hereu formal del món antic, el nou unificador d'Europa: Carlemany. Aquest fet va transformar el poderós regne dels francs en l'Imperi Carolingi que en el moment de la seva creació cobriria els territoris des de l'àrea sud dels Pirineus fins al riu Elba a l'actual Alemanya Oriental, baixant cap al sud a través de Baviera i Caríntia, fins a la costa oriental de l'Adriàtic i a Ístria. El primer i l'últim dels territoris esmentats han motivat aquesta dissertació. Encara que més de 1.300 quilòmetres es van interposar entre ells, en aquest moment de la història eren veïns del mateix governant, i com a tals van ser testimonis de l'expansió del territori franc en etapes cronològiques gairebé simultànies. Als peus dels Pirineus, la frontera baixava finalment fins al riu Llobregat, al costat de la Barcino romana, mentre que pel costat oriental abastava la península d'Ístria. La investigació presenta una anàlisi comparativa de paisatges i de models arquitectònics en aquests territoris perifèrics de l'Imperi Carolingi: Ístria i Marca Hispànica. No obstant això, per complementar-la i oferir una visió ampliada del context tant dels processos històrics com arquitectònics, els territoris del Ducatus Croatiae i del Regnum Asturorum s'han inclòs en la discussió. Per tant, dues parts essencials formen la columna vertebral d'aquesta anàlisi: les zones geogràfiques del sud-oest i sud-est de l'Imperi, així com els territoris que es troben fora d'ell. S’han pres com a models exemples de l'arquitectura alt-medieval datats en el període de l'expansió carolíngia (finals de segle VIII i durant el segle IX) d'Ístria i del Ducatus Croatiae, que han estat confrontats amb exemples dels comtats catalans i del Regnum Asturorum mitjançant un enfocament sincrònic. L'objectiu principal és posar les bases i proporcionar els paràmetres per a noves reflexions sobre els models de funcionament del paisatge urbà i rural de l'alta edat mitjana a través de diversos problemes particulars. L'especial atenció s’ha portat sobre l'impacte mutu i al nivell de la seva intensitat entre el concepte expansionista carolingi de renovatio imperii i els substrats històrics locals (bizantí i visigot) que han determinat el paisatge històric i arquitectònic durant els segles anteriors a l'arribada dels francs. Els complexos processos d'interacció i impregnació han donat com a resultat la supervivència i el canvi, així com la desaparició i aparició de noves formes i motius.
Hace exactamente 1220 años, el día 25 de diciembre de 800, el viejo continente recibió el primer heredero formal del mundo antiguo, el nuevo unificador de Europa: Carlomagno. Ese hecho transformó el poderoso reino de los francos en el Imperio Carolingio que en el momento de su creación cubriría los territorios desde el área sur de los Pirineos hasta el río Elba en la actual Alemania Oriental, bajando hacia el sur a través de Baviera y Carintia, hasta la costa oriental del Adriático e Istria. El primero y el último de los territorios mencionados han motivado esta disertación. Aunque más de 1.300 kilómetros se interpusieron entre ellos, en ese momento de la historia eran vecinos del mismo gobernante, y como tales fueron testigos de la expansión del territorio franco en etapas cronológicas casi simultáneas. A los pies de los Pirineos, la frontera descendía finalmente hasta el río Llobregat, junto a la Barcino romana, mientras que por el lado oriental abarcaba la península de Istria. La investigación presenta un análisis comparativo de paisajes y de modelos arquitectónicos en estos territorios periféricos del Imperio Carolingio: Istria y Marca Hispánica. Sin embargo, para complementarla y ofrecer una visión ampliada del contexto tanto de los procesos históricos como arquitectónicos, los territorios del Ducatus Croatiae y del Regnum Asturorum se han incluido en la discusión. Por lo tanto, dos partes esenciales forman la columna vertebral de este análisis: las zonas geográficas del suroeste y sureste del Imperio, así como los territorios que se encuentran fuera de él. Se han tomado como modelos, ejemplos de la arquitectura altomedieval fechados en el período de la expansión carolingia (finales del siglo VIII y durante el siglo IX) de Istria y del Ducatus Croatiae, que han sido confrontados con ejemplos de los condados catalanes y del Regnum Asturorum mediante un enfoque sincrónico. El objetivo principal es sentar las bases y proporcionar los parámetros para nuevas reflexiones sobre los modelos de funcionamiento del paisaje urbano y rural de la Alta Edad Media a través de varios problemas particulares. Se ha prestado especial atención al impacto mutuo y al nivel de su intensidad entre el concepto expansionista carolingio de renovatio imperii y los sustratos históricos locales (bizantino y visigodo) que han determinado el paisaje histórico y arquitectónico durante los siglos anteriores a la llegada de los francos. Los complejos procesos de interacción e impregnación han dado como resultado la supervivencia y el cambio, así como la desaparición y aparición de nuevas formas y motivos.
Exactly 1220 years ago, on Christmas Day December 25, 800, the old continent got the first formal heir of the ancient world, the new unifier of Europe - Charlemagne. This transformed the powerful Frankish kingdom into the Empire that at the time of its inception would cover the area from the south side of the Pyrenees to the River Elba in present-day East Germany, and south across Bavaria and Carinthia to the eastern Adriatic coast and Istria. The first and the last of the mentioned territories motivated the following dissertation. Although more than 1,300 kilometres stood between them, at that time in history, they were the neighbours of the same ruler, and as such witnessed the expansion of the Frankish territory in almost simultaneous chronological stages. At the foot of the Pyrenees, the border eventually descended to the river Llobregat, next to the Roman Barcino, while on the eastern side it encompassed the Istrian peninsula. The research presents a comparative analysis of architectural models on these peripheral territories of the Carolingian Empire: Istria and Marca Hispanica. However, in order to complement this research and offer an expanded view of the context of both the historical and the architectural processes, the territories of the Principality of Croatia (Ducatus Croatiae) and the Kingdom of Asturias (Regnum Asturorum) have been included in the discussion. Therefore, two essential parts form the backbone of this comparative analysis - the geographical zones of the southwest and the southeast of the Empire, as well as the territories just outside of it. Examples of the early medieval architecture dated to the period of the Carolingian expansion (end of the 8th and during the 9th century) from Istria and the Principality of Croatia were taken as models which were confronted with Catalan and Asturian examples through a synchronous approach. The main objective of this dissertation was to lay the foundations and provide the parameters for further reflections on the models of functioning of the early medieval urban and rural landscape through several particular problems. Special attention was given to the mutual impact and the level of its intensity between the Carolingian expansionistic concept of renovatio imperii and the local historical substrates (Byzantine and Visigothic) which have shaped the landscape, as well as the society, during the centuries prior to the Frankish campaigns.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Programa de Doctorat en Història de l'Art i Musicologia

À l’apogée de la Renaissance carolingienne, cinq traités exégétiques sont consacrés aux livres des Rois en l’espace étroit de quelques décennies, entre 800 et 840 environ. Deux d’entre eux, un recueil de quaestiones dit du « pseudo-Jérôme » et un florilège anonyme inédit transmis par le manuscrit Paris, BnF, lat. 15 679, rassemblent des explications assez brèves. Les trois autres, composés par de célèbres et prolixes exégètes, Claude de Turin, Raban Maur et Angélome de Luxeuil, sont de longs commentaires continus. Ces commentateurs font œuvre nouvelle, à l’intérieur de la tradition exégétique chrétienne, en recueillant la tradition patristique éparse, en l’ordonnant et en l’actualisant avec leurs propres mots pour donner une lecture suivie des livres des Rois. L’étude des variations et des interprétations nouvelles procurées par ces traités offre à l’historien un accès direct aux représentations nourrissant les débats carolingiens sur la distribution du pouvoir, l’ordonnancement de la société terrestre et ses liens avec la cité céleste. Ces commentaires donnent l’image d’une société terrestre équilibrée où sphère temporelle et sphère religieuse ne s’opposent pas : les recteurs terrestres, rois et clercs, œuvrent de conserve afin de défendre l’unité de l’Église et de la foi et de diffuser le message biblique. Le rôle primordial revient cependant au prophète qui, parce qu’il est érudit et sait déchiffrer le message divin, guide par ses paroles les recteurs et les chrétiens vers le Salut
Within the short period of a few decades, between 800 and about 840, five exegetical treatises on the books of Kings were composed during the Carolingian Renaissance. Two of them, the one by the pseudo-Jerome and an anonymous unpublished one, which is transmitted by the manuscript Paris, BnF, lat.15 679, are a collection of brief explanations. The three others, written by the well-known exegetes, Claude of Turin, Raban Maur and Angélome of Luxeuil, are long continuous commentaries. These commentators wrote something new, within the exegetical Christian tradition, by assembling the dispersed patristic tradition arranging and updating it in their own words to present a coherent reading of the Books of Kings. A study of the variations and new interpretations given by these treatises allow the historian to have direct hold on the representations underlying the Carolingian debates on the distribution of power, the organization of the earthly society and its links with the heavenly city. These commentaries draw the picture of a well balanced earthly society where the temporal and the religious are not antagonistic towards each other : rectors on earth, kings and clerics, work together to defend the unity of the Church and the unity of faith, and to spread the Biblical message. Nevertheless, the most influential role falls to the prophet who, being a scholar and being able to decipher the holy message, through his words, guides rectors and Christians to salvation

The so-called leges barbarorum, legal texts composed between the sixth and the eight centuries, were copied extraordinarily frequently in the ninth century, but not a single citation of a lex has been found in a Frankish charter or any kind of record of a dispute. Establishing how they were used is therefore problematic. Scholars in the last few decades have argued at length on the question of the extent of the practical, ‘legal’ use of the texts, and other possible uses, centred on ideology. This thesis attempts once again to make sense of the manuscripts of lex in the Carolingian period, focussing on important evidence, so far analysed incompletely in this context. The work is grounded in recent studies of dispute settlement, which consciously moved away from consideration of the prescriptive texts, but also uses the most helpful of the textual work of the German Rechtsschule. It examines the notion of practical use of leges, and of other symbolic uses suggested above all by the Wormald: their expression of royal ideology, and of ethnic identity. In the first two chapters I concentrated on texts in the genre of lex constructed in the Carolingian period, especially the Lex Saxonum and the so-called Lex Francorum Chamavorum, and also examine, briefly, the use of the seventh-century Lex Ribuaria. I provide a more detailed analysis of the context of their use than so far attempted, using charters and narratives, and link this with a study of the texts and their variations in the manuscripts. In the later chapters I concentrate of the relationship between royal authority, legal practice and lex. Chapter 3 focuses on the “capitularies adding to the leges”. I extend some recent approaches to the production of capitularies and argue that some allow insight into how leges might have been interpreted in real disputes.  Chapter 4 draws attention to indirect evidence in compilations, manuscript variations and annotations, that leges were sometimes read to help understand social, not just ethnic, identities, and argues that this reading can be related to wider Carolingian-era debates concerning the relationship between social and clerical status, freedom and unfreedom. An important result is that the leges were read for purposes including the settlement of legal cases, but that they were interpreted broadly; they might inform the consensus by which a case was settled, as a reference point for negotiation, but should not be seen as providing fixed rules. Finally in Chapter 5, I offer a detailed examination of the manuscripts of the leges-scriptorium identified by Bischoff and McKitterick. I trace the relationship between the texts the manuscripts copied, and their wider influence.

This study seeks to discover what Carolingian monastic hagiography can tell us about monastic rules and customs in the late eighth and early ninth centuries, a time when a court-sponsored reform movement was shaking the foundations of traditional monastic practice. Reform legislation was trying to impose one rule—the Rule of Benedict—and one set of customs—written by the reformers—upon all monasteries of the realm, rejecting the other rules and customs by which monks had lived for centuries. Hagiography is one of the most important sources that monks produced to reveal the aspirations and self-identity of their order, but scholarship has never systematically used it to examine whether such radical reforms affected the way hagiography defined monastic perfection and the way it discussed rules and customs. This study bridges that gap, to find that hagiography provides a helpful counterbalance to the overly court-centric, legalistic approach to the reforms. Hagiographical evidence shows great continuity between Carolingian monastic ideals and those of earlier centuries, thus proving and contextualizing the fundamental failure of the reforms. Instead of discarding their past traditions to make room for a new, exclusively Benedictine tradition, Carolingian hagiographers portray a pluralistic monastic world in which many monastic rules and traditions can comfortably coexist, in which their own holy founders' customs are as valuable to their communities' spiritual development as the Rule of Benedict is. From the perspective of these monks, the Rule of Benedict is praiseworthy and can be used to legitimize their hagiographical heroes, but it remains merely one rule among many.

This thesis examines the eighth century rise in power of the Carolingian Church and the Carolingian dynasty through an early promise of religious revival, monarchial revival, and increased Papal power. Such aims gained the Carolingians a powerful in the Church. Aided by Boniface (672-754 AD) and the Church, the Carolingians replaced the Merovingians in Francia. In conjunction with this revival, Church scholars dictated a reformation of kingship in treatises called the Speculum Principum. A king’s position became tremulous when they strayed from these rules, as it betrayed their alliance. Ultimately, Louis the Pious (778-840 AD) faced deposition after they disagreed on his appointments and adherence to the ideologies of the Speculum Principum.

Previous research has concentrated upon Lothar I's father, Louis the Pious, and his brother, Charles the Bald. While recent works have illuminated individual aspects of Lothar' s career (such as the manuscripts produced by his Court School, his coinages, and his commissioning of biblical exegesis), there has been no attempt to consider Lothar' s career more broadly, or to write the political history of his reign. The limited primary sources for Lothar are very largely biased against him, with the Annals of St-Bertin and Nithard's Histories, two of the most important works for the history of the period, being produced in Charles the Bald's hostile circle. This thesis uses for the first time the rich resource of Lothar' s 192 charters (including lost charters) to present a more rounded picture of Lothar. The palaeography, formulae and content of the charters are closely analysed. This analysis of the charter evidence reveals Lothar' s chancery and administration, and provides a picture of his court, its personnel and its politics. Lothar' s donations reveal his close links with the Church, especially the monastery of Prum, and the important role played by the women of the royal family at court. Through the charters, we may also approach Lothar' s changing perception of his status in the 820s and 830s, and his imperial ideology. _Lothar is revealed as a more complex and influential figure in his generation than the bias of the primary sources, and his neglect in the secondary material, would suggest.

The research on the influence of the memory of the Goths and Theoderic on Carolingian rule, particularly in Italy, is just beginning. The first promising results, presented in the volume, on the knowledge of the Variae and Theoderic’s Edict in the Carolingian and post-Carolingian period are highlighted, as well as the possible developments of comparative research on the origines gentium or on the various histories that circulated in the writings of the authors of the Carolingian period. Finally, bearing in mind the role of cultural mediator played by Paul the Deacon, the importance of the Lombard phase in the transmission of the memory of Ostrogothic rule to the Carolingians emerged, through a parallel between the actions of Aistulf and Charlemagne.