The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages, 400-1000

by Chris Wickham

  p. 382. Correctio, etc.: this, and wider ‘reform’ terminology, is preferable to the common phrase ‘Carolingian Renaissance’, for nothing was ‘reborn’ in this period, least of all classical Antiquity, with which the Carolingians saw hardly broken links. The General Admonition and the letter of education (Cap., vol. 1, nn. 22, 29) are trans. King, Charlemagne , pp. 209-20, 232-3. p. 383. Alcuin: see D. A. Bullough, Alcuin (Leiden, 2004).

  p. 383. Dhuoda: Handbook for William, trans. C. Neel (Lincoln, Nebr., 1999).

  p. 384. Louis’s smile: Thegan, Life of Louis, c. 19, trans. Dutton, Carolingian Civilization, pp. 141-55; cf. M. Innes, in G. Halsall (ed.), Humour, History and Politics in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Cambridge, 2002), pp. 131 - 56.

  p. 384. Legislation: P. Fouracre, ‘Carolingian Justice’, Settimane di studio, 42 (1995), pp. 771-803; R. Le Jan, ‘Justice royale et pratiques sociales dans le royaume franc au IXe siecle’, Settimane di studio, 44 (1997), pp. 47-85; for law books, R. McKitterick, The Carolingians and the Written Word (Cambridge, 1989), pp. 23-75; P. Wormald, The Making of English Law, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1999), pp. 30-70.

  p. 385. Ansegis, 803 capitulary: Cap., vol. 1, nn. 183, 39; Ansegis is re-edited in G. Schmitz, Collectio Capitularium Ansegisi, MGH, Cap., NS vol. 1; for manuscripts of 803, see also H. Mordek, Bibliotheca Capitularium Regum Francorum Manuscripta (Munich, 1995), pp. 1083-4.

  p. 386. Assemblies: Hincmar, On the Organization of the Palace, trans. Dutton, Carolingian Civilization, pp. 485-99; Nithard, Histories, 2.9, trans. Scholz, Carolingian Chronicles. For Nithard, see Nelson, Politics and Ritual, pp. 195-237. For how assembly etiquette and the ritual of public communication worked, see C. Pössel, ‘Symbolic Communication and the Negotiation of Power at Carolingian Regnal Assemblies, 814-840’, University of Cambridge, Ph.D. thesis, 2003.

  p. 386. Scabini: Ganshof, Frankish Institutions, pp. 77-83; F. Bougard, La Justice dans le royaume d’Italie (Rome, 1995), pp. 140-58.

  p. 386. Oaths: Cap., vol. 1, n. 23, c. 18; n. 25; n. 33, c. 2; banned oaths: n. 20, c. 16; n. 44, cc. 9, 10 (trans. King, Charlemagne, pp. 221, 223 in part, 234, 204, 249). See M. Becher, Eid und Herrschaft (Sigmaringen, 1993), esp. pp. 78-87, though I tend to prefer a 792-3 dating for Cap. n. 25. For the 785-6 revolts, see R. McKitterick, Perceptions of the Past in the Early Middle Ages (Notre Dame, Ind., 2006), pp. 63-89.

  p. 387. Control of the empire: see in general on government K. F. Werner, ‘Missus-marchio comes’, in W. Paravicini and K. F. Werner (eds.), Histoire comparée de l’administration (IVe-XVIIIe siècles) (Munich, 1980), pp. 191-239; J. L. Nelson, in NCMH, vol. 2, pp. 383-430; eadem, in R. McKitterick (ed.), Carolingian Culture (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 52-87; eadem, Frankish World, pp. 1-36; M. Innes, in Story, Charlemagne, pp. 71-89. For courts, see e.g. S. Airlie, ‘The Palace of Memory’, in S. Rees Jones et al. (eds.), Courts and Regions in Medieval Europe (York, 2000), pp. 1-19.

  p. 387. Gifts: see Reuter, Medieval Polities, pp. 239-43; for provisions, and the link to gifts, see esp. Cap., vol. 1, n. 75 (trans. King, Charlemagne, p. 260).

  p. 388. Reichsaristokratie: G. Tellenbach, Königtum und Stamme in der Werdezeit des Deutschen Reiches (Weimar, 1939), pp. 42-55; developed by e.g. K. F. Werner, ‘Important Noble Families in the Kingdom of Charlemagne’, in T. Reuter (ed.), The Medieval Nobility (Amsterdam, 1978), pp. 137-202. See S. Airlie, in NCMH, vol. 2, pp. 431-50, and in Story, Charlemagne, pp. 90-102, for the basic accounts in English, and R. Le Jan, Famille et pouvoir dans le monde franc (VIIe-Xe sie‘cle) (Paris, 1995), esp. pp. 401-13. For the aristocratic commitment to the state, see further S. Airlie, in idem et al. (eds.), Staat im frühen Mittelalter (Vienna, 2006), pp. 93-111.

  p. 388. Widonids: E. Hlawitschka, ‘Waren die Kaiser Wido und Lambert Nachkommen Karls des Grossen?’, Quellen und Forschungen, 49 (1969), pp. 366-86; Innes, State and Society, pp. 125, 211-15, 235-6; Le Jan, Famille et pouvoir, pp. 95-6, 250-51, 422, 441; Nithard, Histories, 1.5.

  p. 389. Vassals: Werner, ‘Missus-marchio’, pp. 228-30; S. Reynolds, Fiefs and Vassals (Oxford, 1994), pp. 84-105.

  p. 389. Missi: Werner, ‘Missus-marchio’; written reports: Nelson, Frankish World, pp. 14-34; Riana: C. Manaresi (ed.), I placiti del ‘Regnum Italiae’, vol. 1 (Rome, 1955), n. 17.

  p. 390. Written instructions, etc.: MGH, Epistolae, vol. 5, ed. K. Hampe and E. Dümmler (Berlin, 1899), pp. 277-8; Einhard, Letters (trans. and renumbered, Dutton, Charlemagne’s Courtier, pp. 131-65), nn. 20-21; The Letters of Lupus of Ferrie‘res, trans. G. W. Regenos (The Hague, 1966), letter 41; Cap., vol. 2, n. 261; cf. Hincmar, On the Organization, c. 36.

  p. 390. Looking for the king: see e.g. Lupus of Ferrières, Letters, 17, 118, 123 (and compare Ch. 5 for Desiderius of Cahors).

  p. 390. Aristocratic literacy: McKitterick, Carolingians and the Written Word, pp. 211-70.

  p. 391. Abuses: Theodulf, Contra Iudices, partially trans. P. Godman, Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance (London, 1985), pp. 162-5; Manaresi, I placiti, vol. 1, n. 25; Paschasius Radbert, Epitaph of Arsenius, 1.26, trans. in A. Cabaniss, Charlemagne’s Cousins (Syracuse, NY, 1967) - but the Wala story is a moral tale with no pretension to accuracy; for Agobard, MGH, Epistolae, vol. 5, p. 202; see P. Depreux, ‘Le Comte Matfrid d’Orleans’, Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes, 152 (1994), pp. 331-74.

  p. 391. Hincmar: Wallace-Hadrill, Frankish Church, p. 299.

  p. 392. Peasants in court: C. Wickham, Framing the Early Middle Ages (Oxford, 2005), pp. 578-83.

  p. 392. State and local societies: see above all Innes, State and Society, pp. 180-225, for a heartland region, however.

  p. 392. Charlemagne’s daughters: Nelson, Frankish World, pp. 237-42.

  p. 393. Louis’s administration: K. F. Werner, in Godman and Collins, Charlemagne’s Heir, pp. 3-123; and above all P. Depreux, Prosopographie de l’entourage de Louis le Pieux (781-840) (Sigmaringen, 1997).

  p. 393. Attigny: M. de Jong, ‘Power and Humility in Carolingian Society’, EME, 1 (1992), pp. 29-52; for Theodosius, Astronomer, Life of Louis, c. 35, trans. A. Cabaniss, Son of Charlemagne (Syracuse, NY, 1961).

  p. 394. Einhard: see his Letters, nn. 34, 40-45, 52-4, 26-8; cf. Dutton, Charlemagne’s Courtier, p. 8, for Walahfrid.

  p. 395. Nithard: Histories, 1.3 for 829, 4.6 for Fontenoy scaring the magnates. For Lothar’s perspective, see E. Screen, in EME, 12 (2003), pp. 25-51.

  p. 396. Post-Carolingian Francia: C. R. Brühl, Deutschland-Frankreich (Cologne, 1990), esp. pp. 287-302.

  p. 396. Louis the German: see above all E. J. Goldberg, Struggle for Empire (Cambridge, 2006), with T. Reuter, Germany in the Early Middle Ages c. 800-1056 (Harlow, 1991), pp. 70-111; for Saxony, Annals of Fulda, trans. T. Reuter (Manchester, 1992), s.a. 852.

  p. 397. Louis II: P. Delogu, in Bullettino dell’Istituto storico italiano per il medio evo, 80 (1968), pp. 137-89; F. Bougard, in Le Jan, La Royauté et les élites, pp. 249-67.

  p. 398. Frisia: S. Coupland, ‘From Poachers to Gamekeepers’, EME, 7 (1998), pp. 85-114.

  p. 399. General tax: E. Joranson, The Danegeld in France (Rock Island, Ill., 1924).

  p. 399. 858 and 875-7: Nelson, Charles the Bald, pp. 170-96, 239-52.

  p. 400. Charles and magnates: Nelson, Charles the Bald, pp. 166-7, 183, 209-10, 221-2, 231-4, 240-43; for Odo and Charles, Annals of Saint-Bertin, trans. J. L. Nelson (Manchester, 1991), s.aa. 866, 868; for Bernard of Gothia, ibid., s.a. 878. For Boso, see C. B. Bouchard, ‘Those of my Blood’ (Philadelphia, 2001), pp. 74-97.

  p. 400. Compiegne: Airlie, ‘Palace of Memory’, pp. 13-16. Ponthion: Annals of Saint-Bertin, s.a. 876 (see Ch. 17 below). Pítres: Cap., vol. 2, 11, n. 273, cf. Nelson, Politics and Ritual, pp. 91-116; eadem, Frankish World, pp. 93-8.

  p. 401. Reguli: Annals of Fulda, s.a. 888. Boso: apart from Bouchard, as at note to p. 400 above; see S. MacLean, in EME, 10 (2001), pp. 21-48; Airlie and Staab, in Le Jan, La Royauté et les élites, pp. 138-43, 365-82.

  p. 401. Pippin of Beauvais (or perhaps Senlis): see K. F. Werner
, in Die Welt als Geschichte, 20 (1960), pp. 87-119, at p. 93.

  p. 402. Charles the Fat: S. MacLean, Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century (Cambridge, 2003).

  p. 402. Royal power and regionalization: e.g. Reuter, Germany, pp. 75-7. Nithard: Histories , 2.2-4, 7, 9, 3.2, 4.4. Matfrid: Thegan, Life of Louis, c. 55. 861: Annals of Fulda, s.a. 861. Note also that both Charlemagne and Louis the Pious already envisioned that, after their empire was divided between their sons, benefices (though not properties) would already be regionalized: Cap., vol. 1, n. 45, c. 9; n. 136, c. 9 (trans. King, Charlemagne, p. 253, and Dutton, Carolingian Civilization, p. 178).

  p. 403. Everard and Gisela: see C. La Rocca and L. Provero, ‘The Dead and their Gifts’, in F. Theuws and J. L. Nelson (eds.), Rituals of Power (Leiden, 2000), pp. 225-80.

  p. 403. Welfs: Annals of Fulda, s.a. 858; E. Krüger, Der Ursprung des Welfenhauses und seine Verzweigung in Süddeutschland (Wolfenbüttel, 1899), pp. 68-129, with a bit of care.

  p. 404. Paris: see Le Jan, Famille et pouvoir, pp. 255-6, 442.

  p. 404. Bavaria: Annals of Fulda, s.a. 884; see C. R. Bowlus, Franks, Moravians and Magyars (Philadelphia, 1995), pp. 208-16.

  Chapter 17

  For general surveys of these themes, see Chapter 16, especially NCMH, vol. 2; see further R. McKitterick (ed.), Carolingian Culture (Cambridge, 1994), and P. Wormald (ed.), Lay Intellectuals in the Carolingian World (Cambridge, 2007). McKitterick’s monographs, especially The Carolingians and the Written Word (Cambridge, 1989) and History and Memory in the Carolingian World (Cambridge, 2004), and J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, The Frankish Church (Oxford, 1983), are also important starting points, with, of an older literature, W. Ullmann, The Carolingian Renaissance and the Idea of Kingship (London, 1969).

  p. 405. For all this see Einhard, Translation and Miracles of Saints Marcellinus and Peter, trans. P. E. Dutton, Charlemagne’s Courtier (Peterborough, Ont., 1998), pp. 69-130, esp. books 1 and 2 (2.1 for Einhard and Hilduin, 4.7 for Gerward). For the role of the arch-chaplain, see Hincmar, On the Organization of the Palace, trans. P. E. Dutton, Carolingian Civilization (Peterborough, Ont., 1993), cc. 19-20. Window: Notker, Deeds of Charlemagne, trans. L. Thorpe, Two Lives of Charlemagne (London, 1969), pp. 93-172, 1.30. For relic thefts, see P. J. Geary, Furta Sacra (Princeton, 1978), pp. 40-59. The best recent discussion in English of this whole sequence is J. M. H. Smith, in K. Mills and A. Grafton (eds.), Conversion in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Rochester, NY, 2003), pp. 189-223.

  p. 406. Palace: Hincmar, On the Organization, cc. 12-28; for noise, see Paschasius Radbert, Life of Adalard, trans. A. Cabaniss, Charlemagne’s Cousins (Syracuse, NY, 1967), c. 27.

  p. 407. Notker: Deeds of Charlemagne, 1.11 (etiquette), 1.34 (never at court). Cf. for etiquette, J. L. Nelson and M. Innes, in C. Cubitt (ed.), Court Culture in the Early Middle Ages (Turnhout, 2003), pp. 39-76.

  p. 407. Patronage: Hincmar, On the Organization, c. 18; Notker, Deeds of Charlemagne, 1.4; Einhard, Letters, trans. Dutton, Charlemagne’s Courtier, e.g. nn. 9, 32, 49, appendix B, and see also above, Chapter 16.

  p. 407. Moral centre: see e.g. M. de Jong, ‘Sacrum palatium et ecclesia’, Annales HSS, 58 (2003), pp. 1243-69. Priest and king: Astronomer, Life of Louis, trans. A. Cabaniss, Son of Charlemagne (Syracuse, NY, 1961), c. 19 (with c. 37 for 823 portents). Famine of 805: Cap., vol 1, n. 124 (trans. P. D. King, Charlemagne (Kendal, 1987), pp. 245-7).

  p. 407. Just and unjust kings: see J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, Early Medieval History (Oxford, 1975), pp. 181-200 for treatises, and R. Meens, EME, 7 (1998), pp. 345-57.

  p. 408. Einhard and Imma: The Letters of Lupus of Ferrie‘res, trans. G. W. Regenos (The Hague, 1966), letter 3.

  p. 408. Accusations against queens: see esp. G. Bührer-Thierry, ‘La Reine adultere’, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 35 (1992), pp. 299-312; for Judith, see E. Ward, in W. J. Sheils and D. Woods (eds.), Women in the Church (Oxford, 1990), pp. 15-25, and Paschasius Radbert, Epitaph of Arsenius, trans. Cabaniss, Charlemagne’s Cousins, 2.7-9; for Uota, T. Reuter, Medieval Polities and Modern Mentalities, ed. J. L. Nelson (Cambridge, 2006), pp. 217-30.

  p. 409. Einhard: Translation, 1.13, 14, 2.3, 4, 6 (hunting), 11.

  p. 409. Hunting: Annals of Saint-Bertin, trans. J. L. Nelson (Manchester, 1991), s.a. 835; Astronomer, Life of Louis, cc. 46, 52; see J. Jarnut, ‘Die frühmittelalterliche Jagd’, Settimane di studio, 31 (1985), pp. 765-98, and J. L. Nelson, The Frankish World 750-90 (London, 1996), pp. 120-24.

  p. 409. Penaces in 822 and 833: Paschasius, Life of Adalard, c. 51; Cap., vol. 2, n. 197, c. 1; M. de Jong, ‘What was Public about Public Penance?’, Settimane di studio, 44 (1997), pp. 863-902 (esp. pp. 887-93).

  p. 410. Ritual and political claims: see above all P. Buc, The Dangers of Ritual (Princeton, 2001), pp. 51-87 and passim.

  p. 410. Ponthion synod: Annals of Saint-Bertin, s.a. 876; compare Annals of Fulda, trans. T. Reuter (Manchester, 1992), s.a. 876.

  p. 411. Aristocrats sneering at the low-born: Thegan, Life of Louis, trans. Dutton, Carolingian Civilization, pp. 141-55, cc. 20, 44, 50, 56; Annals of Fulda, s.a. 887 (I).

  p. 411. Education: see e.g. J. J. Contreni, in NCMH, vol 2, pp. 709-47; P. Riché, Écoles et enseignement dans le haut Moyen ge (Paris, 1989), esp. pp. 49-118.

  p. 412. Books: Lupus of Ferrières, Letters, 124; for Everard, McKitterick, Carolingians and the Written Word, pp. 245-8.

  p. 412. Texts of 828-9: see esp. Cap., vol. 2, n. 185; MGH, Concilia, vol. 2, ed. A. Werminghoff (Hanover, 1906), n. 50; Paschasius, Epitaph of Arsenius, 2.1.2-3; Einhard, Translation, 3.13 (capitula of Gabriel), 14 (Wiggo). See, for the whole sequence, P. E. Dutton, The Politics of Dreaming in the Carolingian Empire (Lincoln, Nebr., 1994), pp. 92-101, M. de Jong, in S. Airlie et al. (eds.), Staat im frühen Mittelalter (Vienna, 2006), pp. 129-31, and D. Ganz, in P. Godman and R. Collins (eds.), Charlemagne’s Heir (Oxford, 1990), pp. 545-6.

  p. 413. Events of 833-4: Paschasius, Epitaph of Arsenius, 2.18; Cap., vol. 2, nn. 197-8; Annals of Saint-Bertin, s.a. 835; Dutton, The Politics of Dreaming, p. 103; and see C. Pössel, ‘Symbolic Communication and the Negotiation of Power at Carolingian Regnal Assemblies, 814-840’, University of Cambridge, Ph.D. thesis, 2003, pp. 129-232, for rival narratives of 830-34.

  p. 413. Bilingualism: Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, c. 25; Thegan, Life of Louis, c. 19 (both also supposedly had a - rare - passive knowledge of spoken Greek); Paschasius, Epitaph of Arsenius, 1.1.2.

  p. 413. Latin as separated from Romance by Alcuin: R. Wright, Late Latin and Early Romance in Spain and Carolingian France (Liverpool, 1992), pp. 103-35; for an aristocracy unaffected by Latin, see M. Richter, The Formation of the Medieval West (Dublin, 1994), esp. pp. 69-77.

  p. 414. Lupus, Dhuoda: Lupus of Ferrières, Letters, 7; Dhuoda, Handbook for William, trans. C. Neel (Lincoln, Nebr., 1999) (on Dhuoda see most recently J. L. Nelson, ‘Dhuoda’, in Wormald, Lay Intellectuals); and see in general McKitterick, Carolingians and the Written Word, pp. 211-70.

  p. 414. Preaching: see R. McKitterick, The Frankish Church and the Carolingian Reforms, 789-895 (London, 1977), pp. 80-114. For the Bible, see C. Edwards, ‘German Vernacular Literature’, in McKitterick, Carolingian Culture, pp. 141-70; and H. J. Hummer, Politics and Power in Early Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 2005), pp. 130-54, who makes clear the complexity of the project.

  p. 414. Weather, dust: Agobard of Lyon, On Hail and Thunder, partially trans. Dutton, Carolingian Civilization, pp. 189-91 (c. 16 for dust), cf. Paschasius, Epitaph of Arsenius, 2.1.4, and perhaps also Cap., vol. 1, n. 54, c. 4.

  p. 415. Italian documents: see A. Petrucci and C. Romeo, ‘Scriptores in urbibus’ (Bologna, 1992), esp. pp. 57-76, 109-26; note that in Italy the lay professional strata (notaries, merchants, etc.) were already literate as well.

  p. 415. Priests: McKitterick, Frankish Church, pp. 45-79; C. van Rhijn, Shepherds of the Lord (Turnhout, 2007), pp. 82-112, 171-212; cf. S. Wood, The Proprietary Church in the Medieval West (Oxford, 20
06), pp. 519-34, 659-62.

  p. 415. Hraban Maur: M. de Jong, in Y. Hen and M. Innes (eds.), The Uses of the Past in the Early Middle Ages (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 191-226.

  p. 415. Book-copying: D. Ganz, in NCMH, vol. 2, pp. 786-808; Lupus of Ferrieres, Letters, 1, 5, 8, 21, 53, 69, 87, 95, 100 (quote), 101, 108; B. Bischoff, Latin Palaeography (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 106-18.

  p. 416. Adoptionism and Iconoclasm: D. Ganz, in NCMH, vol. 2, pp. 762-6, 773-7; A. Freeman, ‘Carolingian Orthodoxy and the Fate of the Libri Carolini’, Viator, 16 (1985), pp. 65-108; see Dutton, Carolingian Civilization, pp. 247-51 for extracts from Claudius of Turin.

  p. 417. Bodo: Annals of Saint-Bertin, s.a. 839; see F. Riess, ‘From Aachen to Al-Andalus’, EME, 13 (2005), pp. 131-57.

  p. 417. Amalarius: see A. Cabaniss, Amalarius of Metz (Amsterdam, 1954); Wallace-Hadrill, Frankish Church, pp. 326-9.

  p. 417. Gottschalk, etc.: see Wallace-Hadrill, Frankish Church, pp. 362-9, and D. Ganz, ‘The Debate on predestination’, in M. Gibson and J. Nelson (eds.), Charles the Bald (Oxford, 1981), pp. 353-73.

  p. 419. Paschal I: Royal Frankish Annals, trans. B. W. Scholz, Carolingian Chronicles (Ann Arbor, 1970), s.a. 823. For Roman politics, see in general T. F. X. Noble, The Republic of St Peter (Philadelphia, 1984), for the period up to 825; R. Davis, The Lives of the Ninth-century Popes (Liverpool, 1995); T. F. X. Noble, in NCMH, vol. 2, pp. 563-86.

  p. 420. Nicholas I: see Davis, The Lives, pp. 189-203, for the best recent account in English.

  p. 420. Lothar and Theutberga: the best account is now S. Airlie, ‘Private Bodies and the Body Politic in the Divorce Case of Lothar II’, Past and Present, 161 (1998), pp. 3-38.

  p. 422. Gunther and Hincmar: Annals of Saint-Bertin, s.aa. 864 (quote), 865.

  p. 422. Hadrian II: Annals of Saint-Bertin, s.a. 869; J. L. Nelson, Charles the Bald (Harlow, 1992), pp. 229, 235-8.