Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity

by Rosamond McKitterick

• ISBN13: 9780521716451
• ISBN10: 0521716454
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-02
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Charlemagne is often claimed as the greatest ruler in Europe before Napoleon. In this magisterial new study, Rosamond McKitterick re-examines Charlemagne the ruler and his reputation. She analyses the narrative representations of Charlemagne produced after his death, and thereafter focuses on the evidence from Charlemagne's lifetime concerning the creation of the Carolingian dynasty and the growth of the kingdom, the court and the royal household, communications and identities in the Frankish realm in the context of government, and Charlemagne's religious and cultural strategies. She offers a completely fresh and critical examination of the contemporary sources and in so doing transforms our understanding of the development of the Carolingian empire, the formation of Carolingian political identity, and the astonishing changes effected throughout Charlemagne's forty-six year period of rule. This is a major contribution to Carolingian history which will be essential reading for anyone interested in the medieval past.

Table of Contents

List of maps	p. ix
List of tables	p. x
Preface	p. xi
List of abbreviations	p. xv
Representations of Charlemagne	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Ninth-century narrative images of Charlemagne: Einhard, the Astronomer and the Poeta Saxo	p. 7
The Revised Version of the Annales regni francorum	p. 27
The Annales regni francorum	p. 31
Charlemagne's later years	p. 49
Conclusion	p. 54
Pippinids, Arnulfings and Agilolfings: the creation of a dynasty	p. 57
Introduction: perceptions of the eighth century and the rise of the Carolingians	p. 57
The Pippinids and their rise to political prominence	p. 63
Preparation for kingship: Pippin III and Charlemagne	p. 71
Charlemagne and Carloman 768-771: joint rule	p. 75
Sole rule and its consequences: Charlemagne's family, legitimacy and the succession	p. 88
The succession: the Divisio regnorum (806) and Charlemagne's will (811)	p. 96
The growth of the kingdom	p. 103
Exteriores gentes	p. 127
Conclusion: the limits of expansion	p. 135
The royal court	p. 137
Introduction	p. 137
The royal household: poetic images	p. 139
The royal household: the De ordine palatii of Hincmar of Reims	p. 142
The Capitulare de villis and the De ordine palatii	p. 149
The royal household in later narrative accounts	p. 155
Charlemagne's palaces and the status of Aachen	p. 157
An itinerant court or an itinerant king?	p. 171
Charlemagne's travels	p. 178
Political and diplomatic space	p. 186
Charters and the royal itinerary	p. 188
Charter survival	p. 197
Charter redaction	p. 199
The royal writing office and the palace notaries	p. 204
Conclusion: court and kingdom	p. 212
The king and the kingdom: communications and identities	p. 214
Introduction	p. 214
Communications	p. 215
Assemblies	p. 222
The capitularies	p. 233
Charlemagne's programmatic capitularies, 769-797	p. 237
The regional capitularies and the benefits of Carolingian rule	p. 243
The administrative capitularies for the missi dominici, 802-813	p. 256
The missi dominici and their books	p. 263
Multiple loyalties and their obligations	p. 266
Communications beyond the empire	p. 278
Diplomacy and political identities	p. 279
Conclusion: the mastering of space	p. 288
Correctio, knowledge and power	p. 292
Introduction	p. 292
The sacred topography of the Frankish kingdom	p. 295
The bishops	p. 299
Correctio: ecclesiastical reform	p. 306
Orthodoxy	p. 311
Correctio: language and control	p. 315
Charlemagne's sacred itinerary: Christian space and time	p. 321
Relics and saints	p. 326
Royal piety	p. 330
The palace chapel and the liturgy	p. 340
Royal books	p. 345
Conclusion: space, time and the geography of learning	p. 372
Bibliography	p. 381
Index of manuscripts	p. 443
General index	p. 445
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