Origins of the Holy Roman Empire: Part 2
The second part of this series explores the Merovingian and the Early Carolingian political structure. An essential element in this article is the change in the political culture of the two dynasties.
The Merovingians and Carolingians were basically the same, right?
In a previous article on this substack, Who were the Franks?, we gained a glimpse into the court culture of the Merovingians as well as broad strokes regarding the origins of the Franks and their significance in the Early Middle Ages. Now, we shall take a closer look at their structures of maintaining power, as it greatly impacted the design of the later Holy Roman Empire (HRE).
What made a King?
The 4th century Roman historian, Ammianus, dedicated much of his research in discovering the somewhat cryptic reasons as to how one became a Germanic king (not necessarily just a Frankish one) and why the status remained an indelible mark for generations. The same phenomenon was exhibited in Scandinavia and among the Anglo-Saxons who arrived in the British Isles in the second half of the 5th century. In fact, the English Channel did not offer a tremendous boundary between Britain and the continent as is often thought, as Western Europe did not cease all exchange after the child emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed in 476 AD. Instead, it remained interwoven, but the dominant genealogical thread was a Germanic one, rather than a Roman one. Thus, the kings of the Early Middle Ages were decided by Germanic tribal roots rather than from Roman patricians, or by election.
The wives taken by the Merovingian kings were often daughters of petty kings ruling over much smaller conglomerates of communities, and not always proto-states like the Frankish, Lombardic, or Visigothic kings. Nevertheless, their traditional status as kings made their daughters suitable for marriage to the descendants of the foederati, as both made similar claims regarding their origins. The politics of early medieval court connected Germanic kings throughout Europe (yes, including England), fostering elite interactions and trade, but also the addition of laws combining Germanic customs to the Roman legal system.
Salic Law
The first codification of laws specific to the Frankish rule of Gaul was entitled Pactus Legis Salicae issued by Clovis I between 507 and 511 AD—between his appointment as Roman Consul and his death (respectively). It is often addressed by its abbreviated name Lex Salica, or even its English name, Salic Law, and represents one of the bedrock legal structures in Western Europe. Although the Franks relied heavily upon Roman structures—specifically with regard to maintaining territories, logistics, and cities—Salic law was a legal retention of their Germanic cultural heritage.
It was designed as a sort of living text, whose transmission was usually oral. Clauses were added or dropped over time, resulting in 87 copies differing in various degrees. However, during the 6th and 7th centuries, it only applied to the Franks living between the Loire River and Neustria, and not the Rhineland Franks in Austrasia. The Rhineland Franks composed the main stem of Clovis’ heritage and was therefore given special status, including not being considered for partition. Austrasia also retained much of the Frankish language, as it was the heartland of the Frankish rulers. Nevertheless, the archaeological evidence of 6th century grave goods from the Lower Rhine region near Cologne, Germany, clearly indicates a Roman fashion with Germanic elements (e.g. zoomorphic forms and weaves). The same can be found among the Lombards, who followed a very similar trajectory, to be discussed in a future article!
Salic Law also simplified the taxation systems, and represented one of the areas where clear distinctions were made between people of different ancestry: Franks were entirely exempt from taxes, whereas those with Roman heritage were known as tributarii—tax-payers. The immediate result was a desire for all people to begin identifying as Franks and therefore pay as few taxes as possible! The taxes themselves were far reduced, when compared to the former Roman system, limited primarily to land use and penalties for violating various Salic Laws. By the 7th century, land taxes had almost entirely disappeared, and payments to the state were generally gained in service, or from tolls paid on rivers or other transportation routes. Though even in the case of tollways, the payments did not always service the state, as abbeys were often granted toll-rights. This piecemeal, and largely ineffective, Merovingian manner of raising funds for the state was somewhat standardized by the Carolingians under Charlemagne, who later privatized customs and tollways.
The coins used by the Merovingians were also adapted directly from the Romans at three levels: bronze, silver, and gold. These often had images of the Frankish monarchs, commonly found on the golden tremissis (derived from the Roman triens) serving as the standard gold coin. However, the most valuable piece—the golden solidus—was reserved for the image of the Byzantine emperor alone. In fact, the Franks continued to mint coins with the images of Byzantine emperors throughout the Middle Ages, once more underlining the fact that the Western European kingdoms of the Early Middle Ages recognized the Roman emperors as their supreme sovereign.
Partitions of the other Merovingian territories (i.e. Aquitaine, Burgundy, and Neustria) upon the death of a king, like Clovis, were common, but according to Salic Law, limited only to the male descendants. Women were forbidden from inheriting, but concessions were sometimes made, especially with regard to personal property, which at times included land. When partitions occurred, only the territory of Austrasia remained unified, whereas the borders of the other kingdoms often fluctuated. One interpretation of Merovingian politics is that of personal favor shown towards members of the dynasty as well as trusted friends, rather than a systematized structure of political positions and privileges based upon merit. Although the early Franks did run a somewhat meritorious system, with regard to the elevation of great warriors as dukes, they stopped sometime at the turn of the 7th century, resulting in dissatisfaction among those who may have been privileged by the kings, yet unhappy with the grossly inefficient rule.
The Court
The structure of the Merovingian palace centered on the kings, including the advisors and dukes previously mentioned, as well as the bishops whose seas were located within the respective territories. These courts were far more plentiful than the courts of the Late Roman Empire within Gaul, considering the sheer number of secular and ecclesiastical princes who had now carved out their realms. Like all courts, they served as political arenas in which intrigue and strategy were discussed, as well as nexuses for families of higher status to gain each other’s acquaintance. In fact, the courts of the kings were not the only such centers, but the courts of bishops and of abbots served a similar capacity. These were mainly centers of learning in which the sons of the kings, dukes, and other patricians were sent to receive an education. Such courts were the most likely places where early alliances were formed between future leaders, playing a major role during the formation of the Carolingian period and for many centuries thereafter.
The number of courts did not necessarily correlate to the number of princes either, as the Merovingian rulers were itinerant, but on a smaller scale than their successors. That meant, the kings, their families, and entourages traveled from court to court throughout the territories under their control. Rather than a single capital, the rulers would meet their subjects in their own towns—albeit in one of their many palaces. This solved communication issues, and also constituted an excellent way for the rulers and their advisors to actually see the state of their lands. Nevertheless, certain kings, like Chilperic, rarely left his triangle of palaces between the cities of Rouen, Soissons, and Paris.
The cities themselves were largely governed by the comes, or counts, representing a direct adoption of a Roman title into the new Frankish-controlled Gaul. In turn, the counts were supported by the status of grafio—from which the German word for count, Graf, is derived—serving more or less as more local lords. In fact, much of the Roman structure of Late Antiquity was adopted by the Merovingians. Their leaders were aided and advised by Romans before and after the dissolution of the Western Roman jurisdiction (as described in a previous article), who were themselves descendants of the patricians, or even active members of the Roman Senate. These advisors maintained their patrician status in the new territories alongside the war leaders of the former auxiliaries, known as the duces, or dukes, who remained the military leaders of the Merovingians. However, neither the dukes nor the patricians could continue to operate independently of one another, and instead became interwoven through bonds of marriage. These unions produced the key members of the courts, the king’s entourages, and even bishops.
Those entering the king’s peace were to swear fidelity to him, in accordance with Salic Law, which in turn offered many protections. In the event of a murder, for example, the pecuniary penalty for killing a sworn member of the court in the 7th century was 600 solidi—three times that of killing an ordinary Frank, which was still a monumental price!
The Mayors of the Palace
The most elite position within a Merovingian court was that of the palatial mayor. Admittedly difficult to describe, the position was a sort of hybrid between prime minister, chancellor, and warrior. After the death of Dagobert I (grandson of Fredegund and Chilperic I described in a previous article) in 639 AD, the rule of the Merovingian kingdoms was largely transferred to—or rather seized by—the mayors of the palace. In turn, the kings remained as heads of state, but more in a representative capacity, and not a political one. It was for this reason that Charles Martel was so successful in wresting power from the kings whom he served. Furthermore, he did this with the support of the dukes and patricians, to whom he was certainly related, despite the lack of a precise genealogy. Charles also enjoyed the support of the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Bishop Willibrord of Echternach (in modern-day Luxemburg), whose court once formed a young man named Winfrid, who later became known as the great Saint Boniface and benefitted from Charles’ reign as mayor of the palace.
The foundation set by Charles and his predecessors as powerful mayors of the palace allowed for his sons, Carloman and Peppin the Short, to retain that power and keep the Merovingian kings at arm’s length. In fact, rather than battle each other for sole rule, Carloman relinquished his claims, allowing Peppin to amass such support, both secular and ecclesiastical, that he usurped the last Merovingian King, Childeric III, in 751 AD. Upon seizing the throne, he began the work of reforming the legal and educational structures of the Frankish kingdoms that he had now united, and embarked on war campaigns against both the Muslim Umayyads in Septimania (southwestern France and northeastern Spain), and the Lombards in Northern Italy. We see here, that the nature of his rule was quite different than that of his Merovingian predecessors who preferred to remain at home and feud with their own family, sending envoys or dukes rather than engage exterior threats themselves. Thus, a new manner of power was established by a new dynasty—the Carolingians.
Summary of the two Dynasties
The terms Merovingian and Carolingian refer to dynasties of rulers, not necessarily time periods or territories. The dynasties were composed from people of different status in which the Merovingians were descendants of Clovis and other Germanic kings, whereas the Carolingians were descendants of mayors of the palace. These mayors usurped the Merovingians, unified the lands to a greater extent than their predecessors, standardized taxes and tolls, and set the Franks on the path of imperial aspiration. In the next part of this series, we will explore the the Carolingians at the turn of the 9th century. Be sure to stick around!