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Charles the Bald and the Church in Town and Countryside

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Janet L. Nelson
Janet L. Nelson*
Affiliation:
University of London, Kings College
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Extract

‘The church in town and countryside’ is a fruitful theme. But for early medievalists it is an especially challenging one. We first have to establish our right to participate at all. There is a classic tradition of interpreting western history, and the history of western Christianity too, in terms of an opposition between town and countryside: but according to exponents of this tradition, from Marx and Engels through Weber and Troeltsch to some contemporary historians, the early middle ages present a dull, townless void between antiquity and the eleventh or twelfth century. We have to begin then, by affirming that there were towns in the early middle ages. To justify this, we must do more than point out continuity in the terminology used by late classical and early medieval writers. We need to show that places existed which functioned as towns. Biddle has given a useful archaeologist’s list of functional criteria: defences, a planned street-system, a market, a mint, legal autonomy, a role as a central place, a relatively large and dense population, a diversified economic base, plots and houses of ‘urban’ type, social differentiation, complex religious organisation, a judicial centre.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 16: The Church in Town and Countryside , 1979 , pp. 103 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1979

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References

1 See for example Marx, K., Pre-capitalist Economic Formations, ed Hobsbawm, E. (London 1964) pp 35 Google Scholar-6, 77-8, 127 seq; Engels, F., The Peasant War in Germany, ed Krieger, L. (Chicago/London 1967) pp 33 Google Scholar seq; Weber, [M.], Economy [and Society], ed Roth, G. and Wittich, C., 3 vols (New York 1968) 3, cap 16, pp 1212-62Google Scholar; Troeltsch, E., The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, 2 vols (London 1931) 1, pp 254 Google Scholar seq; Haase, C., ‘Die mittelalterliche Stadt als Festung’, Die Stadt des Mittelalters, ed Haase, C., 3 vols (Darmstadt 1969) 1, pp 377–408 Google Scholar, and other essays in the same collection.

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5 For pioneering attempts at a comparative approach, see Weber, , Economy 3, pp 1226 Google Scholar seq, 1236 seq, 1260-2, and Gellner, ‘Islam’. But the uniqueness of developments in the early medieval west remains to be explored.

6 See my ‘Queens as Jezebels: the careers of Brunhild and Balthild in Merovingian History’, Medieval Women, SCH Subsidia 1 (1978) pp 31-77.

7 E. Ewig gives a fine survey in Handbook of Church History, ed Jedin, H. and Dolan, J. 3 (London 1969)Google Scholar sections 1, 3 and 4.

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9 Lesne, [É.], [Histoire de la] Propriété [ecclésiastique en France], 6 vols (Lille 1910-43) 1, pp 446-50Google Scholar; 2, pp 1-9.

10 Lesne, , Propriété, 2, ii (1922) pp 148 Google Scholar seq.

11 Tessier, [G.], [Receuil des Actes de Charles II le Chauve], 3 vols (Paris 1943-55) 3, pp 213-15Google Scholar.

12 Wallace-Hadrill, [J. M.], [Early Germanie] Kingship [in England and on the Continent] (Oxford 1971) p 127 Google Scholar.

13 Tessier, 1, no 75, pp 210-13.

14 Tessier, 1, no 99, pp 262-5.

15 Constable, G., ‘Nona et decima’, Speculum 35 (1960) pp 224-50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Hincmar of Rheims, De villa Noviliaco, PL 125 (1879) col 112 Google Scholar.

17 Goffart, [W.], [The Le Mans] Forgeries (Cambridge, Mass. 1966)Google Scholar.

18 Lesne, , Propriété, 2, i, pp 164 Google Scholar seq.

19 MGH SS 2, ed Pertz, G.H (Hanover 1829) p 549 Google Scholar. On chis passage, see Wehlen, W., Geschichtsschreibung und Staatsauffassung im Zeitalter Ludwigs des Frommen, Historische Studien 418 (Lübeck/Hamburg 1970) p 114 Google Scholar, and for the meaning oírespublica (in some ninth-century contexts equivalent to Staatsgut) pp 33 seq, 53-4. It is worth stressing that Paschasius was writing this in the context of the reign of Charles the Bald, not Louis the Pious.

20 The Making of the Middle Ages (London 1959) p 140.

21 Hincmar of Laon, PL 124 (1879) col 1029 Google ScholarPubMed.

22 PL 126 (1879) cols 495, 583, Mansi 16, cols 649-50. See Lesne, , Propriété, 2, i, pp 278 Google Scholar seq; Devisse, [J.], Hincmar, [Archevéque de Reims 843-882], 3 vols (Geneva 1975-6) 2, pp 738-85Google Scholar, esp p 775, n 402, where it becomes clear that the central issue is not legal but political.

23 Lesne, , L’Origine des Menses dans le temporel des églises et des monastères de France au IXe siecle (Lille 1910) pp 63 Google Scholar seq; but the comments on pp 59-60 need modifying in the light of Felten, [F.], ‘Laienäbte [in der Karolingerzeit’], Mönchtum, Episkopat und Adel zur Gründungszeit des Klosters Reichenau, ed Borst, A. (Sigmaringen 1974) pp 397–431 Google Scholar.

24 Tessier, 1, no 177, pp 465-9 at 467: ‘ . . . propter rerum diminutionem quas praeteriti praelati ejusdem monasterii inordinatius quam decuit saecularibus attribuerunt. . . .’

25 Ibid p 468: ‘ . . . ut nullus abbas futurus de eodem momasterio eligendus secundum nostram indulgentiam et sanctorum episcoporum privilegium de nominatis villis vel locis aliquid diminuere praesumat, sed de ipsis et nostrum servitium strenue peragat, adjunctis vassallorum annuis donis et aedificiis monasterii et munitione, consueto adjutorio, et ipsis servis Dei in eodem loco habitantibus congrua stipendia ministrare studeat’ and a few lines above: ‘ . . . quatenus et praesentes et secuturi ejusdem loci monachi absque ulla penuria stipendiorum valerent Domnino libere militare, et delectaret eos pro nobis et stabilitate regni nostri uxorisque ac prolis Dominum exorare’. The military service owed from monastic lands and by abbots in person is discussed by Prinz, [F.], Klerus und Krieg (Stuttgart 1971) pp 105 Google Scholar seq, 120-2.

26 M. Prou and A. Vidier, cited by Tessier, 1, p 466.

27 Voigt, [K.], [Die Karolingische] Klosterpolitik [und der Niedergang des westfränkischen Königtums] (Stuttgart 1917)Google Scholar; Lesne, Propriété, 2, ii, bks 1 and 2; Ewig, , ‘Descriptio Franciae’, Karl der Grosse, ed Braunfels, W., 4 vols (Düsseldorf 1965-8) 1, pp 160 Google Scholar seq.

28 This development and its significance have been ably demonstrated by Felten, ‘Laienäbte’, esp 408 seq, 421 seq.

29 Boussard, J., ‘Les destinées de la Neustrie du IXe au XIe siècle’, Cahiers de Civilisation Mediévale 11 (Poitiers 1968) pp 15 Google Scholar seq.

30 See Hincmar’s comments in Ann [ales] Bert [intani], sa 866, ed Grat, F., Vielliard, J. and Clemencet, S. (Paris 1964) pp 126 Google Scholar; 131; 132 (here the culprit is Charles himself).

31 MCH Cap 2, ed Boretius, A. and Krause, V. (Hanover 1897) no 272 (edict of Pîtres) cap 5, p 313 Google Scholar: ‘Volumus et expresse comitibus nostris mandamus, ut villae nostrae indominicatae, sed et villae de monasteriis, quae et coniugi nostrae et fiJiis ac filiabus nostris concessa atque donata habemus, quaeque sub immunitate consistunt, cum salvamento et debita reverentia in comitatibus illorum consistant’.

32 Ann Bert sa, pp 134-5. See further Voigt, Klosterpolitik, pp 87 seq.

33 Tessier, 2, no 379, pp 347-50 (an original), where, p 350, Charles calls himself abbot fratrum electione. On royal abbacies, see Lesne, , Propriété, 2, ii, pp 172-84Google Scholar.

34 For the abbacies held by Lothar (St Germain at Auxerre and perhaps St Jean at Réome) and Carloman (St Amand, St Riquier, Lobbes, St Médard at Soissons and St Arnulf at Metz) see Voigt, Klosterpolitik, pp 38 seq. Two younger boys may also have been destined for the church: sent for education to St Amand, they died there in 865 or 866. See MGH Poet 3, ed Traube, L. (Berlin 1896) pp 677-8Google Scholar. For this and other dealings of Charles the Bald with St Amand, see now the important forthcoming article of Rosamond McKitterick in EHR (1979). I am very grateful to her for letting me see this in advance of publication.

35 I had thought this point hitherto neglected until I found that Lesne, as usual, had already seen it: Propriété, 2, ii, pp 167-8.

36 See Boussard, ‘Neustrie’; and Kienast, W., Studien über die französischen Volksstämme des Friihmittelalters (Stuttgart 1968)Google Scholar.

37 Ann Bert sa 870, 871, 873, pp 178-9, 194.

38 Prinz, F., ‘Die bischöfliche Stadtherrschaft im Frankenreich vom 5. bis zum 7. Jht’, HZ 217 (1974) pp 1–35 Google Scholar; see further my comments in SCH Subsidia 1 (1978).

39 For example MGH Cap 2, no 261, p 278.

40 Ganshof, F., The Carolingians and the Frankish Monarchy (London 1971) pp 206-7Google Scholar; Ullmann, W., ‘Public welfare and social legislation in the early medieval councils’, SCH 7 (1971) pp 1–39 Google Scholar.

41 Ann Bert sa 854, p 69. See also Prinz, Klerus und Krieg, pp 124 seq.

42 Vercauteren, F., ‘Comment s’est-on défendu, au IXe siècle, dans l’empire franc, contre les invasions normandes?’, Annales du XXXe Congres de la Fédération archéologique et historique de Belgique (Brussels 1936) pp 117-32Google Scholar; Hubert, ‘Évolution’, pp 550-7, with figs 15, 16.

43 Lot, F., ‘Les tributs aux Normands et l’Église de France au IXe siècle’, BEC 85 (1924) pp 58–78 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

44 MGH Capit 2, no 280, p 354.

45 The fundamental work is Lesne, , Propriété, esp vols 2 (1936)Google Scholar and 6 (1943). See further, works cited above p 104 n 3; and Duby, , Rural Economy and Country Life in the Medieval West, trans Postan, C. (London 1968)Google Scholar.

46 Rheims, : MGH SS 13, ed Waitz, G. (Hanover 1881) pp 478-9Google Scholar; Orleans, : MGH SS 15, ed Wattenbach, W., 2 parts (Hanover 1887/8) p 497 Google Scholar; St Riquier: Hariulf, , Chronicon Centulense, ed Lot, F. (Paris 1894) pp 53-4Google Scholar; St, Bertin: Cartulaire de l’abbaye de St Bertin, ed Guerard, B. (Paris 1841) p 109 Google Scholar, and MGH SS 15, pp 513-44; Auxerre: MGH SS 13, pp 396-7. See abo Lesne, , Propriété, 3, pp. 91 Google Scholar seq; 6, pp 425 seq.

47 Brühl, [C.-R.], Fodrum, [Gistum, Servitium Regis] (Cologne 1968) pp 39 Google Scholar seq. It would be misleading to neglect the continuing preponderance of Charles’s stays on royal manors, though even here the overwhelming preference for two of them, Quiersy and Compiègne, is strikingly suggestive of new possibilities for the concentration of supplies. But what concerns me here is the nonetheless notable increase in the urban component in Charles’s itinerary.

48 Brühl, , ‘Königspfalz [und Bischofsstadt]’, Rheinische Vierteljahrsblätter 23 (Bonn 1958) pp 206-7Google Scholar.

49 On all these monasteries, the last two controlled respectively by the bishops of Rheims and Orleans, see Brühl, ‘Königspfalz’. There is little additional information, for present purposes, to be found in Briihl’s recent work, Palatium und Civitas 1 (Cologne 1975).

50 ‘Königspfalz’, pp 269-74; Fodrum, pp 50-2.

51 Dhondt, J., Études sur la naissance des principautés territoriales en France IXe-Xe siècle (Bruges 1948), pp 264-6Google Scholar, 272-4; Barraclough, G., The Crucible of Europe (London 1976) pp 88-9Google Scholar.

52 I hope to defend this view at length elsewhere.

53 For example Ann Bert sa 846, p 52, Épernay, a manor of the church of Rheims restored in 845, Tessier, 1, no 75; Hincmar, , MGH Epp 8, i, ed Perels, E. (Berlin 1939) p 72 Google Scholar, Neauphles, a manor of the church of Rouen.

54 Tessier, 1, no 18, p 44 (for Corbie); 2, no 240, pp 43, 44 (St Martin, Tours). References to orationis causa belong only to the early part of the reign. See Brühl, Fodrum, pp 45-6, 104.

55 Brühl, Fodrum, pp 62 seq. For the realm of Charles the Bald, this topic is in need of further study.

56 MGH Capit 2, caps 26, 27, p 405 : ‘Suggerendum est . . . regiae dignitati, ut episcopium . . . reverenter introeat, et . . . quando orationis et debitae susceptionis gratia in transitu convenienti civitatem ingressus fuerit, habitaculis episcopalibus reverenter inhabitet, et non diversoria feminarum magnificentia sua et religio venerabilis ibidem fieri permittat. . . . Sed et inmunitates praecedentium imperatorum ac regum ab huiusmodi longiori et diuturna conversatione et commoratione regum et quorumcumque poten-tium ac secularium personarum in episcopio prohibent. . . . Vestra studebit magnitudo obnixius observare, ut, quando transitus vester iuxta civitates accident, inmunes et liberas vestra dominado iubeat a depraedationum exactionibus fieri mansiones intra civitatem, quia omnes, qui sua ad civitates deferebant, ut et salva quaeque ibi haberent et illa plus pacifice venderent, iam et hoc refugiunt et pristinae inmunitates et confirmationes infringuntur, dum et cives ab hospitibus opprimuntur et ab his, a quibus non soium opprimuntur, verum et diripiuntur, sua non solum vendere prohibentur, sed et propter direptionem post eos cum gemitu clamare coguntur’.

57 The ravaging of the countryside by the king’s troops was occasionally complained of, but is hardly relevant in the present context.

58 Hincmar’s only complaints about royal demands for hospitality occur in a thoroughly disingenuous letter to pope Hadrian II, PL 126, col 183, in which Hincmar affects to exculpate himself from complicity in Charles’s invasion of Lotharingia! Devisse, Even M., Hincmar, 1, p 458, n 596 Google Scholar, is moved to observe: ‘la sincérité de l’argumentation, cette fois, n’est pas éclatante’. In the very same letter, Hincmar affirms the king’s rights to hospitality at bishops’ expense.

59 Lupus of Ferrières, ep 115, Correspondance, ed Levillain, L., 2 vols (Paris 1935) 2, p 162 Google Scholar.

60 Ganshof, , ‘A propos de tonlieu à l’époque carolingienne’, in SS Spol 6, ii (1959) pp 485–508 Google Scholar at 496-7.

61 MGH Capit 2, no 273, pp 310-32, at 314-20 (caps 8-24). See van Rey, M., ‘Die Münzprägung Karls des Kahlen’, Die Stadt in der europäischen Geschichte. Festschrift E. Ennen, ed Besch, W. and others (Bonn 1972) pp 153-84Google Scholar.

62 Tessier, 1, no 18, pp 42-4.

63 Tessier, 1, no 186, pp 491-2; 2, no 391, pp 374-5.

64 Tessier, 2, no 323, pp 210-12.

65 Tessier, 2, no 277, pp 120-1.

66 Endemann, T., Markturkimden und Markt in Frankreich und Burgund vom 9. bis 11 Jhdt. (Constance 1964) pp 27–34 Google Scholar; 40-8; 98 seq; 210-11.

67 On all this see Calmette, [J.], [La] Diplomatie [carolingienne] (Paris 1901, repr 1977) pp 34 Google Scholar seq, 51 seq.

68 Ann Bert sa 858, pp 78-9.

69 MGH SS 13, pp 403-4.

70 Abbo: MGH SS 13, p 398, and Lupus, Correspondance, 2, nos 95, 96, pp 108-115; Hugh: Calmette, Diplomatie, pp 42, 60.

71 MGH SS 13, pp 396-8, 403-4; Jeauneau, E., ‘Les écoles de Laon et d’Auxerre au IXe siècle’, SS Spol 19 (1972) pp 495–522 Google Scholar.

72 Auzias, L., L’Aquitaine carolingienne (Paris 1937) p 295, n 58 Google Scholar (where, however, the grant of the abbacy of St Germain to Hugh is misdated). See also Calmette, Diplomatie, pp 42, 58 (but the reference to Heiric, , MGH SS 13, pp 401-2Google Scholar, seems misplaced: Heiric praises the generosity to St Germain of Conrad senior, father of the man made count in 858 – which only goes to show the longstanding Welf connexion with Auxerre).

73 Brühl, ‘Königspfalz’, pp 171-2.

74 MGH Epp 8, no 126 p 52; Ann Bert sa 859, p 80. See Calmette, Diplomatie, pp 58-9.

75 The map at the end of Endemann, Markturhmden, is suggestive. For evidence of Charles’s interest in the region, see Tessier 2, no 326, pp 218-23; no 354, pp 287-8; no 365, pp 315-17; no 378, pp 342-7. See also Latouche, Birth, p 221, and Duby, Early Growth, pp 104-5. No doubt an influx of refugees had an effect on economic growth in Burgundy. But it would be premature to claim a direct connexion between that growth and relative freedom from Viking raids. Notwithstanding the arguments of Wallace-Hadrill, , ‘The Vikings in Francia’, Stenton Lecture for 1974 (University of Reading 1975) pp 13–18 Google Scholar, the question of the Vikings’ impact on economic develop ments in western and, especially, northern Francia seems to me still open.

76 Goffart, Forgeries, p 6.

77 Wallace-Hadrill, ‘A Carolingian Renaissance Prince: the Emperor Charles the Bald’, Sixtieth Raleigh Lecture on History, given at the British Academy, 18 May 1978. There is much valuable information on books written for Charles the Bald in the forthcoming article by McKitterick cited above n 34.

78 Compare the presentation of the Ottonians by Gillingham, J., The Kingdom of Germany in the High Middle Ages, Historical Association (London 1973)Google Scholar. Brühl, ‘Königspfalz’, p 274, n 703, contrasts Charles’s ‘system’ with that of the Ottonians, whereas I am more impressed by the similarities.

79 Wallace-Hadrill, Kingship, p 126 : by implication, royal arms are preferable to aristocratic ones.

80 Ibid p 127.

81 Brühl, Fodrum, p 52.

82 Early Medieval Kingship (University of Leeds 1978). If there is currently something of a ‘Carolingian Renaissance’ amongst younger British medievalists, this is largely due to the influence, direct and indirect, of these two scholars.