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Plunder and Tribute in the Carolingian Empire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Timothy Reuter
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Extract

In 882 the Emperor Charles III was forced to break off his siege of the Norsemen's camp at Asselt and make peace with them. One of their leaders, Gottfried, got a Carolingian wife and the benefices in Frisia formerly held by Rorich; the other, Siegfried, got a large sum in gold and silver. Commenting on these events, the Mainz cleric who composed this section of the Annals of Fulda wrote:

and what was still more of a crime, he did not blush to pay tribute, against the custom of his ancestors, the kings of the Franks, and following the advice of evil men, to a man from whom he ought to have exacted tribute and hostages.

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Research Article
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Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 35 , December 1985 , pp. 75 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1985

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References

1 I am grateful to Wilfried Hartmann, Janet Nelson, Ernst Tremp and Ian Wood for their comments and suggestions.

2 ‘… et quod maioris est criminis, a quo obsides accipere et tributa exigere debuit, huic pravorum usus consilio contra consuetudinem parentum suorum, regum videlicet Francorum, tributa solvere non erubuit.’, Annales Futdenses, ed. Kurze, F. (MGH, SRG, Hannover, 1895) s.a. 882, p. 99 (cf. also pp. 108–9)Google Scholar. See Diimmler, E., Geschichte des ostfrdnkischen Reiches (2nd. edn., 3 vols., Leipzig, 1887–1888), ii. 202ffGoogle Scholar.

3 Waitz, G., Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, (8 vols. in 9, Berlin, 1880–1896) II. ii. 250–254Google Scholar. On Merovingian tribute-taking see also Wood, I., The Merovingian North Sea (Occasional papers on medieval topics, I, Alingsas, 1983), 11–12Google Scholar.

4 Annales regni Francorum, ed. Kurze, F. (MGH, SRG, Hannover, 1892), s.a. 814, p. 141Google Scholar (cf. also the entry for 812, p. 137); Annales Bertiniani, eds Grat, F., Vielliard, J., Clemencet, S. and Levillain, L. (Société de l'histoire de France, 1964) s.a. 863, p. 96; 864, p. 113Google Scholar.

5 For the treaty of Forchheim between Zwentibald of Moravia and Louis the German see Annales Fuldenses, s.a., pp. 82–3.

6 The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar with its Continuations, ed. WallaceHadrill, J. M., (1960), c. 38, p. 108Google Scholar; Annales regni Francorum, s.a. 787, p. 74; Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 844, p. 46.

7 On the formulaic nature of Carolingian annalistic writing cf. Hoffmann, H., Untersuchungen zur karolingischen Annalistik, (Bonner Historische Forschungen, 10, Bonn, 1958), 69–75Google Scholar.

8 E.g. by Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 861, p. 86.

9 Ganshof, F. L., Frankish Institutions under Charlemagne (Providence, Rhode Island, 1968), 64, 68Google Scholar; Niermeyer, J. F., Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus (Leiden 1954–1976), 943–4Google Scholar, s.v. scara, scarire, scaritus. A study of the origin and use of this term would be worthwhile.

10 In 860 the armed followings of the three Carolingian rulers who met at Koblenz laid the surrounding countryside waste, cf. Annales Xantenses, ed. von Simson, B. (MGH, SRG, Hannover, 1909), s.a. 861, p. 19Google Scholar, and for the behaviour of Charles, the Bald's army in 866, Annales Bertiniani, s.a., pp. 132–3Google Scholar. For the Merovingian evidence, see Bodmer, J. P., Der Krieger der Merowingerzeit und seine Welt, (Geist und Werk der Zeiten, 2, Zurich, 1967), 94–7Google Scholar.

11 Continuator of Fredegar (ed. Wallace-Hadrill), c. 31, p. 101 (748); Annales Laureshamenses, ed. Katz, E., (St. Paul, 1889), s.a. 796, p. 41Google Scholar and Chronicon Laurissense Breve, ed. von Carolsfeld, H.Schorr, Neues Archiv der Gesellschaftfur dltere deutsche Geschichtskunde, 36 (1911). 15–39, here IV, 26, p. 34Google Scholar.

12 Nigellus, Ermoldus, Carmen in honorem Hludovici, ed. Faral, E. (Classiques de l'histoire de France au moyen âge 14, 2nd. edn., Paris, 1964), II. 1599–1600, 2020–1Google Scholar; for the legislation, Ch. Verlinden, , L'esclavage dans I'Europe médiévale, I: péninsule Ibérique-France, (Bruges, 1955), 706ffGoogle Scholar.

13 Continuator of Fredegar (ed. Wallace-Hadrill), c. 17, p. 92 (Frisia); ibid. c. 39, p. 108 and Annales regni Francorum, s.a. 774 p. 38 (Lombardy); Abel, S. and von Simson, B., Jahrbiicher des frdnkischen Retches unter Karl dem Gro/ien, (2 vols., Leipzig, 1883–1888), ii. 98–104Google Scholar, 106–7, for references to the Avar treasure; Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 870 p. 71: (Carloman) ‘ditatusque gaza regia revertitur’.

14 Annales regni Francorum, s.a. 772, p. 34.

15 The treasure collected by Liudger in Frisia and given by him to Charlemagne perhaps belongs in this category: Vita Liudgeri i. 14, (MGH, SS, 2), 408, lines 49 52Google Scholar.

16 Deer, J., ‘Karl der Große und der Untergang des Awarenreiches’, Karl der Grofle. Personlichkeit und Geschichte, ed. Beumann, H. (5 vols., Düsseldorf, 1965–1967), i. 758–62, 777Google Scholar.

17 Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 875, p. 84: ‘omnes thesauros, quos invenire potuit, unca manu collegit.’ cf. also ibid., p. 75.

18 Continuator, of Fredegar (ed. Wallace-Hadrill, ), c. 44, p. 113Google Scholar; Annales Fuldenses s.a. 870, p. 75; 876, p. 89 (on this battle cf. also the comments by Hincmar, Annales Bertiniani, s.a., p. 209).

19 Abel-Simson, Karl der Groβe, loc. cit. It should be noted, however, that the king's control was not always complete: Louis II, according to Prudentius of Troyes, failed to press the siege of Bari in 852 because he had been told it contained a large treasure and he did not want his warriors to loot it (Annales Bertiniani, s.a., p. 65).

20 Annales regni Francorum, s.a. 799, p. 108 (the E-text, p. 109, here offers no signifi-cant alterations); Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 865, p. 122. Cf. also the Spaniard John, who offered a share of the spoils to Louis the Pious when he was subking of Aquitaine, ‘equum obtimum et brunia obtima et spata India cum techa de argento parata’, and received land in return: Die Urkunden der Karolinger, (MGH, Diplomata, Hannover, 1906), i. 242, no. 179 (795)Google Scholar.

21 Carmen in honorem Hludovici, II. 678–9: ‘Vidistis quae olira Maurorum funere misit:/ Regem, arma et vinctos, magna trophea simul’ (spoken by Charlemagne to the Franks before Louis' coronation as emperor in 813).

22 Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 885, p. 103; cf. also ibid., s.a. 876, p. 98: ‘Frisiones… cum Nordmannis dimicantes victores extiterunt omnesque thesauros… abstulerunt atque inter se diviserunt.’

23 Gregory, of Tours, Historiae, 2.27, edd. Krusch, B. and Levison, W., (MGH, SRM, 1.1, Berlin, 1937–1951), 72Google Scholar; on division by lot cf. Bodmer, , Krieger, 100–1Google Scholar.

24 Tours, Gregory of, Historiae, 3.11, pp. 107–8Google Scholar.

25 Fredegar, , Chronicon, 3.71, ed. Krusch, B., (MGH, SRM 2, Berlin, 1878), 112Google Scholar.

26 Annales Bertiniani, s.a., pp. 54–5; MGH, Cap., ii. 70, no. 204, c. 3.

27 Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 845, p. 51; Dümmler, , Ostfrdnkisches Reich, i. 283–4Google Scholar.

28 MGH, Cap., i. 271, no. 136, c.6.

29 Fredegar (ed. Wallace-Hadrill), iv. 75, p. 63; cf. Waitz, , Verfassungsgeschichte, II. i. 182–3Google Scholar, and Doehaerd, R., ‘La richesse des Merovingiens’, Sludi in onore di Gino Luzzato (Milan, 1949), i. 30–46Google Scholar, on Merovingian hoards.

30 Einhard, , Vita Karoli, c. 33, ed. Holder-Egger, O., (MGH, SRG, Hannover, 1911), 37–41Google Scholar; Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 869, p. 69.

31 Schultze, A., ‘Das Testament Karls des Großen’, Aus Sozial- und Wirlschajtsgeschichte. Gedächtnisschrift für Georg von Below (Stuttgart, 1928), 46–81Google Scholar.

32 Abel-Simson, , Karl der Groβe, ii. 107Google Scholar; Wallace-Hadrill, J. M., ‘Charlemagne and England’, Early Medieval History (Oxford, 1975), 165–6Google Scholar.

33 Annales regni Francorum, s.a. 796, pp. 98, 99.

34 Annales Laureshamenses, s.a. 795, pp. 40–1.

35 Balbulus, Notker, Gesta Karoli Magni Imperatoris, ii. 21, ed. Haefele, H., (MGH, SRG, nova series, Berlin, 1961), p. 92Google Scholar.

36 De ordine palatii, edd. Gross, T. and Schieffer, R., (MGH, Fontes Iuris Germanici Antiqui, 3, Hannover, 1980), II. 478–9Google Scholar: ‘propter dona generaliter danda’; ibid., I. 360: ‘De honestate vero palatii seu specialiter ornamento regali nee non et de donis annuis militum, absque cibu et potu vel equis, ad reginam… pertinebat…’ Schieffer and Gross argue in their edition (p. 72, n. 165) that these are the normal dona annua, against Waitz, , Verfassungsgeschichte, iii. 549Google Scholar, who saw them as gifts to the milites. The sentence as a whole is undoubtedly talking about the queen's responsibility for out-going expenses, and as there are Anglo-Saxon parallels Waitz' interpretation seems the more plausible. Cf. Nelson, J., ‘The church's military service in the ninth century: a contemporary comparative view?’, Studies in Church History, 20 (1983), 24 with n. 36CrossRefGoogle Scholar, though I am not sure I agree with her that the gifts to the warriors must have been in cash; cf. the evidence for non-monetary gifts by the king to warriors assembled by Waitz, , Verfassungsgeschichte, iv. 250Google Scholar.

37 Recueil des actes de Charles le Chauve, ed. Tessier, G. (3 vols., Paris, 1943–1955) i. 468 no. 177Google Scholar.

38 For instance Bloch, M., Feudal Society (1961), 163ff.Google Scholar, Ganshof, F. L., Feudalism (3rd. edn., 1964), 35Google Scholar, to cite only two classic discussions; both authors see the unbeneficed vassal as an increasingly marginal phenomenon. More recently Bachrach, B. S., ‘Charles Martel, mounted shock combat, the stirrup, and feudalism’, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, 7 (1970), 70–2Google Scholar and Nelson, ‘Military service’, passim, have laid more stress on unbeneficed warrior followings.

39 As opposed to the precarial benefices which were often granted in return for gifts of land to a church and are frequently recorded in the Bavarian traditiones, for example; here we find much smaller pieces of property and the use of the word benefidolum, cf. Mitlellateinisches Worterbuch, I. A-B, (Munich, 1959–1967), cols. 1432–3Google Scholar, s.v.

40 MGH, Cap., i. 134–5, no. 48, c. 2 (807): all with three or more mansi are to serve; i. 137, no. 50, c. I (808): all with four or more mansi.

41 De ordine palatii, 11. 439–446.

42 Oexle, O.G., ‘Gilden als soziale Gruppen in der Karolingerzeit’, Das Handwerk in vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Zeit, eds Jankuhn, H. and others, (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, phil.-hist. Klasse, dritte Folge, 122, Gottingen, 1981), i. 301–8, 339–41Google Scholar. The objection was to the use of armed bands in improper ways—e.g. attacks on missi dominici or intimidating county courts—and perhaps also to armed bands bound together by mutual oaths; on the Carolingians' fear of coniuratio see Epperlein, S., Herrschqft und Volk im karolingischen Imperium (Forschungen zur mittelalterlichen Geschichte, 14, Berlin(E.), 1969), 42–50Google Scholar.

43 Astronomus, , Vita Hludovici, c. 45, (MGH, SS, 2), 633Google Scholar.

44 Nelson, , ‘Military service’, 22–4Google Scholar.

45 MGH, Epp., vi. 615, no. 105.

46 De ordinepalatii, II. 455–458.

47 Radbert, , Epitaphium Arsenii, ed. Dümmler, E. (Berlin, 1900), 83Google Scholar; for stipendia cf. also Hincmar, Ad Carolum Calvum, Migne, PL 125, col. 1050D.

48 Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 864, pp. 113–4; 868, p. 141.

49 Abbo, , Le siège de Paris par les Normands, ed. Waquet, H. (Les classiques de l'histoire de France au moyen âge 20, Paris, 1942) I. 442–59 pp. 48, 50Google Scholar.

50 Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 885, p. 103. On Hugo's uprising see now Tellenbach, G., ‘Die geistigen und politischen Grundlagen der karolingischen Thronfolge. Zugleich eine Studie iiber kollektive Willensbildung und kollektives Handeln im neunten Jahrhundert’, Fruhmittelalterliche Studien, 13 (1979), 286–8Google Scholar; for similar followings in Ottonian Saxony, Leyser, K.J., Rule and conflict in Ottoman Saxony (1979), 17–21Google Scholar.

51 Kienast, W., ‘Germanische Treue und “Königsheil”’, Historische Zeitschrift, 227 (1978), 265–324CrossRefGoogle Scholar, attempts a nuanced defence of the notion against the attacks by F. Graus, but it is so nuanced that I find it impossible to follow over large stretches.

52 ‘fecit rex Carlus conuentum apud Reganesburug; et cum cognovisset fideles suos, episcopos, abbates, et comites, qui cum ipso ibi aderant, et reliquum populum fidelem, qui cum Pippino in ipso consilio pessimo non erant, eos multipliciter honoravit in auro et argento et sirico et donis plurimis.’, Annales Laureshamenses, s.a. 793, p. 38.

53 In connection with education the usage is classical; but it appears to be in the Carolingian period that such words begin to be used of the relationship between lord and follower: cf. e.g. Einhard, , Vita Karoli, preface, p. 1Google Scholar: ‘nutritoris mei Karoli’ and p. 2: ‘nutrimentum in me inpensum’ Ermold, , Carmen in honorem Hludovici, II. 166, 658, 1144Google Scholar; MGH, Cap., ii. 283, no. 256, c. 4.

54 Among the numerous provisions in the capitularies regulating sales, there is one of particular interest in this context, MGH, Cap. i. 142, no. 55 c. 2: ‘ut null us audeat in nocte negotiare in vasa aurea et argentea, mancipia, gemmas, caballos, animalia…’, an almost complete list of ‘noble’ items. It is significant that they could be sold at all, though by daylight only and before reliable witnesses; the prohibition of night (i.e. secret) sales was perhaps intended not only as a general measure against fencing stolen goods, but also to try to prevent feuds arising over the possession of such items.

55 Annales regni Francorum, s.a. 798, pp. 104, 105.

56 Waitz, , Verfassungsgeschichte, iii. 591, iv. 107–110Google Scholar; Ganshof, , Frankish Institutions, 43 with n. 321Google Scholar. Although they are described in Carolingian sources as an ancient institution, the earliest datable reference is c. 6 of the council of Ver (755), MGH, Cap., i. 34. The reference in Formulae Bituricenses, ed. Zeumer, K. (MGH, Formulae Merowingici et Karolini Aevi, Berlin 1882–1886), 178 no. 18Google Scholar, is Carolingian. The last mention of them, so far as I can see, is at Quierzy in 877: MGH, Cap., ii. 363 no. 282.

57 Die Urkunden der deutschen Karolinger, ed. Kehr, P. (MGH, Diplomata, Berlin, 1934), i. 100, no. 70 (852)Google Scholar; Böhmer, J. F., Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs unterden Karolingern. 751–918, 2nd. edn. by Miihlbacher, E. (Innsbruck, 1908), no. 797 (825)Google Scholar.

58 See the Notitia de servitio monasteriorum, ed. Becker, P., in Initia Consuetudinis Benediclinae (Corpus Consuetudinum Monasticarum, I, Siegburg, 1963), 485–99Google Scholar; BöhmerMühlbacher, no. 929 (3 July 834) for Kempten is a diploma of exemption.

59 Die Urkunden der deutschen Karolinger, ed. Schieffer, T., (MGH, Diplpmata, Berlin, 1960) iv. 50–1 no. 18 (898)Google Scholar.

60 Cf. the chárter of Archbishop Wenilo of Sens for Saint-Rémy, Sens, Die Konzilien der karolingischen Teilreiche 843–859, ed. Hartmann, W., (MGH, Concilia, Hannover, 1984), iii. 59, no. 10Google Scholar: ‘Episcopus quoque in exigendis muneribus abbatem eiusdem loci non gravet, sed sufficiat ei ad annua dona equus unus et scutum cum lancea’; diploma of Charles the Bald for Saint-Pierre, Rouen (ed. Tessier, ii. 410, no. 407 (876)).

61 MGH, Cap., ii. 93–4, no. 217, c. 4 (865); Hincmar, Ad Carolum Calvum, Migne, PL 125, cols. 1050D–1051A.

62 Continuator of Fredegar (ed. Wallace-Hadrill), c. 48 p. 116; Annales sancti Amandi, s.a. 807 (MGH, SS, 1. 14); Annales regni Francorum, s.a. 827, p. 173, 829, p. 177; Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 832, p. 8, 833, p. 10, 835, p. 17, 836, p. 19, 837, p. 21, 864 p. 113, 868 p. 150, 874 p. 196; Fragmentum Chronici Fontanellensis, s.a. 851 (MGH, SS, 2. 303).

63 Exul, Hibernicus, Ad Karolum Regent, ed. Dummler, E. (MGH, Poetae Latini medii aevi, I, Berlin, 1881), 396Google Scholar; cf. also Dicuil, , Versus, ed. Strecker, K., (MGH, Poetae Latini medii aevi, 4, Berlin, 1923), 917Google Scholar. Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 870, p. 72: ‘… Fran corum iudicio et Baioariorum necnon Sclavorum, qui de diversis provinciis regi munera deferentes aderant…’. The Breton prince Salomon also handed his tribute over at the same time as the Franks presented the dona in 864: Annales Bertiniani, s.a., p. 113.

64 Continuator of Fredegar (ed. Wallace-Hadrill), c. 36 p. 104: tributa vel munera quod… requirabant; for 882 see above, p. 75, n. 2.

65 Nigellus, Ermoldus, Carmen in honorem Hludovici, 11. 1328–1930, p. 104Google Scholar: En mea rura colit late…/…/Nempe tributa vetat; cf. also 1. 1392, 1465–7.

66 Annales Fuldenses, s.a., 874, p. 81; 877, p. 89.

67 For objections to the theory see Miiller-Mertens, E., Karl der Groβe, Ludwig der Fromme und die Freien (Forschungen zur mittelalterlichen Geschichte, 10, Berlin (E), 1963)Google Scholar; Schulze, H. K., ‘Rodungsfreiheit und Konigsfreiheit. Zu Genese und Kritik neuerer verfassungsrechtlicher Theorien’, Historische zeitschrift, 219 (1974), 529–50Google Scholar; Schmitt, J., Untersuchungen zu den Liberi Homines der Karolingerzeit (Europaische Hochschulschriften, Reihe III, 85, Berne, 1977)Google Scholar. I hope to deal more fully elsewhere with the problems discussed in the following section.

68 Duby, G., The growth of the early European economy, (1974), 32, 86Google Scholar.

69 MGH, Cap., i. 208, no. 101 c. 3: ‘Quomodo causam confinales nostri odio semper habent contra illos qui parati sunt inimicis insidias facere et marcam nostram ampliare’; cf. also ibid., i. 206 no. 99 c. 3.

70 Cf. I. Dienemann-Dietrich, ‘Der frankische Adel in Alemannien im 8. Jahrhundert’, Probleme der alemannischen Geschichte, ed. Mayer, T. (Vortrage und Forschungen…, 1, Lindau, n.d. [1955]), 149–92Google Scholar; Mitterauer, M., Karolinguche Markgrafen im Siidosten (Archiv fur osterreichische Geschichte, 123, Vienna, 1963), 78–84Google Scholar.

71 Bullough, D., ‘Europae paler: Charlemagne and his achievement in the light of recent scholarship’, EHR, lxxxv (1970), 82–3CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For the ‘Northerners’ see the prosopography by Hlawitschka, E., Franken, Alemannen, Bayern und Burgunder in Oberitalien (774–962), (Forschungen zur oberrheinischen Landesgeschichte, 8, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1960)Google Scholar. On pp. 31 off. Hlawitschka gives a list of small men (Staatssiedler) found in Italian sources who came from north of the Alps, but there are surprisingly few of them before the end of the ninth century.

72 There is a good discussion of the aprisio system in Müller-Mertens, , Karl der Groβe, Ludwig der Fromme und die Freien, 61–6Google Scholar; for the evidence very scanty apart from Italy—for military colonists elsewhere see ibid., 74–8 and Schmitt, , Libert Homines, 110–35Google Scholar.

73 The importance of ‘heavy cavalry’ in Carolingian warfare continues to be over-estimated; for a useful corrective see Bullough, , ‘Europae pater’ 84–89Google Scholar, who rightly points to the Carolingians' ability to move armies and mount effective sieges.

74 This is common ground: cf. Schmitt, , Liberi Homines, 211–24Google Scholar; Müller-Mertens, , Karl der Groβe, Ludwig der Frotnme und die Freien, 120–133Google Scholar; Fleckenstein, J., ‘Adel und Kriegertum und ihre Wandlung im Karolingerreich’, Settimane di studi sull'alto medio evo, 27(1981), 82Google Scholar. There is disagreement only about whether Charles' measures were primarily intended to maintain Frankish military power (so Müller-Mertens and Fleckenstein) or were rather an expression of a new Herrscherethos (so Schmitt).

75 For defensio patriae cf. Dannenbauer, H., ‘Die Freien im karolingischen Heer’, Grundlagen der mittelalterlichen Welt (Stuttgart, 1958), 242–3Google Scholar. The earliest specific reference I have found is the Olonna capitulary of 822 (MGH, Cap., i. 319, no. 125, c. 18), but the context of Charlemagne's military preparations in the last decade of his reign is quite clearly a defensive one; cf. Sproemberg, H., ‘Die Seepolitik Karls des GroBen’, Beitrdge zur Belgisch-Niederlandischen Geschichte (Forschungen zur mittelalter-lichen Geschichte, 3, Berlin(E), 1959), 1–30Google Scholar. The one apparent exception is a capitulary which deals with the possibility that the Saxons might be sent into Aquitaine or against the Bohemians (MGH, Cap., i. 136, no. 49, c. 2), but what could be demanded of a recently-conquered tribe is not necessarily a guide to what could be done elsewhere.

76 Corsica: MGH, Cap., i. 325, no. 162, c. 3; Benevento: ibid., ii. 94–5, no. 218, c. 1; 828/9: ibid., ii. 5, no. 185, 7, no. 186, c. 7. On these years see Ganshof, F. L., ‘Am Vorabend der ersten Krise der Regierung Ludwigs des Frommen. Die Jahre 828 und 829’, Friihmittelallerliche Studien, 6 (1972), 40–5Google Scholar.

77 Sproemberg, , ‘Seepolitik’, 20–24Google Scholar.

78 Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 832, pp. 7–8: ‘denuo annuntiatum est placitum generale kalendas septembris Aurelianis habendum, ibique unumquemque liberum hostiliter aduenire’. So far as I can see, this is the only occasion in the whole of the Carolingian period when such a mass mobilisation is unambiguously and explicitly referred to in a narrative source.

79 In 832 Louis the German was thought to be raising an army of all the Bavarians, free and unfree (Annales Bertiniani, s.a., p. 5); in 802 Charlemagne laid down penalties for the unfree as well as for freemen, should they fail to give help when required in the event of a coastal attack: Eckhardt, W. A., ‘Die Capitularia missorum specialia von 802’, Deutsches Archivfiir Erforschung des Millelalters, 12 (1956), 502, c. 13bGoogle Scholar.

80 Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 859, p. 80 (where, incidentally, the discussion in note 1 is superfluous: the text means what it says, namely that the coniuratw was suppressed by powerful Franks); Regino of Prüm, Chronicon, ed. Kurze, F., (MGH, SRG, Hannover, 1890), s.a. 882, p. 118Google Scholar.

81 Grierson, P. H., ‘Commerce in the Dark Ages: a critique of the evidence’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5t hser., 9 (1959), 139CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

82 This is a minefield, however: see the cautions issued by Geuenich, D., ‘Die volkssprachige Uberlieferung der Karolingerzeit aus der Sicht des Historikers’, Deutsches Archivfiir Erforschung des Mittelalter 39 (1983), 113–16Google Scholar.

83 Note the Byzantine proverb quoted by Einhard, , Vita Karoli, c. 16, p. 20Google Scholar: ‘If a Frank is your friend, then he is not your neighbour’.

84 Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 840, pp. 30–1.

85 On Pippin see Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 859, p. 81 and 864, p. 105; on Hugo see above, pp. 83–4 n. 50 and Regino, Chronicon, s.a. 885, p. 123; on Carloman and Louis th e Younger see Annales Bertiniani, s.a. 861, p. 85, and Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 866, p. 65.

86 Levillain, L., ‘La marche de Bretagne, ses marquis et ses comtes’, Annales de Bretagne, 58 (1951), 89–117CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Boussard, J., ‘Les destins de la Neustrie du IXe au XIe siecle’, Cahiers de Civilisation Midie'vale, II (1968), 15–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mitterauer, , Markgrqfen, 180–181Google Scholar.

87 Die Urkunden der Karolinger, i. 251, no. 187: Aio, a Lombard, flees to the Avars; council of Mainz, 852, c. 12, (MGH, Concilia, iii. 248): the case of Albgis, who fled to the Moravians; Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 869, pp. 67–8 (Gundachar) and 899, p. 133 (Isanric), both of whom took refuge with the Moravians.

88 Sós, A. C., Die slawische Bevölkerung Westungarns im 9. Jahrhundert, (Munich, 1973), 29–47Google Scholar; Wolfram, H., Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, (Vienna, 1979), 50–57, 129–41Google Scholar.

89 For his itinerary see Böhmer-Mühlbacher, nos. 1577a–1765b.

90 For a similar point about Austrasia in the sixth century see Collins, R., ‘Theudebert I, “Magnus rex Francorum”’, in Idea and Reality in Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Society. Studies presented to J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, eds Wormald, P. and others (Oxford, 1983). 14–15Google Scholar.

91 Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 858, p. 49; 869, p. 68.

92 Verlinden, C., ‘L'origin de sdavus = esclave’, Archiwm Latinitatis Medii Aevi, 17 (1943), 97–128Google Scholar, dates this change in Germany to the tenth and eleventh centuries (elsewhere in Europe not until the thirteenth). But see the diploma of Arnulf for Wiirzburg, , Die Urkunden der deutschen Karolinger, ed. Kehr, P., (MGH, Diplomata, Berlin, 1940), iii. 99, no. 66 (889)Google Scholar: ‘homines ipsius ecclesiae sive accolas vel sclavos’: vel sclavos is an addition to the text of the Vorurkunde, a charter of Louis the Pious' dated 19 December 822 (Bohmer-Miihlbacher, no. 767). The transition can be found in a diploma of Louis the German for Altaich, , Die Urkunden der deutschen Karolinger, i. 117, no. 80 (857)Google Scholar: servos Sclavos vel accolas.

93 Auzias, L., L'Aquitaine carolingienne (778–987) (Toulouse, 1937), 176ffGoogle Scholar. It was only after 864 that Charles the Bald managed a thorough purge of office-holders n Aquitaine: ibid., 328–360. Cf. also Classen, P., ‘Die Vertrage von Verdun und von Coulaines 843 als politische Grundlagen des Westfrankischen Reiches’, Historische Zeitschrift, 196 (1963), 1–2, 34CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

94 The evidence is comprehensively surveyed by Joranson, E., The Danegeld in France (Augustana Library Publications 10, Rock Island, III., 1923)Google Scholar.

95 Annales Fuldenses, s.a. 876, p. 86; cf. Schramm, P. E., ‘Karl der Kahle’, in Kaiser, Kdnige und Papste. Gesammelle Aufsatze zur Geschichte des Mittelalters (Stuttgart, 1968), ii. 133–4Google Scholar. On the treasures, see above, p.78 with n. 17. Hincmar's criticisms are discussed by Nelson, J., ‘The 'Annals of St. Bertin”’, in Charles the Bald. Court and Kingdom, eds Gibson, M. and Nelson, J. (British Archaeological Reports, International Series, 101, Oxford, 1980), 26Google Scholar.

96 ‘Irruit super Bohemos … et fecit eos tributarios’: Widukind, of Corvey, Rerum gestarum Saxoriicarum libri Ires i c. 35 (MGH, SRG, Hannover 1935), 48–51Google Scholar. On the role of tribute-payments in the political economy of the Ottonian Reich see now Leyser, K., ‘Ottonian Government’, EHR, xcvi (1981), 739–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.