CarolingianAge ReflectionsPlace HistoryMiddleAges

Medieval Academy of America
The Carolingian Age: Reflections on Its Place in the History of the Middle Ages
Author(s): Richard E. Sullivan
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Speculum, Vol. 64, No. 2 (Apr., 1989), pp. 267-306
Published by: Medieval Academy of America
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The CarolingianAge:
on Its Place in the

Reflections
Historyofthe MiddleAges
By Richard
E.
Sullivan
The purpose of this essay is to reflecton the Carolingian age and on the
assumptionsthat have governed the studyof this importantsegmentof the
early Middle Ages.' I am concerned withtwo issues: what happened during
the Carolingian period, and where the period should be located in the larger
historicalcontext.That is to say, the discussion is both historicaland historiographical.It is intended not only for Carolingian specialists,but also for
otherswho have reason to consider the originsand developmentof medieval
history.
There has been a massive outpouring of scholarshipon the early Middle
Ages and on Carolingian historyover the last half century.2A generation
ago it was possible to read that littlewas to be gained fromfurtherstudyof
the "real" dark ages, the period extendingfromthe fallof the Roman Empire
to about 1000.3 Early medieval historyhas neverthelessbecome the object of
intenseresearch,especiallyin the last threedecades. Evidence of thisrenaisThis essay was originallypresented as a plenaryaddress delivered on May 10, 1986, at the
Twenty-FirstInternationalCongress on Medieval Studies sponsored by the Medieval Institute
of Western Michigan University.In revisingthe original paper the author received invaluable
assistance from many generous colleagues, especially Professor Thomas F. X. Noble of the
Universityof Virginia and Dr. Luke Wenger of the Medieval Academy of America.
2No attempt will be made in this essay to provide a guide to all of this scholarship; the
documentation is confined to studies which exemplifythe points being made. The following
abbreviationsare used:
Annales:Economies,Societes,Civilisations
Annales
DA
desMittelalters
DeutschesArchivfiirErforschung
EHR
EnglishHistoricalReview
Studien
FMSt
Friihmittelalterliche
Historisches
HJ
Jahrbuch
HZ
Historische
Zeitschrift
MA
Le MoyenAge
Settimane Settimanedi studio del Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo
SM
Studimedievali
VuF
Vortrage und Forschungen
ZKG
Zeitschrift
fuirKirchengeschichte
3 On this
point, see William Carroll Bark, Originsof theMedieval World,Stanford Studies in
History,Economics, and PoliticalScience 14 (Stanford,Calif., 1958), pp. 3-4.
267
SPECULUM 64 (1989)

268
The Carolingian Age
sance can be found in the establishmentin Europe of highly visible and

productiveresearchcentersdedicated to the investigationof the earlyMiddle
Ages, notablythe Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo at Spoleto, the
of the Universityof Mtnster,and the
Institutfur Frihmittelalterforschung
Centre de recherches sur l'Antiquite tardive et le Haut Moyen-age of the
Universityof Paris X-Nanterre. Since World War II early medieval studies
have also taken on new vigor in North America.
All thisattentionto the earlyMiddle Ages, of whichthe Carolingian period
is a crucial part, has nurturednew approaches and emphases in Carolingian
studies. What has yet to happen, however,is the developmentof a synthesis
thatdoes justice to the advances that have been made in our understanding
of particulartopics. Afterreading hundreds of articlesand monographs on
a varietyof Carolingian subjects,I sense a kind of aimlessness,an absence of
cohesion, in Carolingian studies. A symptomof this uncertaintyis perhaps
Settimanaat Spoleto
provided by the theme selected for the twenty-seventh
in 1979: "Nascita dell'Europa ed Europa carolingia: Un'equazione da verificare."4 The thinlyveiled question that gives substance to this titleinevitably
promptsthe thoughtthatsomethingmay be amiss in the basic presumptions
underlyingthe conventionalapproach to the Carolingian period. It is time,
then,to examine the currenttrajectoryof Carolingian scholarship.If the old
paradigmsare found wanting,scholarsmustdevelop new ones thatwilldirect
theirresearch toward more productiveends.
At the heart of what I believe to be a malaise in Carolingian studies is the
issue of periodization.Imposed artificially
on the past, periodizationconcepts
serve historiansas hermeneuticaldevices that give impetus, direction,and
meaning to researchand interpretation.They pose questionsabout segments
of the past and challenge investigatorsto demonstratethe unique, organic
character of a discrete chronological period. To the extent that scholars
succeed in thiseffort,the period earns a distinctplace in the larger historical
continuum.
Periodization concepts do not live forever; the landscape of historyis
strewnwith their bones. The criticalmoment in the life of a periodization
paradigm comes when scholarlyinvestigationbegins to produce a knowledge
base that no longer supports the postulatesthathad been thoughtto define
the unique character of a period. When this happens, consensus is undermined, and the scholarlycommunitytends to fragmentin the absence of a
conceptual instrumentto guide the formulationof common problems.A new
scheme becomes necessary,both to accommodate what has already been
learned and to provide a focus for subsequent study.
Carolingian historiographyappears to be approaching thiskind of critical
juncture. If it is true that the dissolution of a once vital paradigm is upon
us, the implicationsare far-reaching.More than the futurecourse of Carolingian studies is at stake. A major redefinitionof the Carolingian period
4 For the results,see Nascita
2 vols.,
dell'Europaed Europa carolingia:Un'equazioneda verificare,
Settimane27 (Spoleto, 1981).

The Carolingian Age
269
would entail an equally substantial revision in our understanding of the

developmentof medieval historyas a whole.
I
Perhaps I can best frame the issue I wish to analyze by citingtwo books.
The firstwork, Henri Pirenne's Mahometet Charlemagne,
posthumouslypublished in 1937,5 has played a crucial role in definingan acceptable periodization scheme forthe Carolingianage and thusin givingshape to Carolingian
studies for almost a half century.The second, Robert Fossier's Enfancede
etsociaux,published in two volumes
l'Europe,Xe-XIIe siecle:Aspectseconomiques
in 1982, brazenlychallenged the validityof that periodizationparadigm.6
Although I sometimessuspect thatthe Pirenne "thesis"is fading fromthe
vocabularyof historicaldiscourse,it should not be necessaryhere to recapitulate the path that Pirenne followed to reach his seminal conclusion,quoted
fromthe English translationof his greatwork: "It is thereforestrictly
correct
to say that without Mohammed Charlemagne would have been inconceivable."7 What is relevant here is what this conclusion meant in terms of
defininga precise character for the Carolingian age. For Pirenne the Carolingian period marked the beginningof a new era. In part as a resultof the
finalcollapse of Romanitasbroughtabout by the Moslem disruptionof Mediterraneanunityand in part as a consequence of creative initiativesundertaken in the Carolingian world, a new order took shape in the European
Westin the eighthcentury.Pirenne suggestedthatthe fundamentalcontours
of thatnew order could best be discernedin the economicand social patterns,
the politicalorder, and the intellectuallife of the Carolingian age, but it was
implicitin his basic argumentthata major transformation
affectingall aspects
of life occurred in the crucial Carolingian age, where "the Middle Ages had
theirbeginning."8
The impact of Pirenne's periodization model was immediate and massive
withrespectto the Carolingian age. That factis sometimesveiled by the wellknowndebate surroundingthe Pirenne thesis.In fact,thatdebate was chiefly
concerned with Pirenne's analysis of what happened beforethe Carolingian
era. There was almost universalacceptance of Pirenne's postulationthat the
Carolingian era marked the birthof Europe, the creation of a new civilizational order which left an indelible stamp on future Western European
history.Proof of that impact abounds not only in monographic literature
dating from about 1940 but also, more dramatically,in highly influential
synthetictreatmentsof the early Middle Ages and in standard medieval
5 For the
storyof how thisseminal workevolved,see Bryce Lyon,HenriPirenne:A Biographical
and Intellectual
Study(Ghent, 1974).
6 For the
purpose of thisessay,see also Robert Fossier,et al., Le moyen
age, 3 vols. (Paris, 198283).
7 Henri
trans. Bernard Miall (London, 1939), p. 234.
Pirenne, Mohammedand Charlemagne,
8
Ibid., p. 234.

270
The Carolingian Age
historytextbooks,oftenthe litmuswhere conceptual consensus is registered.9

All these works shared a common characteristic:they located the birth of
Europe, the beginning of the Middle Ages, the point of transitionfrom
ancientto medieval,in tie Carolingian age, the major characteristicof which
was the establishmentof a new civilizationalorder. Pirenne'smost significant
achievementwas to articulatea paradigm which permittedscholars to agree
that the Carolingian era possessed its own identity,that it represented a
radical break withthe past and the creationof new societalfoundationswhich
marked the birthof Europe. To give substanceto the termsof so provocative
a periodizationscheme was sufficient
challenge to nurturea massivecollective
effort
defined
the
terms
of the Pirenne paradigm.
scholarly
by
Let us move from 1937 and the Carolingian birthof Europe to 1982 and
Fossier's Enfancede l'Europe.The entire thrustof Fossier's treatmentof the
tenth,eleventh, and twelfthcenturies is to claim for that period what the
Pirenne thesis posited for the Carolingian age. He argues that WesternEuropean civilizationsaw its genesis during the fewdecades clusteredon either
side of the year 1000. Not only does he shiftthe date of the birthof the first
Europe, but also he insiststhat the infantlooks different.As revealed by
demographers,anthropologists,climatologists,economic historians,and archaeologists,the contoursof this"autre moyenage" (a phrase borrowedfrom
Jacques Le Goff) were shaped by the activitiesof the ignoble ratherthan by
a social elite. In its essential structuresthat world arose de novo,formed by
creative responses to the challenges and the stresses supplied by climatic
changes, population growth,the relaxationof the tyrannyof ancient kinship
ties, and the regrouping of human beings into a more stable political-economic-socialstructuredefined by the seigneurialsystem.
For Fossier the discoveryof this new firstEurope reduces the Carolingian
"revival" to an episode withoutconsequence and makes Charlemagne "un
9 For
example, H. St. L. B; Moss, The Birthof theMiddle Ages, 395-814 (Oxford, 1935);
Ferdinand Lot, ChristianPfister,and Francois L. Ganshof,Les destinies
en occident,
new
de I'empire
ed., Histoiregenerale, ed. Gustave Glotz,Histoiredu moyenage 1 (Paris, 1940-41); Christopher
to theHistoryofEuropeanUnity(New York, 1945);
Dawson, TheMakingofEurope:An Introduction
C. Delisle Burns, The FirstEurope: A StudyoftheEstablishment
A.D. 400ofMedievalChristendom,
800 (London, 1947); and Heinrich Dannenbauer, Die Entstehung
zum
Europas: VonderSpdtantike
2 vols. (Stuttgart,1959-62). Moss's book extended the sweep of the Pirenne thesisto
Mittelalter,
broader ground by suggestingthat not only in the West but also in Byzantiumand the Moslem
world there occurred between the death of Theodosius and thatof Charlemagne criticaldevelopmentswhichlikewisesignaled the birthof new,unique civilizationalpatterns.This challenging
suggestionemboldened some scholars to enfold both East and West into a grand scheme which
highlightedthe tripartitionof the unified classical Mediterraneanworld among three heirs of
the Roman Empire, each of whichreached a crucialjuncture in the eighthcentury;see Richard
E. Sullivan, Heirs of theRomanEmpire(Ithaca, N.Y., 1960); Robert Folz, et al., De l'antiquiteau
mondemedievale,Peuples et civilisations,Histoire generale 5 (Paris, 1972); Handbuchder euroed.
ed. Theodor Schieder, 1: Europa im Wandelvon derAntikezumMittelalter,
ptischenGeschichte,
Theodor Schieffer(Stuttgart,1976); and JudithHerrin, TheFormation
ofChristendom
(Princeton,
N.J., 1987). Even a cursory examination of American textbooksof medieval historywritten
between World War I and about 1950 leaves no doubt that the Pirenne thesishad a profound
impacton theirstructureand emphasis.

The Carolingian Age

271
souverain antique" rather than "Europae pater."'0 Fossier is willingto concede some continuitiesacross the divide separating the Carolingian world
from the civilizationalorder emerging after 1000, but for him these were
only surface phenomena which in no way permitus to argue that the powerfulupsurge occurringin the West after 1000 was a consequence of evolution from a Carolingian base. He argues that up until about 950 there was
littleto allow one to foresee the birth,let alone the triumph,of a "petite
Europe occidentale." Only in the East - in the Byzantineand Islamic worlds
- was therevitalityand creativity.In the West priorto the mid-tenthcentury
nothingmeets the eye except ruins and mediocrity.But once into the tenth
centurythere was a dramatic reversal which resulted in the reorganization
of the moribund societies of the West. Wrenchingitselffromits position of
"fetaldependence," WesternChristendomtook on a life of its own, unique
in all its features."Le 'vrai' Moyen-age commence."1
In evokingthe names of Pirenne and Fossier I have no intentionof claiming foreithera place alongside Augustineof Hippo or Karl Marx or Arnold
Toynbee as formulatorsof grand designs within which the total human
experience or any of its parts can be fitted.Their respectivepositions do
suggest,however,thatafterfifty
yearsof historicalinvestigationit has become
plausible to locate the beginningof the Middle Ages two centurieslater than
Pirenne had placed it. The "event" criticalto any periodizationsystemis the
birthof a civilizationalorder. Fossierasks us to considera major chronological
redefinition.He attributesto a differentset of playersthe responsibilityfor
the crucial actions shaping the new order - not kingsand prelatesand men
of learning but brutal, unruly seigneurs, near-savage peasants, crude merchants and artisans,and renegade clerics. And he draws the visage of this
new order with a differentset of distinguishingfeatures- not an imperial
stateand a universalchurch and a learned literaryculture,but socioeconomic
structuresdeeply rooted in a particular mode of agriculturalproduction,
bonding relationshipsimbedded in unique kingship and dependency patterns,and mentalitiesshaped by pagan perceptionssuperficiallymasked by
an extremelytransparentveil of Christianity.If all this is true, then indeed
we have arrived at "une autre moyen age" and a new periodizationscheme
which calls for a fundamentalreassessmentof how we interpretany aspect
of medieval civilization.
What Fossier has suggested as a more convincingway of periodizing medieval historyis not a product of scholarlylegerdemain. Rather,it is a logical
conclusion to be derived from the collective thrustof scholarlyeffortaddressed to a varietyof issues over the last halfcentury.Centralto the scholarly
enterprisewhich appears to be producing a reformulationof the basic configurationof medieval historyhas been Carolingian scholarship.It is time to
look to the course of that scholarlyeffortso as to better understand the
massive transformationwe have suggested.
10See D. A.
Bullough, "Europae Pater: Charlemagne and His Achievementsin the Light of
Recent Scholarship,"EHR 85 (1970), 59-105.
1 Fossier,et al., Le moyendge,2:6.

272
The Carolingian Age

2
A review of Carolingian scholarshipover the last half centuryoffersconvincingproof thatthe Pirenne thesis,by postulatingthatthe Carolingian age
witnessedthe birthof Europe and the beginningof the Middle Ages, gave
Carolingian studies a distinctiveshape. That paradigm set a specificagenda
to whichscholars of everypersuasion - political,economic,social, religious,
literary,linguistic,artistic- could profitablydevote theirenergies. It called
upon them to establishthe exact circumstancesthat defined the disjuncture
settingthe Carolingian age apart from the previous age. It was crucial that
the new, innovative aspects of the Carolingian experience be delineated.
Attentionneeded to be given to what distinguishedthe firstEurope not only
fromthe classical world but also fromother contemporarycultures: Byzantine, Moslem, Slavic, Scandinavian, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon. Finally,it was vital
to identifyaspects of the Carolingian achievementwhich asserted a decisive
formativeinfluenceon the futureEuropean world.
As assorted Carolingianistsproceeded withthisagenda fromtheirvarious
specialized perspectives,their effortsconverged on one overarchingtheme
which I would submit has provided the central focus for the study of the
Carolingian world for most of the past fiftyyears.The strongestcase for the
claim that the Carolingian age witnessedthe birthof the firstEurope rested
on the emergence of certain common, unifying,universal, pan-European
developments pointing toward the establishmentof a single civilizational
order. That approach was not entirelynew; even observerslivingduring the
Carolingian age dimlyrecognized the centralityof thistheme in theirtimes.
Certainlya varietyof scholars afterthe Carolingian era and before Pirenne
were attractedto the common, unifyingdimensions of Carolingian history,
thus establishinga traditionfor this approach. And in accounting for the
passion withwhich Carolingianistsover the past fiftyyears have pursued the
universalizing,unifyingfeatures of the Carolingian experience one must
alwaysbe mindfulof an importantdimensionof twentieth-century
European
consciousness. Most Carolingianistswere members of an intelligentsiadesperately seeking common denominators in the European experience that
would provide a rallyingpoint against forcesof national and ethnic hatred,
and class conflictthatseemed to push Western
global warfare,totalitarianism,
civilizationtoward the fate predicted in the Spenglerian prophecy. Where
betterto findEurope's mostprecious commonalitiesthan at the fountainhead
of the European experience where presided one of Europe's few shared
heroes - Karl der Grosse, Charlemagne, Carolo Magno, Charles the Great?
But neithertraditionnor anomie sufficedto focus so sharplythe thrustof
Carolingian scholarship over the last fiftyyears. What was decisive was a
persuasive periodization scheme which could be given substance by identifyingand describing the shareable, unifyinginstitutionaland ideological
patternsinstitutedby the Carolingian elite to draw into an organic order the
diversepeoples occupyingthe territory
controlledby the Carolingiandynasty.
The creation and disseminationof these commonalitiesset the Carolingian
age apart fromthe past and fromothercontemporarysocietiesand permitted

The Carolingian Age
273
the creative forces of that age to fashion an inheritance which could be

transmittedto sustain a unique WesternEuropean culture in the post-Carolingian age.
An example - one of but many - of this central featureof Carolingian
studies is supplied by Carolingian religioushistorians.A surveyof the fruits
of theirscholarlylabors leaves no doubt thattheirinteresthas focused chiefly
on developmentsaffectingthe societasChristianain a common way and pointing toward the unificationof that extensivecommunity.The crucial themes,
regularlysounded in the major general treatmentsof Carolingian religious
history,have been pursued in infinitedetail by legions of scholars studying
specificaspects of religious life.'2Particularlyenthrallinghas been the effort
to chart the path followedby the papacy between GregoryII and John VIII
in establishingitselfas a unifying,directiveforce over Western Christendom.13Directlyrelated to that theme is the unique relationshipestablished
between the Carolingian state and the religious establishment.14 Scholars
12As illustrativeof this
Histoire de l'eglise
emphasis, see Emile Amann, L'epoquecarolingienne,
depuis les originesjusqu'a nos jours, ed. Augustin Fliche and Victor Martin,6 (Paris, 1947);
HandbuchderKirchengeschichte,
ed. Hubert Jedin, 3: Die mittelalterliche
Kirche,1. Halbband: Vom
kirchlichen
Friihmittelalter
zurgregorianischen
Reform,
by FriedrichKempf,Hans-Georg Beck, Eugen
Ewig, and JosefAndreas Jungmann (Freiburg, 1966) (English translationas HandbookofChurch
ed. Hubert Jedin and John Dolan, 3: The Churchin theAge ofFeudalism,trans. Anselm
History,
Biggs [New York, 1969]); David Knowles withDmitriObolensky,TheMiddleAges,The Christian
Centuries 2 (New York, 1968); J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, The FrankishChurch,Oxford Historyof
the ChristianChurch (Oxford, 1983); Pierre-PatrickVerbraken,Les premiers
siecleschretiens:
Du
collegeapostoliquea l'empirecarolingien,new ed. (Paris, 1984); and Gert Haendler, Die lateinische
KircheimZeitalterderKarolinger,Kirchengeschichtein Einzeldarstellung1/7(Berlin, 1985).
13 For
example, Amann, L'epoque carolingienne,
passim; Franz X. Seppelt, Das Papsttumim
Frihmittelalter:
der PdpstevomRegierungsantritt
Geschichte
Gregorsdes Grossenbis zur Mittedes 11.
Geschichte des Papsttums 2 (Leipzig, 1934); Johannes Haller, Das Papsttum:Idee
Jahrhunderts,
und Wirklichkeit,
rev. ed., 5 vols. (Basel, 1951-53), 1:345-559; 2:1-178; Yves Congar, L'eglisede
S. Augustina l'epoquemoderne,
Histoire de dogma 3, Christologie-sot6riologie-mariologie
3 (Paris,
1970), chs. 2-3; and Walter Ullmann, A ShortHistoryof thePapacy in theMiddleAges (London,
1972), pp. 4-115.
14 The
phenomenon in question is described by Gabriel Le Bras, "Sociologie de l'6glise dans
e i lororapporti
le haut moyenage" in Le chieseneiregnidell'Europaoccidentale
conRomasinoall'800,
2 vols.,Settimane7 (Spoleto, 1960), 2:595-611. Studies illustratingthispoint include Karl Voigt,
Staat und KirchevonKonstantin
demGrossenbiszumEnde derKarolingerzeit
(Stuttgart,1936); Louis
L'6volution de l'humanit633 (Paris, 1947) (English
Halphen, Charlemagneet l'empirecarolingien,
translationas Charlemagne
and theCarolingianEmpire,trans.Giselle de Nie, Europe in the Middle
du Veau XIVe siecle,Collection
en occident
Ages 3 [Amsterdam,1977]); Robert Folz, L'idged'empire
historique(Paris, 1953), pp. 11-46 (English translationas The ConceptofEmpirein Western
Europe
trans. Sheila Ann Ogilvie [London, 1969], pp. 3-35); H.fromtheFifthto theFourteenth
Century,
X. Arquilliere,L'Augustinisme
politiquesdu moyen-age,
politique:Essai sur la formationdes theories
und rechtlichen
L'6glise et l'6tatau moyen-age2, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1955); Das Konigtum:Seinegeistigen
Grundlagen,VuF 3 (Lindau, 1964), especiallythe articlesby Eugen Ewig, Heinrich Buttner,and
Theodor Mayer; Marcel Pacaut, La thgocratie:
L'egliseet le pouvoirau moyendge,Collection historique (Paris, 1957), pp. 35-62; Josef Semmler, "Reichsidee und kirchlicheGesetzgebung [bei
Aevum
Reichsidee,
Ludwig dem Frommen],"ZKG 71 (1960), 37-65; WalterMohr,Die karolingische
Christianum:SalzburgerBeitrage zur Religions-und Geistesgeschichtedes Abendlands 5 (Munsin CarolingianPoliticalThought
ter,1962); Karl FrederickMorrison,TheTwoKingdoms:Ecclesiology
in derKarolingerzeit,
undHerrscherethos
(Princeton,N.J., 1964); Hans Hubert Anton,Fiirstenspiegel
Bonner historischeForschungen 32 (Bonn, 1968), especially pp. 357-444; Y. M. J. Congar,

274
The Carolingian Age
following this line of investigationhave especially stressed the emerging

symbiosisbetween state and church,which mutuallyreinforcedthe drive on
the part of each to unifysociety.The resultwas an interminglingof interests
and activitiesso intimatethat Carolingianistsfeel comfortablein employing
such termsas rex-sacerdos,
episcopus-comes,
lay abbot, ministerialkingship,res
and
to characterizethe Carolingian
Christianum
Christiana,
publica
imperium
establishment
a context that emphasizes
within
politico-religious
always
the unifyingimpact of the emergent theocracy.Other prime focuses of
investigationinto Carolingian religious history,likewise stressingunifying
and universalizingtendencies in the Carolingian world, include the standardizing of the norms definingreligiousbehavior;'5 the effortto'impose a
uniformorganizational structureon the Carolingian church;'6 the encour-
du hautmoyenage de saintGregoirele Granda la desunionentreByzanceetRome((Paris,

L'ecclesiologie
Universitadi Cagliari, Pub1968); Paola Maria Arcari,Idee e sentimenti
politicidell'altomedioevo,
blicazionidella Facolta di Giurisprudenza,serie 2/1(Milan, 1968); WalterUllmann, The Carolingian Renaissanceand theIdea ofKingship,The Birbeck Lectures, 1968-69 (London, 1969); Gerd
Tellenbach, "Die geistigenund politischenGrundlagen der karolingischenThronfolge: Zugleich
eine Studie fiberkollektiveWillensbildungund kollectivesHandeln im neuntenJahrhundert,"
FMSt 13 (1979), 184-302; Johannes Fried, "Der karolingischeHerrschaftsverbandim 9. Jh.
zwischen 'Kirche' und 'K6nigshaus,"' HZ 235 (1982), 1-43; BrigitteSzab6-Bechstein,Libertas
Ecclesiae: Ein Schliisselbegriff
des Investiturstreits
und seine Vorgeschichte,
4.-11. Jahrhundert,
Studi
Churchand
Gregoriani 12 (Rome, 1985); and Uta-Renate Blumenthal,TheInvestiture
Controversy:
fromtheNinthto theTwelfth
Monarchy
Century(Philadelphia, 1988).
15 Carlo de
Clercq, La legislation
religieuse
franque:Etudesur les actesde concileset les capitulaires,
les statutsdiocesainset les reglesmonastiques,
1: De Clovis& Charlemagne
(507-814) (Louvain, 1936);
2: De Louis le Pieux a la fin du IXe siecle(814-900) (Antwerp, 1958); Antonio Garcia y Garcia,
Historiadel derechocan6nico,1: El primermilenio,Institutode historia de la teologia espafola,
Subsidia 1 (Salamanca, 1967); Hubert Mordek, "Dionysio-Hadriana und Vetus Gallica: Historisch geordnetes und systematischesKirchenrechtam Hofe Karls des Grossen," Zeitschrift
der
kan. Abt. 56 (1969), 39-69; and idem,Kirchenrecht
und Reform
Savigny-Stiftungfiir
Rechtsgeschichte,
im Frankenreich:
Die CollectioVetusGallica, die altestesystematische
desfrinkischen
Kanonessammlung
Gallien.StudienundEdition,Beitrage zur Geschichteund Quellenkunde des Mittelalters1 (Berlin,
1975).
16 In
discussing Carolingian developments in church organization the general surveys of
church historynoted in n. 12, above, all emphasize the progress made toward a uniform
organizationalstructureas a key featureof Carolingian ecclesiasticalhistory.Also illustrativeare
the following:Histoiredesinstitutionsfrancaises
au moyen
age,ed. Ferdinand Lot and RobertFawtier,
3: Institutions
ecclesiastiques,
byJean-FrancoisLemarignier,Jean Gaudemet, and Guillaume Mollat
(Paris, 1962), pp. 7-48; Heinrich Buttner,"Missionund Kirchenorganisationdes Frankenreiches
bis zum Tode Karls des Grossen," in Karl der Grosse:Lebenswerk
und Nachleben,ed. Wolfgang
Braunfels, 4 vols. (Dusseldorf, 1965), 1:454-87; G. W. O. Addleshaw, The Development
of the
ParochialSystem
fromCharlemagne(768-814) to UrbanII (1088-1099), St. Anthony'sHall Publications 6 (London, 1954); Friedrich Kempf, "Primatialeund episkopal-synodaleStrukturder
Kirche vor der gregorianischen Reform,"Archivumhistoriaepontificiae16 (1978), 27-66; and
Cristianizzazione
ed organizzazione
ecclesiastica
dellecampagnenell'altomedioevo:
Espansionae resistenze,
2 vols., Settimane 28 (Spoleto, 1982). This particularemphasis in treatingCarolingian church
organization has been powerfullyinfluenced by the picture that emerges from the study of
canon law; see, for example, such works as Willibald M. Plochl, Geschichte
desKirchenrechts,
2nd
VonderUrkirche
ed., 1: Das RechtdeserstenchristlichenJahrtausends:
biszumGrossenSchisma(Vienna,
1960); Garcia y Garcia, Historiadel derechocan6nico,1; and H. E. Feine, Kirchliche
Rechtsgeschichte:
Die katholische
Kirche,5th ed. (Cologne, 1972).

The Carolingian Age
275
agement of clerical collegiality;'7the quest for doctrinal18 and liturgical'9

17
Suggestive on this theme are H. Marot, "La collegialiteet le vocabulaire episcopal des Ve
au VIIe sickle,"and Y. M. J. Congar, "Notes sur la destin de l'idee du collegialit6episcopale en
occident au moyen age (VIIe-XVIe siecles)," both in La collegialite
episcopale:Histoireet theologie,
Unam sanctam 52 (Paris, 1965), pp. 59-98, 99-129. See also Gilles Gerard Meersseman, "Die
Klerikervereinevon Karl dem Grossen bis Innocenz III.," Zeitschrift
fiirschweizerische
Kirchengeschichte
46 (1952), 1-42, 81-112; Saint Chrodegang,
Communicationspresenteesau colloque tenu
a Metz a l'occasion du douzieme centenairede sa mort(Metz, 1967); JosefSiegwart,"Der gallo61 (1967), 193-244;
frankischeKanonikerbegriff,"Zeitschrift
fur schweizerische
Kirchengeschichte
Ferminio Poggiaspalla, La vita comunedel clerodalle originialla riformagregoriana,Uomini e
dottrine 14 (Rome, 1968); Jean Imbert, "Disciplina et communio a l'epoque carolingien,"and
Yves M. J. Congar, "De potestatesacerdotali et de ecclesia ut ecclesiarumcommunione saeculi
Acta coninterecclesiale:
VII, VIII et IX," both in Communione
Collegialitd-Primato-Ecumenismo,
ventusinternationalisde historiasollicitudinisomnium ecclesiarum,Romae, 1967, ed. Giuseppe
d'Ercole and Alfons M. Stickler,2 vols., Communio 12-13 (Rome, 1972), 2:519-46, 961-81;
e pietddei laica nel medioevo,3 vols.,
Gilles Gerard Meersseman, Ordofraternitatis:
Confraternite
Italia sacra: Studi e documenti di storia ecclesiastica (Rome, 1977), 1:3-214; Hermann Josef
Sieben, "Pseudoisidor oder der Bruch mit der altkirchlichenKonzilsidee: Das Zeugnis der
bis zum Decretum Gratians einschliesslich,"Theologieund Philosophie
Kirchenrechtssammlungen
53 (1978), 498-537; Hans Hubert Anton, "Zum politischenKonzept karolingischerSynode und
zur karolingischenBriidergemeinschaft,"HJ 99 (1979), 55-132; Hermann Josef Sieben, Das
Konzilsideeder altenKirche,Konziliengeschichte,Reihe B: Untersuchungen(Paderborn, 1979);
and idem, Die Konzilsideedes lateinischen
Mittelalters
(847-1378), Konziliengeschichte,Reihe B:
Untersuchungen(Paderborn, 1984).
18 Illustrativeof the
tendency to see Carolingian theology in terms of a reconciliationof
doctrinal differencesare such general treatmentsas M. L. W. Laistner,Thoughtand Lettersin
WesternEurope, A.D. 500 to 900, 2nd ed. (Ithaca, N.Y., 1957), pp. 286-314; Gert Haendler,
Gutachtenzum byzantiiiberdie karolingischen
Theologie:Eine Untersuchung
Epochenkarolingischer
nischenBilderstreit,
Theologische Arbeiten 10 (Berlin, 1958); Otto W. Heick, A HistoryofChristian
Thought,1 (Philadelphia, 1965), pp. 246-54; Marta Cristiani,"La controversiaeucaristicanella
cultura del secolo IX," SM, 3rd ser., 9 (1968), 167-233; JaroslavPelikan, The ChristianTradition:
A Historyof theDevelopment
ofDoctrine,3: The GrowthofMedievalTheology(600-1300) (Chicago,
ed. Carl Andresen, 1: Die Lehrentwicklung
1978); and HandbuchderDogmen-und Theologiegeschichte,
im Rahmender Katholizitdt,
by Carl Andresen, Adolf Martin Ritter,Klaus Wessel, Ekkehard
Muhlenberg,and Martin Anton Schmidt (Gottingen,1982). While the boundary between theology and philosophy was indistinctin the Carolingian age, historiansof philosophy of the
Carolingian age have concentratedtheirattentionon effortsmade to utilizephilosophyas a tool
to clarifydoctrinal concepts; this focus has led most of them quicklyto John Scottus Erigena,
who emerges as the onlyCarolingian philosopherof note and thusas the epitome of Carolingian
medievale,1: Des originesjusqu'dlafin du
philosophy;see Maurice de Wulf,Histoirede la philosphie
XIIe siecle,6th ed. (Louvain, 1934), pp. 121-66 (English translationas HistoryofMedievalPhilosophy,1, trans. Ernest C. Messenger [New York, 1952], pp. 116-36); Etienne Gilson, Historyof
ChristianPhilosophyin the Middle Ages (New York, 1955), pp. 111-28; Aim6 Forest, F. Van
doctrinaldu XIe au XIVe siecle,Histoire de
Steenberghen, and M. de Gandillac, Le mouvement
l'6glise, ed. Fliche and Martin, 13 (Paris, 1951), pp. 9-32; Cesare Vasoli, Filosofiamedioevale,
Storia della filosofia2 (Milan, 1961), pp. 40-77; The Cambridge
HistoryofLater Greekand Early
Medieval Philosophy,
ed. A. H. Armstrong(Cambridge, 1970), pp. 518-33, 565-86; Stephen
and Evolutionof thePseudoGersh, Fromlamblichusto Eriugena: An Investigation
of thePrehistory
DionysianTradition,Studien zur Problemgeschichteder antikenund mittelalterlichen
Philosophie
8 (Leiden, 1978); John Marenbon,EarlyMedievalPhilosophy
(London,
(480-1150): An Introduction
IntellectualTraditionfrom
1983), pp. 45-89; and Michael Haren, Medieval Thought:The Western
to the Thirteenth
Century(New York, 1985), pp. 37-82. For studies of John Scottus
Antiquity
"A Bibliographyof Publicationsin the Field of Eriugenian Studies,
see
Brennan,
Erigena,
Mary
1800-1975," SM, 3rd ser., 18 (1977), 401-47. The basic study stillremains Maieul Cappuyns,

276
The Carolingian Age
uniformity;the effortto shape an educational programwhichwould engenJean ScotErigene:Sa vie,son oeuvre,sa pensee(Louvain, 1933; repr. Brussels, 1964), but significant
new departures have emerged recentlyin the proceedings of a series of conferencesdevoted to
Erigena; see The Mind ofEriugena,Papers of a Colloquium, Dublin, 14-18 July 1970, ed. John
de la philosophie,
Laon,
J. O'Meara and Ludwig Bieler (Dublin, 1973); Jean ScotErigeneetl'histoire
7-12 juillet 1975, Colloques internationauxdu Centre national de la recherchescientifique561
(Paris, 1977); Eriugena: Studienzu seinenQuellen,Vortrage des III. InternationalenEriugenaColloquiums, Freiburgim Breisgau, 27.-30. August 1979, ed. Werner Beierwaltes,Abhandlungen der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften,phil.-hist.Klasse, Jahrgang 1980, 3. Abhandlung (Heidelberg, 1980); and Jean Scotecrivain,Actes du IVe colloque international,Montreal,28 aout-2 septerbre 1983, ed. G. H. Allard, Cahiers d'etudes medievales: Cahier special
1 (Montreal, 1986). Carolingian scholars have expended considerable energy identifyingthe
sources utilized by Carolingian theologians-philosophers;in a general way,theireffortscreate
the impressionthat a major consequence of the Carolingian intellectualrevivalwas to discover
a common treasury of derived wisdom from which all could draw to illuminate the faith.
Illustrativeare the worksof Gersh and Haren, cited above, as well as Karl F. Morrison,Tradition
and Authority
in theWestern
Church,300-1140 (Princeton,N. J., 1969), and J. C. Frakes,The Fate
ofFortunein theEarlyMiddleAges: TheBoethianTradition(Leiden, 1988). Another focal point of
scholarlyinteresthas been an effortto finda common ground in Carolingian intellectuallife in
the advance of a dialectical method. See Hans Liebeschutz,"Wesen und Grenzen des karolin33 (1951), 17-44; Lorenzo Minio-Paluello,
gischen Rationalismus,"Archivfur Kulturgeschichte
"Nuovi impulsiallo studio della logica: La seconda fase della riscopertadi Aristotelee di Boezio,"
in La scuola nell'occidente
latinodell'altomedioevo,
2 vols., Settimane 19 (Spoleto, 1972), 2:743-66,
and
841-45; John Marenbon, From theCircleof Alcuin to theSchoolof Auxerre:Logic, Theology,
in theEarlyMiddleAges,Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 3rd ser.,
Philosophy
15 (Cambridge, 1981); Pierre Riche, "Divina pagina, ratio et auctoritasdans la theologie carolingienne,"in Nascitadell'Europaed Europa carolingia,2:719-63; Gangolf Schrimpf,Das Werkdes
seinerZeit: Einfiihrung
zu PeriJohannesScottusEriugena im Rahmendes Wissenschaftsverstandnisses
physeon,
Beitrage zur Geschichteder Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters,N.F. 23 (Miinster, 1982); and Carlos Steel, "Nobis ratio sequenda est: Reflexionssur le rationalismede Jean
Scot Erigene," in Benedictine
Culture,750-1050, ed. W. Lourdaux and D. Verhelst,Mediaevalia
Lovaniensia, ser. 1, Studies 11 (Louvain, 1983), pp. 173-89.
19
Cyrille Vogel, "Les motifsde la romanisation du culte sous Pepin le Bref (751-768) et
Charlemagne (774-814)," in Cultocristiano:Politicaimperialecarolingia,9-12 ottobre 1977, Convegni del Centro di studi sulla spiritualitymedievale, Universitadegli studi di Perugia 18 (Todi,
1979), pp. 13-41, accuratelysummarizesthe centralconcernof the modern studyof Carolingian
liturgy:"Tous les historiensde la liturgieont aborde d'une maniere ou d'autre le problem de
la romanisation"(p. 16, n. 1). Vogel's contributionto sustainingthatemphasis has been considerable; see, forexample, "Les changes liturgiquesentreRome et les pays francsjusqu'a l'epoque
de Charlemagne," in Le chiesenei regnidall'Europaoccidentale,
1:185-295; "La reformeliturgique
sous Charlemagne," in Karl der Grosse,2:217-32; "La reformecultuelle sous Pepin le Bref et
sous Charlemagne (deuxieme moitie du VIIIe siecle et premier quart du IXe siecle)," in Erna
Patzeltand CyrilleVogel, Das karolingische
Renaissance(Graz, 1965), pp. 173-242; and Introduction
aux sourcesde l'histoire
au moyenage, Biblioteca degli Studi medievali 1 (Spoleto,
du cultechretien
to theSources,rev.
1966; 2nd ed., 1975) (English translationas MedievalLiturgy:An Introduction
and trans.WilliamG. Storeyand Niels Krogh Rasmussen,withthe assistanceofJohn K. BrooksLeonard [Washington,D.C., 1986]). Other significantworks illustratingthe point are Josef
Andreas Jungmann,Missarumsollemnia:Eine genetische
Messe, 6th ed.
Erklirungder romischen
(Vienna, 1966) (English translationfromthe second German ed. as The Mass oftheRomanRite:
Its Originand Development
(Missarumsollemnia),2 vols., trans. Francis A. Brunner [New York,
1951-55]); Michel Andrieu, Les ordinesromanidu haut moyenage, 5 vols., Spicilegium sacrum
lovaniense, Etudes et documents 11, 23, 24, 28, 29 (Louvain, 1956-61), especially 2:xvii-xlix;
and Nikolaus Staubach, "'Cultus divinus' und karolingischeReform,"FMSt 18 (1984), 546-81.
The fruitof this approach is clearly evident in general treatmentsof the Carolingian liturgy;

The Carolingian Age
277
der normativeclericalconduct and consistent,uniformpastoralactivity;20

the
drive to establishstandard monasticpracticesas defined by the Benedictine
rule;21and the search fora uniformmissionarymethod thatwould eliminate
The combined weight
paganism as a divisiveforcewithinChristiansociety.22
see, for example, Gregory Dix, The Shape of theLiturgy,2nd ed. (Westminster,1945); Theodor
trans.John HalliKlauser, A ShortHistoryof theWestern
Liturgy:An Accountand SomeReflections,
burton,2nd ed. (Oxford, 1979), especiallych. 2; A. G. Martimort,L'egliseen priere:Introduction
a la liturgie,
derLiturgieim Westen
3rd ed. (Paris, 1965); and Hermann A. J. Wegman, Geschichte
und Osten(Regensburg, 1979), especiallych. 3.
20 Emile Lesne, Histoirede la
en France,5: Les ecolesde la fin du VIIIe siecle
propriete
ecclesiastique
a la fin du XIIe siecle (Lille, 1940); Josef Fleckenstein,Die Bildungsreform
Karls des Grossenals
der normarectitudinis
(Freiburg im Breisgau, 1953); Percy Ernst Schramm, "Karl
Verwirklichung
der Grosse: Denkart und Grundauffassung.Die von ihm bewirkteCorrectio ('Renaissance'),"
HZ 198 (1964), 306-45; Wolfgang Edelstein,Eruditiound sapientia:Weltbild
und Erziehungin der
zu AlkuinsBriefen(Freiburg im Breisgau, 1965); Wolframvon den
Untersuchungen
Karolingerzeit.
latinodell'altomedioevo
Steinen,"Der Neubeginn," in Karl derGrosse,2:9-27; La scuolanell'occidente
de la fin du
dans l'occident
chretien
(see n. 18, above); and Pierre Riche, Les ecoleset l'enseignement
Ve siecleau milieudu XIe siecle,Collection historique(Paris, 1979).
21 The best
descriptionof the Carolingian effortto impose unityon the monastic world has
been provided by the studies of Josef Semmler (although he has strongreservationsabout the
success of these efforts);convenientsummariesof his positioncan be found in "Karl der Grosse
und das frankischeMonchtum,"in Karl derGrosse,2:255-89, and "Benedictus II: Una regulauna consuetudo," in Benedictine
Culture,ed. Lourdaux and Verhelst,pp. 1-49, whichcite Semmler's other importantstudies. Other influentialworks on this theme are J. Winandy,"L'oeuvre
monastique de saint Benoit d'Aniane," in Melangesbenedictins
publicsa l'occasiondu XIVe centenaire
de la mortde saintBenoitpar les moznesde l'Abbayede Saint-Jerome
de Rome(Paris, 1947), pp. 23558; PhilibertSchmitz,"L'influence de saint Benoit d'Aniane dans l'histoirede l'ordre de saint
nell'altomedioevoe la formazionedella civilityoccidentale,
Settimane 4
Benoit," in II monachesimo
(Spoleto, 1957), pp. 401-15; FriedrichPrinz, "MonastischeZentren im Frankenreich,"SM, 3rd
ser., 19 (1978), 571-90; R6ginald Gr6goire,"II monachesimocarolingiodopo Benedetto d'Aniane (t821)," Studiamonastica24 (1982), 349-88; Gerard Moyse,"Monachisme et r6glementation
monastiques
monastiqueen Gaule avant Benoit d'Aniane," in Sous la reglede SaintBenoit:Structures
et societesen France du moyenage a lI'poquemoderne,
Abbaye b6endictineSainte-Marie de Paris,
23-25 octobre 1980, Centre de recherchesd'histoireet de philologiede la VIe sectionde l'Ecole
pratique des hautes etudes 5, Hautes etudes m6dievaleset modernes 47 (Geneva, 1982), pp. 319; and Pius Engelbert,"Regeltextund Romverehrung:Zur Frage der Verbreitungder Regula
Altertumskunde
und KirchengeBenedicti im Frtihmittelalter,"
RomischeQuartalschrift
fir chrzstliche
81 (1986), 39-60. Tracing the progress toward a single model of monasticlife has been
schichte
a central concern of general historiansof early medieval monasticism,as is illustratedin such
7 vols. (Maredsous, 1941-56; 2nd
works as PhilibertSchmitz,Histoirede l'ordrede Saint-Benoit,
en occidentdes
ed. of vols. 1-2, 1948), 1:15-134; Jean D6carreaux, Les moineset la civilisation
invasionsc Charlemagne(Paris, 1962) (English translationas Monksand Civilization
fromtheBarbarianInvasionsto theReign ofCharlemagne,
trans.CharlotteHaldane [London, 1964]); Friedrich
in Gallien,den Rheinlandenund
Kulturund Gesellschaft
Prinz, FriihesMinchtumim Frankenreich:
(4. bis 8. Jahrhundert)
(Vienna, 1965); and Jean
Bayernam Beispielder monastischen
Entwicklung
a lI'poquede Charlemagne
Decarreaux, Moinesetmonasteres
(Paris, 1980).
22 General orientations
stressingthe theme of a common missionarymethod are provided by
Richard E. Sullivan, "Carolingian MissionaryTheories," The CatholicHistoricalReview42 (1956),
Pha273-95; Hans Diedrich Kahl, "Bausteine zur Grundlegung einer missionsgeschichtlichen
Congres de Stockholm,
nomenologie des Hochmittelalters,"in Miscellaneahistoricaecclesiastica,
aoit, 1960, Bibliotheque de la Revue d'histoire ecclesiastique 38 (Louvain, 1961), pp. 50-90;
Wolfgang H. Fritze,"Universalis gentiumconfessio: Formeln,Trager und Wege universalmissionarischenDenkens im 7. Jahrhundert,"FMSt 3 (1969), 78-130. The focus on this theme in

278
The Carolingian Age
of thisscholarshiphas persuasivelyinclined Carolingianiststo thinkin terms

of the emergence of a Carolingian Romano-Frankish"Church" to replace
the "churches"whichoccupied the Carolingianspace priorto the Carolingian
age. And no less surely these scholars have seen in this Romano-Frankish
church the prototypeof the medieval universal church, that is, the postCarolingian church.
Comparable assessments of the thrust of scholarship devoted to other
aspects of the Carolingian age - political,economic, social, intellectual,literary,artistic- would produce a resultsimilarto thatsuggestedby thisbrief
overview of the central concerns of religious historiansof the Carolingian
age. In all these areas the search has focused with singular consistencyon
forcesimpellinga fragmented,disorganized societytowardunitarypatterns,
toward common institutionaland ideological grounds, toward a holisticcivilization.A measure of the outcome of this scholarlyeffortcan be found in a
number of excellentworksof synthesiswhichbuild impressivecases forboth
the uniqueness and the holisticcharacter of the Carolingian age.23 These
works and the scholarship upon which theyare built have leftmedievalists
in general hard pressed to deny thatsomethingdid happen duringthe eighth
and ninthcenturiesto create a distinctiveorder which possessed not only its
own organic features but also sufficientpotency to exercise a formative
influenceon futureEuropean society.This conclusion has provided the key
element in sustaininga meaningfuland widelyaccepted scheme for periodthis same conclusion
izing Western European history.No less significantly,
has given impetus and focus to a collectiveresearch effortdevoted to the
Carolingian age.
3
Does the paradigm still hold? Was the Carolingian age a discrete period
during which was formed a new order that broke decisivelywith the past
and established a "take-off"point for a distinctiveWesternEuropean civilizationbearing the indeliblestampof itsCarolingianancestry?I would suggest
the treatmentof missionaryactivityis illustratedby such worksas Theodor Schieffer,Winfridunddiechristliche
Bonifatius
GrundlegungEuropas
(Freiburg,1954; repr.withupdated bibliography,
Darmstadt, 1972); Richard E. Sullivan, "The Carolingian Missionaryand the Pagan," Speculum
ed. Kurt Dietrich Schmidt and Ernst Wolf, 2,
28 (1953), 705-40; Die Kirchein ihrerGeschichte,
Leiferung E: "Geschichte des Fruhmittelaltersund der Germanenmission,"by Gert Haendler,
and "Geschichteder Slavenmission,"by GiintherSt6kl (G6ttingen,1961); Heinz Lowe, "Pirmin,
Willibrordund Bonifatius: Ihre Bedeutung ffirdie MissionsgeschichteihrerZeit," in La converSettimane 14 (Spoleto, 1967), pp. 217-61; and
sioneal cristianesimo
nell'Europadell'altomedioevo,
ed. Knut Schaferdiek
als Missionsgeschichte,
2/1:Die Kirchedesfriiheren
Mittelalters,
Kirchengeschichte
(Munich, 1978).
23For
(London, 1965); Jacques Boussard,
example, Donald Bullough, The Age of Charlemagne
trans.Frances Partridge,The World UniversityLibrary(London,
The CivilizationofCharlemagne,
and His
1968); Edouard Perroy,Le mondecarolingien(Paris, 1974); FriedrichHeer, Charlemagne
World(New York, 1975); Jan Dhondt, Le hautmoyenage (VIIIe-XIe siecles),ed. and trans.Michel
ed.
Geschichte,
Rouche, Histoire universelle Bordas (Paris, 1976); Handbuch der europdischen
Schieder, 1:527-632; and Pierre Riche, Les carolingiens:
Unefamillequifitl'Europe(Paris, 1983).

The Carolingian Age
279
that it is increasinglydifficultto sustain the conceptual frameworkimplicit

in the Pirenne paradigm and increasinglytemptingto explore alternative
schemata. I am convinced, in fact,that patternsemergingin currentCarolingianscholarship,coupled withdevelopmentsin medieval historicalstudies
in general, force one to wonder whetherthe generallyaccepted version of
the Carolingian world is an "imagined" world, existingonly in the minds of
modern historians.Perhaps the quintessentialpictureof the "imagined" Carolingian world has been provided by one of the most dramatic and wellpublicized feats of recent Carolingian scholarship,the much-acclaimedscale
model reconstructionof the plan of St. Gall by Walter Horn and Ernest
Born.24Withall due creditto the scholarlyexpertiseand the ingenuitywhich
undergird that model, it representsan "imagined" monastic complex, one
thatadmittedlynever existed. We can only guess at how the plan mighthave
been realized, at one or more locations,if indeed it was intended as a blueprint for planners and builders. In a number of ways the picture of the
Carolingian world drawn by the mainstreamof Carolingian scholarshipdriven by the Pirenne periodizationmodel has featuresstrikingly
comparable to
the "paradigmatic"Carolingian monasticcomplex derived fromthe plan of
St. Gall: its composition has been determinedin the main by extractingthe
common elements found in the often crypticCarolingian sources (chiefly
written),interconnectingthose elements into generalized institutionaland
ideological structures,and calling the resultantconstructCarolingian reality.
Certain trendsin currentscholarshipreinforceeach other in presentinga
serious challenge to the traditionalconceptual frameworksurroundingCarolingian historiographyand in alteringthe pictureof Carolingianreality.The
firsttrend involves the effortto define the demarcation of the Carolingian
age fromwhat preceded and followed it. If the Carolingian era constituted
a discrete "period" during which something both unique and significant
happened, then one should be able to delineate specificchronologicalboundaries marked by decisive events denoting clear disjunctureswith what went
before and what came after.The definitionof such boundaries has become
increasinglydifficult,seriouslyunderminingthe certaintythat the Carolingian age did stand unmistakablydiscrete.
ConventionalCarolingian historiographyhas generallyagreed on the starting point for the Carolingian era. The crucial disjuncture occurred about
750, highlightedby the Moslem rupture of Mediterranean unity,the usurpation of the Frankish throne by the Arnulfingsin 751, the formulationof
a new concept of kingship,the establishmentin 754 of the papal-Frankish
alliance, and the initiationin the 740s of a major effortat religious reform
linkingthe new dynastyto the spiritualavant-gardeof the era. The massive
investigationdevoted to these particularissues is proof enough of the continuingconvictionthat theywere of crucial importancein signalingthe birth
pangs which produced the firstEurope.
24 WalterHorn and Ernest Born, The Plan
and Economyof,
ofSt. Gall: A StudyoftheArchitecture
3 vols., CaliforniaStudies in the Historyof Art
and Life in a ParadigmaticCarolingianMonastery,
19 (Berkeley,1979).

280
The Carolingian Age
However, it has become increasinglydifficultto sustain the faithon this

point. The more assiduously the Carolingian age has been investigatedand
the more attentivelythe resultsof these researcheshave been correlatedwith
investigationsof the pre-Carolingian period, the less 'decisive these events
appear as critical turning points along the historicalcontinuum. That the
Moslem intrusioninto the Mediterraneanspace was decisivelydisruptivehas
Intensive and increasinglysolong been contested,generallysuccessfully.25
of
economic
historymake untenable any periodiphisticatedinvestigations
zation scheme depending on economic disjuncture in the mid-eighthcentury.26Currentinterpretationsof the dynasticchange of 751 suggestthatthe
transitionfrom Merovingian to Carolingian rule did not bring so drastic a
25 A
sampling of discussionson thistheme is provided by ThePirenneThesis:Analysis,Criticism,
and Revision,ed. Alfred F. Havighurst,Problems in European Civilization(Boston, 1958); L'occidentee l'Islamnell'altomedioevo,2 vols., Settimane 12 (Spoleto, 1965); Bedeutungund Rolle des
ed. Paul Egon Hiibinger,Wege der Forschung
zumMittelalter,
Islam beimUbergangvomAltertum
destheses
202 (Darmstadt,1968); and La fortunehistoriographique
d'HenriPirenne,Actes du colloque
organisma l'occasion du cinquantenairede la mortde l'historienbeige, a l'initiativede G. Despy
et A. Verhulst,Bruxelles, 10-11 mai 1985 (Brussels, 1986). I was unable to see a recent work
aimed at providing both a new edition of Pirenne's classic and a revisionof some of its basic
points: Henri Pirenne, Bryce Lyon, Heiko Steuer, Francisco Gabrelli, and Andre Guillou, La
naissancede l'Europe(Antwerp, 1987); see Leopold Genicot, "'Mahomet et Charlemagne' apres
50 ans," Revue d'histoire
82 (1987), 277-81. For recent works which minimize the
ecclesiastique
impact of the Moslem conquests on the Western European economy,see Archibald R. Lewis,
A.D. 500-1100, Princeton Studies in History 5
Naval Power and Trade in the Mediterranean,
und Marktin Frankreich
und Burgund
(Princeton,N.J., 1951); Traute Endemann, Markturkunde
Konstanzer Arbeitskreisefir mittelalterliche
vom9. bis 11. Jahrhundert,
Geschichte(Constance,
nell'altomedioevo,
2 vols.,Settimane25 (Spoleto, 1978); Richard
1964); La navigazionemediterranea
Hodges and David Whitehouse, Mohammed,Charlemagneand theOriginsof Europe: Archaeology
and thePirenneThesis(London, 1983); Stephane Lebecq, Marchandset navigateurs
frisonsdu haut
zu Handel und Verkehr
dervormoyendge, 2 vols. (Villeneuve d'Ascq, 1983); and Untersuchungen
undfrihgeschichtlichen
ZeitimMittel-und Nordeuropas,
2: DietrichClaude, Der Handel imwestlichen
Mittelmeer
wdhrenddes Frihmittelalters,
Bericht fiber ein Kolloquium der Kommission fur die
AltertumskundeMittel-und Nordeuropas imJahre 1980, and 3: Der Handel desfriihen
Mittelalters,
Berichtuber die Kolloquien der Kommissionfurdie AltertumskundeMittel-und Nordeuropas
in denJahren 1980-1983, ed. Klaus Diiwcl, HerbertJankuhn,Harald Siems, and Dieter Timpe,
Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaftenin Gottingen,phil.-hist.Klasse, 3. Folge, 144,
150 (Gottingen,1985).
26 That is the
inescapable conclusion whichemerges fromthe best general treatmentsof early
de l'gconomie
medieval economic history.See RobertLatouche, Les origines
IVe-XIe siecle,
occidental,
L'evolution de l'humanite 43 (Paris, 1956; reprintedwithupdated bibliography,1970) (English
translationas The Birthof the Western
Economy:EconomicAspectsof theDark Ages, trans. E. M.
Wilkinson,2nd ed. [London, 1967]); Renee Doehaerd, Le hautmoyenage occidental:Economieset
2nd ed., Nouvelle Clio 14 (Paris, 1978) (English translationfromthe firstFrench edition
socigtes,
trans.W. G. Deakin [Amsterdam,1978]);
as TheEarlyMiddleAgesin theWest:Economyand Society,
BiblioGeorges Duby, Guerriersetpaysans,VIIe-XIIe siecle:Premieressorde l'economie
europeenne,
oftheEuropeanEconomy:
theque des histoires(Paris, 1973) (English translationas TheEarlyGrowth
Warriors
and PeasantsfromtheSeventhtotheTwelfth
trans.Howard B. Clarke [Ithaca, N.Y.
Century,
und Sozialgeschichte,
ed. Hermann Aubin and Wolfgang
1974]); Handbuchderdeutschen
WirtschaftsZorn, 1: Von der Friihzeitbis zum Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts
(Stuttgart,1971), pp. 83-168; and
Histoirede la Francerurale,ed. Georges Duby and Armand Wallon, 1: La formation
des campagnes
des originesau XIVe siecle,L'univers historique(Paris, 1975), pp. 291-371.
franchises

The Carolingian Age
281
change in politicalstructuresand techniquesas has sometimesbeen argued.27

Neither is it any longer quite so clear that the mid-eighth-century
papal
alliance with the Franks was indispensablycrucial in definingthe course of
either papal or Frankishhistory.28
At a more profound and decisive level, recent scholarshipin a varietyof
areas involvingboth pre-Carolingianand Carolingian historyforces one to
the conclusion that continuityrather than discontinuitywas the essential
characteristicof a long historical continuum reaching forward from late
antiquity,a continuum in which the Carolingian age constituteda not so
distinctivesegment.29The case forcontinuityemergeswithspecial forcefrom
For recent discussionsof the significanceof the eventsof 751, see Werner Affeldt,"Untersuchungen zur KonigserhebungPippins: Das Papsttumund die Begriindungdes karolingischen
KonigtumsimJahre 751," FMSt 14 (1980), 95-187 (withextensivebibliography);AlainJ. Stoclet,
"La 'clausula de unctione Pippini regis': Mises au point et nouvelles hypotheses,"Francia 8
des Aachener
(1980), 1-42; Max Kerner, "Die friihenKarolinger und das Papsttum,"Zeitschrift
Geschichtsvereins
88/89 (1981-82), 5-41; Michael J. Enright,lona, Tara and Soissons:The Originof
Schriftenreihedes Instituts
theRoyal AnointingRitual, Arbeiten zur Fruhmittelalterforschung,
fur Fruhmittelalterforschungen
der UniversitatMiinster 17 (Berlin, 1985); David Harry Miller,
"Sacral Kingship, Biblical Kingship, and the Elevation of Pepin the Short,"in Religion,Culture,
and Societyin theEarlyMiddleAges:Studiesin HonorofRichardE. Sullivan,ed. Thomas F. X. Noble
and John J. Contreni (Kalamazoo, Mich., 1987), pp. 131-54; Richard A. Gerberding,The Rise
Oxford HistoricalMonographs (New York,
oftheCarolingiansand the"LiberHistoriaeFrancorum,"
1987); and Patrick Geary, BeforeFrance and Germany:The Creationand Transformation
of the
MerovingianWorld(New York, 1988).
28 David
Harry Miller,"The Roman Revolution of the Eighth Century:A Study of the Ideological Background of the Papal Separation from Byzantium and Alliance with the Franks,"
MediaevalStudies36 (1974), 79-133; idem, "Byzantine-PapalRelationsduring the Pontificateof
Paul I: Confirmationand Completion of the Roman Revolutionof the Eighth Century,"Byzantinische
68 (1975), 47-62; David S. Sefton,"Pope Hadrian I and the Fall of the Kingdom
Zeitschrift
of the Lombards," The CatholicHistoricalReview65 (1979), 206-20; JeffreyRichards, The Popes
and thePapacy in the Early Middle Ages, 476-752 (London, 1979); Arnold Angenendt, "Das
geistlicheBundnis der Papste mit den Karolingern (754-796)," HJ 100 (1980), 1-94; Jan T.
TransHallenbeck, Pavia and Rome: The LombardMonarchyand thePapacy in theEighthCentury,
actions of the American Philosophical Society 72/4 (Philadelphia, 1982); Thomas F. X. Noble,
The Republicof St. Peter: The Birthof thePapal State,680-825, The Middle Ages (Philadelphia,
1984); and Peter Llewellyn,"The Popes and the Constitutionin the Eighth Century,"EHR 101
(1986), 42-67.
29 The issue of
continuityacross the early Middle Ages has long remained cause for debate
among historiansand has generated an immense literature.Broadly suggestiveof the current
state of the question are the papers presented at a series of recentconferencesconcerned with
in occidente,
Settimane
al medioevo
the general issue of continuity,
includingIlpassaggiodall'antichita
latinodal VII all'XI secolo,2 vols., Settimane 22
9 (Spoleto, 1962); La culturaantica nell'occidente
de Bru(Spoleto, 1975); "D'une deposition a un couronnement,476-800," Revue de l'Universite
xelles(1977), no. 1, pp. 3-163; Von der SpdtantikezumfriihenMittelalter:AktuelleProblemein
historischer
und archdologischer
Sicht,ed. JoachimWernerand Eugen Ewig, VuF 25 (Sigmaringen,
1979); and Convegnointernazionale:
Passaggiodelmondoanticoal medioevoda Teodosioa san Gregorio
Magno, Roma, 25-28 maggio 1977, Attidei Convegni Lincei 45 (Rome, 1980). Other challenging
interpretationsinclude Karl Bosl, "Die Anfange der europaischen Gesellschaftund Kultur (6.Kleine Vandenhoeck-Reihe
des Mittelalters,
in der Geschichte
8. Jahrhundert)"in Die Gesellschaft
231 (Gottingen,1966), pp. 7-24; Karl Hauck, "Von einer spatantikenRandkulturzum karolinfromMarcus
gischen Europa," FMSt 1 (1967), 3-93; Peter Brown, The Worldof Late Antiquity
Aureliusto Muhammad(London, 1971); Christian Meier, "Kontinuitatund Diskontinuitatim
in denGeisteswissenschaften,
in Kontinuitat-Diskontinuitat
Ubergang von der Antikezum Mittelalter,"
27

282
The Carolingian Age
the social status

studiesof patternsof land occupation;30urban settlements;31
of nobles and peasants;32kinshipbonds;33technologiesassociated withagried. Hans Trumpy (Darmstadt, 1973), pp. 53-94; Perry Anderson, PassagesfromAntiquity
to
Feudalism(London, 1974); Eugen Ewig, "Das FortlebenromischerInstitutionenin Gallien und
ed. Hartmut
Gallien:Gesammelte
Germanien,"in Eugen Ewig, Spitantikes
undfrdnkisches
Schriften,
Atsma, 2 vols., Beihefteder Francia 3 (Munich, 1976-77), 1:409-34; and Herrin, TheFormation
ofChristendom.
30 The literaturerelated to this matteris extremelydiverse, involvingseveral disciplines of
whicharchaeology has become of prime importancein establishingwhat has virtuallybecome a
new discipline,which German scholars have named Siedlungsforschung.
For an introductionto
the approach, see Herbert Jankuhn,Einfiihrung
in die Siedlungsarchdologie
(Berlin, 1977); and
WalterJanssen, "Methoden und Probleme archaologischerSiedlungsforschung,"in Geschichtsund Archdologie:Untersuchungen
zur Siedlungs-,Wirtschaftsund Kirchengeschichte,
ed.
wissenschaft
HerbertJankuhnand Reinhard Wenskus,VuF 22 (Sigmaringen,1979), pp. 101-91, withextensive bibliographicalreferences.The resultsof thisapproach in termsof continuitiesin patterns
of land settlementare reflectedin the general economic historiescited in n. 26, above. See also
e mondoruralein occidente
Settimane 13 (Spoleto, 1966); Studienzur
nell'altomedioevo,
Agricoltura
Vor-und Friihgeschichte,
ed. Martin Claus, Werner Haarnagel, and Klaus Raddatz
europaischen
imFrankenreich,
ed. Franz Petri,
(Neumunster, 1968); Siedlung,Spracheund Bevilkerungsstruktur
Wege der Forschung 49 (Darmstadt, 1973); Das Dorf der Eisenzeitund desfriihenMittelalters:
Berichtuber die Kolloquien der Kommission
Funktion-soziale
Struktur,
Siedlungsform-wirtschaftliche
fur die AltertumskundeMittel-und Nordeuropas in den Jahren 1973 und 1974, ed. Herbert
Jankuhn,Rudolf Schniitzeichel,and Fred Schwind,Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaftenin G6ttingen,phil.-hist.Klasse, 3. Folge, 101 (Gottingen, 1977); Jean Chapelot and
Robert Fossier, Le village et la maisonau moyen-age,
Bibliotheque d'archeologie (Paris, 1980)
(English translationas The Villageand House in theMiddleAges,trans. Henry Cleare [Berkeley,
zwischenLoire und Rhein von der Romerzeitzum
1985]); and Villa-curtis-grangia:
Landwirtschaft
Hochmittelalter.
au XIIe-XIIIe siecle,16.
EconomieruraleentreLoireetRheinde l'epoquegallo-romaine
Deutsch-franzosischesHistorikerkolloquiumdes Deutschen historischenInstitutsParis (Xanten,
28.9-1.10, 1980), ed. WalterJanssen and DietrichLehrmann,Beihefteder Francia 11 (Munich,
vom
1983). An excellent synthesisis Edith Ennen and WalterJanssen,DeutscheAgrargeschichte
Neolithikum
bis zur Schwelledes Industriezeitalters,
WissenschaftlichePaperbacks 12: Sozial- und
(Wiesbaden, 1979), pp. 1-19, 106-44.
Wirtschaftsgeschichte
31 For
overviews,see David M. Nicholas, "Medieval Urban Origins in Northern Continental
Europe: State of Research and Some Tentative Conclusions,"Studiesin Medievaland Renaissance
Stadt
History6 (1969), 53-114; and Eckhard Muller-Mertens,"Fruhformender mittelalterlichen
oder Stadte eigener Art im Frihmittelalter?Reflexionauf die frankisch-deutsche
Stadtentwick35 (1987), 997-1006. Aside
lung vor der Jahrtausendwende,"Zeitschrift
fiirGeschichtswissenschaft
fromthe basic workscited in these articles,see also Vor-und Friihformen
dereuropdischen
Stadtim
Berichtfiberein Symposiumin Reinhausen bei Gdttingenin der Zeit vom 18. bis 24.
Mittelalter,
April 1972, ed. HerbertJankuhn,WalterSchlesinger,and Heiko Steuer,2 vols., Abhandlungen
der Akademie der Wissenschaftenin Gdttingen,phil.-hist.Klasse, 3. Folge, 83-84 (Gottingen,
2 vols., Settimane 21
1973-74); Topografiaurbana e vita cittadinanell'altomedioevoin occidente,
spdtantiker
(Spoleto, 1974); Carlrichard Briihl,Palatiumund Civitas:Studienzur Profantopographie
Civitatesvom3. bis zum 13. Jahrhundert,
1: Gallien (Cologne, 1975); Histoirede la France urbaine,
ed. Georges Duby, 1: La villeantiquedes originesau IXe siecle,L'univers historique(Paris, 1980);
Chris Wickham,EarlyMedievalItaly: CentralPowerand Local Society,
400-1000, New Studies in
Medieval History(London, 1981); Richard Hodges, Dark AgeEconomics:The OriginsofTownsand
des citesde la Gaule des origines
chretienne
Trade,A.D. 600-1000 (London, 1982); and Topographie
au milieudu Ville siecle,ed. N. Gauthier and J.-Ch. Picard, 5 vols. (Paris, 1986-87).
32 An excellentoverviewwithextensive
bibliographyis provided by Karl Bosl in Handbuchder
deutschen
ed. Aubin and Zorn, 1:133-68. Also useful are Santo
WirtschaftsMazzarino, "Si puo parlare di rivoluzione sociale alla fina del mondo antico?" in Il passaggio
al medioevo
in occidente,
dall'antichitc
medieval,
pp. 412-25; RobertFossier,Histoiresocialede l'occident

The CarolingianAge
283
Collection U: Serie "Histoire m6dievale" (Paris, 1970), pp. 7-112; Karl Bosi, Die Grundlagender
modernen
Eine deutsche
desMittelalters,
imMittelalter:
2 vols., MonoGesellschaft
Gesellschaftsgeschichte
graphien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters4 (Stuttgart,1972), 1:1-160; Karl Bosl and Eberhard
in Deutschland,1: Von derfrdinkischen
Zeit bis 1848 (Munich, 1976), pp. 11Weis, Die Gesellschaft
64; and the articles"Adel" and "Bauer, Bauerntum" in LexikondesMittelalters
(Munich, 1980-),
1:118-31; 1563-1605. Other general treatmentsstressingcontinuityin the earlymedieval social
order with a somewhat smaller regional focus include Giovanni Tabacco, "La storia politica e
sociale: Dal tramontodell'Impero alle prime formazionedi statiregionali,"in Storiad'Italia 2/1
(Turin, 1974), pp. 3-274; Wickham,EarlyMedievalItaly,especiallypp. 80-145; Edward James,
The Originsof France: FromClovis to theCapetians,500-1000, New Studies in Medieval History
ItaliensimMittelalter,
(London, 1982), pp. 73-92; Karl Bosl, Gesellschaftsgeschichte
Monographien
in
zur Geschichte des Mittelalters26 (Stuttgart,1982); and Wolfgang Hartung, Siiddeutschland
derfriihenMerowingerzeit:
bei Alemannenund
Studienzu Gesellschaft,
Herrschaft,
Stammesbildung
Beihefte 73 (Wiesbaden,
Bajuwaren, VierteljahrschrittfiurSozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte,
1983). The problem of the early medieval nobilityhas evoked a huge scholarlyliteraturesince
World War II. For an introductionto the main issues surroundingthe subject and to the basic
bibliography,see L. Genicot, "La noblesse dans la societymedievale: A propos des dernieres
etudes aux terresd'empire,"MA 71 (1965), 539-60; idem, "Naissance, fonctionet richessedans
l'ordonnance de la society medievale: Le cas de la noblesse des nord-ouest du continent,"in
Problemsde stratification
sociale,Actes du colloque international(1966), ed. Roland Mousmier,
Travaux du Centre de recherches sur la civilisationde l'Europe moderne 5 (Paris, 1968), pp.
83-100; Martin Heinzelmann, "La noblesse du haut moyen age (VIIIe-XIe siecles): Quelques
problems a propos d'ouvrages recents" MA 83 (1977), 131-44; Jane Martindale,"The French
Aristocracyin the Early Middle Ages: A Reappraisal," Past and Present75 (1977), 5-45; Timothy
Studieson theRulingClassesofFranceand Germany
Reuter,"Introduction,"in TheMedievalNobility:
ed. and trans.TimothyReuter,Europe in the Middle Ages,
fromtheSixthto theTwelfthCentury,
StamSelected Studies 14 (Amsterdam, 1978), pp. 1-16; Hans K. Schulze, "Reichsaristokratie,
mesadel und frankische Freiheit: Neuere Forschungen zur friihmittelalterlichen
Sozialgeschichte,"HZ 227 (1978), 352-73; Constance B. Bouchard, "The Originsof the French Nobility:
A Reassessment,"TheAmericanHistoricalReview86 (1981), 501-32; Karl Ferdinand Werner,"Du
nouveau sur un vieux theme: Les origines de la 'noblesse' et de la 'chevalerie,"' Comptesrendus
et belles-lettres,
desseancesde l'Academiedes inscriptions
Paris, 1985 (Paris, 1986), pp. 186-200; and
John B. Freed, "Reflectionson the Medieval German Nobility,"The AmericanHistoricalReview
91 (1986), 553-75. Among significantworks which suggest continuityin the early medieval
Gallien(Tubingen, 1948);
Adelimspatantiken
nobilityare Karl FriedrichStroheker,Der senatorische
im Merowingerreich:
Alexander Bergengruen, Adel und Grundherrschaft
Siedlungs-und standesgeund Belgien,Vierteljahrdesfrdnkischen
Adelsin Nordfrankreich
schichtliche
Studiezu den Anfdingen
Beihefte 41 (Wiesbaden, 1958); Franz Irsigler,
schriftfuirSozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte,
zur Geschichte
desfriihfrdnkischen
Adels,RheinischesArchiv70 (Bonn, 1969); WilUntersuchungen
helm Stormer,Adelsgruppenim friih-und hochmittelalterlichen
Bayern,Studien zur bayerischen
in
Verfassungs-und Sozialgeschichte4 (Munich, 1972); Martin Heinzelmann, Bischofsherrschaft
vom4. bis zum 7. Jahrhundert.
Gallien: Zur Kontinuititrimischer
Soziale,prosopoFiihrungsschichten
und bildungsgeschichtliche
Aspekte,Beihefte der Francia 5 (Zurich afid Munich, 1976);
graphische
und
im 6. Jahrhundert:
Studienzu ihrerrechtlichen
Heike Grahn-Hoek, Die frinkischeOberschicht
Stellung,VuF, Sonderband 21 (Sigmaringen, 1976); Horst Ebling, J6rgJarnut,and
politischen
des Franken-,
Gerd Kampers, "Nomen et gens: Untersuchungen zu den Fuihrungsschichten
Langobarden- und Westgotenreichesim 6. und 7. Jahrhundert,"Francia 8 (1980), 687-745; and
unterbesonderer
Karin Nehlsen-von Stryk,Die bonihominesdesfriihenMittelalters
Beriicksichtigung
derfrdnkischen
Quellen,Freiburger RechtsgeschichtlicheAbhandlungen, N.F. 2 (Berlin, 1981).
The literatureon the statusof the lower classes in the early Middle Ages is much less abundant.
Aside from the general works on medieval social historycited above, some indication of conder abhingigen
tinuityin peasant social status is suggested by A. I. Njeussychin,Die Entstehung
trans. B.
in Westeuropa
vom6.-8. Jahrhundert,
als Klasse der.friihfeudalen
Gesellschaft
Bauernschaft
Studien zur gesellT6pfer (Berlin, 1961); Karl Bosl, "Potens und Pauper: Begriffsgeschichtliche
schaftlichenDifferenzierungim friihen Mittelalterund zum 'Pauperismus' des Hochmittelal-

284
The Carolingian Age
in visual expression;35cult practicesassociated withordinaryreligiouslife;36

im mittelalterlichen
der Gesellschaft
ters,"in Karl Bosl, Frihformen
Beitrigezu
Europa: Ausgewdhlte
Welt(Munich, 1964), pp. 106-34; GuntherFranz,Geschichte
einerStrukturanalyse
dermittelalterlichen
Deutsche Agrargeschichte
biszum 19. Jahrhundert,
Bauernstandes
vomFriihmittelalter
des deutschen
au moyen
4 (Stuttgart,1970); Guy Fourquin, Le paysand'occident
age (Paris, 1972); WortundBegriff
"Bauer," ZusammenfassenderBericht uber die Kolloquien der Kommissionfur die Altertumskunde Mittel-und Nordeuropa, ed. Reinhard Wenskus, HerbertJankuhn,and Klaus Grinda,
Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaftenin Gottingen,phil.-hist.Klasse, 3. Folge, 89
(Gottingen, 1975); Hans-Werner Goetz, "'Unterschichten'im Gesellschaftsbildkarolingischer
Unterund Hagiographen," in VomElend derHandarbeit:Problemehistorischer
Geschichtsschreiber
ed. Hans Mommsen and WinfriedSchulze, Geschichte und Gesellschaft:Boschichtsforschung,
chumer historischeStudien 24 (Stuttgart,1981), pp. 108-30; Gabriele von Olberg, Freie,Nachaus demsozialenBereichin denfriihmittelalterlichen
barnund Gefolgsleute:
Bezeichnungen
Volkssprachige
Leges, GermanistischeArbeiten zu Sprache und Kulturgeschichte2 (Frankfurt,1983); and
Werner Rosener,Bauern imMittelalter
(Munich, 1985).
33
Suggestiveon thiscomplex and stillobscure subject are Karl Schmid, "Zur Problematikvon
Adel: Vorfragenzum
Familie,Sippe und Geschlecht,Haus und Dynastie beim mittelalterlichen
105 (1957),
desOberrheins
dieGeschichte
Thema 'Adel und Herrschaftim Mittelalter,"'
Zeitschriftifur
1-62; D. A. Bullough, "Early Medieval Social Groupings: The Terminologyof Kinship," Past
and Present45 (1969), 3-18; Familleetparentsdans l'occident
medieval,Actes du colloque de Paris
(6-8 juin 1974) ..., ed. Georges Duby and Jacques Le Goff,Collection de l'Ecole francaisede
Rome 30 (Rome, 1977), especiallythe papers by Karl Ferdinand Werner,Martin Heinzelmann,
nella societyaltomedievale,
Karl Hauck, and Raoul Manselli; Il matrimonio
2 vols., Settimane 24
of theFamilyand Marriage in Europe, Past and
(Spoleto, 1977); Jack Goody, The Development
PresentPublications(Cambridge, 1983); Alexander Callander Murray,Germanic
KinshipStructure:
and theEarlyMiddleAges,PontificalInstituteof Mediaeval
Studiesin Law and Societyin Antiquity
and Kinshipin
Studies, Studies and Texts 65 (Toronto, 1983); and Joseph H. Lynch,Godparents
EarlyMedievalEurope (Princeton,N.J., 1986).
34 A
theAges, 1: The Originsof Technological
and Invention:Progressthrough
Historyof Technology
Civilization,ed. Maurice Daumas, trans. Eileen B. Hennessy (New York, 1969), pp. 422-576;
e tecnicanella societydell'altomedioevooccidentale,
2 vols., Settimane 18 (Spoleto, 1971);
Artigianato
Das Handwerkin vor-undfriihgeschichtlicher
Zeit,Bericht uber ein Kolloquium der Kommission
fur die AltertumskundeMittel-und Nordeuropa in der Jahren 1977 bis 1980, 2 vols., ed.
HerbertJankuhn,WalterJanssen,Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand,and Heinrich Tiefenbach, Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaftenin Gottingen, phil.-hist.Klasse, 3. Folge, 122-23
etsciences,ed.
Techniqueet civilisations,
technique
(Gottingen,1981-83); and Histoiredes techniques:
Bertrand Gille, Encyclopedie de la Pleiade 41 (Paris, 1978), especiallypp. 375-579.
35For
example, the two works on early medieval art by J. Hubert, J. Porcher, and W. F.
Volbach, EuropeoftheInvasions,trans.Stuart Gilbertand James Emmons, The Artsof Mankind
12 (New York, 1969), and The CarolingianRenaissance,trans.James Emmons, StuartGilbert,and
Robert Allen, The Arts of Mankind 13 (New York, 1970).
36 The
continuityof cult practicesand religiousattitudesis noted in verygeneral termsin the
general church historieslisted in n. 12, above. The investigationof thisproblem has been given
powerfulimpetusby the growinginterestover the last two decades in "popular religion,"a topic
surrounded by considerable disagreement.For the issues involved in the debate, see John Van
Engen, "The Christian Middle Ages as an HistoriographicalProblem," The AmericanHistorical
Review91 (1986), 519-52; and Michel Lauwers, "'Religion populaire,' culture folklorique,men82
talites: Notes sur une anthropologie culturelle du moyen age," Revue d'histoire
eccl6siastique
de
(1987), 221-58. Also helpful are Raoul Manselli, La religionpopulaireau moyenage: Problemes
Conference Albert-le-Grand(Montreal, 1975); FrancisRapp, "Reflexionssur
methode
etd'histoire,
la religion populaire au moyen age" and "Directionsde recherche,"both in La religionpopulaire
ed. Bernard Plongeron, Bibliotheque Beauchesne:
dans l'occidentchretien:Approcheshistoriques,

The Carolingian Age

285
and techniquesand practicesin education.37These findingsforceone to give
significantplace in Carolingian historyto enduring economic, social, and
mental structureswhich were littleaffectedby the allegedly decisive events
clusteredaround 750. Thus, it becomes ever more difficultto approach the
Carolingian age in terms of a paradigm which postulates a break in the
course of historicaldevelopmentabout 750 sufficiently
decisiveto permitone
to speak in termsof the beginningof a new age.
Hardly less troublesome for Carolingianiststhan findinga beginning for
Religions,society,politique 2 (Paris, 1976), pp. 51-98; and La pietepopulaireau moyenage, Actes
du 99e Congres national des societessavants,Besan;on 1974, Philologieet histoirejusqu'a 1610
(Paris, 1977). Works which provide evidence illustratingthe continuityof cult practices and
undHeiligerimReichderMerowinger:
religiousmentalitiesinclude FrantisekGraus, Volk,Herrscher
Studienzur HagiographiederMerowingerzeit
(Prague, 1965); Alba Maria Orselli,L'idea e il cultodel
santopatronocittadino
nella letteratura
latinacristiana,Universitadegli studi di Bologna, Facolta di
letteree filosofia,Studi e ricerche,n.s. 12 (Bologna, 1965); Jacques Le Goff,"Culture clericale
et traditionsfolkloriques dans la civilisationm6rovingienne,"Annales 22 (1967), 780-91; La
conversione
al cristianesimo
(see n. 22, above); Pierre Riche, "La magie a 1'epoque carolingienne,"
et belles-lettres,
Paris, 1973 (Paris, 1973), pp.
Comptesrendusdesseancesde l'Academiedes inscriptions
127-38; Raoul Manselli, La religione
(sec. VI-XII), Corsi universitari(Turin,
popolarenel medioevo
du moyenage occidental,VIIIe-XIIe siecles,Collection SUP,
1974); Andre Vauchez, La spirituality
L'hislorien 19 (Paris, 1975); Pierre Riche, "Croyanceset pratiquesreligieusespopulaires pendant
le haut moyen age," in Le christianisme
ed. Bernard Plongeron
populaire:Les dossiersde l'histoire,
and Robert Pannet (Paris, 1976), pp. 79-104; Sofia Boesch Gajano, ed., Agiografia
altomedioevale
nell'altomedioevo,
2 vols., Settimane23 (Spoleto, 1976); Jean
(Bologna, 1976); Simbolie simbologia
Verdon, "Fetes et divertissementsen occident durant le haut moyen age," Journalof Medieval
History5 (1979), 303-14; Joseph-Claude Poulin, "Entre magie et religion: Recherches sur les
utilisationsmarginales de l'ecrit dans la culture populaire du haut moyen age," in La culture
age, Etudes presents au quatrieme colloque de l'Institutd'etudes medievales
populaireau moyen
de l'Universitede Montreal, 2-3 avril 1977, ed. Pierre Boglioni (Montreal, 1979), pp. 121-43;
Oronzo Giordano, Religiositd
popolarenell'altomedioevo(Bari, 1979); Alba Maria Orselli, "II santo
dell'Istituto
storico
italianoperil medio
patrono cittadinofra tardo antico e alto medioevo,"Bullettino
della mentality
evo e ArchivzoMuratoriano89 (1980-81), 349-68; Una componente
occidentale:I
penitenzialinell'altomedioevo, ed. Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli (Bologna, 1980); Hagiographie,
cultureset socidtes,
IVe-XIIe siecles,Actes du colloque organisma Nanterre et a Paris (2-5 mai
1979), Centre de recherchessur l'antiquitetardiveet le haut moyen age, Universitede Paris X
ed organizzazione
ecclesiastica
(Paris, 1981); Cristianizzazione
(see n. 16, above); Andre Vauchez, Les
laics au moyen-age:
religieuses(Paris, 1987); and Bernard McGinn, John
Pratiqueset experiences
World
Century,
Originsto theTwelfth
Meyendorff,and Jean Leclercq, eds., ChristianSpirituality:
Spirituality16 (London, 1987).
37 JosefKoch, ArtesLiberalesvon derantiken
desMittelalters,
Studien und
Bildungzur Wissenschaft
Texte zur Geistesgeschichtedes Mittelalters5 (Leiden, 1959); Detlef Illmer,FormenderErziehung
des abendund Wissensvermittlung
zur Frage der Kontinuitdt
im friihenMittelalter:Quellenstudien
ldndischen
Munchener Beitrage zur Mediavistikund Renaissance-Forschung7
Erziehungswesens,
Questions d'histoire
(Munich, 1971); Pierre Riche, De education antique& education chevaleresque,
3 (Paris, 1968); Gunter Glauche, Schullektiire
im Mittelalter:
und Wandlungendes LekEntstehung
bis1200 nach den Quellendargestellt,
tiirekanons
MuinchenerBeitrage zur Mediavistikund Renaisbarbare,VIesance-Forschung5 (Munich, 1970); Pierre Riche, Educationet culturedans l'occident
VIIIe siecles,3rd ed., L'univers historique (Paris, 1972) (English translationas Educationand
Culturein theBarbarian West,Sixththrough
EighthCenturies,trans.John J. Contreni [Columbia,
latinodell'altomedioevo(see n. 18, above); La culturaantica
S.C., 1976]); La scuola nell'occidente
de
nell'occidente
latinodal VII all'XI secolo(see n. 29, above); and Louis Holtz, Donat et la tradition
Etude sur l"'Ars Donati" et sa diffusion
(IVe-IXe siecle)et editioncritique,
grammatzcal:
l'enseignement
Documents, etudes et repertoires(Paris, 1981).

286
The Carolingian Age
their period is coping with the end of the Carolingian age. That has not
always been the case. Following the implicationsof the Pirenne thesis,the
conventionalapproach to the Carolingian age proceeded on the assumption
thatthe formationof the firstEurope witnessedcrucial'developmentswhich
asserted a formativeinfluence on post-CarolingianWestern Europe. As a
consequence, there was no imperativeneed to definea specificterminaldate
for the Carolingian period. It became conventionalto equate the end of the
Carolingian era with the demise of various branches of the Carolingian
dynasty,withoutgivingmuch thoughtto the real significanceof thesedynastic
shifts.Mainline Carolingianistshave usually been contentto leave whatever
happened after the disappearance of the last Carolingian monarch in a
particulargeographical area to somewhatmore prosaic colleagues interested
in national histories,feudal chaos, and second-waveinvasions.38
However, recent scholarship increasinglycasts doubt on this traditional
approach by compelling Carolingianiststo recognize a definiteending point
forthe Carolingian age and to reconsidereasy assumptionsabout continuities
beyond that terminaldate. An observantreader of recentCarolingian scholarship will certainlybe aware of the increasingattentiongiven to later CarThis efforthas both considerablyenlarged our understandolingianhistory.39
the
ninth
of
late
centuryand also stronglysuggested that many features
ing
of the tenth-century
world justifyincluding that "dark century"40as a part
of the Carolingian age.
On firstthoughtthe "Carolingianization"of the tenthcenturywould seem
to add weightto the termsof the traditionalconceptual paradigm insofaras
it bears out the claim thatthe Carolingian age witnessedthe birthof a societal
order the impactof whichwas feltin a decisivewayin post-Carolingiantimes.
But a funnythinghas happened to Carolingianistson theirway to the tenth
century.They have been confrontedwiththe resultsof the massivescholarly
effortwhich led Fossier to formulatethe new periodizationscheme already
noted.41Produced chieflyby economic and social historiansusing new methodological approaches and new kinds of sources, thisevidence has produced
38For instance,Ferdinand Lot and Francois L. Ganshof in theirtreatmentof the
Carolingian
etl'empire
age in Glotz'sHistoiregeneral, published in 1941, and Louis Halphen in his Charlemagne
carolingien,
published in 1947, feltno compunctionabout ending theirtreatmentsof Carolingian
historyin 888, a year notable only for another severe crisisin Carolingian dynastichistory.
39The
lengtheningof Carolingian historyis mostdramaticallyrepresentedin recentsyntheses
of Carolingian history,including Dhondt, Le haut moyenage (VIIIe-XIe siecles);Handbuchder
ed. Schieder, 1:527-783; GeoffreyBarraclough, The Crucibleof Europe:
Geschichte,
europiiischen
The Ninthand TenthCenturiesin EuropeanHistory(Berkeley,1976); James, The OriginsofFrance,
pp. 171-95; Rosamond McKitterick,TheFrankishKingdomsundertheCarolingians,751-987 (London, 1983), pp. 228-339; Riche,Les carolingiens,
pp. 205-68; Karl Ferdinand Werner,Les origines
(avant I'an mil) Histoire de France, ed. Jean Favier, 1 (Paris, 1984); and FriedrichPrinz, Grundlagenund Anfdnge:Deutschlandbis 1056, Neue deutsche Geschichte 1 (Munich, 1985).
40 I borrowthe termfromHarald Zimmermann.Das dunkleJahrhundert
(10. Jh.).Ein historisches
Portrat(Graz, 1971).
41 Excellent guides to the vast bibliographyon this subject are provided in Jean-PierrePoly
and Eric Bournazel, La mutation
feodale,Xe-XIIe siecles,Nouvelle Clio 16 (Paris, 1980), pp. 1755; and Fossier,Enfancede I'Europe,1:4-63.

The Carolingian Age

287
grounds for arguing thatbeginningin the tenthcenturythereoccurred over
much of Western Europe a radical transformationof basic economic and
social structureswhichin turncreated an ambience requiringnew behavioral
patternsand new mentalitiesat everylevel of society.Even more significantly,
the same evidence stronglysuggeststhatthe causative forcesinvolvedin this
massive transformationhad littleto do withthe Carolingian past other than
to replace its moribund remains. Collectively,this scholarlyefforthas been
than ever
more successfulin establishingthe year 1000 as the annusmirabilis
were Ralph Glaber and other medieval millenarianists.As a consequence, it
is difficultto escape the conclusion thatthereoccurred a decisivedisjuncture
in the tenthcenturywhichbroughtthe Carolingian societalorder as conventionallydescribed to a definiteend in a fashion that made the formative
impact of that order on the futureminimalat best.
This brieflook at changing perspectiveson the chronologicaldefinitionof
the Carolingian period has revealed a strange twist.Whereas until recently
it seemed fairlyclear when and under what circumstancesthe Carolingian
age began, it now appears that the beginning moment has been virtually
obliteratedby new interpretationsof certain events allegedly markinga decisivebreak in historyand by demonstrablecontinuitieslinkingthe so-called
Carolingian world to an earlier age. And whereas until recentlya precise
definitionof the end of the Carolingian age seemed of modest importance
because of assumed continuitieslinkingthe firstEurope to later times,it now
appears that a definiteending date of the Carolingian age can and must be
establishedwithina contextthat minimizescontinuitiesbetween the Carolingian age and post-Carolingiantimes.The ramificationsof thisturnof events
for the definitionof the Carolingian era, of its importance,and of its place
in the totalhistoricalcontinuumare so obvious thatfurthercommentwould
be gratuitous.
Let me now shiftto a second development in recent Carolingian scholarship, one that has raised even more serious difficultiesfor the conventional
approach employed by Carolingians than have the quandaries surrounding
the beginning and the ending of the era. This development centerson the
search for the essential characteristicsof Carolingian society.As I have previouslyargued, mainstreamCarolingian scholarshiphas been given its focus
by an effortto identifyand describe certaincommon aspects of the Carolingian order which gave that world its cohesion and its distinctive,unique
contours and which constitutedthe prime elements of the heritage it bequeathed to later Europe. It strikesme that with the passing of time what
has been sought about the essential featuresof the Carolingian experience
is not what has been found. As scholarshave examined and reexamined the
allegedly common institutionaland ideological elements in the Carolingian
world, applied new methodologicalapproaches to theirelucidation,and developed more sophisticatedassessmentsof theirrole in shaping a distinctive
Carolingian civilization,each matterunder scrutinyhas become increasingly
complex in its substance, in its meaning, and in its interrelationshipwith
other components of the Carolingian order, to such an extent that its commonalityas a key component in a holisticorder has lost most meaning. The

The Carolingian Age

cumulativeeffectof this changing visage of Carolingian realityhas been to
in making any kind of statementabout what was
create increasingdifficulty
and
typically
distinctively
Carolingian. Put another way,a sustained scholarly
effortsingularlycommittedto the delineationof the shared, common,unifying features of the Carolingian experience has ended portrayinga world
where realitywas characterizedby marked culturalplurality.
To give substance in a convincingway to this generalizationconcerning
the harvest reaped from the effortto define the realityof the Carolingian
world in termsof institutionaland ideological commonalitieswould require
a critiqueof Carolingian scholarshipfar too extensiveto undertakehere. But
perhaps a few examples chosen frommany will serve to illustratemy point.
An obvious case is the question of the Carolingian empire. In a sense, the
creation and evolution of the empire have served as a frame upon which
Carolingianistshave woven a tapestryhighlightingthe unifying,universalizing aspects of Carolingian history.As James Bryce put it,the empire was the
fruitof the "passionate longing of betterminds for a formal unityof government,"a counteractionto "the instinctof separation, disorder,anarchy,
caused by the ungoverned impulses and barbarous ignorance of the great
bulk of mankind."42At least so it seemed when I firstencountered the issue
of the empire fortyyears ago throughthe eyes not only of Lord Bryce,but
also of Arthur Kleinclausz, Karl Heldmann, Francois Ganshof, and Louis
Halphen.43 Each of them made a relativelystraightforward,
uncomplicated
case thatthe creationof the empire and itssubsequent evolutionrepresented
the central event in Carolingian history.The universalizing,unifyingimplications of its creation at once served to illustratethe creativeuniqueness of
the Carolingian age and to provide a prime ingredientof a political-ecclesiastical heritage that would affectWesternEurope for centuries.
During subsequent years,a legion of investigators,inspiredin the main by
an urge to understand better the idea and practice of empire as a key to
Carolingian history,have subjected the issue to intensive scrutiny.These
scholars have submitted the literarytexts to ever more vigorous analysis,
often with the aid of new insightsderived from philology and linguistics;
theyhave adduced new kinds of evidence to illuminatethe matter,especially
evidence drawn from the visual arts and liturgicalusages; and they have
explored in detail the particular views held by various actors involved in
establishingand sustainingthe imperial officeduring a centuryand a half
followingChristmas Day 800. The result of this investigationhas been to
surround the whole matterof the Carolingian empire with immense complexity.Out of that complexityemerges an inevitableconclusion: the Carolingian concept and practice of empire meant strikinglydifferentthingsto
288
42James
Bryce, The HolyRomanEmpire,new ed. (London, 1904; repr. 1963), p. 50.
ArthurKleinclausz,L'empirecarolingien:Ses originesetsestransformations,
Universitede Dijon,
Revue bourguignonne de l'enseignementsuperieur 12/2-4 (Dijon, 1902); Karl Heldmann, Das
Kazsertum
Karls des Grossen:Theorienund Wirklichkeit,
Quellen und Studien zur Verfassungsgeschichtedes deutschen Reiches in Mittelalterund Neuzeit 6/2 (Weimar, 1928); Halphen, Charlemagneet l'empirecarolingien;and Francois L. Ganshof, The ImperialCoronationof Charlemagne:
Theoriesand Facts,Glasgow UniversityPublications79 (Glasgow, 1949).
43

The Carolingian Age
289
differentpeople in the ninthand tenthcenturies.There was not one unifying

and universallyshared view of what the Carolingian empire was and how it
should be managed, but many conflicting,divisiveviews. If one admits that
such a picture reflectsCarolingian realitybetterthan did earlier interpretations which argued that the idea of empire represented a force drawing
diverse elementsof the Carolingian world together,then one must question
a global interpretationof the Carolingian age posited on the assumptionthat
its fundamentalcharacterwas defined by the emergence of unique creations
capable of unifyingthe firstEurope into a common civilizationalpatternand
of persistingto shape successive periods in European history.44
44 Illustrativeof
my point is the fact thatanthologieshave been prepared as introductionsto
the problem of the Carolingian empire; see, for example, The Coronationof Charlemagne:What
Did It Signify?,ed. Richard E. Sullivan, Problems in European Civilization(Boston, 1959); and
Zum KaisertumKarls des Grossen:Beitrdgeund Aufsdtze,
ed. Gunther Wolf, Wege der Forschung
38 (Darmstadt, 1972). The best attempt to synthesizethe divergentviews is Robert Folz, Le
couronnement
25 decembre
800, Trente journees qui ont faitla France 3
imperialde Charlemagne,
25 December800, trans.J. E.
(Paris, 1964) (English translationas The Coronationof Charlemagne,
Anderson [London, 1974]). Wolfprovidesan excellentguide to the keyliteratureon the problem
down to 1970. To that bibliographythe followingimportantworks should be added, most of
thempublished afterWolf's work:Der Vertrag
von Verdun,843: Neun Aufsdtze
zurBegriindung
der
Volker-und Staatenwelt,
ed. Theodor Mayer,Das Reich und Europa: Gemeinschaftseuropdischen
arbeit deutscher Historiker (Leipzig, 1943); Heinrich Fichtenau, Das karolingische
Imperium:
Soziale und geistigeProblematik
einesGrossreiches
(Zurich, 1949) (English translationas The Carolingian Empire,trans. Peter Munz, Studies in Medieval History9 [New York, 1957]); Morrison,The
Two Kingdoms;Josef Deer, "Zum Patricius-Romanorum-Titel
Karls des Grossen,"Archivum
historiaepontificiae3 (1965), 31-86; Wilhelm Alfred Eckhardt, "Das Protokoll von Ravenna 877
uber die Kaiserkr6nung Karls des Kahlen," DA 23 (1967), 295-311; Congar, L'ecclesiologie
du
hautmoyenage; PercyErnst Schramm,Kaiser,KonigeundPipste: Gesammelte
Aufsitzezur Geschichte
des Mittelalters,
4 vols. (Stuttgart,1968-71), especially vols. 1-2; Ullmann, The CarolingianRederKarolingerin derDarstellungdersogenannten
und Herrschaft
naissance;Irene Haselbach, Aufstieg
AnnalesMettenses
derpolitischen
Ideen im ReicheKarls des Grossen,
priores:Ein Beitragzur Geschichte
HistorischeStudien 412 (Libeck, 1970); WolfgangH. Fritze,Papst und Frankenkonig:
Studienzu
den pdpstlich-frdnkischen
von 754 bis 824, VuF, Sonderband 10 (Sigmaringen,
Rechtsbeziehungen
nach der Teilung von Verdun(843):
1973); Ursula Penndorf, Das Problemder Reichseinheitsidee
zu denspdtenKarolingern,
Miinchener Beitrage zur Mediavistikund RenaissanceUntersuchungen
Forschung 20 (Munich, 1974); Karl Hauck, "Karl der Grosse in seinemJahrhundert,"FMSt 9
(1975), 202-14; Francois Louis Ganshof, "L'empire carolingien:Essence et structure,"in Gesellim Wachseneinereuropdischen
Literaturund Geisschaft,Kultur,Literatur:Rezeptionund Originalitdt
ed. Karl Bosl, Monographien zur Geschichtedes Mitteltigkeit.
BeitrdgeLiutpoldWallachgewidmet,
alters 11 (Stuttgart, 1975), pp. 191-202; Werner Ohnsorge, "Neue Beobachtungen zum
KaisertitelKarls des Grossen,"ArchivfurDiplomatik21 (1975), 1-14 (repr. in WernerOhnsorge,
Ost-Romund derWest:Gesammelte
derbyzantinisch-abendlindischen
Aufsitzezur Geschichte
Beziehungen
unddesKaisertums
[Darmstadt, 1983], pp. 45-59); Karl JosefBenz, "'Cum ab oratione surgeret':
Uberlegung zur Kaiserkronung Karls des Grossen," DA 31 (1975), 337-69; Anna M. Drabek,
Der Vertrdge
derfrinkischen
mitdemPapsttumvon 754 bis 1020, Ver6ffentund deutschen
Herrscher
lichungen des Instituts fur osterreichischeGeschichtsforschung22 (Vienna, 1976); Dieter
Schaller,"Das Aachener Epos fur Karl den Kaiser," FMSt 10 (1976), 134-68; idem, "Interpre41 (1977), 160-79; Marta
tationsproblemeim Aachener Karlsepos," RheinischeVierteljahrsbldtter
da Alcuinoa GiovanniEriugena: Lineamentiideologicie terCristiani,Dall'unanimitasall'universitas
minologiapoliticadella culturadel secoloIX, Studi storici 100-102 (Rome, 1978); Karl Ferdinand
ed. Maurice Duverger
Werner,"L'empire carolingien et la saint empire," in Le conceptd'empire,
zur EntfaltungDeutschlandsund
(Paris, 1980), pp. 151-98 (repr. in Werner, VomFrankenreich
Frankreichs:
Ausgewdhlte
Beitrdge[Sigmaringen,1984], pp. 329Urspriinge-Strukturen-Beziehungen.

290
The Carolingian Age
Let me offeranother example to illustratethe tendencyof recentCarolingian scholarshipto produce resultsthathave underminedthe premiseswhich
inspired it. A major theme in Carolingian studies has been the effortto
demonstratehow a varietyof forces were at work in the eighth and ninth
centuriesto minimizeor even eliminate the regional and ethnic differences
whichcharacterizedpre-CarolingianGaul, Germany,and Italy.These studies
have placed heavy emphasis on the impact of unifyingforces emanating
chieflyfrom the Carolingian court circle which worked to integratediverse
A varietyof instrumentalitieshave been
people into the regnum/imperium.
attention
as
given special
integrativeforces:administrativepractices;judicial
proceedings; dependency relationshipsinvolvingvassiandfideles;normative
textsin law, theology,literature,and morality;land endowmentsfavoringa
FrankishReichsadeland selected royal monasteries;ecclesiasticalreorganization; and educational techniques.A major consequence of thiseffortto chart
the impact of such forces on the diverse regions and-peoples enfolded into
the Carolingian political realm has been to create the impression that a
decisive feature of the Carolingian age was the spread across the European
map of common practices and ideas which considerablydiminished earlier
regionalismand ethnicity.Perhaps a few intransigents,such as the Aquitanians and the Bretons, resisted this development, but not so with "real"
Europeans - Austrasians,Neustrians,Burgundians,Alemanni,Thuringians,
Bavarians, Saxons, Lombards - all of whom saw theirancient identitiesand
their regional uniqueness considerablydiminished during the Carolingian
age and theirlivesenmeshed in a larger,pan-European patternwhose crucial
elements became a more significantpart of their futurethan were the peculiaritiescharacteristicof theirpre-Carolingianpast.45
While there is some validityto a reading of the Carolingian experience in
termsof the spread of common political,social, legal, religious,and cultural
patternsthatdiminishedlocalism,it has become virtuallyimpossibleto sustain
this position as descriptiveof a fundamentalaspect of Carolingian history.
The modificationof this approach has been necessitatedlargelyby the findings of scholars who have concentratedon the study of particularregions
within the Carolingian ecumene to discover exactly what happened there
76); Josef Fleckenstein,"Das grossfrankischeReich: Moglichkeitenund Grenzen der GrossHZ 233 (1981), 265-94; Johannes Fried, "Der karolingischeHerrreichsbildungim Mittelalter,"
schaftsverbandim 9. Jh. zwischen 'Kirche' und 'Konigshaus,"' HZ 235 (1982), 1-43; Werner
Ohnsorge, "Das abendlandische Kaisertum," in Ohnsorge, Ost-Romund der West,pp. 1-36;
Othmar Hageneder, "Das crimenmaiestatis,
der Prozess gegen die AttentaterPapst Leo III. und
die Kaiserkronung Karls des Grossen," in Aus Kircheund Reich: Studienzu Theologie,Politikund
RechtimMittelalter.
Festschrift
fiirFriedrichKempf..., ed. Hubert Mordek (Sigmaringen,1983),
pp. 55-79; WolfgangWendling,"Die Erhebung Ludwig d. Fr. zum MitkaiserimJahre 813 und
ihre Bedeutung fuirdie Verfassungsgeschichtedes Frankenreiches,"FMSt 19 (1985), 201-38;
and Peter Classen, Karl der Grosse,das Papsttumund Byzanz: Die Begriindungdes karolingischen
Kaisertums,
Beitrage zur Geschichteund Quellenkunde des Mittelalters9 (Sigmaringen,1985).
45 This theme is so
pervasive in Carolingian scholarshipthat a bibliographyat once representativeand manageable is impossible. Almost any of the workscited in nn. 12-23, above, would
bear out my point that a major thrust of Carolingian scholarship has sought to trace the
diminutionof localism.

The Carolingian Age

291
during the eighth,ninth,and tenthcenturies,especiallyin termsof tracking
changes that resulted from absorption of each region into the Carolingian
sphere of influence.Their findingsleave no doubt thatregionalismremained
a vitalaspect of Carolingian history,the existenceand positivedimensionsof
whichcan be neglected only at the riskof distortingCarolingian realities.46
This positionis corroboratedin other ways.Carolingian sources show little
concern withethnicdifferencesand regionalismas problems,suggestingthat
these issues may have been imposed on the Carolingian record by later
"nationalists"concerned withcentralized"national" statesand withidentifying the natioas an ethnic group. There is considerable evidence pointingto
the fact that the Carolingian rulers and theirEinheitspartei
were not unduly
46 Reliable
guidance to the enormous number of such studies can be found in the bibliograed. Schieder, l:passim; Wickham,EarlyMedieval
Geschichte,
phies in Handbuchder europdischen
Italy,pp. 197, 203-4; and Jean Dunbabin, France in theMakzng843-1180 (Oxford, 1985), pp.
420-26. The significanceof regionalism in Carolingian historyis suggested by the articles by
Eugen Ewig, Reinhard Wenskus, Kurt Reindel, Bernard Bligny,and Philippe Wolffin Karl der
Grosse,1:143-306. Other suggestiveworks,especially in political history,include Ernst Klebel,
und Stdmme
"Herzogtumer und Marken bis 900," DA 2 (1938), 1-53; Gerd Tellenbach, Kbnigtum
in der Werdezeitdes deutschenReiches,Quellen und Studien zur Verfassungsgeschichtedes
deutschen Reiches im Mittelalterund Neuzeit 7/4 (Weimar, 1939); Jan Dhondt, Etudessur la
naissancedes principautesterritoriales
en France,IXe-Xe siecles,Rijksuniversiteitte Gent, Werken
uitgegevendoor de Faculteitvan de Wijsbegeerteen Letteren 102 (Bruges, 1948); Erich Z6llner,
Die politischeStellungder Volkerim Frankenreich,
Ver6ffentlichungendes Institutsfur 6sterreichische Geschichtsforschung13 (Vienna, 1950); Karl Ferdinand Werner,"Untersuchungenzur
18
Friihzeit des franzosischenFiirstentums(9. bis zum 10. Jahrhundert),"Weltals Geschichte
und
(1958), 256-89; 19 (1959), 146-93; 20 (1960), 87-119; Reinhard Wenskus,Stammesbildung
Das Werdenderfriihmittelalterlichen
gentes(Cologne, 1961); Walther Kienast, Studien
Verfassung:
desFriihmittelalters,
PariserhistorischeStudien 7 (Stuttgart,1968);
Volkstdmme
iiberdiefranz6sischen
Herwig Wolfram,"The Shaping of the Early Medieval Principalityas a Type of Non-Royal
Rulership," Viator2 (1971), 33-51; Karl Ferdinand Werner, "Les principautes peripheriques
dans le monde francdu VIIIe siecle," in I problemi
nel secoloVIII, 2 vols., Settimane
dell'occidente
20 (Spoleto, 1973), 2:483-514 (repr. in Werner, Structures
politiquesdu mondefranc [VIe-XIIe
Variorum Reprints[London, 1979]);
siecles]:Etudessur les originesde la France et de l'Allemagne,
im neuntenund zehntenJahrhundert,"Mitteilungen
Karl Brunner,"Der frankischenFiirstentitel
des Instituts
fur isterreichische
Geschichtsforschung,
Erganzungsband 24 (1973), 179-340; Karl Ferdinand Werner,"Les duches 'nationaux' d'Allemagne au IXe et au Xe siecle,"in Les principautes
au moyen-dge,
Actes du Congres de la Societe des historiens medievistes de l'enseignement
superieur public, Bordeaux, 1973 (Bordeaux, 1973), pp. 29-46, with excellent bibliography
zurEntfaltung
undFrankreichs,
Deutschlands
(repr.in Werner,VomFrankenreich
pp. 311-28); Aspekte
der Nationensbildung
im Mittelalter,
Ergebnisse der Marburger Rundgesprache, 1972-1975, ed.
Helmut Beumann and Werner Schr6der,Nationes: Historischeund philologischeUntersuchungen zur Entstehung der europaischen Nationen im Mittelalter1 (Sigmaringen, 1978); Jean
Pierre Cuvillier,L'Allemagnemrdidvale:Naissanced'un etat(VIIIe-XIIIe siecles),Bibliotheque historique (Paris, 1979); Karl Ferdinand Werner, "La genese des duches en France et en Allemagne," in Nascitadell'Europaed Europa carolingia,1:175-207 (repr. in Werner,VomFrankenreich
zurEntfaltung
imAlpenDeutschlands
und Frankreichs,
Ethnogenese
pp. 278-310); Friihmittelalterliche
raum, ed. Helmut Beumann and Werner Schr6der, Nationes: Historische und philologische
Untersuchungen zur' Entstehung der europaischen Nationen im Mittelalter5 (Sigmaringen,
zur Formierung
der europaischen
Staaten-und
1985); and Eduard Hlaw.itschka,VomFrankenreich
zur Zeit der spatenKarolinger,der Ottonenund der
840-1046: Ein Studienbuch
Volkergemeinschaft,
(Darmstadt, 1986). See also worksdevoted to LandesfriihenSalier in der Geschichte
Mitteleuropas
a number of which are listed in n. 62, below.
geschichte,

292
The Carolingian Age
uncomfortablewithregional subentitiesand differences.Aside fromthe ease

with which subkingdoms were created and the latitude that their rulers
enjoyed, there are many indicationsthat in order to accommodate regional
differencesthe Carolingian rulers were quite willingto adjust their administrativepractices,their policies for endowing supportiveroyal monasteries,
theirmodes of consultation,theirreactionto resistance,and theirtechniques
In short,the real Carolingian
for the implantationof a FrankishReichsadel.47
47 See
especially the remarkable study by Karl Ferdinand Werner,"Missus-Marchio-Comes:
Entre l'administrationcentrale et l'administrationlocale de l'empire carolingien," in Histoire
de administration
(IVe-XVIIIe siecles),Actes du 14e Colloque historiquefranco-allemand
comparee
de l'Instituthistoriqueallemand de Paris, Tours du 27 mars-1 avril,ed. Werner Paraviciniand
Karl Fredinand Werner,Beihefteder Francia 9 (Munich, 1980), withfullbibliography(reprinted
in Werner, VomFrankenreich
zur EntfaltungDeutschlandsund Frankreichs,
pp. 108-56). Useful
studies on the diversityin local administrationinclude DietrichClaude, "Untersuchungenzum
derSavigny-Stiftungfiir
friihfrankischen
Comitat,"Zeitschrift
Rechtsgeschichte,
germ.Abt. 81 (1964),
1-79; Paolo Delogu, "L'istituzionecomitale nell'Italia carolingia (Ricerche sull'aristocraziacarostoricoitalianoper il medioevo e ArchivioMuratoriano79
lingia in Italia, 1)," Bullettinodell'Istituto
imFrankreich
und Deutschland(9. bis12. Jahrhun(1967), 53-114; WaltherKienast,Der Herzogtitel
derKarolingerzeit
in den Gebieten
dert)(Munich, 1968); Hans K. Schulze, Die Grafschaftsverfassung
ostlichdes Rheins,Schriftender Verfassungsgeschichte19 (Berlin, 1973); Archibald R. Lewis,
"The Dukes in the RegnumFrancorum,A.D. 550-751," Speculum51 (1976), 381-410; HansWerner Goetz, "Dux" und "ducatus":Begriffsund verfassungsgeschichtliche
zur EntUntersuchungen
an der'Wendevom9. bis 10. Jahrhundert
stehungdes sogenannten
(Bo"Jiingeren"
Stammesherzogtum
chum, 1977); and Alexander Callander Murray,"The Positionof the Grafioin the Constitutional
History of Merovingian Gaul," Speculum61 (1986), 787-805. The flexibilityof Carolingian
administrationin dealing with localism is evident in regional and local studies; see the studies
listed in n. 62, below. On the problem of gaining the consensus of the potentes
and coping with
iiberdie Widerstandsformen
political dissidents see Siegfried Epperlein, Untersuchungen
gegendie
Herren im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert
in karolingischen
und weltlicher
geistlicher
Feudalisierungspolitik
Geschichte 14 (Berlin, 1969); WernerAffeldt,"Das
Imperium,
Forschungen zur mittelalterlichen
Problem der Mitwirkungdes Adels an politischenEntscheidungsprozessenim Frankenreich
vornehmlichdes 8. Jahrhunderts,"in Aus Theorieund Praxis der Geschichtswissenschaft:
Festschrift
ed. Dietrich Kurze, Ver6ffentlichungender Historischen
fur Hans Herzfeldzum 80. Geburtstag,
Kommission zu Berlin 37 (Berlin, 1972), pp. 404-23; Karl Brunner, Oppositionelle
Gruppenim
des Institutsfur6sterreichischeGeschichtsforschung
25 (ViKarolingerreich,
Veroffentlichungen
vomKonigdes Verhaltnis
enna, 1979); Jurgen Hannig, Consensus
fidelium:Friihfeudale
Interpretation
tumund Adel am Beispieldes Frankenreiches,
Monographien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters27
(Stuttgart,1982); Otto Gerhard Oexle, "Gilden als soziale Gruppen in der Karolingerzeit,"in
Das Handwerkin vor-undfriihgeschichtlicher
Zeit,pp. 284-356 (see n. 34, above); idem, "'Conjuratio'
et 'ghilde' dans l'antiquiteet dans le haut moyen age: Remarques sur la continuitydes formes
de la vie sociale," Francia 10 (1982), 1-19; Hanna Vollrath,"Herrschaftund Genossenschaftim
Kontext friihmittelalterlicher
Rechtsbeziehungen,"HJ 102 (1982), 33-71; and Hans-Werner
Grundherrschaft,"HJ 104 (1984),
Goetz, "Herrschaftund Recht in der frtihmittelalterlichen
392-410. Adding to administrativediversitywas episcopal and monasticinvolvementin adminam Beispielder AbteiLorschmit
istration;see Hans-Peter Wehlt,Reichsabteiund Konig, dargestellt
Ausblicken
auf Hersfeld,Stablo und Fulda, Ver6ffentlichungendes Max-Planck-Institutsfur Geschichte 28 (G6ttingen, 1970); Jean Imbert, "Le pouvoir legislatifdans l'eglise carolingienne,"
L'annee canonique 17 (1973), 589-601; Josef Semmler, "Episcopi potestas und karolingische
desKlosters
Reichenau,ed. Arno
Kirchenpolitik,"in Mbnchtum,
EpiskopatundAdelzur Griindungszeit
Borst,VuF 20 (Sigmaringen,1974), pp. 305-95; Peter Brommer,"Die bisch6flicheGesetzgebung
der Savigny-Stiftung
Theodulfs von Orleans," Zeitschrift
kan. Abt. 60 (1974),
fur Rechtsgeschichte,
1-120; Jean Gaudemet, "Les statuts episcopaux de la premiere decade du IXe siecle," in
21-25 August1972,
Proceedings
CongressofMedievalCanonLaw, Toronto,
oftheFourthInternational

The Carolingian Age
293
world appears to have been comfortablypolymorphous,drawingvital energies from regional and ethnic communitieswhich predated the Carolingian
age and which survived beyond it at least until about 1000, when many
ancientregional entitieswere pulverizedby the massiveregroupingof people
accompanyingthe establishmentof the seigneurial regime. This conclusion
again vitiates a conceptual approach that stresses unifying,universalizing
tendenciesas the fundamentaland distinctivefeatureof Carolingian history.
Again illustrativeof my point is the thrustof recent scholarshipdevoted
to Carolingian liturgy.As already noted,48a massivescholarlyefforthas been
spent to demonstrate the impositionof common liturgicalpractices,based
on Roman models, across the entire Frankish realm. The weight of that
scholarship is attested by no less an authoritythan JosefJungmann,who
concluded a general descriptionof Carolingian liturgicaldevelopmentswith
this unambiguous statement:"... the Roman liturgynow prevailed in the
Frankishempire ..."49
However,anyone familiarwithcurrentresearchon Carolingianliturgywill
read Jungmann'sstatementwithconsiderableastonishment,wonderingif his
positionagain reflectsthe "imagined" Carolingian world. There is littleconsensus on what was "Roman" in the liturgicalworld of the eighthand ninth
centuries.Even more challenging are the findingsof researcherswho have
pushed beyond the normativetextsand the didactictractsdealing withliturgy
to the studyof survivingliturgicaltextsactuallyused to celebrate the sacred
ritesduring the Carolingian age. The picturethatemerges fromthese studies
goes far to contradict liturgical standardization and uniformityas major
dimensions of the realityof Carolingian religious life. Local compilers of
liturgicalbooks, obviouslyintenton providingforlocal liturgicalneeds, took
uncommon libertieswiththe authoritativetextsprescribedby the proponents
of liturgical standardization. They felt no compunction about combining
elements from diverse liturgical traditions to create composite liturgical
guides characterizedby discordant internalelements. Where there was latitude for liturgicalvariation, as in litanies, sequences, and special prayers,
these local liturgistsdemonstratedconsiderable innovativetalent,exercised
in a way that gave their liturgicalbooks distinctively
unique characteristics.
If thisarray of divergenttextsprovides any clue to actual Carolingian litured. Stephan Kuttner,Monumenta Iuris Canonici C/5 (Vatican City, 1976), pp. 303-49; Carlo
Guido Mor, "Su i poteri civilidei vescovi dal IV al secolo VIII," in I poteritemporali
dei vescoviin
Italia e in Germanianel medioevo,
ed. C. G. Mor and H. Schmidinger,Annali dell'Istitutostorico
italo-germanico,Quaderno 3 (Bologna, 1979); Peter Brommer,"Capitula episcoporum: Bemerkungen zu den bisch6flichenKapitularien,"ZKG 91 (1980), 207-36; Franz J. Felten, Abteund
LaienabteimFrankenreich:
von Staat und KircheimfriherenMittelalter,
Studiezum Verhaltnis
Monographien zur Geschichtedes Mittelalters20 (Stuttgart,1980); Reinhold Kaiser,Bischofsherrschaft
zwischenK6nigtumund Fiirstenmacht:
imwestfrdnkisch-franzoStudienzur bischtflichen
Stadtherrschaft
sischenReich imfriihenund hohenMittelalter,
Pariser historischeStudien 17 (Paris, 1981); and
WilfriedHartmann, "I1 yescovo come giudice: La giurisdizioneecclesiasticasu criminidi laici
nell'alto medioevo (secoli VI-XI)," Rivistadi storiadella chiesain Italia 40 (1986), 320-41.
48 See n. 19, above, for works illustrative
of thisapproach.
49Handbookof ChurchHistory,
ed. Jedin and Dolan, 3:300.

294
The Carolingian Age
gical practice,then one must envisage a world in which the liturgydiffered

in everychurch. And thus dissolvesanother foundationstone sustainingthe
"imagined" single mansion housing the Carolingian world.50
The same conclusion emerges from a close examination of recent scholarship on many other aspects of Carolingian civilizationthatwere previously
accepted as unifyingcomponents working to create a unique society.The
effortto finda typicalCarolingianmode of agriculturalexploitationfeaturing
the large estate has revealed that many modes coexisted, often side by side
in the same area.51The embattledeffortto identifythe legal, economic, and
mental elements that combined to produce a unique Carolingian Reichsadel
has ended in a demonstrationthatthe conditionsand perceptionssurround50 The
key to this dimension of the historyof Carolingian liturgyis found in the extensive
effortunder way to identifyand edit liturgicaldocuments, to analyze their sources, and to
establishtheirinterrelationshipsand interdependencies.An indispensableguide to thiseffortis
Toronto Medieval
provided by Richard W. Pfaff,Medieval Latin Liturgy:A SelectBibliography,
Bibliographies 9 (Toronto, 1982). An example of the kind of scholarship that illustratesmy
point is provided by the study of Carolingian sacramentaries(see Pfaff,MedievalLatin Liturgy,
pp. 72-79). Some examples of such studies - chosen frommany - include Klaus Gamber, et
biszurJahrtausendderHandschriften
und Fragmente
VersucheinerGruppierung
al., Sakramentartypen:
wende,Texte und Arbeiten, 1stseries: Beitrage zur Ergrundung des alteren lateinischenchristlichen Schrifttumsund Gottesdienstes49-50 (Beuron, 1958); P. Siffrin,Konkordanztabellen
zu
denr6mischen
3 vols., Rerum ecclesiasticarumdocumenta, Series minor: Subsidia
Sakramentarien,
A Reassessment
studiorum 4-6 (Rome, 1958-61); D. M. Hope, The LeonineSacramentary:
of Its
Natureand Purpose,Oxford Theological Monographs (New York, 1971); Bernard Moreton, The
A Studyin Tradition,
Oxford Theological Monographs (LonGelasianSacramentary:
Eighth-Century
di Poitiers(Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenalcod. 227), ed. A. Martini,
don, 1976); Il cosiddetto
pontificale
Rerum ecclesiasticarumdocumenta, Series maior: Fontes 14 (Rome, 1979); Jean Deshusses, Le
sacramentaire
Les principales
3 vols., Spicilegium
gregorien:
formesd'apreslesplus anciensmanuscrits,
ed. A. Dumas and
Gellonensis,
Friburgensis16, 24, 28 (Freiburg, 1979-82); LiberSacramentorum
J. Deshusses, 2 vols., CCSL 159, 159A (Turnhout, 1981); Jean Deshusses and Benoit Darragon,
Concordances
et tableauxpour l'etudedes grandessacramentaires,
6 vols., Spicilegium Friburgensis,
Subsidia 9-14 (Freiburg,1982-83); AntoineChavasse, La sacramentaire
dansle groupedit"Gelasiens
du VIIIe siecle".Etude des procedesde confection
et synoptiques
nouveaumodule,2 vols., Instrumenta
patristica14, A-B (The Hague, 1984). Excellentsummariesof scholarshipof Carolingian sacramentariesare provided by MargrietVos, "A la recherchede normes pour les textesliturgiques
de la messe (Ve-VIIe siecles),"Revuede l'histoire
69 (1974), 5-37; and Jean Deshusses,
ecclesiastique
"Les sacramentaires:Etat actuel de la recherche,"Archivfur Liturgiewissenschaft
24 (1982), 4757.
51 See the works on economic
historycited in nn. 26 and 30, above. Also useful are JeanPierre Poly,"Regime domanial et rapportsde production'feodalistes'dans le Midi de la France
mediterraneen
feodalesetfeodalismedans l'occident
(Xe-XIIIe siecles):
(VIIIe-Xe sieles)," in Structures
Bilan etperspectives
de recherches,
Actes du colloque de Rome, 10-13 octobre 1978, Collection de
l'Ecole francaise de Rome 44 (Rome, 1980), pp. 57-84; Robert Fossier, "Habitat, domaines
agricoles et main-d'oeuvreen France du Nord-Ouest au IXe sickle,"and Adriaan Verhulst,"La
diversitydu regime domanial entre Loire et Rhin a l'epoque carolingienne,"both in Villa-curtisgrangia,pp. 123-48 (see n. 30, above); Francois Bange, "L'ageret la villa: Structuresdu paysages
et du peuplement dans la region maconnaise a la fin du haut moyen age (IXe-XIe siecles),"
Annales39 (1984), 529-69; Elisabeth Magnou-Nortier,"La terre,la rente et le pouvoir dans le
pays de Languedoc pendant le haut moyen age," Francia 9 (1981), 79-115; 10 (1982), 21-66;
et carolingienne
12 (1984), 53-118; and Le grand domaineaux epoquesmerovingienne
(Die GrundimfriihenMittelalters),
Actes du colloque international,Gand, 8-10 septembre 1983,
herrschaft
ed. Adriaan Verhulst(Ghent, 1985).

The Carolingian Age
295
were so diverse as to make nearlyimpossibleany

ing the lives of the potentes
definitionof a Carolingian nobility.52
The early medieval practicesand conmore comcepts out of which "classic" feudalismdeveloped appear infinitely
plex than the picture painted by Marc Bloch, F. L. Ganshof,and Charles E.
Odegaard.53 Any hope of sustaining the case for the establishmentof a
common patternof monasticlife under the Benedictine rule has come close
to vanishingin the face of recentstudiesof the receptionof monasticreform
legislationand the diverse interpretationsput on the rule by some CarolinIntensive study of the
gian commentatorsand monastic administrators.54
activitiesand the concerns of various Carolingian educational establishments
makes it increasinglydifficultto thinkof a unified educational systemas a
decisive factorin creatingcommonalitiesin Carolingian society.55
The more
52 The main issues of thisdebate are outlined in the worksof
Genicot,Heinzelmann, Martindale, Reuter,Schulze, Bouchard, Werner,and Freed, cited in n. 32, above. TheMedievalNobility,
ed. Reuter, pp. 331-66, provides an excellent bibliography;complementingit are the works
listedby Karl Bosl in Handbuchderdeutschen
ed. Aubin and Zorn,
Wirtschafts1:151-54; and by Fossier,Enfancede l'Europe,1:19-22.
53
See, for example, Robert Boutruche, Seigneurieetfeodalite,2 vols., Collection historique
to Feudalism;Elisabeth Magnou-Nortier,Foi
(Paris, 1968-70); Anderson, PassagesfromAntiquity
Recherches
deslienspersonnels
chezlesFrancsdu Vile au IXe siecle,Publications
surl'evolution
etfidelite:
de l'Universitede Toulouse-Le Mirail,serie A, 28 (Toulouse, 1976); Structuresfe'odales
etfeodalisme
dans l'occidentmediterraneen
(see n. 51, above); Poly and Bournazel, La mutation
feodale; and
Hannig, Consensusfidelium.
54 The evidence on this
point is best illustratedin the numerous studies of individualCarolingian monastichouses, most of which address the issue of the receptionof Carolingian monastic
reformby individual houses; the best guide to such studies in provided by successive volumes
of the Bulletind'histoire
An example of the kind of studywhichsupports my position
benedictine.
is Alain Dierkens,Abbayesetchapitres
entreSambreetMeuse(VIIe-XIe siecles):Contribution
a l'histoire
religieusedes campagnesdu haut moyenage, Beihefte der Francia 14 (Sigmaringen, 1985). Two
excellentessaysof synthesison the diverse impactof Carolingian monasticreformare Gregoire,
"I1 monachesimo carolingio dopo Benedetto d'Aniane (t821)," Studiamonastica24 (1982), 34988; and Semmler, "Benedictus II: Una regula-una consuetudo," in BenedictineCulture,ed.
Lourdaux and Verhelst,pp. 1-49. Other worksinclude Raymund Kottje,"Einheit und Vielfalt
des kirchlichenLebens in der Karolingerzeit,"ZKG 76 (1965), 323-42; Prinz,FriihesMinchtum
Kircheund Welt,Muinstersche
imFrankenreich;
desMittelalters
zwischen
JoachimWollasch,Monchtum
7 (Munich, 1973); and FriedrichPrinz,"MonastischeZentren im FrankenMittelalter-Schriften
reich,"SM, 3rd ser., 19 (1978), 571-90.
55
Suggestive of my point is John J. Contreni, "Inharmonius Harmony: Education in the
Carolingian World," Annals of Scholarship:Metastudiesof theHumanitiesand Social Sciences1/2
Marenbon, From
(1980), 81-96. For general orientations,see Rich,, Les ecoleset l'enseignement;
theCircleofAlcuintotheSchoolofAuxerre;McKitterick,TheFrankishKingdoms
undertheCarolingians,
pp. 140-68, 200-227, 278-304; and Wallace-Hadrill,The FrankishChurch,pp. 205-25, 304-89.
Other studies challenging the unitarynature of Carolingian education are Bernhard Bischoff,
Die siidostdeutschen
und Bibliotheken
2 vols., 2nd ed. (Wiesbaden,
Schreibschulen
1960, 1980); L. M. De Rijk, "On the Curriculumof the Arts of the Trivium at St. Gall fromc.
850-c. 1000," Vivarium1 (1963), 35-86; Heinrich Buttner and Johannes Duft, Lorschund St.
Gallen in derFriihzeit(Constance, 1965); Edouard Jeauneau, "Les ecoles de Laon et d'Auxerre
latinodell'altomedioevo,2:495-522, 555-60 (see n. 18,
au IXe sickle,"in La scuola nell'occidente
im Spiegel der
above); Christine E. Eder, Die Schule des KlostersTegernseeimfriihenMittelalter
MuinchenerBeitrage zur Mediavistikund Renaissance-Forschung,BeiTegernseer
Handschriften,
Munchener Beiheft(Munich, 1972); Bernhard Bischoff,Lorschim SpiegelseinerHandschriften,
trage zur Mediavistikund Renaissance-Forschung,Beiheft (Munich, 1974); John J. Contreni,

296
The Carolingian Age
that has been learned about the ideas, the ways of thinking,and the uses of
authorityof individual intellectualleaders, the less certaintythere is about
the existence of an intellectualcommunitymade up of men of common
learningsharingcommon ideas about politics,religion,ethics,and the natural
world.56The findingsof art historianshave revealed such avariety of motifs,
and Masters,Munchener Beitrage zur
The CathedralSchoolofLaon from850 to930: Its Manuscripts
Mediavistikund Renaissance-Forschung29 (Munich, 1978); and WolfgangHaubrichs,Die Kultur
Studienzur Heimatdes althochdeutschen
derAbteiPriimzur Karolingerzeit:
Rheinisches
Georgsliedes,
Archiv 105 (Bonn, 1979).
56 For some
highlyperceptiveremarkson the varietyof thoughtpatternsamong Carolingian
scholars,see Marcia L. Colish, "Carolingian Debates over Nihil and Tenebrae:A Study in Theological Method," Speculum59 (1984), 757-95. The followingworksdealing withindividualswill
illustratemy point: Edelstein, Eruditiound sapientia(see n. 20, above); E. S. Duckett, Alcuin,
Friendof Charlemagne:His Worldand His Work(New York, 1951); Luitpold Wallach, Alcuinand
Charlemagne:Studiesin CarolingianHistoryand Literature,rev. ed., Cornell Studies in Classical
fromthe
Philology32 (Ithaca, N.Y., 1968); idem, DiplomaticStudiesin Latin and GreekDocuments
CarolingianAge (Ithaca, N.Y., 1977); Claudio Leonardi, "Alcuino e la rinascitaculturalecarolingia," Schedemedievali2 (1982), 32-53; Deug Su I, L'opera agiograficadi Alcuino,Biblioteca degli
Studi medievali 13 (Spoleto, 1983); Gary B. Blumenshine, "Alcuin's LibercontrahaeresimFelicis
and the Frankish Kingdom," FMSt 17 (1983), 222-33; Donald A. Bullough, "Alcuin and the
Kingdom of Heaven: Liturgy,Theology, and the Carolingian Age," in CarolingianEssays:Andrew
W. MellonLecturesin EarlyChristian
Studies,ed. Uta-RenateBlumenthal(Washington,D.C., 1983),
Studienzu Einhardund anderenGeschichtsschreibern
pp. 1-69; Helmut Beumann, Ideengeschichtliche
desfriiheren
Mittelalters
(Darmstadt, 1962); Ann Freeman, "Theodulf of Orleans and the Libri
Carolini,"Speculum32 (1957), 663-705; eadem, "Further Studies in the Libri Carolini,I-II,"
Speculum40 (1965), 203-89; eadem, "Further Studies in the Libri Carolini,III," Speculum46
(1971), 597-612; Elisabeth Dahlhaus-Berg, Nova antiquitaset antiquanovitas:Typologische
Exegese
und isidorianisches
Geschichtsbild
bei Theodulfvon Orleans,Kolner historischeAbhandlungen 23
(Cologne, 1975); Egon Boshof, Erzbischof
Agobardvon Lyon:Lebenund Werk,Kolner historische
ai Re di
Abhandlungen 17 (Cologne, 1969); Giuliana Italiani,La tradizione
esegeticanel Commento
Claudio di Torino,Quaderni dell'Istitutodi filologiaclassica "Giorgio Pasquali" dell'Universita
"De
degli studi di Firenze 3 (Florence, 1979); Elisabeth Heyse, HrabanusMaurus' Enzyklopadie
rerumnaturis":Untersuchungen
zu denQuellenundzurMethodederKompilation,
MuinchenerBeitrage
zur Mediavistikund Renaissance-Forschung4 (Munich, 1969); Hans-Georg Muller, Hrabanus
und Geistesgeschichte
mitdemFaksimileMaurus,De laudibussancta[e]crucis:Studienzur Oberlieferung
Textabdruck
aus Codex Reg. Lat. 124 der vatikanischen
Beiheft zum Mittellateinischen
Bibliothek,
Jahrbuch11 (Ratingen, 1973); Raymund Kottje,"Hrabanus Maurus- 'PraeceptorGermaniae'?"
DA 31 (1975), 534-45; Maria Rissell,Rezeptionantikerund patristischer
beiHrabanus
Wissenschaft
Lateinische Sprache und Literaturdes MittelMaurus: Studienzur karolingischen
Geistesgeschichte,
alters 7 (Bern, 1976); Raymund Kottje,Die Bussbiicher
Halitgarsvon Cambraiund des Hrabanus
und ihre Quellen, Beitrage zur Geschichte und Quellenkunde des
Maurus: Ihre Oberlieferung
Mittelalters8 (Berlin, 1980); Hrabanus Maurus und seineSchule: Festschrift
der Rabanus-MaurusSchule,1980, ed. WinfriedB6hne (Fulda, 1980); HrabanusMaurus: Lehrer,Abtund Bischof,ed.
Raymund Kottje and Harald Zimmermann,Akademie der Wissenschaftenund der Literatur,
Mainz; Abhandlungen der geistes-und sozialwissenschaftlichen
Klasse, Einzelver6ffentlichung
4 (Wiesbaden, 1982); Jean Devisse, Hincmar,archevequede Reims,845-882, 3 vols., Travaux
d'histoireethico-politique29 (Geneva, 1975-76); Klaus Vielhaber,Gottschalk
derSachse,Bonner
historischeForschungen 5 (Bonn, 1955); Jean Jolivet,Godescalcd'Orbaiset la Trinite:La methode
de la theologie
a l'epoquecarolingienne,
Etudes de la philosophie m6di6vale47 (Paris, 1958); JeanPaul Bouhot, Ratramnede Corbie:Histoirelitteraire
et controverses
doctrinales
(Paris, 1976); Fidel
Medium-Aevum philologischeStudien 29 (Munich,
Radle, Studienzur Smaragdvon Saint-Michel,
1974): Otto Eberhardt, Via Regia: Der Fiirstenspiegel
Smaragdsvon St.-Mihielund seineliterarische
28 (Munich, 1977); and David A. Traill, Walahfrid
Gattung,MfinsterscheMittelalter-Schriften

The Carolingian Age

297
techniques, and stylesin the artisticproduction of the eighth, ninth, and
tenth centuries that one has difficultyidentifyingthe common, unifying
ingredientsthat characterize distinctiveCarolingian art.57In short, everywhere in the Carolingian world one meetsdiversityratherthan commonality.
It seems clear that increasinglydetailed and sophisticatedknowledge of
what actually happened during the Carolingian age has progressivelyrendered suspect an overall interpretativeparadigm of the Carolingian era that
utilizes common, shared aspects of Carolingian society as the substantive
ground upon which to base its claim as a distinctera. Beyond procreating,
eating withfair regularity,working,and dying,the denizens of the Carolingian world seem to have shared little.Institutions,ideas, and practicesthat
once were viewed as crucial aspects of the Carolingian world by virtueof the
fact that they touched everyone to some degree in a uniformway to shape
lives into a common patternnow appear to have worked in diverse ways,to
have affecteddifferentgroups in differentways,and to have been understood in sharplycontrastingways. This emergingpictureputs a new face on
the Carolingian age. Cultural pluralityof a deep and pervasivenature seems
much more characteristicof the period than does cultural unity and uniformity.It is certainlyno cause for general lamentation to discover that
cultural pluralityis the dominant feature of a particular historicalepoch.
However, it is cause for concern to a communityof scholarsto be faced with
almost incontrovertibleevidence that the characteristicstheyonce perceived
to be fundamental to their delineation of a distincthistoricalera and the
actual characteristicsof the era are exact opposites. I suggest that Carolingianistsare faced withjust such a reversal,one brought on largelyby their
own fertilescholarship.
Accompanyingthe need to redefine the chronologicallimitsof their age
and to admit the immense diversitymarkingmost aspects of lifewithintheir
period, a thirddevelopment poses difficultiesfor Carolingian scholars,particularlyin termsof definingthe mostappropriate focus of researchin order
to achieve the fullestand most coherentexplanation of theirera. This problem is rooted in the historiographicalrevolutionwhichhas occurred over the
last fiftyyears, decisivelymodifyingthe widely accepted conventionsestablished in the nineteenthcenturyconcerningthe nature of historicalstudies.
In its most fundamental features this revolution has radically altered the
Strabo'sVisioWettini,
text,translation,and commentary,Lateinische Sprache und Literaturdes
Mittelalters2 (Bern, 1974). For recent workson John Scottus Erigena, see n. 18, above; also of
interestare Brian Stock, "The Philosophical Anthropologyof Johannes Scottus Eriugena," SM,
3rd ser., 8 (1967), 1-57; Marta Cristiani,"Lo spazio e il tempo nell'opera dell'Eriugena," SM,
3rd ser., 14 (1973), 39-136; Edouard Jeauneau, Quatrethemes
Conference Albert-leerigeniens,
Grand (Montreal, 1978); and Mario Naldini, "Gregorio Nisseno e Giovanni Scoto Eriugena:
Note sull'idea di creazione e sull'antropologia,"SM, 3rd ser., 20 (1979), 501-33.
57 See the works cited in n.
35, above. Also Joachim E. Gaehde and Florentine Muitherich,
CarolingianPainting(New York, 1976); Carol Heitz, L'architecture
carolingienne:
Lesformes
religieuse
et leursfonctions(Paris, 1980); and Riformareligiosae arti nell'epocacarolingia,Atti del XXIVe
Congresso internazionale di storia dell'arte, Bologna, sett. 1979, ed. A. A. Schmid (Bologna,
1983).

298
The Carolingian Age
purposes of historical inquiry and drasticallyredefined the methodology

appropriate to the realizationof these purposes. It has produced what some
have proclaimed a newhistory,
fortifiedwithits own philosophicaland methodological canon whose fundamentaltenetsare now so widelyaccepted that
historianswhose work does not reflectthem are almost certain to be called
old-fashionedand traditionalist.The application of this canon has been exemplifiedwith particularelan by the Annales school in France, but its basic
characteristicshave also been displayed in the work of an array of Marxist
historiansand of many others attached to no particularschool or ideology.
For the sake of myargumentand at considerableriskof oversimplification,
It posits the
let me brieflynote the basic ingredientsof the new history.58
crucial significanceof deeply rooted, long-lastinginstitutionaland mental
structuresemerging from the material base of societyas the fundamental
determinantsof the human condition. In order to discern the structural
featuresof a society,historiansmust expand theirsearch beyond traditional
writtensources to a wide varietyof other indicatorsof human activityand
must utilize new methods of decoding what these sources signify,methods
in which theoreticalconstructsderived fromthe social sciences play a prime
role. The "excavation"of the structuralfoundationsof societydiminishesthe
role of what has long occupied historians:social elites; the consciousdecisions
of the elite, formulated and carried out to achieve specificends; and the
resultant"high" civilization.The past must be seen fromthe "bottomup" so
as to capture the collective activities,beliefs, emotions, and values of the
"little"people whose lives constitutethe essence of society'sbasic structures.
Given the immobilityof basic societal structuresover the longueduree,it is
fruitlessto tryto understand the past on a linear scale; narrativehistorymust
be replaced by descriptionand analysisaimed at recreatingin its totalitythe
networkof structuresin which any societyis enmeshed across considerable
stretchesof time.
Whatevermay be the validityof its premises,the new historyhas provided
considerable vigor to the historicalenterprisesince World War II and has
greatlyexpanded our understandingof manyheretoforedark cornersof the
medieval world. And there is everyreason to believe thatthe approach taken
by the practitionersof the new historywill continue to expand and change
our views on the essential characteristicsof the Middle Ages.
My assessmentof the currentstate of Carolingian studies leads me to the
conclusion that Carolingianistshave not capitalized fullyon the conceptual
approaches or the methodologyof the new history.There are exceptions,of
course, and notable ones. Clearlyreflectingthe orientationof the new history
have been studies of Carolingian demography;59familial relationshipsin
58 A
ed. Jacques Le Goff,et al., Les encyclop6diesde
good introductionis La nouvellehistoire,
savoir moderne (Paris, 1978).
59
Especially the works of Josiah C. Russell, including Late Ancientand Medieval Population,
Transactionsof the American PhilosophicalSociety,new series48/3(Philadelphia, 1958); "Recent
Advances in Mediaeval Demography," Speculum40 (1965), 84-101; "Aspects demographiques
des debuts de la feodalite,"Annales20 (1965), 1118-27; "Population in Europe, 500-1500," in
FontanaEconomicHistoryofEurope, 1: The MiddleAges,ed. Carlo M. Cipolla (New York, 1976),

The Carolingian Age

299
aristocraticcircles;60the status of non-noble elementsin society;61structural
patternsoperating in various regions of the Carolingian empire;62poverty
pp. 25-70; and TheControlofLateAncientand MedievalPopulation,AmericanPhilosophicalSociety,
Memoirs 160 (Philadelphia, 1985). See also L. R. Manager, "Considerationssociologiques sur la
du droitcanodemographie des grands domains ecclesiastiquescarolingiens,"in Etudesd'histoire
niquededieesa GabrielLe Bras, 2 vols. (Paris, 1965), 2:1317-35; and Pierre Riche, "Problemes de
historique
demographie historiquedu haut moyenage (Ve-VIIIe siecles),"Annalesde demographic
(1966), pp. 37-55.
60 Illustrativeare such worksas Karl Ferdinand Werner,"Bedeutende Adelsfamilienim Reich
zurEntfaltung
Karls des Grossen," in Karl derGrosse,1:83-142 (repr. in Werner,VomFrankenreich
Deutschlands
und Frankreichs,
pp. 22-81; English translationas "ImportantNoble Families in the
ed. Reuter, pp. 137-202); Otto Gerhard
Kingdom of Charlemagne," in The MedievalNobility,
Oexle, "Bischof Ebroin von Poitiers und seine Verwandten,"FMSt 3 (1969), 138-210; Franz
zur Gesellschaft
am Mittelrhein
GeschichtlicheLandesStaab, Untersuchungen
kunde 11 (Wiesbaden, 1975); Reinhard Wenskus,Sdchsischer
Stammesadel
Reischsaundfrinkischer
del, Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaftenin G6ttingen,phil.-hist.Klasse, 3. Folge,
93 (G6ttingen,1976); NorbertWagner,"Zur Herkunftder Agilolfinger,"
Zeitschriftfiir
bayerische
41 (1978), 19-48; Michel Sot, "Historiographieepiscopale et module familialen
Landesgeschzchte
occidentau IX siecle,"Annales33 (1978), 433-49; Karl Schmid,"Die 'Liudgeriden': Erscheinung
und Problematik einer Adelsfamilie," in Geschichtsschreibung
und geistigesLeben im Mittelalter:
Heinz Liwe zum65. Geburtstag,
ed. Karl Hauck and Hubert Mordek (Cologne, 1978),
Festschriftfiir
pp. 71-101; Regine Hennebicque, "Structuresfamilialeset politiques au IXe siecle: Un groupe
familialde l'aristocratiefranque," Revue historique
538 (1981), 289-333; MatthiasWerner,AdelsIrminasvonOerenundAdelasvonPfalzel.
familienim Umkreis
derfriihen
Karolinger:Die Verwandschaft
zurfriihmittelalterlichen
im Maas-Mosel-Gebiet,
Personengeschichtliche
Fiihrungsschicht
Untersuchungen
VuF, Sonderband 28 (Sigmaringen, 1982); Eduard Hlawitschka,"Die Widonen im Dukat von
Archivenund Bibliotheken
63 (1983), 20-92;
Spoleto," Quellen und Forschungenaus italienischen
Hans-Werner Goetz, "Zur Namengebung in der alemannischen Grundbesitzerschicht
der Kades Oberrheins
133
rolingerzeit:Ein Beitrag zur Familienforschung,"Zeitschrift
fur die Geschichte
in Provence:TheRh6neBasin at theDawn oftheCarolingian
(1985), 1-41; PatrickJ. Geary,Aristocracy
Age, The Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 1985); Eduard Hlawitschka,"Zu den Grundlagen des
Aufstiegsder Karolinger: Beschaftigungmit zwei Buchern von Matthias Werner,"Rheinische
in merovingischer
49 (1985), 1-61; and Michael Borgolte,Die GrafenAlemanniens
Vierteljahrsbldtter
und karolingischer
Zeit: Eine Prosopographie,
Archaologie und Geschichte2 (Sigmaringen,1986).
61 Eckhard
Miiller-Mertens,Karl der Grosse,Ludwigder Frommeund die Freien: Werwarendie
und
liberihominesder karolingischen
Kapitularien(742/43 bis 832)? Ein Beitragzur Sozialgeschichte
Geschichte 10 (Berlin, 1963);
des Frankenreiches,
Sozialpolitik
Forschungen zur mittelalterlichen
Giovanni Tabacco, "I liberi del re nell'Italia carolingia e postcarolingia,"SM, 3rd ser., 5 (1964),
und Volkimkarolingischen
1-65; 6 (1965), 1-70; SiegfriedEpperlein, Herrschaft
Imperium:Studien
Kontroversen
iibersozialeKonflikte
und dogmatisch-politische
imfrinkischen
Reich,Forschungen zur
zu den liberi
mittelalterlichenGeschichte 14 (Berlin, 1969); Johannes Schmitt,Untersuchungen
hominesderKarolingerzeit,
Europaische Hochschulschriften,Reihe 3, Geschichteund ihre Hilfsund Klosterwissenschaften83 (Frankfurt,1977); and Ludolf Kuchenbuch,BduerlicheGesellschaft
derFamilia derAbteiPriim,Vierteljahrschrift
im 9. Jahrhundert:
Studienzur Sozialstruktur
herrschaft
furSozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte,
Beiheft66 (Wiesbaden, 1978).
62 For an
interestingintroductionto this issue, see Michel Rouche, "La crise de l'Europe au
cours de la deuxienmemoitiedu VIIe siecle et la naissance des r6gionalismes,"Annales41 (1986),
347-60. Representativerecentstudies of regions in the Carolingian world include Archibald R.
Lewis, The Development
of SouthernFrenchand Catalan Society,718-1050 (Austin, Tex., 1965);
1: Das alte Bayern:Das Stammesherzogtum
bis zumAusgangdes
Handbuchder bayerischen
Geschichte,
und das
12. Jahrhunderts,
ed. May Spindler (Munich, 1967); Eduard Hlawitschka,Lotharingien
Reichan derSchwelleder deutschen
Schriftender Monumenta Germaniae Historica 21
Geschichte,
einerfrdnkischen
2nd
Konigsprovinz,
(Stuttgart,1968); Karl Bosl, Frankenum 800: Strukturanalyse
du Latiummedieval:Le Latiummeridionalet la
ed. (Munich, 1969): Pierre Toubert, Les structures

300
The Carolingian Age
and hunger;63women, sexuality,and marriage;64informalsocial associations

Sabinedu IXe sieclea la fin du XIIe siecle,2 vols., Bibliotheque des Ecoles francaisesd'Athenes et
de Rome 221 (Rome, 1973); Elisabeth Magnou-Nortier,La societet
laique et1'eglisedans la province
de lafin du VIIIe a lafin du Xle siecle,Publicationsde
de Narbonne(zone cispyreneenne)
ecclesiastique
1'Universit6de Toulouse-Le Mirail, serie A, 29 (Toulouse, 1974); Althessen
imFrankenreich,
ed.
Walter Schlesinger,Nationes: Historischeund philosophischeUntersuchungenzur Entstehung
der europaischen Nationen im Mittelalter2 (Sigmaringen, 1975); Staab, Untersuchungen
zur
am Mittelrhein
in der Karolingerzeit;
Bruno Behr, Das alemannische
Gesellschaft
Herzogtumbis 750,
Geist aus Werk der Zeiten: Arbeiten aus dem historischenSeminar der UniversitatZurich 41
aux Arabs,418-781: Naissanced'uneregion,
(Bern, 1975); Michel Rouche, L'Aquitainedes Wisigoths
Bibliotheque g6enrale de l'Ecole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales (Paris, 1979); Alfred
Adels:Der mainlandisch-thiiringische
Raum vom
Friese,StudienzurHerrschaftsgeschichte
desfrinkischen
7. bis11. Jahrhundert,
Geschichteund Gesellschaft:Bochumer historischeStudien 18 (Stuttgart,
Raum infriihkarolingischer
Zeit: Untersuchungen
zur Geschichte
1979); MatthiasWerner,Der liitticher
einerkarolingische
fuirGeschichte
Stammlandschaft,
Veroffentlichungendes Max-Planck-Instituts
derGrafschaften
infrdnkischer
62 (Gottingen,1980); Michael Borgolte,Geschichte
Alemanniens
Zeit,
VuF 31 (Sigmaringen, 1984); La Neustria:Les pays au nordde la Loire de Dagoberta Charlesle
Chauve(VIIe-IXe siecles),ed. PatrickP6rin and Laure-CharlotteFeffer(Rouen, 1985).
63 Siegfried Epperlin, "Zur weltlichenund kirchlichenArmenfiirsorge im karolingischenImim Frankenreich,"Jahrbuch
perium: Ein Beitrag zur Wirtschaftspolitik
fiir Wirtschaftsgeschichte
der Gesellschaft
im
(1963), no. 1, pp. 41-60; Bosl, "Potens und Pauper .. .," in Bosl, Friihformen
mittelalterlichen
Europa,pp. 106-34 (see n. 32, above); A. E. Verhulst,"KarolingischeAgrarpolitik:
Das Capitulare de villis und die Hungersnote von 792/93 und 805/06,"Zeitschrift
fur Agrargeschichteund Agrarsoziologie
13 (1965), 175-89; Jean Devisse, "'Pauperes' et 'paupertas' dans le
monde carolingien: Ce qu'en dit Hincmar de Reims,"Revuedu Nord48 (1966), 273-87; Regine
Le Jan-Hennebicque,"'Pauperes' et 'paupertas' dans l'occidentcarolingienaux IXe et Xe siecles,"
Revuedu Nord 50 (1968), 169-87; Walter Ullmann, "Public Welfareand Social Legislationin the
ed. G. J. Cuming and Derek Baker, Studies
Early Medieval Councils," in Councilsand Assemblies,
in Church History7 (1971), pp. 1-39; Michel Rouche, "La faim a l'epoque carolingienne:Essai
sur quelques types de rations alimentaires,"Revue historique
508 (1973), 295-320; idem, "La
matriculedes pauvres: Evolution d'une institutionde charitydu Bas Empire jusqu'a la fin du
de la pauvrete(Moyendge-XVIesiecle),2 vols., ed. Michel
haut moyen age," in Etudessur l'histoire
Mollat,Publicationsde la Sorbonne, Serie "Etudes" 8 (Paris, 1974), 1:83-110; JoachimWollasch,
und soziale Leistung im Mittelalter,"
"Gemeinschaftsbewusstsein
FMSt 9 (1975), 268-86; Cinzio
Violante, "'Pauperes' e poverty nella society carolingia," in Cultus et cognitio:Studia z dziejo6w
ed. Stefan K. Kuczynski,et al., Polska Akademia Nauk, Komitet Nauk
sredniowiecznej
kultury,
dans l'occidentmeHistorysznych(Warsaw, 1976), pp. 621-31; Jean-Louis Goglin, Les miserables
dieval (Paris, 1976), pp. 17-48; Egon Boshof, "Untersuchungenzur Armenfursorgeim frankischenReich des 9. Jahrhunderts,"Archivfur Kulturgeschichte
58 (1976), 265-339; and Michel
Mollat,Les pauvresau moyendge: Etude sociale(Paris, 1978), pp. 9-72 (English translationas The
trans.ArthurGoldhammer [New Haven, 1986],
Poor in theMiddleAges:An Essayin Social History,
pp. 15-53).
64 For illustrativetreatmentsof the status of
women, see F. L. Ganshof, "La femme dans la
monarchie franque," in La femme,Recueils de la Societe Jean-Bodin 12/2(Brussels, 1962), pp.
5-58; David Herlihy,"Land, Family,and Women in ContinentalEurope, 701-1200," Traditio
18 (1962), 89-120 (repr. in Womenin Medieval Society,ed. Susan Mosher Stuard, The Middle
Ages [Philadelphia, 1976], pp. 13-45); Jo Ann McNamara and Suzanne Wemple, "The Power
of Women through the Family in Medieval Europe: 500-1000," in Clio's Consciousness
Raised:
New Perspectives
on theHistoryof Women,ed. Mary S. Hartman and Lois Banner (New York,
Die politische
Bedeu1974), pp. 103-18; Silvia Konecny,Die Frauendes karolingischen
Konigshauses:
vom7. biszum10.Jahrhundert,
tungderEhe unddieStellungderFrau in derfrdnkischen
Herrscherfamilie
Dissertationender UniversitatWien 132 (Vienna, 1976); Jean Verdon, "La femmeversle milieu
du IXe siecle d'apres la polyptyquede l'abbaye de St.-Remi de Reims," Memoiresde la Societe
sciencesetartsdu Departement
de la Maine 91 (1976), 111-34; Janet Tibbetts
d'agriculture,
commerce,

The Carolingian Age
301
stemmingfromprayer brotherhoodsin Carolingian monasteries;65and reliSchulenberg,"Sexism and the Celestial Gynaeceumfrom500 to 1200,"JournalofMedievalHistory
4 (1978), 117-33; Suzanne Fonay Wemple, Womenin FrankishSociety:Marriageand theCloister,
500 to 900, The Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 1981); Pauline Stafford,Queens,Concubines,and
Dowagers:The King's Wifein theEarlyMiddleAges (Athens,Ga., 1983); and Edith Ennen, Frauen
im Mittelalter,
2nd ed. (Munich, 1985). A recent work,Interdiziplindre
Studienzur Geschichte
der
Frauen imFriihmittelalter:
ed. Werner Affeldtand Annette Kuhn,
Methoden-Probleme-Ergebnisse,
Frauen in Geschichte7, Geschichtsdidatik:Studien, Materialien39 (Diisseldorf, 1986), was not
available. On marriage and familylife (in addition to several of the works listed above) see
Korbinian Ritzer,Le mariagedans les egliseschretiennes
du ler au XIe sickle(Paris, 1970); Jean
Gaudemet, "Le lien matrimonial:Les incertitudesdu haut moyen age," in Le lien matrimoniale,
Colloque du Cerdic, Strasbourg,21-23 mai 1970, ed. R. Metz and J. Schlick,Hommes et l'eglise
1 (Strasbourg, 1970), pp. 81-105; Stephen Weinberger,"Peasant Households in Provence: Ca.
800-1100," Speculum48 (1973), 247-57; Jo Ann McNamara and Suzanne F. Wemple,"Marriage
and Divorce in the Frankish Kingdom," in Womenin MedievalSociety,
ed. Stuard, pp. 95-124;
Laurent Theis, "Saints sans famille?Quelques remarques sur la familledans le monde franc a
traversles sources hagiographiques,"Revue historique
517 (1976), 3-20; Il matrimonio
nellasociety
altomedievale
(see n. 33, above), especially the articles by Duby, Manselli, Schmid, Vogel, and
infrankischer
Ehe: Zur Entwicklung
desEheschliessungsrecht
Frugoni; Paul Mikat,DotierteEhe-rechte
Akademie der Wissenschaften,Vortrage G 227 (Opladen, 1978);
Zeit, Rheinisch-Westfalische
Richard Ring, "Early Medieval Peasant Households in Central Italy,"JournalofFamilyHistory4
(1979), 2-25; Michel Rubellin, "Heresie et parents en occident (fin VIIIe-debut IXe siecle),"
Cahiersd'histoire
25 (1980), 115-47; Goody, The Development
oftheFamilyand Marriagein Europe,
pp. 1-156; Carl I. Hammer,Jr.,"Familyandfamilia in Early Medieval Bavaria," in FamilyForms
in HistoricEurope,ed. Richard Wall (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 217-48; J. Bessmerny,"Les structures
de la famillepaysanne dans les villages de la Francia au IXe siecle: Analyse anthroponymique
du polyptyquede l'abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Pres,"
MA 90 (1984), 165-93; David Herlihy,
MedievalHouseholds,Studies in Cultural History(Cambridge, Mass., 1985), pp. 1-78; and Histoire
de la famille,ed. Andre Burguiere, et al., 1: Mondes lointains,mondesanciens(Paris, 1986), pp.
273-359. On sexuality,see Vern L. Bullough, Sexual Variancein Societyand History(New York,
1976), pp. 347-77; Raoul Manselli, "Vie famille et ethique sexuelle dans les penitentiels,"in
Familleet parentsdans l'occidentmedieval,pp. 363-83 (see n. 33, above); Pierre J. Payer,"Early
Medieval Regulations Concerning MaritalSexual Relations,"JournalofMedievalHistory6 (1980),
Social Tolerance,and Homosexuality:
353-76; John Boswell, Christianity,
GayPeoplein Western
Europe
Era totheFourteenth
fromtheBeginningoftheChristian
Century
(Chicago, 1980), pp. 169-206; JeanLouis Flandrin,Un temps
Aux originesde la moralesexuelleoccidentale
(VIe-XIe siecle),
pourembrasser:
Collection L'Univers historique (Paris, 1983); PierreJ. Payer,Sex and thePenitentials:
The Developmentof a Sexual Code,550-1150 (Toronto, 1984); Jane Bishop, "Bishops as Marital Advisors
in the Ninth Century,"in Womenof theMedieval World:Essaysin Honor ofJohnH. Mundy,ed.
Julius Kirshnerand Suzanne F. Wemple (Oxford, 1985), pp. 53-84; and Jean-Louis Flandrin,
"Sex in Married Life in the Early Middle Ages: The Church'sTeaching and Behavioural Reality,"
in Western
Sexuality:Practiceand Preceptin Past and PresentTimes,ed. Philippe Aries and Andre
Bejin, trans.AnthonyForster,Family,Sexuality,and Social Relations in Past Times (New York,
1985), pp. 114-29. These topics are beginningto influenceworksof synthesis;see Histoirede la
vieprivee,ed. Philippe Aries and Georges Duby, 1: De l'empire
romaina lan mil(Paris, 1985), pp.
399-529 (English translationas Historyof PrivateLife, 1: FromPagan Rometo Byzantium[Cambridge, Mass., 1987]); and Hans-Werner Goetz, Leben im Mittelalter:7. bis zum 13. Jahrhundert
(Munich, 1986).
65 A
pioneer in the investigationof this subject was Gerd Tellenbach; see his "Liturgische
Gedenkbucher als historischeQuellen," in MelangesEugene Tisserant,5 vols., Studi e Testi 23135 (Vatican City,1964), 5:389-99; and "Der Liber Memoriales von Remiremont:Zur kritischen
Erforschungand zum Quellenwert liturgischerGedenkbicher," DA 25 (1969), 64-110. But
research has developed with special vigor under the leadership of Karl Schmid and Joachim
Wollasch. The objectivesand the methodologyof thiseffortare outlined in the followingworks:

302
The Carolingian Age
However, there has not

gious mentalitiesreflectedin concepts of sanctity.66
been a systematic,sustained effortto create a collectivescholarlyapproach
to the Carolingian world fromthe perspectivesdefined by the new history.67
Carolingianistshave in the main continued to focus oh politics,administration,wars,papal policy,religiousreformsimposed fromabove, the literature
of high culture,and the art surroundingthe imperial establishment.Center
stage remains occupied by a narrow,power-wieldingelite whose conscious
choices are treatedas the determinantfactorsin Carolingiansociety.Carolingianistsexpend massive energies on the narrativereconstructionof the sequence of events that marked the break with the pre-Carolingianage, that
produced the elements characteristicof the firstEurope, and thatwitnessed
theirevolution and their passage into the hands of those predestined to be
the heirs of the Carolingian world. They continue to relyheavilyon written
sources, a dependence that impels them to engage in textualcriticismwitha
passion worthyof Mabillon. This indictmentis not meant to implythatthere
is somethingfatallyflawedin such an approach to the Carolingian period. It
is onlyto call attentionto the factthatCarolingianhistoriographyincreasingly
seems one-dimensional when compared with other segments of medieval
history,where the tenetsof the new historyhave been given more systematic
attention.
Karl Schmid and Joachim Wollasch, "Die Gemeinschaftder Lebenden und Verstorbenenin
Zeugnissen des Mittelalters,"FMSt 1 (1967), 365-405, Karl Schmid, "Uber das Verhaltnisvon
Person und Gemeinschaftim fruhen Mittelalter,"FMSt 1 (1967), 225-49; Karl Schmid, "Pervon Fulda," FMSt
sonenforschungund Namenforschungam Beispiel der Klostergemeinschaft
5 (1971), 235-67; Karl Schmidt,"Arbeitsberichtzum Projekt 'Personen und Gemeinschaft'in
FMSt 7 (1973), 377-91; Karl Schmid, "ProSonderforschungsbereich7: 'Mittelalterforschung,"'
Personen und Personengruppen,"FMSt 8
grammatischeszur Erforschungder mittelalterlichen
(1974), 116-30; Karl Schmid and JoachimWollasch,"Societas et Fraternitas:Begrundung eines
kommentiertenQuellenwerkes zur Erforschungder Personen und Personengruppendes Mitim
telalters,"FMSt 9 (1975), 1-48; Otto Gerhard Oexle, "Memoria und Memorialiuberlieferung
fruherenMittelalter,"FMSt 10 (1976), 70-95; Joachim Wollasch, "Neue Methoden der ErforHZ 225 (1977), 529-71; Prosopographie
als Sozialgeschichte?
schungdes Monchtumsim Mittelalter,"
Methodenpersonengeschichtlicher
des Mittelalters,
Erforschung
Sektionsbeitragezum 32. Deutschen
Historikertag,Hamburg, 1978. Mit einem Bericht uber das kommentierteQuellenwerk zur
(Munich,
Erforschungder Personen und Personengruppendes MittelaltersSocietasetFraternitas
Geschichte,"FMSt
1978); Karl Schmid, "Die Erschliessungneuer Quellen zur mittelalterlichen
15 (1981), 9-17; and Memoria:Der geschichtliche
desliturgischen
Gedenkens
imMittelalter,
Zeugniswert
48 (Munich, 1984).
ed. Karl Schmid and Joachim Wollasch, MtunsterscheMittelalter-Schriften
The fruitsof research in thisfieldare reportedregularlyin the annual issues of FMSt, including
new editionsof librimemoriales
and monographsdedicated to analysesof what the evidence from
these sources tells about the social order.
66
d'apresles sourceshagioJoseph-Claude Poulin, L'ideal de saintetedans l'Aquitainecarolingienne
graphiques(750-950), Travaux du Laboratoire d'histoirereligieusede l'UniversiteLaval 1 (Quebec, 1975); and Martin Heinzelmann, "Sanctitasund 'Tugendadel': Zu Konzeptionen von 'Heiligkeit'im 5. und 10. Jahrhundert,"Francia 5 (1977), 741-52.
67The new-historyapproach is perhaps beginningto have an impacton general sysnthesesof
Carolingian history;see, for example, Michel Rouche in Fossier,et al., Le moyenage, 1:369-501;
Pierre Rich,, La vie quotidienne
dans l'empirecarolingien(Paris, 1973) (English translationas Daily
trans.Jo Ann McNamara [Philadelphia, 1978]); and Heinrich
Life in theWorldof Charlemagne,
StudieniiberDenkartund Existenzim einstigen
des 10. Jahrhunderts:
Fichtenau, Lebensordnungen
2 vols., Monographien zur Geschichtedes Mittelalters30/1-2 (Stuttgart,1984).
Karolingerreich,

The Carolingian Age

303
What appears to be the unresponsivenessof Carolingianiststo a powerful
and productive approach to the past is partlya product of the nature of
Carolingian sources. In totothese sources do not lend themselveseasilyto the
kind of treatmentthe new historianshave been able to give to the sources
for the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance era, and the early modern period.
But in myjudgment there is more to the issue. The obduracy of the Carolingian scholarlyestablishmentin the face of the new historyis linked to the
conceptual paradigm that has long captivatedthatestablishment.If the Carolingian age is perceived as a major disjuncturewiththe past, then one must
focus attentionon events markingthat disjunctureratherthan on immobile
structures.If one holds that the distinctivefeature of the Carolingian age
was the creation of new institutionaland intellectualpatterns,then one must
emphasize the sequence of events that witnessed the emergence and the
dissemination of things new rather than dwell on static patterns. If the
foundationsof an entire societywere recast,then the creativeimpulse must
have been supplied by talented individuals located in places of power; by
definitionthe feats of these makers of the firstEurope require the special
attentionof historians even at the expense of the inert masses and their
mundane affairs.If whatcountsin the firstEurope were thosecreativeefforts
that provided the basic frameworkfor an extended future,then prime attentionmust be given to the "high" culture which produced the models that
would guide later generations as to what was quintessentiallyEuropean:
imperial ideologies, legal enactments,politicaland ecclesiasticalsystemsand
processes,theologicaltracts,schools,libraries,and all the otheraccoutrements
of high civilizationwhich by definitionare the possessions of the few. In
short,a specificconceptual approach to the Carolingian age has dictatedthe
questions asked by Carolingian scholars about that age, and the questions
have shaped the answers which portraythe characterof that age.
The inabilityof Carolingianiststo accommodatethemselvesto the changing
philosophical and methodological imperativesreflectedin the new history
has serious implicationsfor Carolingian scholarship.I fear that by allowing
themselvesto become a kind of scholarlyGascony,Carolingianistshave compromised the grounds on which a persuasive claim for the distinctiveplace
of their era must be based. I sense that the perception is spreading among
other medievaliststhat Carolingian historicalinquiry is old-fashioned and
thus incomplete,if not erroneous. Increasinglythere are hints,even among
Carolingianists,thatthe appropriate questions are not being asked to permit
access to the fundamentalrealitiesof Carolingian society.Suggestionsof this
order inevitablywill lead some to suspect thatwhat two or three generations
of scholars have produced as descriptiveof the essential features of the
Carolingian world is superfluousand basicallymisleading.The reluctanceof
Carolingianiststo thinkin categoriesposited by the new social history,especiallyin termsof enduring structuresand the "little"people, has tended to
constrainthem from taking into account certain very obvious vital components of the Carolingian world that carried over from the pre-Carolingian
world. That same conceptual constrainthas made it difficultfor Carolingianiststo discourse withscholarsdealing withthe high and late Middle Ages,

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The Carolingian Age
periods whose historiesare presentlytold to a considerable degree in terms

of the new history.As a consequence, Carolingianistshave increasingdifficultymaking a persuasive case that the Carolingian period had significance
in the larger contextof medieval history.
4
These reflectionson the currentstate of Carolingian studies provide importantclues concerningtwobasic problemsfacingthatenterprise:difficulty
in locating the Carolingian age in a larger temporal contextand confusion
in portrayingpersuasivelywhat was essentiallyCarolingian. At the root of
these problems lies an interrelatedset of historiographicalissues involving
periodizationsystems,a prioriassumptionsabout what was unique about the
age, and constrictedmethodological perspectives.This diagnosis points toward some recommendations that the communityof Carolingian scholars
mightconsider as means of restoringfocus and directionto theirenterprise.
A salubrious startingpoint would be an admission by all medievalists,but
especiallyby Carolingianists,thattheydo not have a convincingfixon where
to locate what is conventionallycalled the Carolingian age withina larger
temporalcontext.Since consensus on thisvitalmatterhas a profound impact
on the activitiesof a scholarlycommunity,thisissue needs to be reconsidered
carefullyand seriously.All Carolingianistswould do well to complementtheir
quest for new knowledge about what happened between 750 and 950 witha
conscious effortto explain how each specificfindingrelates to a larger time
frame.And each Carolingian scholar should become a voluntaryenforcerby
insistingthat his or her colleagues offer such an explanation before their
scholarlyeffortsare given credence.
There are compelling reasons to accept a periodization paradigm which
enfoldsthe Carolingian age intoa longer period extendingfromlate antiquity
to the tenthcentury,to join forces with a growingnumber of investigators
who feel increasinglycomfortablein talking about what Peter Brown and
others call "the world of late antiquity."To identifywiththisextended time
frame would require scholars concerned with the eighth, ninth,and tenth
centuriesto expand their awareness of what investigatorsdealing with preCarolingian historyare doing. Such an extended vision would, I believe,
provide a freshawareness of certainenduring structuresthathave not been
given sufficientattentionin assessing Carolingian reality.It would demand
thatCarolingianistsask new kindsof questions about phenomena whichthey
have conventionallydesignated as "Carolingian," a designation that by implication bestowed some order of uniqueness on these phenomena. It has
been their wont to seek what is new about any so-called Carolingian development; under the new dispensation theywould also have to ask what is old
about the same phenomenon. Finally, a lengthened temporal framework
mightalert Carolingianiststo new methodological techniques which would
expand their source base and increase the sophisticationof their critical
techniques.
Aside fromits potentialto focus,enrich,and deepen Carolingian studies,

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The Carolingian Age
some serious looking backward by Carolingianistsmight help rid current
Carolingian scholarshipof a serious encumbrance:the burden of delineating
the Carolingian age as the crucible in which somethingcalled "Europe" was
born. That hypothesisneeds to be abandoned forat least threereasons. First,
recentscholarshipmakes it extremelydifficultto argue thatpatternscreated
in the Carolingian era determined the basic contours of European society
beyond the tenthcentury.Second, the compulsion to see in all thingsCarolingian a prefigurationof the futuredistortsCarolingian realityby requiring
undue emphasis on whatappears to have counted forthe futureand a neglect
of what seems irrelevantto the future. Third, by treatingthe Carolingian
world as a maternityward where only infantswitha futurewere nurtured,
Carolingianistsrun the serious risk of neglectingaspects of Carolingian historythat had no issue, of dismissingas inconsequentialsignificantdevelopmentsthatran theircourse withina finitetimeperiod. It is not unreasonable
to expect thatover a span of two hundred yearscertainpatternsof lifebegan
and ended withoutaffectingthe futurewhatsoever.More attentionneeds to
be given to what was sui generisto the age, a task thatwill remain difficultas
long as demonstratingthe equation that the birthof Europe equals Carolingian Europe remains the prime order of business of Carolingian historians.
These stricturesabout the Carolingian age and Europe's futureshould not
be misinterpreted.There is no need to accept Fossier's position that there
were no significantlinkages between the Carolingian and the post-Carolingian worlds. What Carolingianistsneed to do is to become engaged in the
dialogue about those linkages, especially with scholars studyingthe tenth,
eleventh,and twelfthcenturies.Given the climatecurrentlysurroundingthe
studyof the high Middle Ages, Carolingianistsmustprepare forthatdialogue
by reexaminingthe era extendingfromthe eighthto the tenthcenturyfrom
the broad perspectiveof what I have called the new history.What willemerge
fromthatreappraisal is problematic.At least it should relieveCarolingianists
of the stigmaof being the last practitionersof old-fashionedhistory.But the
harvestcould be more bountiful,especiallyin termsof new questions asked
about Carolingian history,new conceptual approaches to the sources, and
new understandingsof the basic social and mental structuresthat provided
the frameworkwithin which the dramatic features of Carolingian history
were played out. Perhaps a deepened understanding of the fundamental
structuresof the Carolingian world would reveal linkageswiththe now fairly
well defined structuralfeatures of the post-Carolingianworld, thus giving
new substance to the claim thatthe Carolingian experience did matterin the
larger European context. Such promise points up the urgencyamong Carolingianiststo mount a collective,sustained effortto expand theirconceptual
and methodologicalarmoryin directionssuggested by the new history.
Finally,this essay points to a new agenda for Carolingian studies. In my
mind the most strikingconsequence of fiftyyears of Carolingian studies has
been to force on us a growingawareness of the cultural pluralitythat characterizedthe Carolingian world. These investigationshave revealed thatlayer
upon layer of diversityand dichotomysurrounded every facet of the Carolingianexperience, to the point thatit is difficultto defineanythingas typical

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The Carolingian Age
of the Carolingian world except variety.This pluralismneeds to be admitted

and its features examined for their own sake rather than being treated as
exceptions to the normative aspects of Carolingian society. An immense
challenge faces Carolingianistsin separating out and describing the many
strands present in a pluralisticworld, evaluating the creative role of each
strandin givingthe Carolingianworlditsfullness,and tracingthe interactions
that flowed from the confrontationsand interchangesamong the various
componentsof the Carolingian culturalmelange.
A deeper comprehension of the pluralism of the Carolingian world will
not onlyhelp us to see itsrealitymore clearly,but also, and more importantly,
it may provide the ultimatekey to locating the Carolingian age in the total
medieval continuum.As I have argued elsewhere,during most of its course
medieval civilizationwas essentiallypluralistic,containingdiverse and contradictorystrands derived frommany sources, constantlymade more variegated by creativeactivitiesthatembroidered differenceon difference,never
potent to efface the particular in
discoveringa unifyingforce sufficiently
favorof the common.68A fullerunderstandingof the cultural pluralismof
the Carolingian age may reveal the uniqueness of the era. Perhaps it was a
time during which cultural diversitywas deepened and enriched as a consequence of creative responses provoked by the effortof an elite to impose
normativeinstitutionaland behavioral patterns.If so, is it not then possible
that the trulysignificantlegacy of the Carolingianswas an enriched cultural
pluralismwhich gave the European world a greaterarrayof possibilitiesand
vast new reservoirsof energy out of which to fashionits kaleidoscopic postCarolingian future?Could it even be thatthe Carolingian age prefiguresthe
entire historyof Western European civilization,whose participantsseem
repeatedlyto have reacted to any attemptto impose institutionalor ideological uniformityby creatingnew levels of culturalpluralism?Perhaps we now
have the scent of that "autre moyen age" which contemporarymedievalists,
led by the new historians,seek with a passion matchingParsifal'squest for
the Grail.
68 Richard E.
Sullivan, "The Middle Ages in the WesternTradition: Some Reconsiderations,"
in Bede Karl Lackner and Kenneth Roy Philp, ed., Essayson MedievalCivilization,The Walter
PrescottWebb Lectures (Austin, 1978), pp. 3-31.
RichardE. Sullivanis Professor

EmeritusofHistory,
East Lansing;
MichiganStateUniversity,
MI 48824.


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Medieval Academy of America

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on Its Place in the

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sance can be found in the establishmentin Europe of highly visible and

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would entail an equally substantial revision in our understanding of the

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historytextbooks,oftenthe litmuswhere conceptual consensus is registered.9

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the creative forces of that age to fashion an inheritance which could be

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following this line of investigationhave especially stressed the emerging

du hautmoyenage de saintGregoirele Granda la desunionentreByzanceetRome((Paris,

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agement of clerical collegiality;'7the quest for doctrinal18 and liturgical'9

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der normativeclericalconduct and consistent,uniformpastoralactivity;20

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of thisscholarshiphas persuasivelyinclined Carolingianiststo thinkin terms

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that it is increasinglydifficultto sustain the conceptual frameworkimplicit

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However, it has become increasinglydifficultto sustain the faithon this

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change in politicalstructuresand techniquesas has sometimesbeen argued.27

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the social status

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in visual expression;35cult practicesassociated withordinaryreligiouslife;36

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differentpeople in the ninthand tenthcenturies.There was not one unifying

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