Charlemagne's Heir: New Perspectives on the Reign of Louis the Pious (814-840)

808 Pages·1990·23.702 MB·English

by  Peter Godman

CHARLEM AGNE’S HEIR

Charlemagne’s Heir
New Perspectiveis on the Reign
of Louis the Pious
(814-840)
EDITED BY
PETER GODMAN
AND
ROGER COLLINS
CLARENDON PRESS OXFORD
1990
Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford 0x2 6dp
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Each chapter © The individual contributor 1990
Editorial matter © Peter Godman and Roger Collins 1990
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced',
stored in a retrieval system, or transmittedin any form or by any means,
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British Library Cataloguing it Publication Data
Charlemagne's heir : new perspectives on the retgn of Louts
the Pious (814-840).
t. France, 75/ -987
I. Collins, Roger II. Godman, Peter
944-0^4
ISBN 0-19 821994-6
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Charlemagne's heir : new perspectives on the reign of Louts the Pious
(814-840) / edited by Peter Godman and Roger Collms.
p. cm.
1. Louis L Emperor, 778-840. 2. France—Civilization—700-1000.
j. Charlemagne, Emperor, 742-814—Family- -Biography. I. Godman,
Peter. II. Collins, Roger, 1949
DC74.C4S 19S9
944'.014*092- dc20 89 7/055
ISBN o 19 821994 à
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Latimer Trend (5 Co. Ltd, Plymouth
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IN MEMORY
OF
J. M. WALLACE-HADRILL

PREFACE
... nolumu* esse vel praesendbus inoflkkxi vd fiituris in vidi,
sed actus vitamque Deo amabilis atque orthodoxi imperatoris
Hludowici, srilo licet minus docto, contradimus.
(Astronomus, Vita Hludovici imperatoris, prol.)
T he title of the last item in this volume, ‘The great father’s lesser son’,
presents in damning brevity posterity’s almost unanimous view of the
personality and achievements of the Emperor Louis the Pious. In selecting a
tide for this book, as for the conference which gave rise to it, the editors have
preferred to leave Louis as what he unquestionably was: Charlemagne’s heir.
The condemnatory verdict commonly passed on the only son of the first
Carolingian emperor to outlive his father mirrors judgements of historians on
the empire as a whole in the decades following Charlemagne’s death. Deprived
of the creative impetus of its greater founder, and ruled by a succession of
monarchs lacking his energy and vision, its history has been depicted in
sombre shades of disintegration and decline. Aspects of this bleak picture have
recently been revised, and some of the later Carolingian rulers have now found
vigorous defenders. Among British scholars in particular, attracted by his
attachment to his grandfather’s artistic and intellectual interests, Charles the
Bald’s stock has risen highly. Yet the revival of interest in the children of Louis
the Pious only serves to highlight conventional neglect of their father’s reign.
A first step towards the needed revaluation of Charlemagne’s heir is taken in
this book. When the proposal for a conference on the reign of Louis the Pious
was first mooted, any expectation of limited interest was rapidly overtaken by
an almost overwhelming escalation in the number of participants who were
willing to contribute. Large as the final number of papers here presented may
seem, it could have been augmented further had time and space allowed.
Taken as a whole, these contributions testify to the range and vitality of
scholarship which this period is beginning to attract, and aim, both by solving
some problems and by signalling others, to stimulate further research.
Special emphasis has been placed on the interpretation of primary sources.
Although the study of the Carolingian period is well established, above all in
Germany and France, and although many projects for the publication of
principal texts are well advanced, major lacunae still exist in the availability of
the sources of evidence for our subject. Perhaps none is greater than the lack of
any published corpus of the charters of the reign of Louis the Pious. That is
why we are fortunate to be able to offer here a consideration of this material
and its problems by the latest scholar to undertake the Sisyphean task of
producing the long-desired edition.
No less significant is the discovery of new sources; something that the
VIH Preface
historian of the early Middle Ages does not generally expect. Included in a
recent sale of manuscripts at Sotheby’s was an item now identified as the
fragment of an otherwise unknown capitulary of the reign of Louis the Pious.
An edition and discussion of this new evidence, together with a general
consideration of the capitulary legislation of the period as a whole, is ofTered
here. These two examples are complemented by studies of long-established
and familiar texts, such as the two Lives of the emperor, which are about to
receive new and improved editions, and of others, such as the Epitaphium
Arsentiy which continue to present formidable problems of dating and
interpretation.
Fresh consideration of these sources, in the context of the political and
ecclesiastical history of the period, is complemented in this volume by new
research into its intellectual and artistic development. It has been possible to
supplement Bernhard BischofTs fundamental study of the court library under
Louis the Pious by investigations into the illumination of the manuscripts it
contained and into the liturgy, as well as by inquiries into the art and
palaeography of such important provincial centres as Metz and Corbie, and by
analysis of Ludovician hagiography and poetry.
The standing of spumed or neglected figures, such as Judith and Hclisa-
char, is enhanced in this volume; previously celebrated figures, such as
Agobard, take a less prominent role. Benedict of Aniane and Louis the
German will repay future attention; nor should the contributors’ focus on the
court and the Frankish heartlands, on Italy, Aquitaine, and Scandinavia,
obscure the importance of the regions east of the Rhine, which they have left
unexplored. Economic themes, the treatment of which has been restricted by
the availability of contributors, present an opportunity upon which we hope
others will not be slow to seize. Further suggestions could be multiplied.
Comprehensiveness is precluded by the present state of research. But enough
is said in these pages to expose the inadequacy of the clichés with which the
reign of Charlemagne’s heir has customarily been dismissed.
Our chief debt of gratitude in preparing this volume is to our editor and
friend, Dr Ivon Asquith, whose encouragement, imagination, and efficiency
smoothed the path from projected conference to completed publication.
Special tribute should be paid to the skills of the Press’s copy-editing team.
The Bursar of Pembroke and his dedicated team provided invaluable assis­
tance in organizing the conference from which this book has grown.
That cordial gathering at Oxford in the spring of 1986 marked the
beginning of a collaborative enterprise of established and younger scholars,
from England and the Continent, to open up new perspectives on the reign of
Charlemagne’s heir, and on the Carolingian period as a whole. A common debt
to the historian who did so much for the study of both is recorded in the
dedication to this book.
P.G. and R.C.
Oxford and Bath
CO N TEN TS
List of Contributors xiii
List of Illustrations xvii
List of Abbreviations xxi
Editorial Note xxii
I. GOVERNMENT, POLITICS, AND THE COURT
1. Hludovicus Augustus: Gouverner l’empire chrétien — Idées et réa­
lités 3
KARL FERDINAND WERNER
2. Renovatio Regni Francorum: Die Herrschaft Ludwigs des Frommen
im Frankenreich 814—829/830 125
JOSEF SEMMLER
3. The Last Years of Louis the Pious 147
JANET L. NELSON
4. Einheitsidee und Teilungsprinzip in der Regierungszeit Ludwigs
des Frommen 161
EGON BOSHOF
5. Bonds of Power and Bonds of Association in the Court Circle of
Louis the Pious 191
STUART AIRLIE
6. Caesar’s Wife: The Career of the Empress Judith, 819-829 205
ELIZABETH WARD
II. CHURCH AND EMPIRE
7. Ludwig der Fromme, das Papsttum und die fränkische Kirche 231
JOHANNES FRIED
8. Der Missionsauftrag Christi und das Kaisertum Ludwigs des
Frommen 275
KARL HAUCK
9. Louis the Pious and the Papacy: A Ravenna Perspective 297
T. S. BROWN
X Contents
10. La Christianisation des campagnes de l’Empire de Louis le Pieux:
L’Exemple du diocèse de Liège sous l’épiscopat de Walcaud
(r.8o9-r.83i) 309
ALAIN DIERKENS
III. FINES IMPERII
11. Louis the Pious and the Frontiers of the Frankish Realm 333
THOMAS F. X. NOBLE
12. Ludwig der Fromme, Lothar I. und das Regnum Italiae 349
JÖRG JARNUT
13. Pippin I and the Kingdom of Aquitaine 363
ROGER COLLINS
14. The End of Carolingian Military Expansion 391
TIMOTHY REUTER
IV. THE FRAMEWORK OF LAW
15. Probleme einer zukünftigen Edition der Urkunden Ludwigs des
Frommen 409
PETER JOHANEK
16. The Capitulary Legislation of Louis the Pious 425
GERHARD SCHMITZ
17. Recently Discovered Capitulary Texts Belonging to the Legislation
of Louis the Pious 437
HUBERT MORDEK
18. Une ordinario méconnue: Le Capitulaire de 823-825 455
OLIVIER GUILLOT
V. LEARNING AND LITERATURE
19. Texts, Chant, and the Chapel of Louis the Pious 489
D. A. BULLOUGH AND ALICE L. H. CORREA
20. Zeugnisse der Memorialüberlieferung aus der Zeit Ludwigs des
Frommen 509
KARL SCHMID
21. The Scribes of the Corbie a-b 523
T. A. M. BISHOP