Frankish state (kingdom; fr. royaumes francs, lat. regnum (imperium) Francorum), less often Frankia(lat. francia) is the conditional name of a state in Western and Central Europe from the 9th century to the 9th century, which was formed on the territory of the Western Roman Empire simultaneously with other barbarian kingdoms. The area has been inhabited by the Franks since the 3rd century. Due to the continuous military campaigns of the Frankish mayor Charles Martell, his son Pepin the Short, and also the grandson of Charlemagne, the territory of the Frankish empire reached the largest size during its existence by the beginning of the 9th century.
As a result of the tradition of dividing the inheritance among the sons, the territory of the Franks was only conditionally ruled as a single state, in fact it was divided into several subordinate kingdoms ( Regna). The number and location of the kingdoms changed over time, and initially Francia only one kingdom was named, namely Austrasia, located in the northern part of Europe on the rivers Rhine and Meuse; however, sometimes this concept included the kingdom of Neustria, located north of the Loire River and west of the Seine River. Over time, the application of the name Frankia shifted in the direction of Paris, as a result, being established above the area of \u200b\u200bthe Seine river basin that surrounded Paris (nowadays known as Ile-de-France), and gave its name to the entire kingdom of France.
History of appearance and development
origin of name
The first written mention of the name Frankia contained in eulogies dated to the beginning of the 3rd century. At the time, the term referred to the geographical area north and east of the Rhine River, roughly in the triangle between Utrecht, Bielefeld and Bonn. This title covered the land holdings of the Germanic tribes of the Sicambres, Salic Franks, Bructers, Ampsivarians, Hamavs and Hattuarii. The lands of some tribes, for example, the Sicambri and the Salic Franks, were included in the Roman Empire and these tribes supplied the border troops of the Romans with soldiers. And in 357, the leader of the Salic Franks included his lands in the Roman Empire and strengthened his position thanks to an alliance concluded with Julian II, who pushed the Hamavi tribes back to Hamaland.
The meaning of the concept Frankia expanded as the lands of the Franks grew. Some of the Frankish leaders, such as Bauton and Arbogast, swore allegiance to the Romans, while others, such as Mallobaudes, acted in the Romanesque lands for other reasons. After the fall of Arbogast, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing a hereditary county in Trier, and after the fall of the usurper Constantine III, some Franks sided with the usurper Jovinus (411). After the death of Jovinus in 413, the Romans were no longer able to keep the Franks within their borders.
Merovingian period
Historical contribution of successors Chlodion not known for certain. It can definitely be argued that Childeric I, probably the grandson Chlodion, ruled the Salian kingdom centered in Tournai, being federate Romans. Historical role childerica consists in bequeathing the lands of the Franks to his son Clovis, who began to extend his power over other Frankish tribes and expand the areas of his possession in the western and southern part of Gaul. The Kingdom of the Franks was founded by King Clovis I and within three centuries became the most powerful state in Western Europe.
Clovis converted to Christianity and took advantage of the power of the Roman Catholic Church. During his 30-year reign (481 years - 511 years), he defeated the Roman commander Siagrius, conquering the Roman enclave Soissons, defeated the Alemanni (Battle of Tolbiac, 504), putting them under the control of the Franks, defeated the Visigoths in the battle of Vuille in 507, having conquered their entire kingdom (with the exception of Septimania) with its capital in Toulouse, and also conquered Bretons(according to the Frankish historian Gregory of Tours), making them vassals of Frankia. He subjugated all (or most) of the neighboring Frankish tribes living along the Rhine, and included their lands in his kingdom. He also subjugated various Roman paramilitary settlements ( laeti) scattered throughout Gaul. By the end of his 46-year life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul, with the exception of the province Septimania And Burgundian kingdom in the southeast.
Governing body Merovingian was a hereditary monarchy. The kings of the Franks followed the practice of divisible inheritance: dividing their possessions among their sons. Even when multiple kings ruled Merovingian, the kingdom - almost like in the late Roman Empire - was perceived as a single state, collectively led by several kings, and only a series of various events led to the unification of the entire state under the rule of one king. The Merovingian kings ruled by the right of the anointed of God and their royal majesty was symbolized by long hair and acclamation, which was carried out by their ascension to the shield according to the traditions of the Germanic tribes at the choice of the leader. After death Clovis in 511 the territories of his kingdom were divided among his four adult sons so that each would get an approximately equal share of the fiscus.
The sons of Clovis chose as their capital cities around the northeastern region of Gaul - the heart of the Frankish state. eldest son Theodoric I reigned at Reims, second son Chlodomir- in Orleans, the third son of Clovis Childebert I- in Paris and, finally, the youngest son Chlothar I- in Soissons. During their reign, tribes were included in the Frankish state Turing(532 year), Burgundian(534) and also Saxons And Frisians(about 560). The outlying tribes living beyond the Rhine were not securely subject to Frankish dominion and, although they were forced to participate in the military campaigns of the Franks, in times of weakness of the kings, these tribes were uncontrollable and often tried to leave the state of the Franks. Nevertheless, the Franks preserved the territoriality of the Romanized Burgundian kingdom unchanged, turning it into one of their main regions, including the central part of the kingdom of Chlodomir with its capital in Orleans.
It should be noted that the relationship between the brother-kings cannot be called friendly, for the most part they competed with each other. After death Chlodomira(524) his brother Chlothar killed the sons of Chlodomir in order to take over part of his kingdom, which, according to tradition, was divided among the remaining brothers. The eldest of the brothers Theodoric I, died of illness in 534 and his eldest son, Theudebert I managed to defend his inheritance - the largest Frankish kingdom and the heart of the future kingdom austria. Theudebert became the first Frankish king to officially break ties with the Byzantine Empire, starting to mint gold coins with his image and calling himself great king (magnus rex), implying his protectorate, extending all the way to the Roman province of Pannonia. Theudebert joined the Gothic wars on the side of the Germanic tribes of the Gepids and Lombards against the Ostrogoths, adding to his possessions the provinces of Rezia, Norik and part of the Veneto region. His son and heir Theodebald, could not hold the kingdom, and after his death at the age of 20, the entire huge kingdom went to Chlothar. In 558, after death childebert, the rule of the entire Frankish state was concentrated in the hands of one king, Chlotaria.
This second division of the inheritance into four was soon disrupted by fratricidal wars, which began, according to the concubine (and subsequent wife) Chilperica I Fredegonda, due to the murder of his wife Galesvinta. Spouse sigiberta, Brunnhilde, who was also the sister of the murdered Galesvinta, incited her husband to war. The conflict between the two queens existed until next century. Guntramn tried to achieve peace, and at the same time twice (585 and 589) tried to conquer Septimania I'm ready, but both times I was defeated. After a sudden death Charibert in 567, all the remaining brothers received their inheritance, but Chilperic was able during the wars to further increase his power, again conquering Bretons. After his death, Guntramnu needed to conquer again Bretons. Imprisoned in 587 Treaty of Andelo- in the text of which the Frankish state is explicitly called Francia-between Brunnhilda And Guntram secured the latter's protectorate over Brunnhilde's young son, Childebert II, who was the successor sigiberta, who was killed in 575. Taken together, Guntramn and Childebert's dominions were more than 3 times the size of the heir's kingdom. Chilperica, Chlotary II . In this era Frankish state consisted of them three parts and such a division will continue to exist in the future in the form Neustria, Austrasia And Burgundy.
After death Guntramna in 592 Burgundy went entirely to Childebert, who also soon died (595). The kingdom was divided by his two sons, the eldest Theodebert II got austria and part Aquitaine, owned by Childebert, and the younger - Theodoric II, departed Burgundy and part Aquitaine owned by Guntramn. Together, the brothers were able to conquer most of the territory of the kingdom of Chlothar II, who eventually had only a few cities in his possession, but the brothers could not capture him himself. In 599, the brothers sent their troops to Dormel and occupied the region Dentelin, however, subsequently they ceased to trust each other and they spent the rest of their reign in enmity, which was often fomented by their grandmother Brunnhilde. She was unhappy that Theodebert excommunicated her from his court, and subsequently convinced Theodoric to overthrow his older brother and kill him. This happened in 612 and the entire state of his father Childebert was again in the same hands. However, this did not last long, since Theodoric died in 613 preparing a military campaign against Chlothar, leaving an illegitimate son, Sigibert II, who at that time was about 10 years old. Among the results of the reign of the brothers Theudebert and Theodoric was a successful military campaign in Gascony, where they founded Duchy of Vasconia, and the conquest of the Basques (602). This first conquest of Gascony also brought them lands south of the Pyrenees, namely Biscay and Gipuzkoa; however, in 612 the Visigoths received them. On opposite side his state Alemanni during the uprising, Theodoric was defeated and the Franks lost their power over the tribes living beyond the Rhine. Theudebert extorted the Duchy of Alsace from Theodoric in 610, setting off a long conflict over ownership of the region. Alsace between Austrasia and Burgundy. This conflict will end only at the end of the 17th century.
As a result of the civil strife of the representatives of the house of the ruling dynasty - the Merovingians, power gradually passed into the hands of the mayors, who held the positions of administrators of the royal court. During the short young life of Sigibert II, the position mayor's house, which had previously been rarely seen in the kingdoms of the Franks, began to take a leading role in the political structure, and groups of Frankish nobility began to unite around the majors of Barnachar II, Rado and Pepin of Landen in order to deprive real power Brunnhilde, great-grandmother of the young king, and hand over power Chlotariu. Varnahar himself had already held the post by this time. Mayor of Austrasia, while Rado and Pepin received these positions as a reward for a successful coup d'état Chlotaria, the execution of the seventy-year-old Brunnhilde and the assassination of the ten-year-old king.
Immediately after his victory, the great-grandson of Clovis Chlothar II in 614 proclaimed the Edict of Chlothar II (also known as Edict of Paris), which is generally considered a set of concessions and indulgences for the Frankish nobility (this point of view has recently been questioned). Regulations edict were primarily aimed at ensuring justice and stopping corruption in the state, however edict also fixed the zonal features of the three kingdoms of the Franks and, probably, endowed representatives of the nobility with greater rights to appoint judicial bodies. By 623 representatives Austrasia began to insistently demand the appointment of their own king, since Chlothar was very often absent from the kingdom, and also because he was considered a stranger there, due to his upbringing and previous reign in the Seine river basin. Satisfying this demand, Chlothar granted his son Dagobert I the reign Austrasia and that was duly approved by the warriors of Austrasia. However, despite the fact that Dagobert had full power in his kingdom, Chlothar retained unconditional control over the entire Frankish state.
During the years of joint government Chlotaria And Dagobert, often referred to as "the last ruling Merovingians", not fully subjugated since the late 550s Saxons, rebelled under the leadership of Duke Bertoald, but were defeated by the joint troops of father and son and re-incorporated into Frankish state. After Chlothar 's death in 628 , Dagobert , by his father 's will , granted part of the kingdom to his younger brother Charibert II . This part of the kingdom was re-formed and named Aquitaine. Geographically, it corresponded to the southern half of the former Romanesque province of Aquitaine and its capital was in Toulouse. Also included in this kingdom were the cities of Cahors, Agen, Périgueux, Bordeaux and Saintes; Duchy of Vasconia was also included among his lands. Charibert successfully fought with Basques, but after his death they rebelled again (632). At the same time Bretons protested Frankish rule. The Breton king Judikael, under the threat of Dagobert to send troops, relented and concluded an agreement with the Franks on which he paid tribute (635). In the same year, Dagobert sent troops to pacify Basque, which was successfully completed.
Meanwhile, by order of Dagobert, Chilperic of Aquitaine, Charibert's heir, was killed, and that's it. Frankish state was again in the same hands (632), despite the fact that in 633 the influential nobility Austrasia forced Dagobert to appoint his son Sigibert III as their king. This was facilitated in every possible way by the “top” of Austrasia, who wanted to have their own separate rule, since aristocrats prevailed at the royal court Neustria. Chlothar reigned in Paris for decades before becoming king in Metz; also Merovingian dynasty at all times after it was primarily a monarchy Neustria. In fact, the first mention of "Neustria" in the annals occurs in the 640s. This delay in reference to "Austrasia" is probably because the Neustrians (who constituted the majority of writers of the time) referred to their lands simply as "Frankia". Burgundy in those days also opposes itself with respect to Neustria. However, during the time of Gregory of Tours, there were Austrasians, who were considered a people isolated within the kingdom, and took rather drastic actions to gain independence. Dagobert, in his dealings with Saxons, Alamanni, Turings, as well as with Slavs, who lived outside the Frankish state, and whom he intended to force to pay tribute, but was defeated by them in the Battle of Wogastisburg, invited all representatives of the eastern peoples to the court Neustria, but not Austrasia. It was this that made Austrasia ask for its own king in the first place.
Young sigibert rules under the influence Major of Grimoald the Elder. It was he who persuaded the childless king to adopt his own son, Childebert. After the death of Dagobert in 639, Duke Radulf of Thuringia organized a rebellion and tried to declare himself king. He defeated Sigibert, after which there was a major turning point in the development of the ruling dynasty (640). During the military campaign, the king lost the support of many nobles, and the weakness of the monarchical institutions of that time was proved by the inability of the king to conduct effective military operations without the support of the nobility; for example, the king was unable even to provide his own guard without the loyal support of Grimoald and Adalgisel. Often it is Sigebert III who is considered the first of lazy kings(fr. Roi fineeant), and not because he didn’t do anything, but because he didn’t finish much.
The Frankish nobility was able to control all the activities of the kings thanks to the right to influence the appointment of majordoms. The separatism of the nobility led to the fact that Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitaine became more and more isolated from each other. Ruled in them in the 7th century. so-called. "lazy kings" had neither authority nor material resources.
The reign of the mayordoms
Carolingian period
Frankish state at the death of Pepin 768 and the conquest of Charlemagne
Pepin strengthened his position in 754 by entering into a coalition with Pope Stephen II, who, in a luxurious ceremony in Paris at Saint-Denis, presented the King of the Franks with a copy of a false charter known as Gift of Constantine, anointing Pepin and his family to the kingdom and proclaiming him Defender of the Catholic Church(lat. patricius Romanorum). A year later, Pepin fulfilled his promise to the pope and returned the Exarchate of Ravenna to the papacy, having won it back from the Lombards. Pepin will give as a gift to the pope as Pipin's gift conquered lands around Rome, laying the foundations of the papal state. The papacy had every reason to believe that the restoration of the monarchy among the Franks would create a revered basis of power (lat. potestas) in the form of a new world order centered on the Pope.
Around the same time (773-774), Charles conquered the Lombards after which Northern Italy came under his influence. He resumed donations to the Vatican and promised the papacy protection from Frankish state.
Thus, Charles created a state extending from the Pyrenees in the southwest (in fact, after 795, it included the territories northern Spain(Spanish mark)) through almost the entire territory of modern France (with the exception of Brittany, which was never conquered by the Franks) to the east, including most of modern Germany, as well as the northern regions of Italy and modern Austria. In the church hierarchy, bishops and abbots strove to obtain the guardianship of the royal court, where, in fact, the primary sources of patronage and protection were located. Karl fully proved himself as the leader of the western part Christendom and his patronage of monastic intellectual centers was the beginning of the so-called period Carolingian Revival. Along with this, under Charles, a large palace was built in Aachen, many roads and a water canal.
The final division of the Frankish state
As a result, the Frankish state was divided as follows:
- The West Frankish kingdom was ruled by Charles the Bald. This kingdom is the harbinger of modern France. It consisted of the following large fiefs: Aquitaine, Brittany, Burgundy, Catalonia, Flanders, Gascony, Septimania, Île-de-France and Toulouse. After 987 the kingdom became known as France, since the representatives of the new ruling dynasty of the Capetians were originally Dukes of Île-de-France.
- The Median Kingdom, whose lands were wedged between East and West Francia, was ruled by Lothair I. The kingdom formed as a result of the Treaty of Verdun, which included the Kingdom of Italy, Burgundy, Provence and the western part of Austrasia, was an "artificial" entity that had no ethnic or historical commonality. This kingdom was divided in 869 after the death of Lothair II into Lorraine, Provence (moreover, Burgundy was in turn divided between Provence and Lorraine), as well as northern Italy.
- The East Frankish kingdom was ruled by Louis II of Germany. It contained four duchies: Swabia (Alemannia), Franconia, Saxony and Bavaria; to which later, after the death of Lothair II, the eastern parts of Lotharingia were added. This division continued until 1268, when the Hohenstaufen dynasty ended. Otto I was crowned on February 2, 962, which marked the beginning of the history of the Holy Roman Empire (the idea Translatio imperii). Since the 10th century East Frankia also became known as Teutonic kingdom(lat. regnum Teutonicum) or Kingdom of Germany, and this name became dominant during the era of the Salian dynasty. From this time, after the coronation of Conrad II, the title began to be used Holy Roman Emperor.
Society in the Frankish state
Legislation
Various tribes francs, for example, the Salian Franks, the Ripuarian Franks and the Hamavs, had various legal regulations, which were systematized and consolidated much later, mainly during Charlemagne. Under the Carolingians, the so-called barbarian codes -
Francia) is the conditional name of a state in Western and Central Europe from the 9th century to the 9th century, which was formed on the territory of the Western Roman Empire simultaneously with other barbarian kingdoms. The area has been inhabited by the Franks since the 3rd century. Due to the continuous military campaigns of the Frankish mayor Charles Martell, his son Pepin the Short, and the grandson of Charles the Great, the territory of the Frankish empire reached the largest size during its existence by the beginning of the 9th century.As a result of the tradition of dividing the inheritance among the sons, the territory of the Franks was only conditionally ruled as a single state, in fact it was divided into several subordinate kingdoms ( Regna). The number and location of the kingdoms changed over time, and initially Francia only one kingdom was named, namely Austrasia, located in the northern part of Europe on the rivers Rhine and Meuse; nevertheless, sometimes the kingdom of Neustria, located north of the Loire River and west of the Seine River, was also included in this concept. Over time, the application of the name Frankia shifted in the direction of Paris, as a result, being established above the area of \u200b\u200bthe Seine river basin that surrounded Paris (today known as Ile-de-France) and gave its name to the whole kingdom France.
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History of appearance and development
origin of name
The first written mention of the name Frankia contained in laudatory speeches dated to the beginning of the 3rd century. At the time, the term referred to the geographical area north and east of the Rhine River, roughly in the triangle between Utrecht, Bielefeld and Bonn. This name covered the land holdings of the Germanic tribes of the Sicambri, Salic Franks, Bructers, Ampsivarii, Hamavs and Hattuarii. The lands of some tribes, for example, the Sicambri and the Salic Franks, were included in the Roman Empire, and these tribes supplied the border troops of the Romans with warriors. And in 357, the leader of the Salic Franks included his lands in the Roman Empire and strengthened his position thanks to an alliance concluded with Julian II, who pushed the Hamav tribes back to Hamaland.
The meaning of the concept Frankia expanded as the lands of the Franks grew. Some of the Frankish leaders, such as Bauton and Arbogast, swore allegiance to the Romans, while others, such as Mallobaudes, acted in the Romanesque lands for other reasons. After the fall of Arbogast, his son Arigius succeeded in establishing a hereditary earldom in Trier, and after the fall of the usurper Constantine III, some Franks sided with the usurper Jovinus (411). After the death of Jovinus in 413, the Romans were no longer able to keep the Franks within their borders.
Merovingian period
Historical contribution of successors Chlodion not known for certain. It can definitely be argued that Childeric I, probably the grandson of Chlodion, ruled the Salic kingdom with its center in Tournai, being federate Romans. Historical role childerica consists in bequeathing the lands of the Franks to the son of Clovis, who began to spread power over other Frankish tribes and expand the areas of his possession in the western and southern part of Gaul. The Kingdom of the Franks was founded by King Clovis I and within three centuries became the most powerful state in Western Europe.
Unlike his Arian relatives, Clovis converted to Catholic Christianity. During the 30-year reign (481 years - 511 years), he defeated the Roman commander Siagrius, conquering the Roman enclave Soissons, defeated the Alemanni (Battle of Tolbiac, 504), putting them under the control of the Franks, defeated the Visigoths in the battle of Vuille in 507, having conquered their entire kingdom (with the exception of Septimania) with its capital in Toulouse, and also conquered Bretons(according to the statements of the Frankish historian Gregory of Tours), making them vassals of Frankia. He subjugated all (or most) of the neighboring Frankish tribes living along the Rhine, and included their lands in his kingdom. He also subjugated various Roman paramilitary settlements ( laeti) scattered throughout Gaul. By the end of his 46-year life, Clovis ruled all of Gaul, with the exception of the province Septimania And Kingdom of Burgundy in the southeast.
Governing body Merovingian was a hereditary monarchy. The kings of the Franks followed the practice of divisible inheritance, dividing their possessions among their sons. Even when multiple kings ruled Merovingian, the kingdom - almost like in the late Roman Empire - was perceived as a single state, collectively led by several kings, and only a series of various events led to the unification of the entire state under the rule of one king. The Merovingian kings ruled by the right of the anointed of God, and their royal majesty was symbolized by long hair and acclamation, which was carried out by their ascension to the shield according to the traditions of the Germanic tribes at the choice of the leader. After death Clovis in 511, the territories of his kingdom were divided among his four adult sons in such a way that each would get an approximately equal share of the fiscus.
The sons of Clovis chose as their capitals the cities around the northeastern region of Gaul - the heart of the Frankish state. eldest son Theodoric I reigned at Reims, second son Chlodomir- in Orléans, third son of Clovis Childebert I- in Paris and finally the youngest son Chlothar I- in Soissons. During their reign, tribes were included in the Frankish state Turing(532 year), Burgundians(534) and also Saxons And Frisians(about 560). The outlying tribes living beyond the Rhine were not securely subject to Frankish dominion and, although they were forced to participate in the military campaigns of the Franks, in times of weakness of the kings, these tribes were uncontrollable and often tried to leave the state of the Franks. Nevertheless, the Franks preserved the territoriality of the Romanized Burgundian kingdom unchanged, turning it into one of their main regions, including the central part of the kingdom of Chlodomir with its capital in Orleans.
It should be noted that the relationship between the brother-kings cannot be called friendly, for the most part they competed with each other. After death Chlodomira(524 year) his brother Chlothar killed the sons of Chlodomir in order to take over part of his kingdom, which, according to tradition, was divided among the remaining brothers. The eldest of the brothers Theodoric I, died of illness in 534 and his eldest son, Theodebert I , managed to defend his inheritance - the largest Frankish kingdom and the heart of the future kingdom austria. Theudebert became the first Frankish king to officially sever ties with the Byzantine Empire by minting gold coins bearing his image and calling himself great king (magnus rex), implying his protectorate, extending all the way to the Roman province of Pannonia. Theudebert joined the Gothic wars on the side of the Germanic tribes of the Gepids and Lombards against the Ostrogoths, adding to his possessions the provinces of Rezia, Norik and part of the region of Venice. His son and heir Theodebald, could not hold the kingdom, and after his death at the age of 20, the entire huge kingdom went to Chlothar. In 558, after death childebert, the rule of the entire Frankish state was concentrated in the hands of one king, Chlotaria.
This second division of the inheritance into four was soon disrupted by fratricidal wars, which began, according to the concubine (and subsequent wife) Chilperica I Fredegonda, due to the murder of his wife Galesvinta. Spouse sigiberta, Brunnhilde, who was also the sister of the murdered Galesvinta, incited her husband to war. The conflict between the two queens continued until the next century. Guntramn tried to achieve peace, and at the same time twice (585 and 589) tried to conquer Septimania I'm ready, but both times I was defeated. After a sudden death Charibert in 567, all the remaining brothers received their inheritance, but Chilperic was able to further increase his power during the wars, again conquering Bretons. After his death, Guntramnu needed to conquer again Bretons. Prisoner in 587 Treaty of Andelo- in the text of which the Frankish state is explicitly called Francia- between Brunnhilda And Guntram secured the latter's protectorate over Brunnhilde's young son, Childebert II, who was the successor sigiberta, who was killed in 575. Taken together, Guntramn and Childebert's dominions were more than 3 times the size of the heir's kingdom. Chilperica, Chlotaria II . In this era Frankish state consisted of three parts and such a division in the future will continue to exist in the form Neustria, Austrasia And Burgundy.
After death Guntramna in 592 Burgundy went entirely to Childebert, who also soon died (595). The kingdom was divided by his two sons, the elder Theodebert II got austria and part Aquitaine, which was owned by Childebert, and the younger - Theodoric II - departed Burgundy and part Aquitaine owned by Guntramn. Together, the brothers were able to conquer most of the territory of the kingdom of Chlothar II, who eventually had only a few cities in his possession, but the brothers could not capture him himself. In 599, the brothers sent troops to Dormel and occupied the region Dentelin, however, subsequently they ceased to trust each other and spent the rest of their reign in enmity, which was often fomented by their grandmother Brunnhilde. She was unhappy that Theodebert excommunicated her from his court, and subsequently convinced Theodoric to overthrow her older brother and kill him. This happened in 612, and the whole state of his father Childebert was again in the same hands. However, this did not last long, since Theodoric died in 613, preparing a military campaign against Chlothar, leaving an illegitimate son, Sigibert II, who at that time was about 10 years old. Among the results of the reign of the brothers Theudebert and Theodoric was a successful military campaign in Gascony, where they founded Duchy Wasconia, and the conquest of the Basques (602). This first conquest of Gascony also brought them lands south of the Pyrenees, namely Biscay and Gipuzkoa; however, in 612 the Visigoths received them. On the opposite side of your state Alemanni during the uprising, Theodoric was defeated, and the Franks lost power over the tribes living beyond the Rhine. Theudebert extorted the Duchy of Alsace from Theodoric in 610, setting off a long conflict over ownership of the region. Alsace between Austrasia and Burgundy. This conflict will end only at the end of the 17th century.
As a result of the civil strife of the representatives of the house of the ruling dynasty - the Merovingians - power gradually passed into the hands of the mayors, who held the positions of administrators of the royal court. During the short young life of Sigibert II, the position mayor's house, which had previously been rarely seen in the kingdoms of the Franks, began to take a leading role in the political structure, and groups of Frankish nobility began to unite around the mayordoms of Varnahar II, Rado and Pepin Landensky in order to deprive real power Brunnhilde, great-grandmother of the young king, and hand over power Chlotariu. Varnahar himself had already held the post by this time. Mayor of Austrasia, while Rado and Pepin received these positions as a reward for a successful coup d'état Chlotaria, the execution of the seventy-year-old Brunnhilde and the assassination of the ten-year-old king.
Immediately after his victory, the great-grandson of Clovis Chlothar II in 614 proclaimed the Edict of Chlothar II (also known as Edict of Paris), which is generally considered a set of concessions and indulgences for the Frankish nobility (this point of view has recently been questioned). The provisions of the edict were primarily aimed at ensuring justice and stopping corruption in the state, but it also fixed the zonal features of the three kingdoms of the Franks and, probably, gave representatives of the nobility more rights to appoint judicial bodies. By 623 representatives Austrasia began to insistently demand the appointment of their own king, since Chlothar was very often absent from the kingdom, and also because he was considered a stranger there, due to his upbringing and previous reign in the Seine river basin. Satisfying this demand, Chlothar granted his son Dagobert I the reign Austrasia and that was duly approved by the warriors of Austrasia. However, despite the fact that Dagobert had full power in his kingdom, Chlothar retained unconditional control over the entire Frankish state.
During the years of joint government Chlotaria And Dagobert, often referred to as "the last ruling Merovingians", not fully subjugated since the late 550s Saxons rebelled under the leadership of Duke Bertoald, but were defeated by the joint troops of father and son and re-incorporated into Frankish state. After the death of Chlothar in 628, Dagobert, by the will of his father, granted part of the kingdom to his younger brother Charibert II. This part of the kingdom was re-formed and named Aquitaine. Geographically, it corresponded to the southern half of the former Romanesque province of Aquitaine and its capital was in Toulouse. Also included in this kingdom were the cities of Cahors, Agen, Périgueux, Bordeaux and Saintes; Duchy of Vasconia was also included among his lands. Charibert successfully fought with Basques, but after his death they rebelled again (632). At the same time Bretons protested Frankish rule. The Breton king Judikael, under the threat of Dagobert to send troops, relented and concluded an agreement with the Franks, according to which he paid tribute (635). In the same year, Dagobert sent troops to pacify Basque, which was successfully completed.
In the meantime, by order of Dagobert, Chilperic Aquitaine, Charibert's heir, was killed, and that's it. Frankish state was again in the same hands (632), despite the fact that in 633 the influential nobility Austrasia forced Dagobert to appoint their son Sigibert III as king. This was facilitated in every possible way by the "top" of Austrasia, who wanted to have their own separate rule, since aristocrats prevailed at the royal court Neustria. Chlothar ruled Paris for decades before becoming king in Metz; also Merovingian dynasty at all times after it was primarily a monarchy Neustria. In fact, the first mention of "Neustria" in the annals occurs in the 640s. This delay in reference to "Austrasia" is probably due to the fact that the Neustrians (who constituted the majority of writers of the time) referred to their lands simply as "Frankia". Burgundy in those days also opposes itself with respect to Neustria. However, during the time of Gregory of Tours, there were Austrasians, who were considered a people isolated within the kingdom, and took rather drastic actions to gain independence. Dagobert in contact with Saxons, Alamanni, Turings, as well as with Slavs, who lived outside the Frankish state and whom he intended to force to pay tribute, but was defeated by them in the Battle of Vogastisburg, invited all representatives of the eastern peoples to the court Neustria, but not Austrasia. It was this that made Austrasia ask for its own king in the first place.
Young sigibert rules under the influence Major of Grimoald the Elder. It was he who persuaded the childless king to adopt his own son, Childebert. After the death of Dagobert in 639, Duke Radulf of Thuringia organized a rebellion and tried to declare himself king. He defeated Sigibert, after which there was a major turning point in the development of the ruling dynasty (640). During the military campaign, the king lost the support of many nobles, and the weakness of the monarchical institutions of that time was proved by the inability of the king to conduct effective military operations without the support of the nobility; for example, the king was not even able to provide his own protection without the loyal support of Grimoald and Adalgisel. Often it is Sigebert III who is considered the first of lazy kings(fr. Roi fainéant), and not because he didn’t do anything, but because he didn’t finish much.
The Frankish nobility was able to control all the activities of the kings thanks to the right to influence the appointment of majordoms. The separatism of the nobility led to the fact that Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitaine became more and more isolated from each other. Ruled in them in the 7th century. so-called. "lazy kings" had neither authority nor material resources.
The reign of the mayordoms
Carolingian period
Pepin strengthened his position in 754 by entering into a coalition with Pope Stephen II, who presented the king of the Franks with a copy of a false charter known as Gift Konstantina, anointing Pepin and his family to the kingdom and proclaiming him Defender of the Catholic Church(lat. patricius Romanorum). A year later, Pepin fulfilled his promise to the pope and returned the Exarchate of Ravenna to the papacy, having won it from the Lombards. Pepin will give as a gift to the pope as Pipinova dara conquered lands around Rome, laying the foundations of the papal state. The papacy had every reason to believe that the restoration of the monarchy among the Franks would create a revered power base (lat. potestas) in the form of a new world order, at the center of which would be the Pope.
Around the same time (773-774) Charles conquered the Lombards, after which Northern Italy came under his influence. He resumed donations to the Vatican and promised the papacy protection from Frankish state.
Thus, Charles created a state extending from the Pyrenees in the southwest (in fact, after 795, it included the territories northern Spain(Spanish Mark)) through almost the entire territory of modern France (with the exception of Brittany, which was never conquered by the Franks) to the east, including most of modern Germany, as well as the northern regions of Italy and modern Austria. In the church hierarchy, bishops and abbots strove to obtain the guardianship of the royal court, where, in fact, the primary sources of patronage and protection were located. Karl fully proved himself as the leader of the western part Christendom and his patronage of monastic intellectual centers was the beginning of the so-called period Carolingian revival. Along with this, under Charles, a large palace was built in Aachen, many roads and a water canal.
Charlemagne died on January 28, 814 in Aachen and was buried there, in his own palace chapel. Unlike the former Roman Empire, whose troops, after being defeated in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, crossed the Rhine only to avenge the defeat, Charlemagne finally crushed the forces Germans And Slavs, vexing his state, and expanded the boundaries of his empire to the Elbe River. This empire in historical sources is called Frankish Empire, Carolingian Empire or Empire of the West.
Division of the empire
Charlemagne had several sons, but only one survived his father. This son, Louis the Pious, inherited from his father the whole Frankish Empire. At the same time, such sole inheritance was not intentional, but a matter of chance. The Carolingians followed the custom divisible inheritance and, after the death of Louis in 840, after a short civil war, his three sons concluded in 843 the so-called Treaty of Verdun, by which the empire was divided into three parts:
- The eldest son of Louis, Lothair I, received the title of Emperor, but in reality he became the ruler of only the Middle Kingdom - the central regions Frankish state. His three sons in turn divided this kingdom among themselves in the form of Lorraine, Burgundy, and also Lombardy in northern Italy. All these lands, which had different traditions, cultures and nationalities, would later cease to exist as independent kingdoms, and eventually become Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Lorraine, Switzerland, Lombardy, as well as various departments France, located along the Rhone river basin and the Jura mountain range .
- The second son of Louis, Louis II of Germany, became king of the East Frankish kingdom. This area later became the basis for the formation of the Holy Roman Empire by adding to the Kingdom of Germany additional territories from middle kingdom Lothair: most of these lands will eventually turn into modern Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The successors of Louis the German are listed in the list of monarchs of Germany.
- The third son of Louis, Charles II the Bald, became the king of the West Franks and the ruler of the West Frankish kingdom. This region, within the borders of which the eastern and southern parts of modern France are located, became the basis for the subsequent France under the Capetian dynasty. The successors of Charles the Bald are listed in the list of monarchs of France.
Subsequently, in 870, under the Treaty of Mersen, the boundaries of the division will be revised, since the western and eastern kingdoms will divide Lorraine between themselves.
Franks - it was a large tribal union, formed from several more ancient Germanic tribes (Sigambri, Hamavs, Brukters, Tencters, etc.). They lived east of the lower reaches of the Rhine and were divided, like a wall, into two groups by the Charbonnière forests: the Salii and the Ripuarii. In the second half of the 4th c. the Franks occupied Toxandria (the area between the Meuse and the Scheldt), settling here as federates of the empire.
Orange color shows the territory inhabited by the Ripuarian Franks in the second half of the 5th century.
During the great migration of peoples, the Merovingian dynasty occupied a dominant position among the Salii. At the end of the 5th century, one of its representatives Clovis (466-511) stood at the head of the Salian Franks. This cunning and enterprising king laid the foundation for the mighty Frankish monarchy.
Reims Cathedral - where kings swear
The first king to be crowned in Reims was the leader of the Franks, Clovis. This happened in 481. The legend says that on the eve of the coronation, a miracle happened: a dove sent from heaven brought in its beak a phial full of oil, necessary for anointing the king to the kingdom.
The last Roman possession in Gaul was Soissons with the surrounding territories. Holdwig, who knew from the experience of his father about the untouched wealth of the cities and villages of the Paris basin, and about the precariousness of the authorities that remained the heirs of the Roman Empire, in 486. in the battle of Soissons, he defeated the troops of the Roman governor in Gaul Siagrius and seized power in this region of the former empire.
In order to expand his possessions to the lower reaches of the Rhine, he goes with an army to the Cologne region against the Alemanni, who pressed the Ripuarian Franks. The Battle of Tolbiac took place on the field of the Vollerheim Heath near the German town of Zulpich. This battle is extremely important in its consequences. The wife of Clovis, the Burgundian princess Clotilde, was a Christian and had long urged her husband to leave paganism. But Clovis hesitated.
They say that in the battle with the Alamanni, when the enemy began to gain the upper hand, Clovis in a loud voice vowed to be baptized if he won. There were many Gallo-Roman Christians in his army, having heard the vow, they were inspired and helped win the battle. The king of the Alemanni fell in battle, his warriors, in order to stop the killing, turn to Clovis with the words: “Have mercy, we obey you” (Gregory of Tours).
This victory makes the Alemanni dependent on the Franks. The territory along the left bank of the Rhine, the region of the Neckar River (the right tributary of the Rhine) and the lands up to the lower reaches of the Main pass to Clovis ...
François-Louis Hardy Dejuyne - Baptism of Clovis at Reims in 496
Holdwig donated a lot of wealth to the church and changed on his banner the white cloth, on which three golden toads were depicted, to blue, later, with the image of a fleur-de-lis, which was the symbol of St. Martin, the patron saint of France. Clovis allegedly chose this flower as a symbol of purification after baptism.
Together with the king, a significant part of his squad was also baptized. The people, after the king's speech, exclaimed: "Merciful king, we renounce the mortal gods and are ready to follow the immortal God that Remigius preaches." The Franks were baptized by the Catholic clergy; thus, they became of the same faith to the Gallo - the Roman population, could merge with it into one people. This clever political step provided Clovis with the opportunity, under the banner of fighting heresy, to oppose the neighboring tribe of the Visigoths and other barbarian tribes.
In 506, Clovis creates a coalition against the Visigothic king Alaric II, who owns the fourth part of the south-west of Gaul. In 507, he defeated the army of Alaric in Vouille, near Poitiers, pushing the Visigoths beyond the Pyrenees. For this victory, the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I granted him the honorary title of Roman consul, sending him the signs of this rank: a crown and a purple mantle, and thereby, in the eyes of the Gallic population, as it were, confirmed the power of Clovis in the newly conquered regions. He enjoys the support of the bishops, who see in Clovis the winner in the fight against Arianism, which they consider heresy.
Many of the Roman and Gallic nobility hastened to recognize the power of Clovis, thanks to which they retained their lands and dependent people. They also helped Clovis run the country. Wealthy Romans became related to the Frankish leaders and gradually began to form a single ruling stratum of the population. At the same time, the Eastern Empire was primarily focused on its own benefits, primarily in foreign policy terms.
The efforts of imperial diplomacy around the Frankish “kingdom” of Clovis were aimed both at achieving a favorable balance of power in the West and at creating a stronghold here against other Germans, in particular, the Goths. In this regard, Byzantine diplomacy continued the traditional policy of the Roman Empire: it is preferable to deal with the barbarians with their own hands.
By order of Clovis, the codification of law was carried out, the ancient judicial customs of the Franks and the new decrees of the king were recorded. Clovis became the sole supreme ruler of the state. Now not only all the Frankish tribes obeyed him, but also the population of the whole country. The power of the king was much stronger than the power of the military leader. The king passed it on to his sons. Actions against the king were punishable by death. In each region of the vast country, Clovis appointed rulers from people close to him - counts. They collected taxes from the population, commanded detachments of soldiers, led the court. The king was the supreme judge.
In order to conquer and, most importantly, retain new lands, the military leader must rely on the proven loyalty of the military retinue, which accompanies and protects him everywhere. Only a full treasury can give him such an opportunity, and only the seizure of funds contained in the treasury of rivals can make him able to acquire the loyalty of new warriors, and this is necessary if the territorial claims extend to the whole of Gaul. Clovis and his successors, strengthening their power and providing themselves with the opportunity to control the acquired territories, generously gave away lands to their close associates and combatants as a reward for their service. The result of such donations was a sharp increase in the natural process of "settling the squad to the ground." The granting of estates to combatants, their transformation into feudal landowners took place in almost all countries of feudal Europe. Very soon noble people turned into large landowners.
At the same time, Clovis tried to unite under his rule the Frankish tribes subordinate to other Merovingians. He achieved this goal by deceit and atrocities, destroying the French leaders who were his allies in the conquest of Gaul, while showing a lot of cunning and cruelty. The Merovingians were called "long-haired kings" because, according to legend, they did not have the right to cut their hair, because this could bring misfortune to the kingdom and was punishable by immediate deprivation of the throne. Therefore, at first, the rulers of the Franks did not kill their rivals, but simply cut their hair. But the hair grew quickly ... and soon they began to cut it off along with the head. The beginning of this "tradition" was laid by the son of Childeric and the grandson of Merovei - Clovis, having exterminated almost all relatives - the leaders of the Salic Franks: Syagreus, Hararih, Ragnahar and their children, his brothers Rahar and Rignomer and their children.
He eliminated the king of the Ripuarian Franks, Sigebert, by persuading his own son to kill his father, and then sent assassins to his son. After the murder of Sigebert and his son, Clovis also proclaimed himself king of the Ripuarian Franks. At the end of the 5th century, the tribes of the Germans, calling themselves Franks, form a new state (future France), which, under the Merovingians, covered the territory of present-day France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and parts of Germany.
The long-awaited moment came for Clovis - he became the sole ruler of the Franks, but not for long, in the same year he died. He was buried in Paris in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which he himself built with his wife (now the Church of Saint Genevieve).
Considering the kingdom as his own, he left it to his four sons. Thierry, Chlodomir, Childeber and Chlothar inherited the kingdom and divided it among themselves into equal parts, only occasionally uniting for joint conquest campaigns. There were several kings, the kingdom was still one, albeit divided into several parts, to which German historians gave the name “Shared Kingdom”. The power of the Frankish kings underwent changes from the end of the 5th to the middle of the 6th century. Being at first only power over one people or nationality, uniting people for war, it became power over a certain territory, and because of this, permanent power over several peoples.
The fragmentation of the kingdom did not prevent the Franks from joining their efforts for joint action against the Burgundians, whose state was subjugated after a protracted war in 520-530. By the time of the sons of Clovis, the annexation of the region of the future Provence, which turned out to be bloodless, also belongs. The Merovingians managed to achieve the transfer of these lands from the Ostrogoths, who were involved in a long war against Byzantium. In 536 the Ostrogothic king Vitigis renounced Provence in favor of the Franks. In the 30s. In the 6th century, the Alpine possessions of the Alemanni and the lands of the Thuringians between the Weser and the Elbe were also conquered, and in the 50s. - the lands of the Bavarians on the Danube.
But the seeming unity could no longer hide the signs of the coming strife. The inevitable consequence of the partition was civil strife within the Merovingian family. These internecine strife were accompanied by cruelty and perfidious murders.
Jean-Louis Bezart as Childebert I, third son of King Clovis I and Clotilde of Burgundy
In 523-524. together with his brothers he took part in two campaigns against Burgundy. After the death of Chlodomer during the second campaign, there was a bloody conspiracy between Childeber and Chlothar, who planned to kill their nephews and divide their inheritance among themselves. So Childebert became king of Orleans, recognizing Chlothar as his heir.
In 542, Childebert, together with Chlothar, organized a campaign against the Visigoths in Spain. They captured Pamplona and laid siege to Zaragoza, but were forced to retreat.
From this campaign, Childebert brought to Paris a Christian relic - the tunic of St. Vincent, in whose honor he founded a monastery in Paris, later known as the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. In 555, together with his nephew Temple, Childebert rebelled against Chlothar I and plundered part of his lands. After Childebert's death, Chlothar took over his kingdom.
In 558, all of Gaul was united under the rule of Chlothar I. He also had four heirs, which led to a new division of the state into three parts - Burgundy, Austrasia and Neustria. Aquitaine was located in the southeast, which was considered the common territory of all three Frankish kings. The power of the Merovingians represented the ephemeral political education. It lacked not only economic and ethnic community but also political and judicial-administrative unity. The social structure of different parts of the Frankish state was not the same either. At the beginning of the 7th century, under King Chlothar II, the landed nobility obtained major concessions from him, listed in the edict of 614, and thereby limited his power.
The last important Merovingian king was Dagobert (son of Chlothar II). The Merovingians that followed were more insignificant than one another. Under them, the decision of state affairs passes into the hands of the mayors, who were appointed by the king in each kingdom from representatives of the most noble families. In the midst of this confusion and unrest, one position stood out in particular and reached the highest power: that was the position of the manager of the palace. The manager of the palace, the ward mayor, or mayor (major domus), in the VI century did not yet stand out from a number of many other posts; in the 7th century, he began to occupy the first place after the king.
The state of the Franks fell into two main parts: the eastern, Austrasia, or the German lands proper, and the western, Neustria, or Gaul.
One Austrasian majordomo, Pishsh of Herstal, was already so powerful that he forced himself to be recognized as a majordomo in Neustria as well. As a result of aggressive campaigns, he expanded the territory of the state and the tribes of the Saxons and Bavarians paid tribute to him. His son Charles, by his side wife Alpaida, also kept both halves under his rule.
In 725 and 728, Karl Pepin undertook two campaigns in Bavaria, as a result of which she was subordinated to his kingdom, although she continued to be ruled by her duke. In the early 730s, he conquered Alemannia, which, in the past, was part of the Frankish state.
Charles significantly strengthened the military power of the Frankish kingdom. Under him, the military art of the Franks was further developed. This was due to the appearance of the heavily armed cavalry of the Frankish nobility - which became knightly in the near future.
Karl came up with an original move. He began to issue state lands not in full, but in conditional ownership. So, in the Frankish state, a special type of land tenure developed - benefices. The condition was full "self-armament" and the performance of equestrian military service. If the owner of the land refused, for whatever reason, his allotment was confiscated back in favor of the state.
Charles carried out a wide distribution of beneficiaries. The fund for these awards was first the lands confiscated from the rebellious magnates, and when these lands dried up, he carried out partial secularization (withdrawal of something from church, spiritual knowledge and transfer to secular, civil), due to which he endowed a large number of beneficiaries. Using part of the church lands to strengthen the beneficiary system, Charles, at the same time, actively contributed to the spread of Christianity and the enrichment of churchmen in the lands he conquered, he saw the church as a means of strengthening his power. His patronage of the missionary activity of St. Boniface - "the apostle of Germany".
The Arabs conquered Spain and invaded Gaul. At the city of Poitiers in 732, the troops of the Frankish majordomo Charles defeated the army of the Andalusian emir Abderrahman al-Gafaki, who decided to punish Ed, the Duke of Aquitaine.
A battle took place in which the desperate courage of the Muslims was crushed against the fortress of the Franks. The battle was in many ways a turning point in the history of medieval Europe. The battle of Poitiers saved her from the Arab conquest, and at the same time demonstrated the full power of the newly created knightly cavalry. The Arabs returned to Spain and stopped their advance north of the Pyrenees. Only a small part of Southern Gaul, Septimania, now remained in the hands of the Arabs. It is believed that it was after this battle that Charles received the nickname "Martell" - the Hammer.
In 733 and 734 he conquered the lands of the Frisians, accompanying the conquest by actively planting Christianity among them. Repeatedly (in 718, 720, 724, 738) Karl Martel made campaigns across the Rhine against the Saxons, imposed tribute on them.
However, he stood only on the threshold of the true historical greatness of the state of the Franks. Before his death, he divided the Frankish kingdom between his two sons, Carloman and Pepin the Short, the first of them received majordom in Austrasia, Swabia and Thuringia, the second - in Neustria, Burgundy and Provence.
Charles Martel was succeeded by his son Pitsch the Short, so named for his small stature, which did not prevent him from possessing great physical strength. In 751, Major Pepin the Short, imprisoned the last Merovingian (Childeric III) in a monastery and turned to the Pope with the question: “Who should be called a king - is it the one who has only a title, or the one who has real power?”, and the quick-witted dad answered exactly as the questioner wanted. This, as if a simple question, challenged the ancestral sacredness of the Franks, embodied in the Merovingians.
François Dubois - The Anointing of Pepin the Short at the Abbey of Saint-Denis
The holy Bishop Boniface anointed Pepin as king, and then Pope Stephen II, who came to ask for help against the Lombards, repeated this rite of anointing himself. In 751, at a meeting of the Frankish nobility and their vassals in Soissons, Pepin was officially proclaimed king of the Franks. Pepin knew how to be grateful: by force of arms, he forced the Lombard king to give the pope the cities of the Roman region and the lands of the Ravenna Exarchate that he had previously captured. On these lands in Central Italy in 756, the Papal State arose. So Pepin became a monarch, and the pope who sanctioned the coup received an invaluable gift, a precedent of great importance for the future: the right to remove kings and entire dynasties from power.
Charles Martel and Pepin the Short understood that the spread of Christianity and the establishment of church administration in the German countries would bring the latter closer to the Frankish state. Even earlier, individual preachers (missionaries), especially from Ireland and Scotland, came to the Germans and spread Christianity among them.
After the death of Pepin the Short in 768, the crown passed to his son Charles, later called the Great. The mayordoms of Austrasia from the house of the Pipinids (descendants of Pepin of Geristal), becoming the rulers of the united Frankish state, laid the foundation for a new dynasty of Frankish kings. From the name of Charles, the Pipinid dynasty was called the Carolingians.
During the reign of the Carolingians, the foundations of the feudal system were laid in Frankish society. The growth of large landed property accelerated due to social stratification within the community where it remained, the ruin of the mass of free peasants, who, losing their allods, gradually turned into land, and then personally dependent people. This process, which began under the Merovingians, in the VIII-IX centuries. took on a stormy character.
Continuing the aggressive policy of his predecessors, Charles in 774 made a campaign in Italy, overthrew the last Lombard king Desiderius and annexed the Lombard kingdom to the Frankish state. In June 774, after another siege, Charles took Pavia, proclaiming it the capital of the Italian kingdom.
Charlemagne went from defensive to offensive against the Arabs in Spain as well. He undertook the first trip there in 778, but he could only reach Saragossa and, without taking it, was forced to return beyond the Pyrenees. The events of this campaign served as the plot basis for the famous medieval French epic Songs of Roland. Her hero was one of the commanders of Charles - Roland, who died in a skirmish with the Basques, along with the rearguard of the Frankish troops, covering the retreat of the Franks in the Ronceval Gorge. Despite the initial setback, Charles continued his efforts to advance south of the Pyrenees. In 801, he managed to capture Barcelona and establish a border territory in the northeast of Spain - the Spanish brand.
The longest and bloody wars Charles led in Saxony (from 772 to 802), situated between the rivers Ems and Lower Rhine in the west, the Elbe in the east, and the Eider in the north. In order to break the recalcitrants, Karl entered into a temporary alliance with their eastern neighbors, the Polabian Slavs-encouraging, who had long been at enmity with the Saxons. During the war and after its completion in 804, Charles practiced mass resettlement the Saxons to the interior of the Frankish kingdom, and the Franks and Obodrites to Saxony.
Charles' conquests were also directed to the southeast. In 788, he finally annexed Bavaria, eliminating the ducal power there. Thanks to this, the influence of the Franks also spread to neighboring Carinthia (Horutania), inhabited by Slavs - Slovenes. On the southeastern borders of the expanded Frankish state, Charles clashed with the Avar Khaganate in Pannonia. Nomadic Avars made constant predatory raids on neighboring agricultural tribes. In 788, they also attacked the Frankish state, initiating the Frankish-Avar wars, which continued intermittently until 803. The decisive blow to the Avars was dealt by the capture of a system of ring-shaped fortifications called “hrings”, surrounded by stone walls and a palisade of thick logs; many settlements were located among these fortifications. By storming the fortifications, the Franks enriched themselves with countless treasures. The main hring was protected by nine successive walls. The war with the Avars lasted for many years, and only the alliance of the Franks with the southern Slavs allowed them, with the participation of the Khorutan prince Voinomir, who led this campaign, to defeat the central fortress of the Avars in 796. As a result, the Avar state collapsed, and Pannonia temporarily fell into the hands of the Slavs.
Charlemagne is the first ruler who decided to unite Europe. The Frankish state now covered a vast territory. It stretched from the middle course of the Ebro and Barcelona in the southwest to the Elbe, Sala, the Bohemian Mountains and the Vienna Woods in the east, from the border of Jutland in the north to Central Italy in the south. This territory was inhabited by many tribes and nationalities, different in level of development. The administrative organization of the new Frankish empire since its inception has been aimed at general education, the development of art, religion and culture. Under him, capitularies were issued - acts of Carolingian legislation, land reforms were carried out that contributed to the feudalization of Frankish society. Having formed border areas - the so-called marks - he strengthened the defense capability of the state. The era of Charles went down in history as the era of the "Carolingian Renaissance". It was at this time that the Frankish Empire became a link between antiquity and medieval Europe. Scientists and poets gathered at his court, he contributed to the spread of culture and literacy through monastic schools and through the activities of enlightening monks.
Under the leadership of the great Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin, and with the participation of such famous figures as Theodulf, Paul the Deacon, Eingard and many others, the education system was actively revived, which was called the Carolingian Renaissance. He led the Church's fight against the iconoclasts and insisted that the pope include the filioque (the statement that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father, but also from the Son) in the Creed.
Architectural art is experiencing a great upsurge, numerous palaces and temples are being built, the monumental appearance of which was characteristic of the early Romanesque style. It should be noted, however, that the term “Renaissance” can be used here only conditionally, since Charles’s activity took place in the era of the spread of religious and ascetic dogmas, which for several centuries became an obstacle to the development of humanistic ideas and the genuine revival of cultural values created in the ancient era.
By his vast conquests, Charlemagne demonstrated the desire for imperial universality, which found its religious counterpart in the universality of the Christian Church. This religio-political synthesis, in addition to symbolic, was also of great practical importance for organizing the internal life of the state, ensuring the unity of its heterogeneous parts. Secular authorities, when necessary, used the authority of the church to assert their prestige. However, this was an unstable union: the church, seeing its support in the state, claimed political leadership. On the other hand, the secular power, whose strength was gradually growing, sought to subjugate the papacy. Therefore, the relationship between church and state in Western Europe included confrontation and inevitable conflict situations.
Karl could no longer rule numerous countries and peoples while continuing to bear the title of King of the Franks. To reconcile and merge together all the motley elements in your kingdom - Germanic tribes Franks, Saxons, Frisians, Lombards, Bavarians, Alamanni with Romanesque, Slavic and other constituent parts of the state - Charles needed to adopt a new, so to speak, neutral title that could give him undeniable authority and significance in the eyes of all subjects. Such a title could only be the title of a Roman emperor, and the only question was how to get it. The proclamation of Charles as emperor could only take place in Rome, and the opportunity soon presented itself. Taking advantage of the fact that Pope Leo III, fleeing from the hostile Roman nobility, took refuge at the court of the Frankish king, Charles undertook a campaign to Rome in defense of the pope. The grateful pope, not without pressure from Charles, in 800 crowned him with the imperial crown in St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, solemnly placing the imperial crown on him with the title "Charles Augustus, crowned by God, the great and peace-giving Roman emperor."
The new Roman Empire of Charlemagne was half the size of the old one, Charlemagne was a German rather than a Roman, preferring to rule from Aachen or fight wars. The Holy Roman Empire of the German nation existed for a thousand years until it was destroyed by another great conqueror - Napoleon, who called himself the successor of Charlemagne.
The word king did not exist before Charlemagne. It came from his name. In an anagram of Charlemagne, his name is encrypted - Karolus.
Despite the efforts of Charlemagne, the Frankish state never gained political unity, and the weakening as a result of an external threat hastened its disintegration. Since that time, only ecclesiastical unity was preserved in Europe, and culture for a long time found refuge in monasteries.
The fragmentation of the empire by the grandchildren of Charlemagne in 843 meant the end of the political unity of the Frankish state. The empire of Charlemagne collapsed due to feudalization. Under weak sovereigns, who turned out to be his son and grandchildren, the centrifugal forces of feudalism tore it apart.
According to the Treaty of Verdun in 843, it was divided among the descendants of Charlemagne into three large parts: the West Frankish, East Frankish kingdoms and the empire, which included Italy and the lands along the Rhine (the empire of Lothair, one of the grandsons of Charles). The partition marked the beginning of the history of three modern European states - France, Germany and Italy.
The formation of the "kingdom" of the Franks is a kind of result of a long historical path traversed by the West German tribal world over hundreds of years. Of all the "states" formed by the Germans, it lasted the longest and played the most important role state of the Franks. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Franks settled in solid masses, completely displacing the "Roman" population from certain territories.
In place of slaveholding territories ancient rome free peasant communities were formed, the formation of large feudal estates begins - the era of feudalism, or the era of the Middle Ages, begins. And the formation of French civilization begins, as part of European civilization.
In modern Europe, Charlemagne is considered one of the forerunners of European integration. Since 1950 in Aachen, the capital of the empire of Charles, the annual awarding of the Charlemagne Prize for contribution to the unity of Europe has been held.
Formation of the Frankish state
Tribal union of the Franks formed in the 3rd century. in the lower reaches of the Rhine. It included the Hamavs, Brukters, Sugambrs and some other tribes. In the IV century. the Franks settled in northeastern Gaul as allies of the Roman Empire. They lived apart from the Gallo-Roman population and were not subjected to Romanization at that time.Franks They were divided into two groups - Salic, who lived near the sea coast, and Ripuarian, who settled east of the Meuse River. Separate regions were headed by independent princes. Of the princely dynasties, the most powerful were Merovingians who ruled among the Salian Franks. Merovei (“born of the sea”) was considered their legendary ancestor. The third representative of the Merovingian dynasty Clovis (481-511) extended his power to all the Franks. With the help of bribery, betrayal, violence, he destroyed all the other princes, among them many of his relatives, and began to rule as a single king. Gathering a large army Clovis defeated the Roman sovereign prince Syagrius, captured Soissons and all of Northern Gaul up to the Loire River.
Thus, in 486, as a result of the Frankish conquest in Northern Gaul the Frankish state emerged , headed by the leader of the Salic Franks Clovis (486-511) from the Merovean clan (hence the Merovingian dynasty). Thus began the first period history of the Frankish state - from the end of the 5th to the end of the 7th century, - commonly called Merovingian period .
Under Clovis, Aquitaine was conquered (507), under his successors - Burgundy (534); Ostrogoths ceded Provence to the Franks (536). By the middle of the VI century. Frankish state included almost the entire territory of the former Roman province of Gaul. The Franks also subjugated a number of Germanic tribes living beyond the Rhine: the Thuringians, Alemanni and Bavarians recognized the supreme power of the Franks; the Saxons were forced to pay them an annual tribute. Frankish state lasted much longer than all other barbarian kingdoms of continental Europe, many of which (first part of the Visigothic and Burgundian, then Langobard) it included in its composition.
History of the Frankish state allows you to trace the path of development of feudal relations from the earliest stage to its completion. The process of feudalization took place here in the form of a synthesis of decaying late Roman and German tribal relations. The ratio of those and others was not the same in the north and in the south of the country.
north of the Loire, where francs with their still rather primitive social system, they occupied continuous territories and made up a significant part of the population, late antique and barbarian elements interacted in approximately the same proportion. Since the Franks settled here in isolation from the Gallo-Roman population, they retained the social orders they brought with them, in particular the free community, longer than in the south.
In areas south of the Loire francs were few in number, and the Visigoths and Burgundians who settled here earlier remained in the minority. These latter, long before the Frankish conquest, lived in constant and close contact with the Gallo-Roman population. Therefore, the influence of late antique relations played a much more significant role in the process of synthesis here than in the north of the country, and the decomposition of barbarian social orders proceeded faster.
History of France:
Social structure of the Frankish state. Salic Truth (LEX SALICA)
The most important source for studying social order francs (mainly Northern Gaul) in the Merovingian period is one of the most famous barbarian truths - "The Salic Truth" ("Lex Salica") . It is a record of the judicial customs of the Salic Franks, which is believed to have been made at the beginning of the 6th century, i.e., during the lifetime (and possibly by order) of Clovis. Roman influence was much less pronounced here than in other barbarian truths, and is found mainly in external features: Latin language, fines in Roman monetary units."Salic Truth" in a more or less pure form reflects the archaic orders of the primitive communal system that existed among the Franks even before the conquest. But in it we also find new data - information about the origin of property and social inequality, private ownership of movable property, the right to inherit land and, finally, the state. During the VI-IX centuries. Frankish kings made more and more new additions to the Salic Truth, therefore, in combination with other sources, more late period It also allows you to follow the next evolution of Frankish society from the primitive communal system to feudalism.
During this period, the Franks have a fully developed private ownership of movable property. This is evidenced, for example, by the high fines imposed "Salic Truth"
for stealing bread, livestock, poultry, boats, nets. But private ownership of land, with the exception of household plots, "Salic Truth"
doesn't know yet. The owner of the main land fund of each village was the collective of its inhabitants - free small farmers who made up the community. In the first period after the conquest of Gaul, according to the oldest text "Salic Truth"
, the Frankish communities were settlements of very different sizes, consisting of families related to each other. In most cases, these were large (patriarchal) families, which included close relatives, usually of three generations - the father and adult sons with their families, running the household together. But there were already small individual families. Houses and household plots were privately owned by individual large or small families, and arable and sometimes meadow plots were in their hereditary private use. These allotments were usually surrounded by a fence, wattle and were protected from intrusions and encroachments by high fines. However, the right to freely dispose of hereditary allotments belonged only to the entire collective of the community.
Individual-family ownership of land among the Franks at the end of the 5th and in the 6th century. was just being born. Chapter IX testifies to this. "Salic Truth" - "On Allods" according to which land inheritance, land (terra), in contrast to movable property (it could be freely inherited or donated) was inherited only through the male line - by the sons of the deceased head of a large family; female offspring were excluded from the inheritance of the land. In the absence of sons, the land passed to the disposal of the community. This is clearly seen from the edict of King Chilperic (561-584), which, in a change to the above chapter "Salic Truth" established that in the absence of sons, the land should be inherited by the daughter or brother and sister of the deceased, but “not neighbors” (as was obviously the case before).
The community also had a number of other rights to the lands that were in the individual use of its members. Apparently, the Franks had an “open field system”: all arable plots after harvesting and meadow plots after haymaking turned into a common pasture, and for this time all hedges were removed from them. The fallow land also served as a public pasture. Such an order is associated with striping and forced crop rotation for all members of the community. Lands that were not part of the household plots and arable and meadow allotments (forests, wastelands, swamps, roads, undivided meadows) remained in common ownership, and each member of the community had an equal share in the use of these lands.
Contrary to the assertions of a number of historians of the late XIX and XX centuries. (N.-D. Fustel de Coulange, V. Wittich, L. Dopsh, T. Mayer, K. Bosl, O. Brunner and others) that the Franks in the 5th-6th centuries. dominated by complete private ownership of land, a number of chapters "Salic Truth" definitely testifies to the presence of a community among the Franks. So chapter XLV “On Settlers” reads: “If someone wants to move to a villa (in this context, “villa” means a village) to another, and if one or more of the residents of the villa want to accept him, but there is at least one who opposes the resettlement, he will not have the right to settle there.” If the stranger still settles in the village, then the protester can bring legal proceedings against him and expel him through the courts. "Neighbors" here act in this way as members of the community, regulating all land relations in their village.
The community, which was "Salic Truth" the basis of the economic and social organization of the Frankish society, was in the V-VI centuries. a transitional stage from an agricultural community (where collective ownership of all land, including the arable plots of large families, was preserved) to a neighboring community-mark, in which the ownership of individual small families to allotment arable land already dominates, while maintaining communal ownership of the main fund of forests, meadows, wastelands, pastures, etc.
Before the conquest of Gaul, the owner of the land among the Franks was the clan, which broke up into separate large families (this was the agricultural community). Long campaigns during the period of conquest and settlement in the new territory accelerated the beginning of the 2nd-4th centuries. the process of weakening and disintegration of tribal and the formation of new, territorial ties, on which the later developed neighborhood community-mark .
IN "Salic Truth"
tribal relations are clearly traced: even after the conquest, many communities consisted largely of relatives; relatives continued to play a large role in the life of the free franc. A close alliance consisted of them, including all relatives “up to the sixth generation” (the third generation in our account), all members of which, in a certain order, were obliged to act in court as jurors (taking an oath in favor of a relative). In the case of the murder of a franc, not only the family of the murdered or murderer, but also their closest relatives, both on the father’s side and on the mother’s side, participated in receiving and paying the wergeld.
In the same time "Salic Truth" already shows the process of decomposition and decline of tribal relations. Among the members of the tribal organization, property differentiation is outlined. The chapter "About a handful of land" provides for the case when an impoverished relative cannot help his relative in paying the wergeld: in this case, he must "throw a handful of land on someone from the more prosperous, so that he pays everything according to the law." There is a desire on the part of more prosperous members to leave the union of relatives. Chapter IX "Salic Truth" describes in detail the procedure for renunciation of kinship, during which a person must publicly, in a court session, renounce partnership, participation in the payment and receipt of wergeld, inheritance and other relations with relatives.
In the event of the death of such a person, his inheritance does not go to relatives, but to the royal treasury.
The development of property differentiation among relatives leads to a weakening of tribal ties, to the disintegration of large families into small individual families. At the end of the VI century. the hereditary allotment of the free Franks turns into a complete, freely alienable landed property of small individual families - allod. Earlier, in "Salic Truth" , this term denoted any inheritance: in relation to movables, allod at that time was understood as property, but in relation to land - only as a hereditary allotment, which cannot be freely disposed of. The edict of King Chilperic already mentioned above, having significantly expanded the right of individual inheritance of the community members, in essence, deprived the community of the right to dispose of the allotment land of its members. It becomes the object of wills, gifts, and then sale and purchase, that is, it becomes the property of a community member. This change was of a fundamental nature and led to a further deepening of property and social differentiation in the community, to its disintegration.
With the emergence of the allod, the transformation of the agricultural community into a neighboring or territorial community, usually called brand community , which no longer consists of relatives, but of neighbors. Each of them is the head of a small individual family and acts as the owner of his allotment - allod. The rights of the community extend only to undivided land marks (forests, wastelands, swamps, public pastures, roads, etc.), which continue to be in the collective use of all its members. By the end of the VI century. meadow and forest plots often also pass into the allodial property of individual community members.
The community-mark that has developed among the Franks By the end of the 6th century, it represents the last form of communal land tenure, within which the decomposition of the primitive communal system is completed and class feudal relations are born.
History of France:
State structure of the Franks in the VI-VII centuries.
Before the conquest of Gaul, the Franks had not yet developed a state organization. Supreme power was exercised by military leaders, public and judicial matters were decided on popular assemblies with the participation of all male warriors. This primitive patriarchal structure proved unsuitable for organizing domination over the conquered country and its population, which had previously been under the rule of the Roman slave state. "The organs of the tribal system were therefore to become organs of the state."State structure under the Merovingians (VI-VII centuries) was relatively primitive. The local court remained popular, the army consisted of a militia of all free Franks and the royal squad. There was no clear separation of management functions. The administration, the fiscal and police services, the highest judicial power were carried out by the same bodies and persons. The kingship was already quite strong. The throne was inherited. The population took an oath to the king. All management affairs were in charge of the royal court. Legislation was carried out by the king with the consent of the magnates. Twice a year - in spring and autumn - meetings of the nobility took place, at which published legislative acts were announced and new laws were discussed. General meetings of all the soldiers turned into military reviews (March Fields). The barbarian truths, written down at different times at the behest of the kings, served as the basic laws and lawsuits.
The administration of regions and districts was carried out by counts and centurions, whose main duty was to collect taxes, fines and duties for the royal treasury. In places of Frankish settlements, counties and hundreds were created on the basis of the German judicial and military organization, in Central and Southern Gaul - on the basis of the Roman provincial structure.
At first, free Franks were only required to carry out military service. But already at the end of the VI century. they began to be taxed on a par with the Gallo-Roman population. This caused mass discontent and popular uprisings.
Created as a result of the conquest Frankish political system served primarily the interests of the feudalized Frankish nobility. It ensured dominance over the conquered population and made it possible to keep their own people in obedience.
The beginning of the feudalization of Frankish society accompanied by the emergence of the early feudal state.
Governments of the Franks , inherent in the primitive communal system at the stage of military democracy, gradually give way to the increased power of the military leader, who is now turning into a king. This transformation was accelerated by the very fact of the conquest, which brought the Franks face to face with the conquered Gallo-Roman population, which had to be kept in subjection. In addition, in the conquered territory, the Franks faced a developed class society, the continued existence of which required the creation of a new state power to replace the state apparatus of the slave empire destroyed by the Franks.
The king has everything in his hands public administration functions in the state of the Franks centered on the royal court. The power of the king was based primarily on the fact that he was the largest landowner in the state and was at the head of a large, personally devoted squad. He managed the state as a personal economy, gave his close associates private land, which had previously been national, tribal property, arbitrarily disposed of state revenues that came to him in the form of taxes, fines and trade duties. Royal power relied on the support of the emerging class of large landowners. Since its inception, the state has defended in every possible way the interests of this class of feudal lords and, through its policy, contributed to the ruin and enslavement of free community members, the growth of large landed property, and organized new conquests.
IN central administration of the Frankish state only faint traces of the former primitive communal organization have survived in the form of annual military reviews - the "March fields". Since in the Merovingian period the bulk of the population of Frankish society were still free community members, of whom the general military militia also consisted, all adult free Franks converged on the "March fields". However, these meetings, in contrast to the public meetings of the period of military democracy, now had no serious political significance.
Forced to reckon with large landowners, the Frankish kings periodically convened meetings of the most prominent magnates, at which national issues were discussed. Traces of ancient primitive communal orders are more preserved in local administration of the Frankish state .
"Hundreds" of the divisions of the tribe among the ancient Franks after the conquest of Gaul turned into territorial administrative divisions . The management of the county - a larger territorial unit - was entirely in the hands of the royal official - the count, who was the chief judge in the county and levied a third of all court fines in favor of the king. In "hundreds" people's assemblies of all free people (mallus) gathered, performing mainly judicial functions and chaired by an elected person - "tungin". But even here there was a representative of the royal administration - a centurion ("centenary"), who controlled the activities of the assembly and collected a share of the fines in favor of the king. With the development of social differentiation c. among the Franks, the leading role in these meetings passes to more prosperous and influential persons - the “rachinburgs” (rachin-burgii), or “good people”.
Most preserved self-government in the Frankish village community , which elected its officials at village meetings, created a court for minor offenses and made sure that the customs of the brand were respected.
Economic development of the Frankish state in the 5th - 7th centuries.
The level of development of the economy among the Franks was significantly higher than that of the ancient Germans described by Tacitus. In agriculture, which in the VI century. was main occupation of the Franks , apparently, the two-field system already dominated, the periodic redistribution of arable land, which hindered the development of more intensive forms of agriculture, ceased. In addition to grain crops - rye, wheat, oats, barley - legumes and flax were widely used among the Franks. Vegetable gardens, orchards, and vineyards began to be actively cultivated. A plow with an iron plowshare, which loosened the soil well, is becoming widespread.
IN agriculture francs
various types of working cattle are used: bulls, mules, donkeys. Soil cultivation methods have improved. Two- or three-fold plowing, harrowing, weeding of crops, threshing with flails became common; water mills began to be used instead of manual ones.
Cattle breeding also developed significantly. The Franks were bred a large number of cattle and small livestock - sheep, goats, as well as pigs and different types poultry.
Among ordinary occupations of the Franks should be called hunting, fishing, beekeeping.
Progress in the economy of the Franks was a consequence not only of the internal development of Frankish society, but also the result of borrowing by the Franks, and even earlier by the Visigoths and Burgundians in the south of Gaul, more advanced methods of conducting Agriculture they encountered in conquered Roman territory.
History of France:
Social and public development of the Frankish state in the V - VII centuries.
embryos social stratification among the conquering Franks manifest themselves in Salic Pravda in various categories of the free population. For simple free Franks, it is 200 solidi, for royal warriors (antrustions) or officials who were in the service of the king, it is 600. Apparently, the Frankish tribal nobility also joined the group of royal warriors and officials during the conquest. The life of the semi-free - Litas - was protected by a relatively low wergeld - 100 solidi.The Franks also had slaves , completely unprotected by the wergeld: the killer only compensated for the damage caused to the master of the slave. The development of slavery among the Franks contributed to the conquest of Gaul and subsequent wars, which gave a plentiful influx of slaves. Subsequently, slavery also became a source of slavery, into which ruined free people fell, as well as a criminal who did not pay a court fine or wergeld: they turned into slaves of those who paid these contributions for them. However Frankish slave labor was not the basis of production, as in the Roman state. Slaves were used most often as household servants or artisans - blacksmiths, goldsmiths, sometimes as shepherds and grooms, but not as the main labor force in agriculture.
Although the "Salicheskaya Pravda" does not know any legal distinctions within ordinary free community members, in it and in other sources of the 6th century. there is evidence of the presence of property stratification in their environment. This is not only the above information about the stratification among relatives, but also indications of distribution of loans and debt obligations in Frankish society
. Sources constantly mention, on the one hand, the rich and influential "best people" (meliores), on the other hand, the poor (minoflidi) and completely ruined vagabonds unable to pay fines.
The emergence of allod stimulated the growth of large landownership among the Franks . Even during the conquest, Clovis appropriated the lands of the former imperial fiscus. His successors gradually seized all the free, undivided lands among the communities, which at first were considered the property of the whole people. From this fund, the Frankish kings, who became large landowners, generously distributed land grants in full, freely alienable (allodia) property to their confidants and the church. So, by the end of the VI century. a layer of large landowners is already emerging in Frankish society - future feudal lords. In their possessions, along with the Frankish slaves, semi-free - litas - dependent people from among the Gallo-Roman population - freedmen by Roman law, slaves, Gallo-Romans who were obliged to bear duties ("Romans-tributaries"), possibly from among the former Romans, were also exploited. columns.
The growth of large landownership among the Franks especially intensified in connection with the development of the allod within the community. The concentration of land holdings is now taking place not only as a result of royal grants, but also by enriching one part of the community members at the expense of another. The process of ruin of a part of the free community members begins, the reason for which is the forced alienation of their hereditary allods. The growth of large landownership inevitably leads to the emergence of private power of large landowners, which, as an instrument of non-economic coercion, was characteristic of the emerging feudal system.
The oppression of large secular landowners, ecclesiastical institutions and royal officials, forced free people to give up personal independence and surrender under the "protection" (mundium) of secular and spiritual large landowners, who thus became their seigneurs (masters). The act of entering under personal protection was called "commendation". In practice, it was often accompanied by entry into land dependence, which for landless people often meant their gradual involvement in personal dependence. At the same time, the commendation strengthened the political influence of large landowners and contributed to the final disintegration of tribal unions and communal organization.
The process of feudalization took place not only among the Franks themselves , but even faster among the Gallo-Romans, who made up the majority of the population of the Frankish state. The barbarian conquests destroyed the foundations of the slave system and partly undermined large-scale land ownership, especially in southern Gaul, where the Burgundians and Visigoths divided the land, capturing a significant part of it from the local population. However, they did not abolish private ownership of land. Everywhere in the environment of the Gallo-Roman population, not only small peasant land ownership was preserved, but even large-scale church and secular land ownership, based on the exploitation of slaves and people who were close in position to the Roman columns, who were sitting on foreign land.
"Salic Truth" divides the Gallo-Roman population into three categories
: "royal companions", in which one can see a privileged group of Gallo-Romans, close to the king, apparently, large landowners; "possesors" - landowners of small estates and peasant type; taxable people (“tributaries”) who are obliged to bear duties. Apparently, these were people using foreign land on certain conditions.
The neighborhood of the Gallo-Romans, among whom private ownership of land had long existed, naturally accelerated the decomposition of communal relations and the feudalization of Frankish society . The position of the Gallo-Roman slaves and columns influenced the forms of dependence into which the impoverished Frankish community members were drawn. The impact of the decaying late antique relations in the process of feudalization was especially great in Southern Gaul, where the conquerors lived in close proximity to the Gallo-Romans in common villages. Here, earlier than in the north among the Germans, private ownership of land in its Roman form was established, the transition to the Marche community took place earlier, its decomposition and the growth of large-scale landed property of the barbarian nobility proceeded faster. The object of exploitation of the German large landowners in the VI-VII centuries. there were not yet dependent peasants, but slaves, columns, freedmen who were planted on the land, the status of which was largely determined by Roman legal traditions. At the same time, the Frankish conquest of Southern Gaul contributed to the fragmentation of large domains and the barbarian and Gallo-Roman nobility and strengthened the layer of small peasant proprietors, mixed in their ethnic composition. In the process of synthesis of Gallo-Roman and Germanic relations, legal and ethnic differences between the conquerors and the local population in all areas of the kingdom were gradually erased. Under the sons of Clovis, the obligation to participate in the military militia applies to all the inhabitants of the kingdom, including the Gallo-Romans. On the other hand, the Frankish kings are trying to extend the land and poll taxes, preserved from the Roman Empire and at first levied only on the Gallo-Roman population, and on the conquering Germans.
In connection with this policy of the royal power in Gaul, uprisings broke out repeatedly. The largest of them took place in 579 in Limoges. The masses, outraged that King Chilperic had increased the land tax, seized and burned the tax rolls and wanted to kill the royal tax collector. Chilperic brutally dealt with the rebels and subjected the population of Limoges to even more severe taxation.
First in life Frankish society social differences are more and more put forward: there is an increasing convergence of the Gallo-Roman, Burgundian and Frankish landowning nobility, on the one hand, and German and Gallo-Roman small farmers of different legal status, on the other. start to take shape main classes of the future feudal society - feudal lords and dependent peasants. The Frankish kingdom of the Merovingian period from the end of the 6th - beginning of the 7th century. was already early feudal society , although the process of feudalization in it developed rather slowly. Until the end of the 7th c. the main stratum of this society remained free small landowners, in the north still united in free communes-marks.
The division of the Frankish state by the successors of Clovis (end of VI - VII centuries)
The growth of large landownership and the private power of large landowners already under the sons of Clovis led to a weakening of royal power. Having lost a significant part of their domain possessions and incomes as a result of generous land distributions, the Frankish kings turned out to be powerless in the fight against the separatist aspirations of large landowners. After the death of Clovis began fragmentation of the Frankish state .
From the end of the VI century. planned separation of three independent regions within the Frankish state
: Neustria - Northwestern Gaul with a center in Paris; Austrasia - the northeastern part of the Frankish state, which included the original Frankish regions on both banks of the Rhine and the Meuse; Burgundy - the territory of the former kingdom of the Burgundians. At the end of the 7th century Aquitaine stood out in the southwest. These four regions differed from each other in the ethnic composition of the population and the characteristics of the social system, and the degree of feudalization.
In Neustria , which by the time of the Frankish conquest was strongly Romanized, the Gallo-Romans, who made up a significant part of the population even after the conquest, merged with the conquering Franks earlier than in other areas of the kingdom. Here, by the end of the 6th - beginning of the 7th century. large-scale ecclesiastical and secular landownership acquired great importance, and the process of the disappearance of the free peasantry proceeded rapidly.
austria , where the bulk of the population was made up of the Franks and other Germanic tribes subject to them, and the influence of the Gallo-Roman orders was weak, until the beginning of the 8th century. retained a more primitive system; here the Marka community decomposed more slowly, the allodist landowners continued to play an important role, being part of the Marka communities and forming the basis of the military militia. The emerging class of feudal lords was mainly represented by small and medium-sized feudal lords. Church landownership was less represented here than in Neustria.
IN Burgundy and Aquitaine , where the Gallo-Roman population was also mixed with the German (first with the Burgundians and Visigoths and then with the Franks), small free peasant and medium-sized landownership also remained for a long time. But at the same time, there were also large land holdings, especially church ones, and a free community already in the 6th century. disappeared almost everywhere.
These regions were weakly interconnected economically (at that time natural-economic relations dominated), which prevented their unification in one state. Kings from the Merovingian house, who headed these areas after fragmentation of the Frankish state , fought among themselves for supremacy, which was complicated by continuous clashes between kings and large landowners within each of the regions.
History of France:
The unification of the Frankish state by mayordoms (end of the 7th century)
The last kings of the Merovingian dynasty lost all real power, retaining only the title. They were disparagingly called "lazy kings". In fact, power passed to the mayors (majordomus - senior in the court, manager of the royal household), who were in charge of tax collection and royal property, commanded the army. Having real power, the mayordoms disposed of the royal throne, erected and deposed kings. Being large landowners themselves, they relied on the local nobility. But in fragmented into appanages of the Frankish state there was no single major house. Each of the three regions was ruled by its own mayor, who had hereditary power.At the end of the 7th century the actual power in all areas of the kingdom was in the hands of the mayors. Initially, these were officials who headed the royal palace administration (majordomus - the head of the house, the household manager of the court). Then the mayordoms turned into the largest landowners. All management of each of the named areas Frankish kingdom concentrated in their hands, and the mayor acted as the leader and military leader of the local landed aristocracy. The kings from the house of the Merovingians, who had lost all real power, were appointed and removed at the behest of the mayordoms.
After a long struggle among the Frankish nobility in 687, Pepin of Geristalsky became the major of Austrasia Majordom of the entire Frankish state . He succeeded because in Austrasia, where the process of feudalization was slower than in other parts of the kingdom, the mayordoms could rely on a fairly significant layer of small and medium feudal lords, as well as free allodists of the peasant type, interested in strengthening the central government to combat oppression. large landowners, to suppress the enslaved peasantry and to conquer new lands. With the support of these social strata, the mayordoms of Austrasia were able to unite again under their rule all Frankish state .
During the period of confusion and confusion of the 670s and 680s, attempts were made to reassert the supremacy of the Franks over the Frisians, but these attempts were unsuccessful. However, in 689, Pepin launched a campaign to conquer West Frisia (Frisia Citerior) and in a battle near the town of Dorestad, at that time an important trading post, defeated King Radbod of Frisia. As a result, the Frankish state included all the lands located between the Scheldt River and at that time the Vli estuary.
Then, around 690, Pepin attacked central Frisia and captured Utrecht. In 695, Pepin even contributed to the formation of the Archdiocese of Utrecht for the conversion of the Frisians to Christianity, which was headed by Bishop Willibrord. However, East Frisia (Frisia Ulterior) remained free from the protectorate of the Franks.
Having achieved tremendous success in conquering the Frisians, Pepin turned his attention to the Alemanni. In 709, he started a war against Villehari - Duke of Ortenau, presumably for the inheritance of the dukedom of the deceased Gottfried for his young sons. Various foreign interventions led to another war in 712, after which the Alemanni were returned for some time to the dominion of the Franks. However, the regions of southern Gaul, which was not under the influence of the Arnulfing family, began to move away from the royal court, which was facilitated in every possible way by their leaders - the warrior, and then Bishop Savarik of Auxerre, the aristocrat Antenor of Provence who did not recognize the Arnulfings and the Duke of Aquitaine Ed the Great.
The power, in fact, of the royal appointee acquired an independent character in relation to the royal one. The position of the mayor of the kingdom became hereditary, and this was not disputed by either the kings or the nobility. From the turn of the 7th - 8th centuries. the inheritance of individual managerial positions has become a state tradition in general.
By the beginning of the 8th century in the lands Frankish kingdom the process of formation of new social forces was clearly manifested. On the one hand, these are large landowners of Gallo-Roman origin and, to a lesser extent, Germanic (whose possessions were mostly formed by royal grants and protected by immunities). On the other hand, there is a large category of dependent peasants, freedmen who entered into bondage or under the patronage of large landowners and acquired a status similar to Roman columns.
The largest land holdings were concentrated in the Catholic Church, which began to play an almost state-political role in the kingdom. The objective task of the new states of the francs it was necessary to link the new social structure with political institutions - without such a connection, any statehood would not have gone beyond the royal palaces.
The years of the reign of Clovis IV, who died already at the age of 13, and his brother Childebert III - from 691 to 711 - were noted by all characteristic features the reign of the so-called lazy kings, although it is proved that Childebert made decisions that went against the interests of the alleged patron from the Arnulfing family.
Formation of the new Frankish state (VIII century)
After the death of Pepin in 714 The Frankish state plunged into civil war , and the dukes of the outlying regions became de facto independent. Pepin's appointed successor, Theodoald, acting under the auspices of Pepin's widow and his grandmother, Plektruda, at first resisted the attempts of the king, Dagobert III, to appoint Ragenfred as majordom in all three kingdoms, but soon a third candidate for majordom in Austrasia appeared in the person of Pepin's adult illegitimate son, Charles Martell. After the king (now Chilperic II) and Ragenfred defeated Plectrude and Theodoald, Charles was able for a short time to proclaim his own king, Chlothar IV, in contrast to Chilperic. Finally, at the Battle of Soissons in 718, Charles finally defeated his rivals and forced them to flee, subsequently agreeing to the return of the king, subject to receiving his father's posts (718). Since then, there have been no more active kings of the Merovingian dynasty and the Franks were ruled by Charles and his heirs the Carolingian dynasty .After 718, Charles Martel entered into a series of wars, the purpose of which was to strengthen the supremacy of the Franks in Western Europe. In 718 he crushed the rebellious Saxons, in 719 he devastated West Frisia, in 723 he again suppressed the Saxons, and in 724 he defeated Ragenfred and the rebel Neustrians, finally ending the period civil wars during his reign.
In 721, after the death of Chilperic II, he proclaimed Theodoric IV king, but he was a puppet of Charles. In 724, he defended his candidacy of Hugbert for the succession of the Bavarian duchy and in the Bavarian military campaigns (725 and 726) he was helped by the Alemanni, after which the laws there were proclaimed in the name of Theodoric. In 730, Alemannia was enslaved by force, and her duke Lantfried was killed. In 734, Charles fought against East Frisia and eventually took possession of these lands.
In the 730s, the Arabs who conquered Spain also subjugated Septimania and began their advance north into central Francia and the Loire Valley. It was at this time (around 736) that Maurontus, Duke of Provence, called upon the aid of the Arabs to counter the growing expansions of the Carolingians . However, Charles invaded the Rhone valley along with his brother Hildebrand I and the army of the Lombards and ravaged these lands. It was because of the alliance with the Lombards against the Arabs that Charles did not support the pope. Gregory III against the Lombards. In 732 or 737 - modern scholars have not agreed on the exact date - Charles marched against the Arab army in the area between Poitiers and Tours and defeated them at the Battle of Poitiers, stopping the advance of the Arabs north of the Pyrenees and putting them to flight; while the real interests of Charles were to the northeast, namely the Saxons - from them he began to receive tribute, which they paid for centuries Merovingians .
Shortly before his death in October 741, Charles divided the state, as if he were king, between his two sons by his first wife, bypassing his youngest son Griffin, who received a very small share (it is not known for certain how much). Despite the fact that there had been no ruling king in the state since Theodoric's death in 737, Charles's sons, Pepin the Short and Carloman, still remained mayors. Carolingians adopted from Merovingian the status and ceremonial of kings, but not royal titles. After the division of the state, Austrasia, Alemannia and Thuringia went to Carloman, and Neustria, Provence and Burgundy to Pepin. The actual independence of the duchies of Aquitaine (under the rule of Gunald I) and Bavaria (under the rule of Odilon) is very indicative, since they were not even included in division of the Frankish state .
After Charles Martell was buried (in the Abbey of Saint-Denis next to Merovingian kings ) conflict immediately broke out between Pepin and Carloman on the one hand and their younger brother Griffin on the other. Despite the fact that Carloman captured and imprisoned the Griffin, there was probably hostility between the older brothers, as a result of which Pepin released the Griffin while Carloman made a pilgrimage to Rome. Apparently to lessen his brother's ambitions, Carloman proposed in 743 that Childeric III be summoned from the monastery and proclaimed king. According to some assumptions, the positions of the two brothers were rather weak, according to others, Carloman acted mainly in the interests of the legitimist and loyalist party in the kingdom.
In 743, Pepin launched a military campaign against the Bavarian Duke Odilon and forced him to recognize supremacy of the Franks . Carloman also launched a campaign against the Saxons and together they suppressed the Basque uprising led by Hunald and the Alemannic rebellion, apparently in which Lutfried of Alsace died, fighting either for or against the brothers. However, in 746 the Frankish army was stopped because Carloman decided to retire to the abbey monastery near Mount Soract. Pepin's position of power was strengthened and the way was opened for him to be proclaimed king in 751.
History of France:
----- THE FRANK STATE OF THE MEROVINGIANS (V - VII centuries) -----
Chapter 7. State of the Franks
§ 1. The emergence of the state of the Franks
Gaul in the 5th century profound socio-economic transformations took place. In this richest province of Rome (a territory almost coinciding with present-day France), a deep crisis manifested itself that engulfed the empire. The performances of slaves, colonies, peasants, and the urban poor became more frequent. Rome could no longer protect the borders from invasions of foreign tribes and, above all, the Germans - the eastern neighbors of Gaul. As a result, most of the country was captured by the Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks (Salic and Ripuarian) and some other tribes. Of these Germanic tribes, the Salic Franks eventually proved to be the most powerful. It took them a little over 20 years to at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th centuries. take over most of the country.
The emergence of a class society among the Franks, which had been outlined by them even before their resettlement in Gaul, accelerated sharply in the process of its conquest. Each new campaign increased the wealth of the Frankish military-tribal nobility. When dividing the booty, she got the best lands, a significant number of columns, cattle. The nobility rose above the ordinary Franks, although the latter were still personally free and at first did not experience increased economic oppression. They settled in their new homeland in rural communities (marks). Mark was considered the owner of all the land of the community, which included forests, wastelands, meadows, arable land. The latter were divided into allotments, which quickly passed into the hereditary use of individual families.
The Gallo-Romans, outnumbering the Franks by several times, found themselves in the position of a dependent population. At the same time, the Gallo-Roman aristocracy partially retained their wealth. The unity of class interests marked the beginning of a gradual rapprochement between the Frankish and Gallo-Roman nobility, with the former becoming dominant. This manifested itself in the formation of a new government, which was supposed to save the occupied country, keep the colonies and slaves in obedience. The former tribal organization did not have the necessary forces and means for this. The institutions of the tribal system begin to give way to a new organization headed by a military leader - the king and a squad personally devoted to him. The king and his associates actually decided all the most important issues in the life of the country, although people's assemblies and other institutions of the former system of the Franks were still preserved. A new public authority was being formed, which no longer coincided directly with the population. It consisted not only of armed people who did not depend on ordinary freemen, but also of compulsory institutions, which did not exist under the tribal system. The establishment of a new public authority is connected with the division of the population. The lands inhabited by the Franks began to be divided into pagi (districts), which consisted of smaller units - hundreds. The management of the population, which lived in pagas and hundreds, was entrusted to special confidants of the king. In the southern regions of Gaul, where the Gallo-Romans repeatedly prevailed in numbers, at first the Roman administrative-territorial division was preserved. But here, too, the appointment of officials depended on the king.
The emergence of the state among the Franks is associated with the name of one of their military leaders - Clovis (486-511) from the Merovingian clan. Under his leadership, the main part of Gaul was conquered. The far-sighted political step of Clovis was the adoption by him and his squad of Christianity according to the Catholic model. By this he secured the support of the Gallo-Roman nobility and the Catholic Church that dominated Gaul.
The formation of the state of the Franks took place relatively quickly - within the life of one generation. In many ways, this process was facilitated by wars of conquest and, as a result, the rapid class differentiation of Frankish society.
§ 2. State of the Franks in the VI-IX centuries.
The main features of development. The main feature of the development of Frankish society was the emergence and development of feudalism in its depths. New relationships arose in both socio-ethnic groups - Frankish and Gallo-Roman. Each of them had its own main area of settlement (the Frankish North and the Gallo-Roman South; the conditional boundary between the North and the South was the Loire River). But the formation of feudal relations among the Franks and the Gallo-Romans was far from the same, primarily because it began from different starting points: the Franks entered the era of feudalism in the process of the primitive communal system, the Gallo-Roman not - in the course of the collapse of the slaveholding system. society.
In this regard, an important feature should be noted: the two main ways of the emergence of feudalism mutually influenced each other, objectively accelerating the formation of a new socio-economic formation. Here, two main stages can be traced in the development of feudalism: the first - the 6th-7th centuries, known in historiography as the time of the Merovingian monarchy; second - VIII - first half of the IX century. - Carolingian monarchy.
Merovingian monarchy. After the death of Clovis, his sons entered into a long bloody struggle for supreme power. Feudal strife continued with short breaks for more than 100 years. The kingdom broke up more than once into separate essentially independent states. Only at the beginning of the 7th century. there was some calm. But the events of the previous century had a significant impact on the socio-economic and state development of the country. The nobility was generously endowed with land. For kings it was the only way bring her to your side.
The donated land became hereditary freely alienable property, the so-called allod. The result of such donations was a sharp increase in the objectively natural process of "settling the squad to the ground." The granting of estates to combatants, their transformation into feudal landowners took place in almost all countries of feudal Europe. A feature of the Merovingian monarchy was that here this process acquired an exceptionally large scale.
The church was rapidly enriched, the land holdings of which were constantly increasing.
Strengthening feudal dependence. Important socio-economic shifts were outlined among the Frankish peasantry. Private ownership of the land (allod) is approved - first on household plots, and then on arable plots. Since that time, the class division of the community has accelerated significantly. The number of landless peasants increased rapidly. The loss by the peasant of his land was accompanied by an attack on his personal freedom. Most often, the landless were enslaved through precaria agreements(from lat. - “request”). The earliest version of this deal involved the transfer to the peasant of a plot of the master's land for use on the terms of performing certain duties: working in the fields of the master, paying him part of the harvest, etc. Somewhat later, another type of precarium became widespread - the so-called "provided precarium". The impoverished peasant gave his small plot (it was believed that he "gave" it) to the master, who returned it back, sometimes with an additional allotment, but already as a holding with the obligation to perform the agreed duties in his favor. Formally, the precarious contract did not establish personal dependence, but it created favorable conditions for this.
During this period there was patronage system("patronage"). In the conditions of growing oppression and abuses, the peasants were forced to resort to the protection of strong and influential persons. Often, the nobility itself imposed "patronage" on the peasants, as it was interested in this. Giving oneself under "protection" (commandation) has become a widespread phenomenon. Not only the weak and the landless were commanded, but sometimes the strong and the landless became even stronger under the arm. The commendation provided for: 1) the transfer to the master of the right of ownership of the land with its subsequent return in the form of a holding; 2) establishing the personal dependence of the “weak” on his patron; 3) performance in favor of the patron of a number of duties.
All this led to the gradual enslavement of the Frankish peasantry. After several generations, many peasants were already serfs (serfs). Moreover, much earlier, the vast majority of the columns and slaves of the South were among the serfs.
State system under the Merovingians. The intensified exploitation of the peasants and the consequent intensification of the class struggle determined the interest of the ruling class in strengthening the state mechanism of government.
The strengthening of feudal statehood was not accompanied, however, by an increase in the power of kings. Bloody strife of the VI century. proved fatal to the Merovingian dynasty. They were forced to give away almost all the land they owned. As the land fund of kings (the basis of military and political power in feudal society) decreased, the power of noble families grew. The entire 7th century, with a few exceptions, passed under the sign of the weakening of the power of kings. And at the end of the 7th century. they were completely out of business. The time has come, as they said then, "lazy" kings.
State power was concentrated in the hands of the nobility, who seized all the main posts and, above all, the post of mayor. Initially mayor(head of the house) headed the administration of the royal palace. However, gradually his powers are expanding so much that he actually becomes the head of state. At the turn of the 7th-8th centuries. this position became the hereditary property of a noble and wealthy family, which marked the beginning of the Carolingian dynasty.
Monarchy of the Carolingians. Reform of Charles Martel. The name of one of the representatives of this family, Charles Martel (first half of the 8th century), is associated with a very important transformation in the socio-political structure of Frankish society, known as the reform of Charles Martel. Mayordom sought to strengthen the central government. This goal was primarily to be served by the creation of a well-armed cavalry army, which was dependent on the head of state. The need for such an army was also dictated by foreign policy reasons - the threat of the invasion of the Arabs, whose main branch of the army was the cavalry.
The essence of the reform was as follows. The previous procedure for donating land to full ownership was cancelled. Instead, the lands that Charles Martell confiscated from the recalcitrant magnates and monasteries, together with the peasants who lived on them, were transferred to a conditional life holding - benefice(from lat. - "good deed"). The holder of the beneficiary was obliged to perform service, mainly military, in favor of the person who handed over the land. The volume of service was determined by the size of the beneficiation. But under all circumstances, the beneficiary, until reaching a certain age, had to participate as a heavily armed warrior (knight), equipped at his own expense. Refusal to serve deprived the right to beneficiaries.
The significance of the reform was not limited, however, to the purely military sphere. It entailed very important changes in the field of socio-political relations. The reform not only spurred the growth of feudal landownership and the resulting enslavement of the peasants, it gave impetus to the formation of a special system of subordination of feudal lords. A contractual relationship was established between the beneficiary and the person who handed over the land (they became known as the vassal and seigneur, respectively), the main element of which was the obligation military service. In addition to the head of state, the largest feudal lords began to distribute benefices, thus acquiring their own vassals.
Thus, relations of vassalage gradually began to take shape, embracing the entire class of feudal lords. The growth of feudal landownership was accompanied by the strengthening of the military and financial power of individual lords over the peasants who lived on their lands. This led to an increase in the so-called immunity rights seigneurs, which were established by the Merovingians and consisted in the fact that the activities of state officials did not extend to the possessions of the feudal lord who received the immunity letter of the king, and all state powers were transferred to the owner of the estate. Thus, the power of the feudal lord over the population living in his possessions, to an even greater extent, acquired a political, state character.
The reform of Charles Martel contributed to the temporary strengthening of the central government. With the help of the reorganized troops, the attacks of external enemies were repelled, and the resistance of the recalcitrant nobility was broken for a while. The main groups of feudal lords supported this policy. At that time they were interested in relatively centralized state, with the help of which they took root in Gaul and enslaved the free Frankish peasants, as well as the population of neighboring countries.
Government under the Carolingians. In 751 a new dynasty was established on the throne. At a meeting of the secular and spiritual nobility, Pepin, the son of Charles Martel, who had real power as a major, was proclaimed king.
The monarchy reaches its highest peak under his son Charles, nicknamed the Great (second half of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century). As a result of large campaigns of conquest, the Frankish state included the territories that now make up West Germany, Northern Spain, and many other lands.
An indicator of the increased power of the state was the proclamation of Charles as emperor, significant power was concentrated in his hands. However, this did not mean the transformation of the emperor into an absolute monarch. The head of state actually had to share his power with the nobility, without the consent of which not a single important decision was made. The largest secular and spiritual feudal lords were part of the permanent council under the emperor. Almost every year a congress of all the nobility (the so-called Great Field) was convened.
At the same time, the relative strengthening of the central government led to the formation of state administration bodies. The features of these bodies were the following: 1) the officials who headed the economic management of the feudal estates simultaneously exercised administrative and judicial power over the population living there. Non-separation of economic and state functions management reflected the most important principle of the feudal statehood of the era under consideration - political power was "an attribute of land ownership"; 2) remuneration for service was land grants, as well as the right to withhold in their favor part of the dues from the population; 3) there was no consistent demarcation between the individual areas of public administration. Officials, as a rule, combined the functions of military, financial, judicial, etc. Only in the system of central administration there was some delimitation of competence. But even there there was no special apparatus.
Central government bodies. Since the retinue nobility turned into large land owners and did not permanently reside at the royal court, the importance of senior officials increased - ministerials. Initially, they were the chief administrators of the royal household. At that time, no distinction was made between state and personal royal property, national issues were considered as personal matters of the royal house. Because of this, the ministerials actually headed public administration and court. Over time, they became the owners of large latifundia.
The most important ministerials included the following: mayor(the hereditary holders of this office abolished it after they themselves took the royal throne); count palatine- initially supervised the royal servants, and then headed the palace court; thesaurary- "treasure keeper" who led the accounting material assets placed at the disposal of the king. In fact, it was the state treasurer, since the state treasury was identified with the personal property of the monarch; marshal- once "senior of the royal stable", now the head of the cavalry, often military operations were conducted under his command; archica-pellan- confessor of the king, senior among the palace clergy, an indispensable member of the royal council.
Local government bodies. The traditional self-government of the free Franks, where they lived, was gradually replaced by a system of officials appointed initially from the center - authorized by the king.
The territory of the country was divided into districts - pagi (in the south, their borders basically coincided with the former administrative-territorial division of the times of Rome). The administration of the district was transferred graph, who had a military detachment at his disposal and commanded the Pagi militia.
Districts were divided into hundreds. They were initially led by elected officials. However, the Merovingians already managed to replace them with appointed persons - centenarians in the North and vicars on South. They obeyed the count and almost duplicated his power within a hundred.
The communities (brands) of the Franks, which were part of the hundreds, retained self-government.
On the border of the country, larger territorial associations were created - the duchies, which consisted of several districts. dukes, who headed their administration were primarily commanders of the local militia. They were tasked with defending the frontiers. Otherwise, they had the same powers as the counts. In the original German lands ( eastern regions Frankish state) the ducal power had a slightly different character. It has its roots in the past, in the days of the tribal leaders, whose descendants became the dukes of the Frankish kings.
At the beginning of the 7th century Another important trend emerged: the king's delegates, primarily the dukes and counts, gradually turned into the largest local landowners (their holdings increased due to grants from the kings, as well as the appropriation of peasant lands by commandment, etc.). The edict of King Chlothar II (614) was an important legal basis that favored the development of this process. Already at that time, a procedure was established, according to which only the landowner of the corresponding pagi could become a count. Increasingly, positions were inherited, turning into the privilege of individual families. The title of office (Duke, Count) came to be regarded as a hereditary title of honor.
At the same time, the immunity rights of individual seniors were strengthened. A bizarre mosaic of the possessions of individual feudal lords, interconnected by relations of vassalage, gradually replaced the former administrative-territorial division.
Court. The supreme judicial power belonged to the monarch. He carried it out together with representatives of the nobility. The most serious offenses were under the jurisdiction of the royal council.
The main judicial institutions of the country, where the vast majority of cases were considered, were "hundred courts". Their form has not undergone major changes for several centuries. And this is no coincidence. More often in contact with the people, constantly and directly intervening in their lives, the courts had to have not only coercive power, but also proper authority. At first, the state power could not fully provide both of these. By retaining the old form of the court, the lords strove to take advantage of the respect that the court had among the people. Even then, apparently, they understood the power of tradition - the population got used to a certain form of dispute resolution.
Nevertheless, gradually, but steadily, judicial power was concentrated in the hands of the feudal lords. Initially, the count, centenary or vicar only convened malberg- a meeting of hundreds of free people who chose judges from their midst - rahinburgs. The trial was chaired by an elected chairman - tungi-on. As a rule, wealthy, respected people were chosen as members of the court. But hundreds of free and full-fledged residents (adult men) should have been present at the court session. Representatives of the king only monitored the correctness of legal proceedings.
Gradually, the people of the king (his representatives) become chairmen of the courts instead of the Tungins. The Carolingians completed this process. Their messengers missions- received the right to appoint members of the court, the so-called scabins, instead of the Rahinburgs. The duty of free men to attend court was abolished.
The subsequent development of feudalism led to a radical change in the entire judicial structure. The immunist seigneurs expanded their judicial rights in relation to the peasants living in their possessions. They acquired the features of immunity and judicial powers of officials, as well as the highest hierarchs of the church.
Army. The structure of the army slowly but steadily evolved from a retinue organization, combined with the people's militia of free peasants-Franks, to a feudal knight's militia. The military reform of Charles Martel gave the Carolingians a relatively larger, well-armed cavalry knightly army, consisting of benefice holders. The need for the people's militia disappeared. The monarchy was able to wage successful wars of conquest. Great importance also had the reliability of the knightly army in the fight against popular uprisings.
At the beginning of the ninth century The Frankish state was at the zenith of its power. Covering the territory of almost all of Western Europe, it seemed indestructible and unshakable; there was no enemy equal to him in strength. However, even then it carried elements of an approaching decline. Created by conquest, it was a conglomeration of nationalities, nothing but military force, unrelated. Having broken for a while the mass resistance of the enslaved peasantry, the Frankish feudal lords lost their former interest in a single state. During this period, the economy of Frankish society was natural. Accordingly, there were no strong, stable economic ties between individual regions. There were no other factors that could contain the fragmentation of the country. The Frankish state was completing its path of development from the early feudal monarchy to the statehood of the period of feudal fragmentation.
In 843, the split of the state was legally fixed in an agreement in Verdun by the grandchildren of Charlemagne. Three kingdoms became the successors of the empire: West Frankish, East Frankish and Median (future France, Germany and partly Italy).
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