Page 1
In the 5th century AD on a significant part Western Europe, formerly part of the Roman Empire, lived the Franks - warlike Germanic tribes, which then divided into two large branches - coastal and coastal.
One of the leaders of the Franks was the legendary Merovian, who fought with Attila and became the founder of the royal Merovingian dynasty. However, the most prominent representative of this family was not Merovey himself, but the king of the Salic Franks, Clovis, known as a brave warrior who managed to conquer vast areas in Gaul, and also as a prudent and far-sighted politician. In 496, Clovis was baptized, and with him three thousand of his warriors converted to the Christian faith. Conversion to Christianity, having provided Clovis with the support of the clergy and a significant part of the Galo-Roman population, greatly facilitated his further conquests. As a result of Clovis's numerous campaigns, the Frankish kingdom was created at the very beginning of the 6th century, covering almost all of former Roman Gaul.
It was during the reign of King Clovis, at the beginning of the 6th century, that the beginning of the recording of Salic truth - the ancient judicial customs of the Franks - began. This ancient code of law is the most valuable and reliable historical source about the life and morals of the Franks. Salic truth was divided into titles (chapters), and each title into paragraphs. It listed in detail various cases and punishments for violating laws and regulations.
The lower social levels were occupied by semi-free peasants and freedmen - slaves who were freed; Below them were only slaves, however, not many in number. The bulk of the population were communal peasants, personally free and enjoying fairly broad rights. Above them stood the serving nobility, who were in the service of the king - counts, warriors. This ruling elite was formed in the early Middle Ages from the tribal nobility, as well as from among free, wealthy peasants. In addition to them, the ministers of the Christian Church were in a privileged position, since Hlodkig was extremely interested in their support in strengthening royal power and thereby his own position.
Clovis, according to contemporaries, is a cunning, decisive, vengeful and treacherous man, capable of harboring a grudge for years, and then dealing with his enemies with lightning speed and cruelty; by the end of his reign he achieved complete sole power, destroying all his rivals, including many his close relatives.
His descendants, who headed the Frankish kingdom in the 6th - early 8th centuries, saw their task in continuing the line of Clovis. Trying, in order to strengthen their own positions, to enlist the support of the emerging and rapidly strengthening nobility, they actively distributed lands to their associates for their service. This led to the strengthening of many aristocratic families, and in parallel there was a weakening of the real power of the Merovingians. Some areas of the state openly declared their independence and unwillingness to submit further to the Merovingians. In this regard, the Merovingians received the nickname “lazy kings,” and representatives of the rich, famous and powerful Carolingian family came to the fore. At the beginning of the 8th century. The Carolingian dynasty replaced the Merovingian dynasty on the throne.
The first in the new dynasty was Charles Martell (Hammer), known for his brilliant military victories over the Arabs, in particular at the Battle of Poitiers (732). As a result of his campaigns of conquest, he expanded the territory of the state and the tribes of the Saxons and Bavarians paid him tribute. He was succeeded by his son, Pepin the Short, who, having imprisoned the last of the Merovingians in her monastery, turned to the Pope with the question, is it good that uncrowned kings rule in the kingdom? To which the pope replied that it is better to call the one who has power a king, rather than the one who lives as a king without having real royal power, and soon crowned Pepin the Short. Pepin knew how to be grateful: he conquered the Ravenna region in Italy and handed it over to the pope, which was the beginning of the secular power of the papacy.
Biological and Agronomic Sciences
These sciences found themselves in a particularly difficult situation in those years. Back in 1936, the famous geneticist I.I. was arrested on false charges of espionage and sabotage. Agol, Academician-Secretary of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The famous Darwinist Ya.M. was arrested. Uranovsky. The young agronomist T.D., who was promoted at this time. Lysenko took advantage of the current situation in the country...
The fate of victims of political repression.
Unknown people broke into the house military uniform, and, wringing their hands, they were taken away in an unknown direction, the houses were burned. Later, rumors spread that the unfortunate victim was an “enemy of the people.” They immediately stopped communicating with the children and wife of the “traitor to the Motherland.” They were shunned like lepers. The relatives of the repressed had trouble...
Violation of Iran's neutrality by both warring coalitions
Like Turkey, Iran was one of the targets of the struggle of the imperialist powers that led to the First World War. Before the war, German activity in Iran sharply increased. Numerous branches of German companies operated in the cities of Iran. The German imperialists hoped that the construction of the Baghdad railway will allow...
Frankish Kingdom(fr. Empire Carolingien, German Frankishches Reich, T. Impero carolingio)- an early feudal state that arose at the end of the 5th century on part of the territory of the former Western Roman Empire during the conquest of the Franks led by Clovis and the territory of Gaul, simultaneously with other barbarian kingdoms.
State of the Franks by the Merovingians
The Franks (Salé, Ripuarii) gradually spread from the Rhineland border to the southwest, but maintain connections with their homeland. In the 5th century they reach the Somme. The Franks live under the rule of numerous local kings.
482-511 - the reign of King Clovis, who achieved the political unity of the entire Frankish tribe by eliminating local kings.
486 he eliminates the remnants of Roman rule by defeating the Roman duke (dux) Syagrius. The country between the Somme and the Loire goes to Clovis.
Around 496, Clovis defeats the Alemanni, whose remnants are protected by Theodoric the Great. Clovis' wife Chrodichild, a Catholic from Burgundy, encourages him to convert to Christianity during the battle. On Christmas Day 497 or 498, Bishop Remigius performed the baptism in Reims. As a result of all this, in contrast to Theodoric’s system (coexistence of the Romans and the Goths), Clovis and his successors succeeded in establishing a common statehood through the merger of the Galorimans and Franks.
Around 500, victory over the Burgundians near Dijon. With the help of the Visigoths, the Burgundian king Gundobad manages to survive.
507 - Battle of Vouya. With Burgundian help, Clovis subjugates the Visigothic state to the Pyrenees. Due to the intervention of Theodoric, he does not reach the Mediterranean Sea (Septimania remains Visigothic). After the death of Clovis in Paris, the state was distributed to his sons.
531 - Theodoric I conquers the state of Turing (King Erminfrid) with the help of the Saxons.
532-534 - Chlothar I, Childebert I and Clovis' nephew Toideberg I subjugate the Burgundian state (Battle of Autun).
535-537 - from the Ostrogoths the Franks get the remnants of Alemannia and Provence (with the mouth of the Rhone: access to the Seredze Sea), which should encourage them to neutrality.
539 - Toidebert defeats the Ostrogoths and Byzantines, but fails to gain upper Italy. Bavaria becomes dependent on France.
558-561 – Chlothar And unites the state of the Franks, but after his death the state falls apart again: the beginning of internal conflicts (contradictions between royal power and local nobility. The result of the struggle is the formation of three parts of the state: Austrasia (Champagne, Meuse and Moselle lands) with the capital of Reims , Neustria (Romanesque west between the Scheldt and the Loire) with its capital Paris and Burgundy regions of the Loire and Rhone) with its capital Orleans.
613-629 - Chlothar II unites the entire state, after the aristocracy of Burgundy and Austrasia, under the leadership of Bishop Arnulf, knowledge of German and Pepin the Elder went over to his side, but he must pay for this support in 614 by issuing the edict of Chlothar (edictum Chlotarii): the king undertakes to choose royal officials (counts) from the landowners of the counties (elimination of the bureaucracy, which depends on the ruler, and the transfer of state power to the landed aristocracy). The indigenous lands of Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy receive some independence under the rule of the majordomo, who is at the head of the royal court administration and is the head of the royal retinue, as well as the head of the entire administration.
629-639 - the reign of Dagobert, who once again unites the entire state. After his death, new divisions of the state began: the collapse of the Merovingian statehood. The beginning of the rise and rule of the mayors. After the Aquitanians in 672, the Bavarians, Turing, Alemanni and Bretons also became almost independent.
Rise of the Carolingians
679-714 - the reign of Pepin II the Middle, which first becomes the mayor of Austrasia.
687 - Pepin becomes the ruler of the entire Frankish state after the victory at the city of Tertre over the mayor of Neustria - Burgundy. Consequences: maintaining the unity of the state, shifting the weight of the political center to the Moselle, Meuse (river) and the lower Rhine.
689 - Pepin's victory over the Frisian king Radbod. Unification of West Frisia with the Frankish state. Founding of the episcopate of Utrecht and the monastery of Echternach for the conversion of the Frisians (around 690 they were converted to the Christian faith by the missionary monk St. Willibrord). Attempts to bind the Alemanni to the state in 709-712 failed.
714-741 – reign of Charles Martel (the Hammer), illegitimate son Pepin II, fights for the position of majordomo and, after the struggle with Neustria and Aquitaine, again restores the state. Conquered the Alemanni and Turing; fight against the Saxons. Bavaria becomes dependent on the Franks.
In 732, in the battle between Tours and Poitiers (successfully repulsed by infantry in the defence), Charles Martel defeats the Arabs under the command of Abd-ar-Rahman.
Ruling since 737 without a Merovingian king, in 741 Charles Martel, before his death, distributes the state between his sons, raised in the monastery of Saint-Denis: Karlmann receives the East (Austria, Swabians, Turing), Pepin - the West (Neustria, Burgundy, Provence), Aquitaine and Bavaria are under common ownership. During several campaigns, the brothers conquered the Aquitanians, Bavarians, Saxons and Swabians.
751 – Overthrow of the last Merovingian shadow king, Childeric III. After Karlmann entered the monastery in 747, Pepin became the unanimity ruler of the Frankish state.
State of the Franks according to the Carolingians
Pepin the Short
751-768 - reign of Pepin III the Short, who becomes king after Pope Zechariah approves the removal from the throne of the Merovingian king, who is sent to a monastery. 751 Pepin in Soissons is proclaimed king by “all the Franks,” and the papal legate, Archbishop Boniface, anoints the first Frankish king (who was officially recognized by the papacy) to reign. 754 years of agreement in Pontoon and Quercy. Pope Stephen II asks Pepin for help against the Lombard king Aistulf, gives Rome under the protection of the Frankish king and once again anoints Pepin in Saint-Denis. Pepin and his sons receive the title "Patron of the Romans" (Patricius Romanorum). Pepin, after two successful campaigns (754 and 756 years), forces Aistulf to return the conquered regions (exarchate of Ravenna, Pentapolis), which he gives to the pope (Pippin's gift). Together with the ducat of Rome, these areas form the Papal States. 759 Pepin conquers Saracen Narbonne. In 760-768, after successful campaigns of the Franks to Aquitaine, the duchy there was liquidated. 768 Pepin distributes the state between his sons Charles and Karlmann and dies before the outbreak of open conflict between them in 771.
Charlemagne
768-814 - reign of Charlemagne.
772-804 - wars with the Saxons. They begin with the conquest of Eresburg and the destruction of Irminsul. Mass baptism of the Saxon nobility, which promotes joining the Frankish king and is in conflict with Duke Widukind and the free peasants. In 779-780, the Widukind uprising was suppressed.
782 - the destruction of the Frankish army in the Süntel mountains, after which the Day of Ferden na Alero occurs: the execution of 4,500 (the number is in doubt) rebel Saxons, who were handed over to Charlemagne by the Saxon nobility. In 783-785, a new uprising of Widukind and Charles' advance to the Elbe.
785 - conclusion of peace between Widukind and Charles and the baptism of Widukind in the imperial Palatinate of Attigny. After new uprisings of the peasant strata in 792-799, associated with a protest against church “tithes,” the Saxons were deported to the Frankish region, and the Franks settled in the Saki region. The final conquest of the Saxons occurs during last trip 804 years. Reconciliation between the Franks and Saxons through the Lex Saxonum (Saxon law of 802), which, although based on the Frankish Lex Ripuaria, also takes into account ancient Saxon folk law. The Christianization of the episcopates of Bremen, Ferden, Minden, Münster, Paderborn and Osnarbrück takes place, which are subordinate to the ecclesiastical provinces of Mainz and Cologne founded by Charles.
773-774 - subjugation of the Lombard state. After receiving Pavia, Charles proclaims himself "King of the Franks and Lombards", restores the promise of the gift of Pepin the Short and takes the Papal States under his protection.
In 789-812, in several wars against the Slavs, Wiltse, Sorbs and Czechs became tributaries of the Frankish state. The devices on their lands are remarkable, but there are no Christian missions there.
788 – removal of Duke Tassil of Bavaria (exile to a monastery): abolition of the last tribal duchy.
791-796 - conquest as a result of three campaigns of the Avars, who had previously attacked Frioul and Austrasia. As a result of the conquest of the Avars: the ruin of Avarenburg (822, the last mention of the “Ring”). Missionary of those conquered by them southern Slavs from Aquileia and the archbishopric of Salzburg in 798. As a result of campaigns against the Saxons, Slavs and Avars, the territory from the mouth of the Oder to Adria was included in Charles's empire.
778 – defeat of the Frankish army from the Arabs in the Roncelvan intermountain region (death of Count Roland, “The Song of Roland”). 793 - Arab invasion of Narbonne. After these events, in 795, Charles creates the Spanish March.
On December 25, 800, Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor. Imperial title: "Romanum gubernans imperium" (ruler of the Roman Empire).
812 - Agreement of Aachen. The Byzantine Emperor Michael I Rangava recognizes Charlemagne as Emperor for giving him Venice, Istria and Dalmatia, and the problem of two emperors arises). Charles's son Louis the Pious, following the Byzantine example (without the assistance of the pope), put a crown on his head (a Deo coronatus) and only then invited Pope Stephen IV for coronation.
January 28, 814 Charlemagne dies in Aachen; buried there in cathedral.
The result of Charlemagne's conquests included almost all of Western and part of Central Europe. The Frankish state was ruled by kings from the Merovingian dynasty and, starting in 751, the Carolingians (from 800 they were called emperors). The title of emperor lasted until the death in 924 of Berengar I of Friuli, after which Frankish emperors were no longer elected. Charlemagne transforms the Frankish kingdom into the Frankish Empire.
Administration in the Carolingian Empire
Royal rule was based on the royal court, the court of the Palatinate and the chancellery under the control of the chancellor (an educated cleric), who was also the chaplain for ecclesiastical affairs. The household was managed by a treasurer, a steward, as well as a seneschal (Manager of the royal palace), a military commander and an equerry. In addition to the count, who was no longer an official, but a great gentleman, there was also an immune lord (without the right of a criminal court). Vogta acted as secular chargés d'affaires of the spiritual immune masters. The royal envoys (Missi dominici: one spiritual and secular master) were endowed with special powers and exercised control over the counts, clergy and administration. The border marches covered several counties, often also the lands of tribes who paid tribute; there were also subordinate kingdoms (for example, Aquitaine). Every year, 3 cases of the entire community were considered (attendance required); The sentence in the proposed cases was from 7 to 12 chefrenives.
Louis I the Pious
814-843 - reign of Louis the Pious, who is under the influence of spiritual advisors. 816 Louis is crowned in Reimchi by Pope Stephen IV and given the imperial title. In 817, the structure of the empire (Ordinatio imperii) was established. According to the imperial order, the imperial title is transferred to the eldest son Lothar, the younger sons receive appanage states (Pippin - Aquitaine, Louis the German - Bavaria. There was no need to create other territorial states. Lothar becomes spivimperator. This order is violated by Louis the Pious when he forms for Charles the Bald, the son of his 2nd wife Judith, the territorial state of Alemannia in 829. In 830, as a result of the indignation of his sons (Pippin, Louis and Lothar), Lothar, as regent of Italy, arranged a coronation for himself (crowned by Pope Paschal I) and with the help of the Roman Constitution (Constitutio Romana) 824 received imperial rights in the Papal States (judicial supervision, oath of loyalty of the newly elected pope to dedication. 833 2nd indignation of Israel, Louis the Pious takes Aquitaine from his son Pepin. On Lugenfeldi near Colmar, the army of Louis the Pious goes over to the side Pepin The emperor is eliminated, but his sons Louis the German and Pepin, who want to limit the power of Lothar, again put Louis the Pious on the throne. In the same year 833, after the death of Pepin, Charles the Bald received Aquitaine. It should also be said that Louis the Pious founded the ecclesiastical provinces of Hildesheim and Halberstadt on Saxon soil. An outstanding Saxon monastery is Corvo on the Weser, which was founded in 822 by the French brewery Corbeil.
Division of the Frankish Empire
840 after the death of Louis the Pious, the war of the brothers Louis the German and Charles the Bald begins against Lothar, who is defeated in 841 at the Battle of Fontaine (near Auxerre). Louis and Charles sealed their union in 842 with the help of the Strasbourg Oath (the oldest linguistic monument of Old High German and Old French).
According to the Treaty of Verdun in 843 Frankish state was divided into Middle, Eastern and Western. Emperor Lothair I receives the Middle State ("Bowling Alley"), which extends from the North Sea through Burgundy to the Gulf of Gaeta, with the imperial cities of Aachen and Rome. Louis the German receives the East Frankish state, Charles II the Bald receives the Western Frankish state. Nominally, the unity of the state is preserved.
Francis Empire after division
Middle State
843-855 - reign of Lothar I. After his death, the state is distributed among his sons: Louis II (died 875) receives Italy and the imperial crown, Lothar II (died 869) - lands from the North Sea to the sources of the Meuse and Moselle (Lothari regnum = there is Lorraine), Charles (died in 863) – Burgundy and Provence. After the death of Charles, Lothar and Louis distribute the country.
870 – Mersen agreement. After the death of Lothair II, Louis the German receives the eastern half of Lorraine with Aachen. After the death of Louis II, Charles II the Bald inherits Italy and is crowned emperor by Pope John VIII.
Eastern Frankish State
843-876 - reign of Louis the German. Attacks by the Normans (sack of Hamburg in 845) and the Hungarians in 862. After his death, Bavaria with the southeastern marks goes to Karlmann (died in 882), the Main Franks, Turing and Saxons - until Louis III (died in 882), the Alemanni (Swabians) - to Charles III the Tolstoy (died 888) .
876 – Battle of Andernach. Charles II the Bald is defeated by Louis III while trying to obtain the eastern half of Lorraine after the death of Louis the German.
880 – Ribemont agreement. Louis III receives the western half of Lorraine from the grandchildren of Charles the Bald. Western borders Middle State remained, with the exception of minor changes, during the Middle Ages the borders between Germany and France.
881-887 - reign of Emperor Charles III Tolstoy, who acquires Italy and is crowned emperor by Pope John VIII. After the death of his brother Louis III in 882, he becomes the sole ruler and gains power over the Western Frankish state (except for Lower Burgundy).
887 – Triburz Reichstag: Charles III is forced to abdicate.
887-899 - reign of Arnulf of Carinthia, son of Karlmann, elected king by all Germanic tribes. Preserving the integrity of the empire: pretenders to the throne take the feal oath in the West. The emperor was crowned in 896 by Pope Formosus.
900-911 - reign of Louis the Child, Eastern State were torn apart by internal strife. Long invasions of the Hungarians. The failure of the central royal power to face the threat of attacks from invading enemies (Hungarians, Normans) leads to the formation of the tribal duchies of Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria, Swabia, Lorraine and Franconia.
West Frankish State
843-877 - reign of Charles II the Bald, 875 crowned emperor. Due to early death his son Louis the Zaika in 879 and both young men, the state finally collapsed.
877 Lower Burgundy (Arelat) for Boso Vienne and 888 Upper Burgundy during the reign of Welf Rudolf I (in 888-912) become independent kingdoms. The sons of both rulers become kings in Italy. After the overthrow of Charles III the Tolstoy from the royal throne of the Western Frankish Kingdom, Odo, Count of Paris (in 888-898), was elected the first “anti-king”. Although the Carolingians hold out for another hundred years, real power lies in the hands of the Robertinos, descendants of Odo. As in Germany, large territories are formed in France: Franconia, Champagne, Aquitaine, Gascony, Toulouse, Gothia, Catalonia, Brittany, Normandy and Flanders.
The Holy Roman Emperors considered themselves the successors of the Western Empire.
At the head of the Frankish state is the king, whose power is based on hereditary charisma (“royal happiness”), the economic strength of landholdings (royal estates, royal estates, church estates) and relies on the royal post (Wife). He rules with the help of the royal bathhouse (Banny = empire = rule), with the help of the military bathhouse - outside the state and the judicial bathhouse - for internal needs. The succession to the throne is regulated by the law of blood: the elevation of the king from the clan, which is the bearer of “royal happiness” (moments of election and inheritance). The nobility gradually wedges itself between the king and the people and becomes the king's opponent. The people (free peasant warriors endowed with political rights) interact with the king on the “March field” (annual military training), however, after the battle between Tours and Poitiers in 732, the foot peasants became unnecessary as warriors, as well as politically. Military levies are kept in Austrasia, and in Burgundy and Neustria they are replaced by a meeting of the elite.
In the center is the royal courtyard (Palatium). By all means royal court is in charge of the major (majordomus), the Count Palatine (comes palatii) is a court judge. The office of scribes (notarii) is under the direction of a reporting council (refendarii) of the laity. An official appointed by the king, the count (comes), who subsequently becomes a fief lord, serves in cities and districts, royal administrative districts, which extend from the center of the Frankish state (“Organization of Counties”). The counts are responsible for the military militia, administration and legal proceedings. In large areas near the borders and in the lands of the Alemanni, Turing and Bavarians, the king appoints a duke (dux).
The government is concerned about the elimination of military service, which is burdensome for the poor small peasant, about the establishment of tribal rights and the implementation of law through orders (capitularia = capitularies).
The People's Court is being reformed through the legislation of the Scheffens (Skabins). Each year, only 3 real cases (dinge) are still considered with the participation of the entire judicial community and presided over by the count. The implementation of the proposed decisions is carried out by the sheffens (of which there were usually 7), who pronounce the verdict.
According to Clovis, the Frankish national church appears. The king, who, on the basis of the sacred character of royal power, becomes the head of the Frankish imperial church, issues ecclesiastics (Capitularia ecclesiastica), appoints bishops and exerts a strong influence on the imperial synods. Charles Martel's actions against the church were determined by state interests: giving church possessions as land plots to his warriors, appointing reliable laymen as bishops and abbots, supporting the mission in the eastern regions to strengthen Frankish influence. During the reign of the sons of Charles Martel, Karlmann and Pepin, Bishop Boniface became the reorganizer of the Frankish imperial state church in 742-747: streamlining of church property, discipline of the clergy, establishment of new bishoprics (Reims, Sense, Rouen). Frankish bishops recognize the authority of Rome and submit to the pope.
After the break between Rome and Byzantium through iconoclasm, the popes established ties with the Frankish ruling house(for protection from the Lombards). Consequently, the new Carolingian dynasty is legitimized on the Frankish throne, and the popes are protected from the abuses of the Lombards. At the coronation of Pepin the Short, it is not the right of descent (the pagan shrine of the family descended from the gods) that is ensured, but anointing (religious authority: Dei gratia = by God's grace. The sacred nature of royal power. Concept imperial power Charlemagne does not rely on the traditions of the Caesars, but on German royal-priestly power combined with the Augustinian idea of God's state (Civitas Dei). The imperial title is granted by the pope as the bearer of the empire (Translator imperii) (the pope's view of the vacancy of the throne in Byzantium). Charles, as the divinely called patron of the church, claiming supreme leadership and ecclesiastical sovereignty (theocracy: the state power of the church). Caring for the church is the responsibility of his God-given royal office. Imperial synods are chaired by Charles. King and People's Assembly solve church affairs: compensation of church property through church tithes, economic support for their own churches, creation of Metropolitan (12 French, 5 Italian, 4 German archbishoprics) and pastoral parishes (independent parish churches in the village), improving the education of the clergy (Vita canonica: common life of the clergy ), unification of the liturgy, concern for the moral behavior of the laity. Charles also intervenes in disputes related to church teaching (adoptianism, honoring images, the dispute about the “Filioque” (Filioque - from the Latin “and from the son”) - an addition made in the 7th century Catholic Church to the Christian "Creed", in the dogma of the Trinity about the origin of the Holy Spirit not only from God the Father, but also from God the Son). The appointment of bishops is carried out by the holder.
The trade of the Franks with the East, which was at the beginning of the Merovingian day, declined with the invasion of the Arabs. At the same time, the development of the commodity-money economy is fading away. The land between the Rhine and Loire becomes a new trading center. Along with Jews and Syrians, the Frisians act as traders (trade with England and Scandinavians, Dorestad trade center).
After the curtailment of trade and crafts and for lack of money, the importance of Agriculture, large land holdings and subsistence farming. A new peasant farming system is developing between the Seine and the Loire (spreading influence to the north and east): the goufiv system (the unity of a peasant’s house, yard, arable land with the rights to harvest forests and pastures), associated with the distribution of arable land strips, a peasant community and a three-field cultivation system , which replaces the long-standing grass-field system with predominant cattle breeding. Consequences: “surplus grain” and population growth.
Land ownership arises from the connection between late antique land tenure, headed by a Roman landowner with power over the clients of his colons (obligations to collect taxes and field soldiers), with Germanic land ownership, in which the lord's house is a special territory on which the lord personally exercises power. This is domestic power over people (“Munt”) - free, semi-free and military retinue and property (“Gewere”) - houses, peasant households, their own churches. Landowners received immunity (from the Latin immunitas = exemption from certain state duties), as in late antiquity the imperial fiscus, ecclesiastical estates and certain private estates of the ecclesiastical nobility. The extended Frankish immunity lies in the prohibition of entry, demand, coercion (introitus, exactiones, districtio) of the counts. The gradual formation of their own immune jurisdiction not only over the less free and unfree, but also over free owners and settled peasants who place themselves under personal “protection” (representation in court and army, acceptance of public duties by the landowner), determines their subordination to the jurisdiction of the landowner, which makes free owners and settled peasants serfs. This process is intensified by intensive corvée labor, predominantly involving forced labor.
Large land holding
Large landholdings belong to the king (Roman fiscal lands, ownerless forest areas), part of which he donates to the spiritual and secular elite (potentes). A characteristic feature of a large estate is its scattered location: around the master's courtyard (hall-yard) and the master's land, dependent yards are widely scattered nearby or at a distance. This large landholding (partly churches and monasteries) spreads Roman technologies (gardening, viticulture, horticulture; stone construction) and ensures its autarky through craft enterprises (forge, mill, etc.).
The emergence of a relationship
A prerequisite for the emergence of fief relations is the creation of knighthood (warriors in armor), which from the middle of the 8th century increasingly came to the fore. Thanks to the provision of land, the warrior becomes economically independent and it is already possible for him to equip riders (horses, weapons). Late Roman commendation (commendatio = tradition protection), in which a person as a vassal (from the Celtic gewas = serf) enters the service of a master, is associated with the Germanic warrior system based on loyalty. Thanks to devotion, servile service turns into honorable service. The mutual relationship between the fief and the fief master and the duty of obedience of the vassals (hominium = fief relationship; fidelitas = oath of allegiance) determine the personal side of the feudal relationship, to which a little property is added: fief - land that is provided by the master for use (benefice, fief), which becomes a prerequisite for service. Service and devotion constitute the legal basis for the lenu, for which the recipient assumes personal obligations. Since vassalship and benefices are intended to be personal, the fief initially loses its force in the event of the death of the master or fief, but soon the fief becomes hereditary. The Capitulary of Quercy of 877 notes that if there is a suitable heir, le pater is granted again. However, fief relations are not limited only to the layer of mounted warriors (knights). Also, the top (potentes) receives their positions (duchies, counties) and to their allodial (allod = free property) receives other possessions in the fief, in order to strengthen the personal connection between the king and the owner of the position out of loyalty (political subordination).
Lenas and official fiefs become first actually and then legally hereditary. The consequence is a weakening of the connection with the owner. Lenas, which are disposed of by the nobility (purchase, sale, distribution), are the first manifestations of the ordering of territories.
Compared to ancient times, it loses not only its leading political situation, but also its role as an economic center and is only a settlement. It is still the residence of bishops and the center of dioceses, and in the south it is also the residence of counts, whose jurisdiction is the northern regions of the country. Royal residences The Merovingians are still located in the cities, the Carolingian Palatinate is located in the countryside.
Carolingian Renaissance
Charlemagne's court scholars, called from England, Ireland, Spain, Lombardy and Italy, form spiritual center to carry out cultural and political tasks: Alcuin (about 730-804), called from York in 781 as leader high school, from 796 is the abbot of Saint-Denis. Next to him are Paul the Deacon (about 720-795), a historian of the Lombards; Peter of Pisa, Paulina of Aquileia and Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans. Among the Frankish laymen is Einhard (circa 770-840), biographer of Charlemagne (Vita Caroli). The palace school (Scola Palatina) became a model for cathedral and monastery schools emerging throughout the empire. Thanks to the order of Charles, the former ascetic, hermitic and hostile monasticism created institutions, cultivated science and became the bearer of the classically ancient and Christian-ancient literary tradition. Education is spread through Artes liberales = liberal arts (learning worthy of a free man, as opposed to Artes mechanicae = craft art): grammar, rhetoric, dialectics (Trivium), arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music (Quadrivium).
Carolingian art emerges under Byzantine influence (controversy with orientalized late antiquity): the Palatinate Chapel (viceroy, manager) in the Aachen Cathedral (central building) with a sequential division of the vestibule, with an elevated central part with two towers at the edges. The Roman basilica becomes the model for monastic and episcopal churches, but is further developed with the help of the tower motif and the development of the western aisle (“for protection from demons”). Along with book painting and small sculpture (relief from Ivory) only minor remains of palace buildings and wall paintings have survived. There is no monumental sculpture.
State of the Franks
Introduction 2
The emergence of the state among the Franks 2
Formation of feudal society and the state of the Franks. 4
State system of the Franks. 10
Frankish Empire in the VIII-IX centuries. 14
Conclusion 16
Literature. 16
Introduction
Many barbarian tribes were scattered across the vast territory of the Roman Empire: Goths, Franks, Burgundians, Alamanni, Anglo-Saxons, etc.
The Romans increasingly used the Germans as mercenary soldiers and settled them on their borders. In the 5th century The highest ranks of Roman magistrates began to be held by the leaders of barbarian tribes, who led the armies allied to Rome, who entered into an agreement to come under the rule of Rome.
The decline of imperial power and the growing unpopularity of Roman rule created favorable conditions for the allied kings of Rome to expand their powers and satisfy their political claims. They often, with reference to the imperial commission, appropriated full power, levied taxes from the local population, etc.
The Visigoths, for example, settled by Rome as their foederati in 412 in Aquitaine (Southern France), subsequently expanded the territory of their Toulouse kingdom through territorial conquests, recognized in 475 by the Roman emperor. In 507 this kingdom was conquered by the Franks. In 476, power in the Western Roman Empire was seized by one of the barbarian military leaders, Odoacer. He was killed in 493 by the founder of the Ostrogothic kingdom, Theodoric I, who established his sole rule over all of Italy. This kingdom fell in 555. Other “tribal states” of barbarians also emerged and were absorbed as a result of bloody wars and civil strife.
But a special role in Western Europe was destined to be played by the Salic (maritime) Franks, who were part of the alliance of Germanic tribes that formed in the 3rd century. on the northeastern border of Gaul, a province of the Roman Empire.
The Salic Franks, led by their leader Clovis (481-511), as a result of victorious wars in Gaul, sometimes in opposition, sometimes in alliance with Rome, created a vast kingdom that by 510 stretched from the middle Rhine to the Pyrenees. Clovis, having established himself as a representative of the Roman emperor, becomes the ruler of the lands, the ruler of a single, no longer tribal, but territorial kingdom. He acquires the right to dictate his own laws, levy taxes from the local population, etc.
Gaul, however, remained for a long time under the shadow of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). Only in the 8th century. The title of Roman Emperor was given to the Frankish king Charlemagne. Thanks to the influence of Rome and the Roman Christian Church, Gaul, despite geographical fragmentation, maintained a unique unity over the centuries, becoming, in the course of a long evolutionary process, Franconia, which became the ancestor of the future France and Germany, as well as the territorial fundamental basis for the development of Western Christian civilization.
The emergence of a state among the Franks
For Gaul, the fifth century was a time of profound socio-economic transformations. In this richest province of Rome (territory almost coinciding with present-day France), the deep crisis that engulfed the empire manifested itself. The protests of slaves, colonists, peasants, and the urban poor became more frequent. Rome could no longer defend its 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 in the final south, the Salic Franks turned out to be the most powerful (perhaps from Sala this was the name in ancient times for one of the rivers of what is now Holland). It took them a little more than 20 years to at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th century. take over most of the country.
The emergence of a class society among the Franks, which had begun to emerge even before moving to their new homeland, sharply accelerated during the conquest of Gaul.
Each new campaign increased the wealth of the Frankish military-tribal nobility. When dividing up the spoils of war, she received the best lands, a significant number of colones, cattle, etc. The nobility rose above the ordinary Franks, although the latter continued to remain personally free and did not even initially experience increased economic oppression. They settled in their new homeland in rural communities (marks). The mark was considered the owner of all the land of the community, which included forests, wastelands, meadows, and arable lands. The latter were divided into plots, and quite quickly passed into the hereditary use of individual families.
The Gallo-Romans found themselves in the position of a dependent population, several times larger in number than the Franks. At the same time, the Gallo-Roman aristocracy partially retained its 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. And this especially made itself felt during the formation of a new government, with the help of which it would be possible to maintain the captured country in one’s hands, to keep colonists and slaves in obedience. The previous tribal organization could not provide the necessary forces and means for this. The institutions of the tribal system begin to give way to a new organization with a military leader - the king and a squad personally devoted to him at the head. The king and his entourage actually decide the most important issues in the life of the country, although popular assemblies and some other institutions of the former Frankish system still remain. A new “public power” is being formed, which no longer coincides directly with the population. It consists not only of armed people who are independent of ordinary free people, but also of compulsory institutions of all kinds, which did not exist under the tribal system. The approval of the new public authority was associated with the introduction of territorial division of the population. The lands inhabited by the Franks began to be divided into "pagi" (districts), consisting of smaller units - "hundreds". The administration of the population living in pagas and hundreds is entrusted to special trustees of the king. In the southern regions of Gaul, where the former population many times prevailed at first, the Roman administrative-territorial division is preserved. But here, too, the appointment of officials depends on the king.
The emergence of a 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. Clovis's far-sighted political step was the adoption of Christianity by him and his squad according to the Catholic model. By this he secured the support of the Gallo-Roman nobility and the dominant Gaul, Catholic Church.
Formation of feudal society and the state of the Franks.
The Frankish wars of conquest accelerated the process of creating the Frankish state. The deep reasons for the formation of Frankish statehood were rooted in the disintegration of the Frankish free community, in its class stratification, which began in the first centuries of the new era.
The state of the Franks in its form was early feudal monarchy. It arose in a transitional society from communal to feudal society, which in its development passed the stage of slavery. This society is characterized by a multistructure (a combination of slaveholding, tribal, communal, feudal relations), and the incompleteness of the process of creating the main classes of feudal society. Because of this, the early feudal state bears a significant imprint of the old communal organization and the institutions of tribal democracy.
The Frankish state went through two main periods in its development (from the end of the 5th to the 7th century and from the 8th to the mid-9th century). The boundary separating these periods is characterized not only by a change of ruling dynasties (the Merovingians were replaced by the Carolingians). It marked the beginning of a new stage in the deep socio-economic and political restructuring of Frankish society, during which the feudal state itself gradually took shape in the form of a seigneurial monarchy.
In the second period, the creation of large feudal land ownership, two main classes of feudal society was basically completed: a closed, hierarchically subordinate class of feudal lords, bound by vassal-feudal bonds, on the one hand, and the dependent peasantry exploited by it, on the other. The relative centralization of the early feudal state is replaced by feudal fragmentation.
In the V-VI centuries. The Franks still retained communal, clan ties; relations of exploitation among the Franks themselves were not developed; the Frankish service nobility, which formed into the ruling elite during Clovis’s military campaigns, was also not numerous.
The most pronounced social and class differences in the early class society of the Franks, as evidenced by the Salic Truth, a legal monument of the Franks dating back to the 5th century, were manifested in the position of slaves. Slave labor, however, was not widespread. The slave, in contrast to the free community member-Frank, was considered a thing. Its theft was equivalent to the theft of an animal. The marriage of a slave with a free man entailed the loss of freedom by the latter.
Salic truth also indicates the presence of other social groups among the Franks: serving nobility, free francs(community members) and semi-free litas. The differences between them were not so much economic as socio-legal. They were associated mainly with the origin and legal status of the person or the social group to which that person belonged. An important factor influencing the legal differences of the Franks was their membership in the royal service, the royal squad, and the emerging state apparatus. These differences were most clearly expressed in the system of monetary compensation, which served to protect the life, property and other rights of individuals.
Along with slaves, there was a special category of people - semi-free litas, whose life was valued at half a free wergeld, 100 solidi. Lit represented an incomplete resident of the Frankish community, who was in personal and material dependence on his master. Litas could enter into contractual relations, defend their interests in court, and participate in military campaigns together with their master. Lit, like a slave, could be freed by his master, who, however, retained his property. For a crime, a lithu was usually given the same punishment as a slave, for example the death penalty for kidnapping a free person.
Frankish law also testifies to the beginning of the property stratification of Frankish society. The Salic truth speaks of the master's servants or courtyard servants-slaves (vinedressers, grooms, swineherds and even goldsmiths) serving the master's household.
At the same time, the Salic truth testifies to the sufficient strength of community orders, about communal ownership of fields, meadows, forests, wastelands, about the equal rights of community peasants to a communal land plot. The very concept of private ownership of land is absent in Salic truth. It only records the origin of the allod, providing for the right to transfer the allotment by inheritance through the male line. The further deepening of social-class differences among the Franks was directly related to the transformation of allod into the original form of private feudal land ownership. Allod - alienable, inheritable land ownership of free Franks - arose in the process of disintegration of communal ownership of land. It lay at the basis of the emergence, on the one hand, of patrimonial land ownership of feudal lords, and, on the other, of the land holding of peasants dependent on them.
The processes of feudalization among the Franks received a powerful impetus during the wars of conquest of the 6th-7th centuries, when a significant part of the Gallo-Roman estates in Northern Gaul passed into the hands of the Frankish kings, the serving aristocracy, and royal warriors. The serving nobility, bound to one degree or another by vassal dependence on the king, who seized the right to dispose of the conquered land, became a major owner of lands, livestock, slaves, and colonies. It is replenished by part of the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, which goes into the service of the Frankish kings.
The clash between the communal orders of the Franks and the late Roman private property orders of the Gallo-Romans, the coexistence and interaction of social structures so different in nature, accelerated the creation of new, feudal relations. Already in the middle of the 7th century. in Northern Gaul, a feudal estate begins to take shape with its characteristic division of land into the lord's (domain) and peasant (holding). The stratification of the “ordinary free people” during the conquest of Gaul also occurred due to the transformation of the community elite into small patrimonial owners due to the appropriation of communal land.
Processes of feudalization in the VI-VII centuries. in the south of Gaul they did not develop as rapidly as in the north. At this time, the extent of Frankish colonization here was insignificant, the vast estates of the Gallo-Roman nobility were preserved, the labor of slaves and columns continued to be widely used, but profound social changes took place here too, mainly due to the widespread growth of large church landownership.
V-VI centuries in Western Europe were marked by the beginning of a powerful ideological offensive of the Christian Church. Servants of dozens of newly emerging monasteries and churches gave sermons about human brotherhood, about helping the poor and suffering, and about other moral values.
The population of Gaul, under the spiritual influence of the clergy, led by bishops, began to perceive more and more Christian dogmas, the idea of redemption, relying on the intercession of the holy fathers for the sake of gaining forgiveness during the transition to another world. In an era of endless wars, destruction, widespread violence, disease, in conditions of the dominance of religious consciousness, people's attention naturally focused on issues such as death, posthumous judgment, retribution, hell and heaven. The church began to use the fear of purgatory and hell for its own selfish interests, collecting and accumulating numerous donations, including land donations, at the expense of both rulers and ordinary people. The growth of church land ownership began with the church's land refusals from Clovis.
The growing ideological and economic role of the church could not but manifest itself sooner or later in its claims to power. However, the church at that time was not yet a political entity, did not have a unified organization, representing a kind of spiritual community of people led by bishops, of whom, according to tradition, the most important was the Bishop of Rome, who later received the title of Pope.
Kings, who, in order to strengthen their extremely unstable power, appointed bishops from among their confidants, convened church councils, presided over them, sometimes speaking on theological issues, increasingly interfered with the activities of the church as “Christ’s vicars” on earth. In 511, at the Council of Orleans convened by Clovis, it was decided that no layman could be ordained without royal permission. The subsequent decision of the Council of Orleans in 549 finally established the right of kings to control the appointment of bishops.
It was a time of increasingly intertwined secular and religious power, with bishops and other religious leaders sitting on government bodies and local civil administration carried out by diocesan departments.
Under Dagobert I at the beginning of the 7th century. the administration of church functions became an integral part of the path to honor, after which, the king’s associates became local rulers - counts and bishops at the same time; There were often cases when bishops ruled cities and surrounding rural settlements, minted money, collected taxes from lands subject to taxation, controlled market trade, etc.
The bishops themselves, owning large church farms, began to occupy an increasingly higher place in the emerging feudal hierarchy, which was facilitated by the non-forbidden marriages of priests with laity, representatives of the feudal elite.
The 7th-9th centuries are characterized by the rapid growth of feudal relations. At this time, in Frankish society there was a agrarian revolution, which led to the widespread establishment of large feudal land ownership, to the loss of land and freedom by the community members, and to the growth of the private power of feudal magnates. This was facilitated by a number of historical factors. Began in the VI-VII centuries. the growth of large landownership, accompanied by infighting among landowners, revealed the fragility of the Merovingian kingdom, in which here and there internal borders arose as a result of disobedience of the local nobility or resistance of the population to the collection of taxes. Moreover, by the end of the 7th century. The Franks lost a number of lands and actually occupied the territory between the Loire and the Rhine.
One of the attempts to solve the problem of strengthening state unity in conditions of widespread disobedience to the central authorities was the church council of “prelates and nobles”, held in Paris in 614. The edict adopted by the council called for “the most severe suppression of riots and brazen attacks of attackers”, threatened punishment for “theft and abuse of power by officials, tax collectors on trading places,” but at the same time limited the rights of civil judges and tax collectors on church lands, mortgaging , thus, the legislative basis of their immunity. Moreover, according to the decision of the council, bishops were henceforth to be elected “by the clergy and the people”, while the king retained only the right to approve the results of the elections.
The weakening of the power of the Frankish kings was primarily due to the depletion of their land resources. Only on the basis of new grants, the granting of new rights to landowners, and the establishment of new seigneurial-vassal ties could the strengthening of royal power and the restoration of the unity of the Frankish state take place at this time. The Carolingians, who actually ruled the country even before the transfer of the royal crown to them in 751, began to pursue this policy.
Charles's reform Martella
Mayor Karl Martel (715-741) began his activities by pacifying internal unrest in the country, with the confiscation of the lands of his political opponents, and with the partial secularization of church lands. He took advantage of the right of kings to fill the highest church positions. At the expense of the land fund created in this way, land grants for lifelong conditional holding began to be distributed to the new nobility - benefits(from Latin beneficium - beneficence, mercy) when performing one or another service (most often equestrian military). The land was given to those who could serve the king and bring an army with them. Refusal to serve or treason against the king entailed the loss of the award. The beneficiary received land with dependent people who performed corvée in his favor or paid rent. The use of the same form of awards by other large landowners led to the formation of suzerainty-vassalage relations between large and small feudal lords.
Expansion of feudal land ownership in the 8th century. contributed to new wars of conquest and the accompanying new wave of Frankish colonization. Moreover, if in the Frankish colonization of the VI-VII centuries. Since mainly the top of Frankish society took part, wealthy allodists were involved in the colonization of the 7th-9th centuries, which took place on a much larger scale, at the expense of whom the class of feudal lords was replenished at that time with equestrian knighthood.
From the middle of the 8th century. the period preceding the completion of the process of stratification of Frankish society into the class of feudal landowners and the class of peasants dependent on them begins; relations of patronage, domination and subordination, arising on the basis of special agreements, become widespread commendation, precarity, self-enslavement. The development of patronage relations was greatly influenced by the Roman institution - clientele, patronage. The relations of patronage and patronage among the Franks were brought to life by the collapse of old tribal ties, the impossibility of economic independence of small peasant economies, ruined by wars and the robberies of feudal lords. Patronage entailed the establishment of personal and property dependence of the peasants on the landowner-magnates, since the peasants transferred to them the ownership of their land plots, receiving them back on the terms of fulfilling certain duties, paying quitrents, etc.
In the processes of establishing the power of large landowners over peasants in Western Europe, the Christian Church played a huge role, which itself became a large land owner. The stronghold of the dominant position of the church were monasteries, and the secular nobility - fortified castles, which became patrimonial centers, a place for collecting rent from peasants, a symbol of the power of the lords.
Agreements of commendation (patronage) arose primarily in the relations of peasants with the church and monasteries. They were not always directly related to the loss of freedom and property rights to the land plot of the commendedee, as was the case in the case of a contract of self-enslavement. But once they came under such protection, free peasants gradually lost their personal freedom and after several generations, the majority became serfs.
The precarious agreement was directly related to the transfer of land. It entailed the emergence of conditional holding of land transferred for temporary use, and was accompanied by the emergence of certain duties of a precarist in favor of a large landowner (to work in the master’s fields, to give him part of the harvest). In the person of the precarists, a transitional layer was created from free communal allodists to dependent peasants. There were three forms of precaria: precaria data (“precaria given”) - a unique form of land lease, on the basis of which a landless or land-poor peasant received a plot of land for temporary use. Under the contract of precaria remuniratoria ("precaria remunerated"), the precarist initially gave his plot of land to the landowner and received it back into possession. This type of precarity arose, as a rule, as a result of pledging land to secure a debt. Under the agreement precaria oblata (“precaria donated”), the precarist (most often under direct pressure from the landowner), who had already fallen into economic dependence, gave his plot to the master, and then received from him his own and an additional plot of land, but as a holding.
The owner of the precaria had the right of judicial protection against third parties, but not against the landowner. The precarium could be taken back by the landowner at any moment. As the number of people subject to the tycoon (precarists, commendees) grew, he acquired more and more power over them.
The state contributed in every possible way to strengthening this power. In the capitulary of 787, for example, it was forbidden for anyone to take under the protection of people who left the lord without his permission. Gradually, vassal ties, or relationships of dependence, cover all free people. In 808 they were ordered to go to war with their lord or with the count.
The later “barbarian truths” also testify to other changes in the social structure of barbarian societies occurring in connection with the development of new feudal relations. In the Alamannic and Bavarian truths (8th century), the figure of the column is increasingly mentioned. A colon or slave planted on the ground was also known to Roman law, which deprived him of economic independence, the right to conclude contracts, sign documents, etc.
Visigoths in the V-VI centuries. adopted these prohibitions from Rome. But the Ostrogoths began to move away from them. According to Art. 121 of the Ostrogothic truth, for example, “if someone lent money to a colonel or a slave, without the knowledge of the master, then he could repay the debt from the peculium,” that is, from the property that he owned.
A new feudal form of colony arose, differing from the previous one in that not only a slave or a landless tenant, but also a free peasant could become a colony. According to the Alamannic Truth (22, 3), the colony runs his own household, but must pay taxes in kind to the church or work corvée 3 days a week.
Changes were also taking place in the legal status of slaves. For example, strict prohibitions on marriages between slaves and free people were relaxed. If, according to Roman law, a free woman was converted into slavery for having an affair with a slave, and according to Salic law, she could be killed with impunity, then the Alamannic truth gave such a woman the right to object to the “slave work of a servant” (18:2).
And finally, in the 9th century. large beneficiaries are seeking the right to transfer benefits by inheritance. Benefice is being replaced by fief(Hereditary, as opposed to benefice, is a feudal land tenure granted by a lord to his vassal for service). Large feudal lords turn into sovereigns with political power in their domains.
State system of the Franks.
In the processes of formation and development of the state apparatus of the Franks, three main directions can be identified. The first direction, especially characteristic of the initial stage (V-VII centuries), manifested itself in the degeneration of the organs of tribal democracy of the Franks into bodies of new, public power, into state bodies proper. The second was determined by the development of the bodies of patrimonial administration, the third was associated with the gradual transformation of the state power of the Frankish monarchs into the “private” power of the lord-sovereigns with the formation of the seigneurial monarchy, which was fully revealed at the final stage of the development of Frankish society (VIII-IX centuries). .
The conquest of Gaul served as a powerful impetus for the creation of a new state apparatus among the Franks, for it required the organization of administration of the conquered regions and their protection. Clovis was the first Frankish king to assert his exclusive position as sole ruler. From a simple military leader, he turns into a monarch, achieving this position by all means: treachery, cunning, destruction of relatives, other tribal leaders. One of the most important political actions of Clovis, which strengthened the position of the Frankish state through the support of the Gallo-Roman clergy, was the adoption of Christianity.
With the adoption of Christianity by Clovis, the church became a powerful factor in strengthening royal power. It was the church that gave into the hands of the Frankish kings such a justification for wars of conquest as a reference to the “true faith”, the unification in faith of many peoples under the auspices of a single king as the supreme, not only secular, but also spiritual head of their peoples.
The gradual transition of the Gallic elite to the Christian faith also becomes an important historical factor in the unification of Gaul and the development of a special regional feudal-Christian, Western European (Romano-Germanic) civilization.
Socio-economic, religious-ideological, ethnographic and other changes in Gallic society had a direct impact on the processes of formation and development of specific features of the state apparatus of the Frankish empire, which absorbed in the 8th-9th centuries. most of the barbarian states of Western Europe. Already in the 5th century. Among the Franks, the place of the old clan community is finally replaced by a territorial community (mark), and with it a territorial division into districts (pagi), hundreds. Salic truth already speaks of the existence of officials of the kingdom: counts, satsebarons, etc. At the same time, it testifies to the significant role of communal government bodies. At this time the Franks no longer had a general tribal people's assembly. It was replaced by a review of the troops - first in March ("March fields"), then (under the Carolingians) in May ("May fields"). But locally, hundreds of assemblies (“malus”) continued to exist, performing judicial functions under the chairmanship of Tunginov, which together with Rahinburgs, legal experts (“judgers”) were representatives of the community.
The role of the community in court cases was exceptionally great. The community was responsible for a murder committed on its territory, nominated co-jurors who testified to the good name of its member; The relatives themselves brought their relative to court, and together with him they paid the wergeld.
The king acted primarily as a “guardian of peace”, as an executor of the community’s judicial decisions. His counts and social lords performed mainly police and fiscal functions. Salic truth provided for punishment for royal officials who refused to accede to the demand of a free man and to exercise power against offenders. At the same time, protecting to a certain extent the independence of the community on the part of royal officials, the Salic truth prohibited, for example, more than three social barons from appearing at one community meeting.
Royal instructions, according to Salic truth, concern a small range of state affairs - conscription into the army, summons to court. But Salic truth also testifies to the strengthening of the power of kings. Thus, for example, the performance of royal service justifies the failure of the accused to appear in the community court. Moreover, the king directly interferes with the internal affairs of the community, with its land relations, and allows a stranger to settle on communal land.
The power of the Frankish kings began to be inherited." In the 6th-7th centuries, under the direct influence of the late Roman order, the legislative powers of the kings were strengthened, and in the capitularies, not without the influence of the church, they already spoke about the sacred nature of royal power, about the unlimitedness of its legislative powers. It is significant that there the concept of treason against the king, classified as a serious crime, appears.
However, the king at this time is primarily a military leader, a military commander, whose main concern is “order” in the kingdom, pacifying the local nobility that goes out of obedience. The limited royal functions were also associated with the absence of effectively functioning central administration bodies, the treasury, and independent royal courts with appellate functions.
The emerging state apparatus is also characterized by extreme amorphousness, the absence of clearly demarcated official powers, subordination, and organization of office work. The threads of government are concentrated in the hands of royal servants and associates. Among them are the palace count, referendarium, and chamberlain. Palace Count Performs mainly judicial functions, directs judicial duels, and oversees the execution of sentences. Referendar(speaker), keeper of the royal seal, is in charge of royal documents, draws up acts, instructions of the king, etc. Camerari monitors revenues to the royal treasury and the safety of palace property.
In the VI-VII centuries. the chief manager of the royal palace, and then the head of the royal administration, was the chamber mayor, or mayor, whose power was strengthened in every possible way in the context of the incessant campaigns of the king, who ruled his territories “from the saddle.”
The formation of local authorities occurs at this time under the significant influence of late Roman orders. The Merovingian counts begin to rule the districts as Roman governors. They have police, military and judicial functions. In the capitularies, Tungin is almost never mentioned as a judge. The concepts of “count” and “judge” become unambiguous, their appointment falls within the exclusive competence of the royal power.
At the same time, the newly emerging organs of the state apparatus of the Franks, copying some of the late Roman state orders, had a different character and social purpose. These were authorities that expressed the interests primarily of the German service nobility and large Gallo-Roman landowners. They were built on different organizational foundations. For example, the king’s warriors were widely used in the public service. Initially consisting of a royal military detachment of free Franks, the squad, and consequently the state apparatus, was subsequently replenished not only by Romanized Gauls, who were distinguished by their education and knowledge of local law, but also by slaves and freedmen who made up the royal court staff. All of them were interested in strengthening royal power, in destroying the old tribal separatism, in strengthening new orders that promised them enrichment and social prestige.
In the second half of the 7th century. A new system of political domination and management is emerging, a kind of “democracy of the nobility,” which presupposes the direct participation of the top of the emerging class of feudal lords in governing the state.
The expansion of the participation of the feudalizing nobility in government, the "seignorization" of government positions led to the loss of the relative independence of the royal power that it had previously enjoyed. This did not happen immediately, but precisely during the period when large landholdings had already acquired significant dimensions. At this time, greater power is assumed by the previously created Royal Council, consisting of representatives of the serving nobility and higher clergy. Without the consent of the Council, the king actually could not make a single serious decision. The nobility are gradually being given key positions in management not only in the center, but also locally. Along with the weakening of the power of kings, counts, dukes, bishops, and abbots, who became large landowners, acquired more and more independence, administrative and judicial functions. They begin to appropriate taxes, duties, and court fines.
As early as 614, the aforementioned edict (Art. 12) prohibited the appointment of "an official (judex - probably a duke or count), as well as a person subordinate to him" unless they were local landowners. In 673, the secular nobility achieved confirmation of this article of the edict by Chilperic II. Management functions were thus assigned to large local feudal lords.
In later truths, local rulers - dukes and counts - are given no less attention than the king. A fine under the Alamanian Pravda threatens anyone for failure to comply with the demands of a duke or count, for “disregarding their summons with a seal.” The special title of the 2nd Bavarian Pravda is dedicated to the dukes “whom the people appointed or elected”; it testifies to the breadth of those matters “that concern them.” It provides for punishment in the form of a significant fine not only for failure to comply, but also for “negligence” in performing
Law in the State of the Franks. Features of the formation and development of law in France. Feudal law of Germany. Feudal law in England.
"Salic Truth" is the most important source of information about the life and morals of the Salic Franks, a record of the ancient judicial customs of the people who settled on the territory of Roman Gaul in the 5th-6th centuries; neighboring community, tribal and economic relations according to the law.
The weakening of the Roman Empire made it possible for barbarian tribes to cross borders and seize territory with impunity. Significant changes occurred among the Germanic tribes. Formation of "barbarian" kingdoms on the territory of the Roman Empire.
The main periods of existence of the Frankish state were its emergence, prosperity, and collapse. The importance of individual personalities of the ruling dynasties. Characteristics of the main legal source of the Salic Franks - “Salic Pravda” and individual branches of law.
Salic truth as a record of the ancient judicial customs of the Salic Franks, its essence and content. Franks, Romans, Litas and slaves. The bourgeois revolution in England, its main stages. Comparative characteristics of the state system of England in the 17th century.
In Central and Western Europe, existing from the end of the 5th century to 843. This barbarian kingdom was formed from the Western Roman Empire as a result of the Great Migration.
There is no consensus on the beginning of the existence of the Frankish kingdom, but most often among historians this date is called 481 - the beginning of the reign of Clovis I. Thus, the Frankish state lasted 362 years, of which: as a kingdom - 319, and as an empire - 43.
As in all barbarian states, in Frankia there was a fusion of Roman and Germanic traditions. In the kingdom of the Franks, the Roman administrative-territorial division was preserved; the Franks actively used the Roman road system and the Roman postal service.
By the VIII-IX centuries. the process of assimilation of the Frankish population by the Gallo-Roman was basically completed.
In 717, Charles Martell became the mayor of the entire Frankish kingdom. He carried out a beneficiary reform in the kingdom: armed soldiers began to be issued benefits- conditional land holdings that are not inherited. The condition for holding a benefit was military service with one's own weapons, which had to be purchased from funds received from the benefit. Charles Martell received land for beneficiary grants through the confiscation of the possessions of rebellious magnates and the partial secularization of church property. By distributing part of the church land as a beneficiary to the Frankish nobility on the terms of obligatory payment military service, Charles Martell created a powerful, heavily armed cavalry. As a result of this, his influence in the Frankish kingdom increased even more.
Pepin the Short
In 751, the son of Charles Martel Pepin the Short At a meeting of the Frankish nobility in Soissons, he achieved his election as king of the Franks. The last representative of the Merovingian dynasty, Childeric III, was tonsured a monk. Pepin the Short was the first of the Frankish kings to be anointed with myrrh (a sacred fragrant oil of a special composition) as king by the Pope. This rite emphasized the sacred nature of royal power. Pepin the Short laid the foundation for the Carolingian dynasty.
Charlemagne
The most famous representative of the Carolingian dynasty, and, perhaps, the most famous king of the Middle Ages in general, was Pepin's son Charlemagne (768-814). It was by the name of Charles that the representatives of this dynasty began to be called the Carolingians, and the word “king” itself comes from the Latin form of his name. Material from the site
The fall of the main stronghold of slavery - the Roman Empire - made it possible for many ethnic groups and peoples to enter the political arena of Western Europe. The slave system was replaced by the feudal system.
The system of feudal relations arose in various historical conditions. In some cases, it took shape in the depths of the slave-owning society itself during its decomposition, as, for example, in ancient Rome, in others - during the decomposition of the tribal system.
The economic basis of the feudal state was the feudal lords' ownership of land and other means of production, the private ownership of small agricultural implements by peasants personally dependent on the feudal lord, and the unpaid labor of the peasant for the feudal lord. The feudal lords' monopoly on land created the economic dependence of the peasant farming on their land. Economic dependence was the basis for personal dependence on the feudal lords.
In the southern part of the Frankish state lived the Gallo-Roman population: the Romans were royal diners, the Romans were farmers, the Romans paid taxes. Chapter 41 of Salic Truth speaks of responsibility for the deprivation of life of these categories of the population.
The political system of the Frankish state at the first stage (V–VII centuries)
The formation of the state system occurs through the degeneration of the organs of tribal democracy of the Franks into organs of state power. The huge conquered territories required a special organization of administration and their protection. Clovis was the first Frankish king to establish his position as sole ruler. From a simple military leader, he turned into a monarch, destroying everyone who stood in his way. An important moment in strengthening the position of the Frankish state was Clovis’s adoption of Christianity. The process of formation of the early feudal monarchy began. Head of State – king at this time he became primarily a military leader, whose main concerns were the protection of public peace and the pacification of persons who disobeyed. The state apparatus was just being created; there was no clear delineation of the powers of royal officials. Governance of the state was concentrated in the hands of royal servants and associates. The so-called palace-patrimonial management system was born. Among the king's associates, the following stood out: the palace count, who performed judicial functions; referendar - keeper of the royal seal, in charge of the king's office work; chamberlain - who monitored revenues to the treasury and the safety of the palace property.
The formation of local authorities took place under the influence of late Roman orders. Thus, the entire territory of the state was divided into districts, which were headed by counts appointed by the king. They carried out police, military and judicial functions. Counties were divided into hundreds.
In the 8th century government has become more complex. In 800, the Frankish state was proclaimed an empire.
Royal power acquired a special character and its own powers. The power and personality of the emperor received sacred recognition from the church. The title of emperor made the king's legislative and judicial rights undeniable. However, as before, the state apparatus was concentrated at the court.
The local administration was organized as follows. The kingdom was divided into districts - pagi. Each of them was headed by a count, usually appointed by the king from among the large landowners. He exercised administrative, judicial, military and fiscal powers. The pagi, in turn, were divided into hundreds. At the head of each of them was a centurion, the count's representative in the lower court. In some areas (usually border areas), kings appointed dukes whose powers extended over several counties (from 2 to 12). The duke exercised the powers of the count in those parts of the territory entrusted to him where for some reason there was no count at that moment; its main tasks were maintaining peace in the country and organizing defense.
Law of the Frankish State
The original text of this truth has not reached us. The most ancient manuscripts date back to the time of Pepin the Short and Charlemagne (8th century). This original text was supplemented under kings Childebert I and Chlothar I (VI century).
Salic truth was written in Latin and spread its effect mainly in the north of the country. In the south, the Code of Allaric was in force, which Clovis ordered to be applied in the affairs of the Gallo-Romans.
Civil law. During the reign of the Merovingian dynasty, the Franks still retained communal ownership of land. Title LIX of Salic truth determined that the land (allod) belongs to all tribal community, in the joint use of which were forests, wastelands, pastures, swamps, roads, undivided meadows. The Franks disposed of these lands on equal rights. At the same time, Salic truth indicates that the Franks used the field, garden or vegetable garden separately. They fenced their land a fence, the destruction of which entailed punishment according to the Salic truth (title XXXIV).
Private ownership of land arose as a result of donations, purchases from the Romans, and seizures of unoccupied land. Later these lands were called allod. Along with them, there were lands transferred by the owners for use and possession for certain services and payment in kind, the so-called precaria. IN Time of Troubles, when the nobility waged wars for the possession of land, many owners of allods deliberately transferred it to powerful magnates under the condition of patronage, i.e. protection from attacks from other tycoons.
After the reform of Charles Martel appeared the new kind land ownership– benefices – conditional holding of land associated with service and certain duties. In the future, this type of property becomes the main one.
Law of obligations. With the exception of land, all other property could be the subject of purchase and sale, loan, barter, or gift. The transfer of ownership from one person to another was carried out through tradition, i.e. informal transfer of things that followed contracts. Acquisitive prescription was also recognized; among the Franks it was very short - one year.
Loan obligations were provided with special protection under Salic law, where titles 50 and 52 carefully regulate the procedure for debt collection.
Inheritance law. Women initially could not inherit land. They received this right only in the 7th century. There was no inheritance by will. However, the Franks practiced the so-called affatomy, which was a special way of transferring property after the death of the owner. Title 46 defined in some detail the procedure for such transfer.
Family law. Salic truth does not indicate the order of marriage. However, the analysis of Art. Chapter 3 XXV allows us to conclude that marriage did not take place without the consent of the parents. Marriages between free people and slaves were not approved, otherwise they would lose their freedom. Frankish family law is characterized by the dominance of the husband over his wife, the father over his children. However, it should be noted that the power of their husband and father was not as unlimited as in Ancient Rome. His power over his sons ceased when they reached adulthood (12 years old). Regarding his daughters, he retained his power until their marriage. The position of the wife, who was under the guardianship of her husband, was specific. Divorce was considered unacceptable for her. If the husband decided to divorce his wife, who was not convicted of adultery, or of committing a crime, he had to leave all property to her and the children. Upon marriage, the groom allocated certain property to the bride - in the amount of her dowry, usually it included movable property (livestock, weapons, money). Later, real estate was also transferred as a dowry. Therefore, in the event of the death of a husband, significant property sometimes ended up in the hands of widows. Therefore, it was established that a person who married a widow had to first pay the relatives of the first husband an amount of three solidi and one denarius. This fee was paid to the first husband's closest relative. If it was not found, it went to the royal treasury.
Criminal law. Most of articles of Salic truth refers to criminal law, the norms of which are expressed in casuistic form, i.e. there is a lack of generalizing and abstract concepts - “guilt”, “crime”, “intention”, “negligence”, etc. From the analysis of these articles, we can conclude that a crime under it is an action that causes physical, material or moral damage to a specific person. Because of this, Salic truth pays more attention to two types of crimes: against the person and against property. The first of these include all actions related to bodily harm, murder, insult, etc. The second includes all encroachments on property. The third type - against the order of management - is devoted to only a few articles.
Subject of the crime. From the text of the Salic truth it follows that all segments of the population were subjects of law. But this does not mean that they all bore the same responsibility. Punishments for slaves were more severe, for example the death penalty, which was not applied to free Franks.
Even when considering cases of theft, the subject’s belonging to slaves or freemen was taken into account (title 40, § 1, 5). The owner was responsible for a crime committed by a slave only if he refused to hand over the slave to be tortured. Moreover, the responsibility for the owner was established the same as if the crime had been committed by a free person (title 40, § 9).
In Salic truth there are also indications of a group subject. So, for example, in the title “On Murder in a Crowd,” responsibility was established depending on the degree of activity of its participants. But at the same time, Salic truth still recognized in some cases equal responsibility for all those who committed a crime (title XIV, § 6). All of the above confirms the thesis that society has not yet developed its class structure.
Objective side. Salic truth recognized only action as punishable; inaction was not punishable. The Franks already distinguished between such methods of theft of property as theft and robbery. Moreover, not only the amount of the stolen goods was taken into account, but also how the crime was committed (burglary, key selection, etc.) - title XI, § 2, 5.
Subjective side. Salic truth provided for liability only for intentional crimes. She had not yet known other forms of guilt.
The object of the crime was, as a rule, only those social relations that regulated the protection of life, health and honor of a person, as well as his property. But there were separate articles that regulated certain aspects of social relations in the sphere of management order (title 51, § 2).
Consideration of the elements of the offense according to Salic law allows us to conclude that the law, like society and the state itself, was imperfect, having signs of both a tribal and state system.
Punishment. Its goals according to Salic truth were: general and specific warning, retribution, but the main goal was compensation for damage. Salic truth, as already noted, provided for various punishments for free and slaves. So, if for free Franks the punishments were predominantly property, then for slaves, in addition to fines, corporal punishment and even the death penalty were used (though only in exceptional cases for serious crimes) - title 40, § 5.
The fines under the Salic truth were very large. The smallest of them was equal to three solidi, and this is the cost of a cow, “healthy, horned and sighted.”
The fine for murder was called “vira”, “wergeld” (cost of life). It depended on the identity of the person killed. If this is a bishop, then they paid 900 solidi, a count - 600, etc. Of interest here is the fact that for the murder of women they paid as for the murder of a person in the royal service - 600 solidi. It is quite clear that such high fines were beyond the reach of ordinary Franks. In this regard, title 58 “On a handful of earth” is of interest, which regulates the procedure for paying wergeld by the murderer’s relatives.
Court and process. During the period of the clan system, judicial functions belonged to the clan assembly. In the era of Salic truth, the judicial body became the court of hundreds - the malus, which met periodically at certain times and consisted of seven elected rakhinburgs, which decided cases under the chairmanship of the elected tungin. Rahinburgs usually elected wealthy people, but hundreds of free residents were required to attend court meetings. The Rahinburgs were obliged to judge according to the law, and the plaintiff had the right to remind them of this duty. If, after this, they refuse to consider the case, then they are sentenced to pay a fine of three solids, and if they judge not according to the law, they are sentenced to pay 15 solids (title 57, art. 1-2).
With the rise of the power of the king and his local agents, hundreds of counts and dukes began to exercise judicial functions. Kings also began to hear court cases. During the era of the "lazy kings", the mayors received the right to judge on behalf of the king, along with certain court officials. Charlemagne undertook an important reform of the court: he abolished the obligation of free residents to appear at all court meetings and replaced the elected Rahinburgs with members of the court appointed by the king - Scabins.
The Skabins were appointed by the king's envoys from among the local landowners. They were in the service of the king and judged under the chairmanship of the count. Under Charlemagne, church courts appeared for clergy, as well as for laity, with a mixed composition of judges for a certain category of cases.
The trial was accusatory and adversarial in nature. Finding the stolen item, calling the defendant and witnesses to court was the responsibility of the victim himself. Salic truth established severe liability for the failure of the defendant to appear in court (title 56), as well as witnesses whose testimony is necessary for the plaintiff (title 49). By the way, for false testimony, the Salic truth provided for a fine of 15 solids (title 43).
As for the search for a stolen item, it was regulated by Title 37 and was called pursuit. During its implementation, one important circumstance was determined: during what time the stolen item was found. If before the expiration of three days, then the plaintiff through third parties had to prove that this thing was his. And if three days have passed since the theft, then the one from whom it was found must prove the good faith of its acquisition. Title 47 “On Search” determined the procedure for proving one’s rights to controversial things. What is of interest here is the time limit for scheduling a trial - 40 days for those who live on one side of the Loire River, and 80 days on the other side.
The court considered the case in the presence of witnesses, whose testimony was the main type of evidence and was given under oath. The number of witnesses under the law could vary depending on the category of cases (from 3 to 12 people). When it was not possible to find out the truth with the help of witnesses, they resorted to ordeals, which were carried out by immersing the hand of the accused in a pot of boiling water. The subject had to put his hand there and hold it until a certain sacramental formula was pronounced. The burned hand was bandaged and after some time examined again in court. If the wound on the hand had healed by that time, the subject was declared innocent; if not, he was punished. However, it was possible to buy oneself out of this procedure, but only with the consent of the victim (title 53).
Thus, the Salic truth included some benefits for the rich in the process.
The sentences of the local court were carried out by the counts and their assistants.