Carolingians historians

Who are the historians for Carolingians?

• Innes

• Nelson

• Airlie

• McKitterick

• Contreni

• Gerberding

Who writes that the Carolingians transformed a pyramidal political system into one based on an articulated hierarchy?

Innes

Who talks about the devolution of power to missi, their role in administering justice and bringing written reports back to Charlemagne about the implementation of his laws?

Nelson

Who describes the Carolingian court as less formal than its Byzantine equivalent and argued that the court acted as the moral centre of the realm?

Airlie

Who uses the Vienna Codex as evidence of Franks’ association with Rome, which she argues justified the invasion of Italy? (conscious of preserving Roman heritage)

McKitterick

Who discusses Charlemagne’s top-down sponsorship of scholars in his court and his financing of schools?

Contreni

Who talks about Charlemagne’s use of patronage in order to make local leaders more answerable to him?

Innes

Who writes that there was an explosion in the volume of written word under the Carolingians (documentation, law, capitularies etc.) and that written word gave the Empire a form of unity? (no. and variety of capitularies diminished after Charlemagne’s death)

Nelson

Who uses the term ‘cooperative oligarchy’ and talks about the rewarding of followers by Charlemagne? (Adulf prefecture in Bavaria)

Airlie

Who writes that the law was symbolic for the Franks in claiming their Roman inheritance? (Lex Carolina sanctioned law book + Lex Salica)

McKitterick

Who writes that there was some (limited) education of the poor and women and that, as schools were a local concern, the quality of education varied area to area?

Contreni

Who writes that royal monasteries (eg. Lorsch) were hubs of contact between centre and locality and that literacy and documentation was essential in linking these?

Innes

Who argues that the court was a forum for aristocratic activity and that the distribution of ‘honores’ was essential to bind together a factitious aristocracy?

Gerberding

Who writes that written word was essential for administration which was dependant on local leaders copying capitularies and spreading them? (use of charters by Pepin the Short in 8thc.)

McKitterick

Who argues that the widespread learning of classical grammar led to an improvement in general communication and writing and that the Renaissance was clearly beneficial for greater understanding of the law?

Contreni

Who argues that division of authority wasn’t a weakness, but instead a means of maintaining royal power?

Innes

Who discusses the production of authoritative texts for mass, sermons, canon law and the Rule of St Benedict as well as a centralised version of the Bible, but argued that this attempt at regularisation was ineffective as many local customs and texts prevailed? (‘On the Cultivation of Letters’)

McKitterick

Who questions how far down the social ladder the educational improvement of the Renaissance actually went and concludes that it most likely remained concentrated in the elite?

Contreni