Royal Power in the Late Carolingian Age

Front matter

HORST LÖSSLEIN

Royal Power in the Late Carolingian Age

Charles Ill the Simple and His Predecessors

Preface

Summary

Abbreviations

Introduction Possibilities and limits of late Carolingian rule The functioning of royal power Analytical approach l. Becoming king: The questions of legitimacy and support

1.1.1 Louis the Stammerer’s two marriages 1.1.2 The question of Louis’ succession 1.1.3 Passing over Charles

1.1.4 A Robertian on the throne

1.1.5 Carolingian blood matters

1.2 Close supporters and distant allies 1.2.1 Archbishop Fulk of Reims

1.2.2 The network elevating Charles 1.2.3 The motives behind the rebellion 1.2.4 The cohesion of the network

1.2.5 Allies sought within the realm

1.2.6 Allies sought outside the realm 1.2.7 A network of different layers ll. Changes in the political landscape: From Louis the Stammerer to Odo

11.1 Old elites: Louis I] the Stammerer

11.2 Rival factions: Louis Ill and Carloman II 11.3 New faces on the rise: Charles the Fat

11.4 Resistance, integration and rebellion: Odo 11.5 Conclusion: Continuities and changes

111.1 General overview

111.1.1 Charles’ itinerary

111.1.2 Contacts with distant regions

111.1.3 Using diplomas to demonstrate Carolingian legitimacy?

101 111 121

127 127 130 134 142

Vill

Contents

Breaking it down: Networks of royal power Close associates and allies

The first years

Shifting balances

Anew balance

Lotharingia

The early Lotharingian network

A king of two regna?

Thelater years

Liberty of choice?

Family and friends

The role of the marchiones Conclusion: The development of Charles' network and its dissolution

IV.1 IV.2 IV.3 IV.4 IV.5

Creating cooperation: Louis the Stammerer Carolingian networks: Louis Ill and Carloman II Structural weaknesses: Odo

Possibilities and limits of royal power: Charles the Simple

Conclusion

Viking incursions and royal measures

in protection of the realm

Going on the offensive:

Louis the Stammerer—Charles the Fat Strategies of containment: Odo

Return to the old strategies: Charles the Simple Diplomatic solutions

Dudo’s De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum The treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte

Using an old solution in a new way

Conclusion

Solving conflicts: The role of interest groups Rulers and nobles: Breaches of trust

Speaking justice: Symbolic acts

Against the king: Questioning the right to rule Conclusion

233 233 236 240 243 259

295 299 308 316 330 334

Conclusion Bibliography Primary Sources

Contents

Preface

Die vorliegende Untersuchung wurde im Wintersemester 2016/2017 an der Faculte des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines der Université de Limoges und der Fakultät fiir Geschichts- und Kunstwissenschaften der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat München als Dissertation unter dem Titel „Possibilities of Royal Power in the Late Carolingian Age: Charles III the Simple“ angenommen. Für die Publikation wurde sie geringfügig überarbeitet und neu erschienene Literatur nach Möglichkeit berücksichtigt.

Die Université de Limoges und die Région Limousin haben die Arbeit an dieser Studie mit einem Stipendium unterstützt. Dankbar bin ich zudem den Monumenta Germaniae Historica in München, bei denen ich zuletzt nicht nur im Rahmen eines Editionsprojektes wertvolle Erfahrungen sammeln durfte, sondern vor allem auch Zugang zur großartigen Institutsbibliothek erhalten habe.

Zutiefst verpflichtet bin ich meinen Doktoreltern, Professor Dr. Irmgard Fees und Professor Dr. Philippe Depreux. Sie haben mir diese Studie ermöglicht, mir den Weg gewiesen, mich gefördert und mir mit Rat und Tat zur Seite gestanden. Dank gebührt in diesem Zusammenhang darüber hinaus Professor Dr. Regine Le Jan, Professor Dr. Genevieve Bührer-Thierry, Professor Dr. Knut Görich, Professor Dr. Simon MacLean, Professor Dr. Jacques Péricard und Dr. Anne Massoni fiir mancherlei Hinweise und Unterstiitzung sowie ihre Mitwirkung an der Disputatio. Hilfe habe ich auf die eine oder andere Art und Weise auch von einer ganzen Reihe weiterer Personen erhalten, von denen ich gerne die folgenden nenne: Professor Dr. Bertrand Lancon, Dr. Tobie Walther, Dr. Johannes Bernwieser, Dr. Helene Caillaud, Sarah Ewerling, Lucile Jaeck, und Anna Nierhoff. Hervorzuheben ist jedoch vor allem Dr. Fraser McNair, dessen Korrekturen, kenntnisreichen Hinweisen und scharfsinniger Kritik ich außerordentlich viel zu verdanken habe. Auch drei weitere Personen seien besonders hervorgehoben: Natascha Wanninger, für ihre Freundschaft und für ihre sprachlichen Korrekturen, Fabien Cerbelaud von der Université de Limoges für die fantastischen von ihm erstellten Karten sowie Dr. Claudie Paye für ihre Anleitung durch den Publikationsprozess.

Herzlicher Dank geht darüber hinaus an Professor Dr. Martina Hartmann, nicht nur für die Möglichkeit in den Hallen der Monumenta Germaniae Historica zu arbeiten, sondern auch für die mir dabei eingeräumten Freiheiten und die Unterstützung.

Hamburg, Juni 2018 Horst Lößlein

Summary

Charles III the Simple (893/898-923) only became king when nobles rebelling against the Robertian Odo were in need of a candidate for the West Frankish throne. Posthumously born to Louis II the Stammerer, he was of Carolingian blood and thus able to provide the rebellion with an appearance of legitimacy. Ihe rebels on the other hand offered Charles the opportunity of a lifetime: after 14 years of being ignored by the leading nobles of the West Frankish realm, he was finally able to succeed his father. Yet, while his reign lasted for 25 years, it ended how it had started and Charles was deposed by a rebellion led by Robert of Neustria. The circumstances of Charles’ elevation and deposition are among the reasons for his image as a weak king, unable to control the nobles, and why he counts as a prime example of the “decline and fall” of the Carolingian empire towards the end of the 9th century. Yet, what does “weak king” mean? Modern scholarship has long discarded the view of kingship as a question of royal orders and noble obedience. Instead, it is understood as the result of a process involving both the ruler and those around him. Successful kingship depended on the ruler’s ability to integrate the nobles into this process, to mediate between their and his own interests and to create consensus.

This understanding serves as basis for this new approach to fathoming out the possibilities and limits of late Carolingian royal power. First, the focus is set on the relations between the king and the nobles around him, interpreting royal actions as the result of their interactions. Second, the customary hierarchy of the source material is inverted. Royal diplomas, ideally suited to reveal the networks of royal power, are placed at the centre of the analysis and subjected to rigorous contextualisation, treating narrative sources as secondary. Third, the timeframe of this study is extended back to the late 870s, covering the decades during which the political landscape ofthe West Frankish realm underwent drastic changes that determined the framework for Charles the Simple’s rule. Thus, not only these developments are revealed, but also comparisons can be made.

Charles’ first task after he became the sole king of the West Frankish realm was to integrate his old opponents into his rule. This meant that he had to bridge the old rivalry between these individuals and his allies from the struggle with Odo, allies who now occupied key positions in the circle around him. A dominating group of nobles agitating against their political rivals at the royal court was nothing new and can also be observed during the reigns of Louis the Stammerer and his sons Louis III and Carloman II. Under Charles the Fat this situation changed. The emperor was able to promote men of his own choice since his power base was located in the East Frankish realm and, equally important, key members of this dominating group such as Hugh the Abbot and Gauzlin died. Death also opened the door to new political solutions for Charles the Simple. In his case it was the murder of his key supporter, Fulk of Reims,

XIV Summary which allowed him to integrate his most important opponent into his rule: Robert of Neustria.

Ensuring Robert’s cooperation was certainly a crucial factor to Charles’ rule. Yet, his dependency on the marchio (or others like him, notably William the Pious or Richard the Justiciar) should not be overestimated. Early on, Charles was able to create a network of alliances that served as a counterweight. However, to stabilise the realm in the long run, such opposition needed to be overcome. Charles’ remarkable gift in integrating Robert and other powerful nobles into his rule is demonstrated by the great successes of his rule: the change in strategy towards the Northmen represented by the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte as well as the integration of the leading Lotharingian nobles into the circle around him after the acquisition of the regnum was accomplished without estranging those of the Western realm. This acquisition also reveals how his political room for manoeuvre had increased compared to his predecessors: given to Louis the Younger as a lease after the death of Louis the Stammerer, Charles’ brothers efforts to regain the regnum had been thwarted by their dependency on the alliance with the East Frankish rulers to defend the realm against the Northmen and the rebellious Boso. Charles, unhindered by such alliances, was able to pursue his interests much more aggressively against his neighbours. However, the lack of such alliances meant that he missed out on their stabilising effects in regard to the relations between him and his nobles, a circumstance he tried to correct when his relations with the said nobles deteriorated.

The key to understanding this deterioration lies in the importance of trust in the relations between the ruler and the nobles around him. The rebellion against Odo was the result of a crisis of trust that developed when Odo repeatedly acted against the interests and expectations of the West Frankish nobles. Similarly, Charles also appears to have developed a strong tendency to emphasise his majesty and royal prerogative towards the end of his rule, his famous favouring of the illliked Hagano being but one example. Yet, where Odo also achieved suppression of the rebellion by taking actions that restored trust in him, Charles continued on his path up to the point where even his closest allies turned away from him. Thus, Charles’ neglect of ensuring the cooperation of the nobles and the creation of consensus deprived him of the foundations of his rule and marked the limits of his royal power.

Abbreviations

MGH Capit.

Conc.

Const.

Epist.

Font. Iur. Germ.

Poetae Lat.

SS SS rer. Germ.

SS rer. Germ. N.S.

PL

Bibliothèque nationale de France Royal diplomas, MGH Diplomata or Chartes et diplömes

Arnulf

Charles II the Bald

Charles III the Fat

Charles III the Simple

Carloman II

HenryI

Conrad I

Louis IV the Child

Louis III

Lothar I

Lothar II

Louis the Pious

Louis II the Stammerer

Merovingian kings

Odo

Otto I

Kings of Provence

Raoul

Robert I

Zwentibold Recueil des actes des ducs de Normandie. Ed. Fauroux, Marie.

Jaffe/Loewenfeld: Regesta pontificum Romanorum (bis 1198), ed. Jaffe, Philipp, 2nd edition reworked by Wilhelm Wattenbach, Samuel Loewenfeld, Ferdinand Kaltenbrunner and Paul Ewald, Leipzig 1885-1889.

Monumenta Germaniae Historica

Capitularia regum Francorum

Concilia

Constitutiones et acta publica imperatorum et regum

Epistolae

Fontes iuris Germanici antiqui in usum scholarum

separatim editi

Poetae Latini medii aevi

Scriptores

Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum

separatim editi

Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, Nova series Patrologia Latina