Edictum Chlotharii
The Edictum Chlotharii of 614 , also known as the Paris Edict , is a constitutional charter of the Franconian Empire , which, by granting important rights to the nobility, represents an important step in the early medieval feudalization process.
The Frankish Empire was interlocutory 567 and 612 / 613 kingdoms in the three Neustria , Burgundy and Austrasia split that of mutually related kings of the Merovingian dynasty were ruled. After the fratricidal war between the kings of Australia and Burgundy, Chlothar II , on the advice of his Neustrian nobility, saw the opportunity to meet the victorious cousin Theuderich II (a grandson of the regent Brunichild ) or after him Death 613 defeating his son Sigibert II . He succeeded in doing this, and had Brunichild and Sigibert II killed. But the Frankish nobility, who had decisively helped to make him king of the reunited empire (he also found supporters on the Australian side who renounced Brunichilde), he now had to make concessions that had been demanded at a synod in Paris and which were documented in 614 in the Edictum Chlotharii.
The most important regulation was that the counts were only allowed to officiate in the region from which they came. They also received more political rights vis-à-vis the king, who was thus deprived of the opportunity to appoint men he trusted. There was also the important office of housekeeper . Although the monarchical head of the empire was united, for each of the partial empires their own caretakers were retained, which also represented a certain weakening of the central power. After all, the royal suzerainty was confirmed in spiritual matters insofar as the decisions of Clovis I in the Council of Orléans were confirmed by 511 , after which the king was given a decisive say in the episcopal investiture.
On the aristocratic side, Pippin the Elder and Arnulf von Metz played a decisive role in drafting the edict, and their descendants, the Carolingians , were to replace the Merovingians a few generations later.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Heike Grahn-Hoek, The Franconian Upper Class in the 6th Century , Sigmaringen 1976, page 44.