Quierzy's Chapter

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As Kapitular of Quierzy several royal decrees are referred to in the royal palace Quierzy were enacted. The best known are from Charles the Bald , one of February 14, 857, which deals with the fight against bands of robbers, and another of June 14, 877, which regulates the administration of the empire during the absence of the emperor on his second Italian campaign . This last chapter is generally meant when Quierzy's chapter is mentioned.

situation

After he was crowned emperor on December 25, 845 and his brother Ludwig the German died on August 28, 876 , Charles the Bald was at the height of his power. But then on October 8, 876, while trying to extend the border of his sphere of influence to the Rhine , he was defeated in the battle of Andernach . In the spring of 877 he could only get the constant attacks of the Vikings under control by promising them a high tribute payment, which he could only raise through a levy in western France .

In this situation he decided to comply with the requests for help against Saracen attacks that Pope John VIII (872-882) addressed to him, but met with clear displeasure from his followers. In preparation for this Italian campaign, Karl therefore considered it appropriate to hold an imperial assembly in Quierzy in order to organize the administration of his kingdom through a capitular during his absence so that the nobility complied with his plan.

The most important points

The capitular of June 14, 877, which Charlemagne promulgated in Quierzy , mainly contained instructions to his son Ludwig the Stammler , to whom the kingdom was entrusted at that time. Not only Karl, but also the nobility mistrusted Ludwig, so it had to be ensured that the son did not make any decisions during the campaign that Karl wanted to reserve for himself. Ludwig was given regulations like a minor, he was given regents at his side - and it was made clear to him that he was not the automatic successor, as Karl had other options or expected to regulate his inheritance (Ludwig's sons were almost grown up and the queen was pregnant).

Some sections of the chapter specifically deal with the situation within the family, obviously to regulate Ludwig's behavior here as well. He was told exactly which royal palaces to visit and where to hunt which game; further provisions served to protect Ludwig's stepmother Richildis and his sisters.

In retrospect, however, the most important sections deal with the expectations of the nobility (and their protection from a regent Ludwig) and open the prospect of those who would not return alive from the Italian campaign that their fiefs , offices and benefits would be passed on to their sons (but not automatically, but through a renewed royal enfeoffment). It is expressly stated that the sub-vassals, i.e. the vassals of his counts, are included in the regulation. This part of the capitular is of fundamental importance for European constitutional history, as it is often viewed as an essential building block of feudalism : in fact, Quierzy's capitular is a document of the growing royal acceptance of the hereditary character of fiefs.

swell

  • Georg Heinrich Pertz (ed.), Capitularia regum Francorum, 1835, No. 241/242 (Capitula proposita et conventus responsa, Capitulare), p. 537ff
  • Alfred Boretius , Viktor Krause (ed.): Capitularia regum Francorum 2, 1887, reprint 1964, No. 281/282 (Conventus Cariacensis, Capitulare Cariacense, Capitula excerpta in conventu Cariacensi coram populo lecta), p. 355ff
  • Marc Bloch , The Feudal Society. Propylaea, Frankfurt am Main / Vienna 1982, ISBN 3-549-07629-0 .

literature

  • Émile Bourgeois : Le Capitulaire de Kiersy-sur-Oise (Paris, 1885),
  • L'Assemblée de Quierzy sur-Oise. In: Études d'histoire du moyen âge, dedicated to Gabriel Monod (Paris, 1896).
  • Rudolf Schieffer  : Die Karolinger (1992), p. 168
  • Bernd Schneidmüller : Quierzy. In: Lexikon des Mittelalters , Volume VII, Column 367/368
  • Brigitte Kasten : Alkuin's inheritance law expertise for Charlemagne? In: Alcuin de York à Tours. Écriture, pouvoir et réseaux dans l′Europe du Haut Moyen Âge (= Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l′ouest vol. 111, 2004), ed. v. Philippe Depreux and Bruno Judic, Rennes 2004, pp. 301–315 (on the "Capitula quae tali convenit im tempore memorari" as a preparatory document for the Quierzy chapter)