Treaty of Coulaines
The Treaty of Coulaines , named after the northern French city of Coulaines , is an agreement concluded in 843 between Charles the Bald , King of the West Frankish Empire , and the nobility and clergy . Its validity is limited to this Carolingian part of the empire, but its historical significance is evident in its effects on the other empires in medieval Europe . He severely restricted the powers of the king and guaranteed rights of the nobility and clergy. As an aftermath, the king's divine right was strengthened in the West Franconian Empire as in the other empires of Europe .
Events in advance
Charles securing rule
Charles the Bald was born in 823 as the son of the second marriage of Ludwig the Pious to Judith. He was granted 829 Alemannia and 832 Aquitaine . During the uprising of his older brothers, he lost his property, as they perceived his inheritance as a breach of the ordinatio imperii . Three years after Ludwig's reinstatement in 834, he received the north-western part of the Franconian Empire . When he was of legal age in 838, he was girded and crowned with the sword, but not legally binding due to lack of anointing . In the same year Pippin I , sub-king of Aquitaine, died. Thereupon Louis the Pious assigned the rule of Aquitaine to Charles. After the death of Louis the Pious in 840, it was up to Charles to enforce his claim in Aquitaine against Pippin II , who enjoyed great support there, and his inheritance in the west of the empire against his brothers.
The Verdun Treaty
In 843 the Treaty of Verdun decided to divide the Franconian Empire into three parts between Lothar I , Ludwig II, the German and Karl, which ended the ongoing disputes over the legacy of Louis the Pious. The greats of the parts of the empire were involved in the division and tried to obtain as large a portion of the inheritance as possible, as none of the brothers could prevail in the previous disputes. Charles the Bald received the western part of the empire with Aquitaine, Septimania , the region between Loire and Seine and part of the land between the Moselle and Seine up to the Meuse . The young king had to laboriously enforce his rule, especially in Aquitaine this was difficult. There he had to assert his right of accession against the right of entry that his nephew Pippin II claimed for himself.
The Treaty of Coulaines
Emergence
Charles the Bald was on the retreat from an unsuccessful campaign against the Bretons when he was forced into a written contract by his clerical and secular followers at an imperial assembly in Coulaines near Le Mans . The leading persons remain unknown except for Warin von Mâcon , who headed the signatories. It is not known what the exact composition of the community was. It can be assumed that the gentlemen from Charles '' original '' kingdom between the Seine and Loire, the old Neustria , where the meeting took place, formed the main part. The community that claimed to represent all worldly and spiritual greats of the partial kingdom was strong enough to make him submissive. In the run-up to the treaty, they formed a covenant against the king. The treaty is the result of Karl's recognition and his accession to this alliance of the faithful. But they did not demand anything beyond measure, for a secure and stable kingdom was to be created. Their aim was to protect their interests, but overall a balance should be achieved between the contracting parties.
shape
The convenientia der fideles regulated the legal basis of Charles's rule and was supposed to renew and keep the promises made in 842 at his coronation in Aachen . Therefore, the content was recorded in a legally binding document in the form of a chapter . Here, for the first time, a treaty text was created in which the king speaks una voce . Until then, the adnuntiationes and oaths of the contracting parties were written in reciprocal speech, which should perhaps also express their equality. Because the purpose of the new formulation is to disguise the fact that Karl was forced to sign the contract. The editor of the text even compares him to Christ as head of the church, which also served this purpose, since the comparison does not do justice to the essence of the contract. Since the pluralis maiestatis is usually used in the treaty , the impression of a royal decree is created. In contrast to this, the signatures of the contracting parties are at the end of the document, which, however, are not preserved in the copy of the document. You label it as a bilateral contract and should ensure legal validity as described in the narratio , introduction, and at the end of the chapters.
content
In the narratio , the origins of the treaty with the covenant concluded in advance are reproduced: the past civil war and ongoing discord in the western part of the empire. On the other hand, the spiritual and secular fideles , the faithful, turned in a meeting ("conventus") and established a "covenant of true friendship and peaceful unity" ("pacis concordia et vera amicitia"), of negotiations with the king "over the benefit of the empire ”. In the last section of the narratio there is the expression "per benevolentiam", for the "benevolence [of the king]", which is supposed to emphasize the - in fact by no means - free will of the king. The agreements are divided into six chapters. The first three define the rights and duties of the three contracting parties, i.e. the king, the church and the lay nobility. All parties are guaranteed their honors and their own rights: first of all, the clergy, cult service, then the king, rule, and the secular faithful, legal security. The three other chapters deal with provisions relating to execution and sanctions.
Chapter 1: Aid is pledged to bishops by the determination of greats and civil servants and by the power of the king. This is not new in the matter, as church protection in the Frankish Empire was traditionally the task of the king and the nobility.
Chapter 2: Here it is stated that the rule of the king is derived in part at least from his feudal men, since he owes obedience and sincerity to his ancestors. So there is a correlation between right and duty between the king and the lay nobility. In addition, it is agreed that no covenant may be concluded against the king and this sincere contract ("hanc pactam sinceritatem"). This is obviously intended to rule out the formation of a nobility conspiracy.
Chapter 3: The principle of reciprocity between the king and the nobility becomes clearer here in the statement that the king, in addition to the word of God, must honor those who honor him ("ut a quibus honorem suscipimus, eos iuxta dictum dominicum honoremus"). For the first time, the king is no longer obliged to God alone, but the fideles now also take on a role that gives them more rights. The king is now forbidden, arbitrarily, that is, without proper court, to withdraw offices and fiefs .
Chapter 4 : This article deals with the agreements between the fideles and the king. Their content is the joint action against possible attempts that someone could use his influence on the king for personal gain. Consanguinity, house co-op and friendship alliances ("consanguinitas, familiaritas, amicitia") are named that could be abused. Chapters 5 and 6 contain further, less important individual provisions.
At the end, the content of the contract is summarized as a "covenant of salutary unity" ("foedus concordia salubris"), which should be secured, among other things, by the vigilance ("custodia") of the faithful.
interpretation
In its chapters, the treaty delimits the spheres of power of the clergy, the worldly greats and the king in the empire and at the same time places them in a legal reciprocal relationship. This consisted of the fact that Karl could only prosecute his fideles if the principles of "justice, reason and equality" ("iustitia, ratio, aequitas") were disregarded; Accordingly, they were obliged not to endanger the "office, rule and well-being" of the king ("honor, potestas, salus") and the "cohesion" ("soliditas") of the empire. A constitutional security of the young empire thus arose , in which each of the contracting parties was in a dependent relationship. Above all, Karl was obliged to uphold the rights of his followers, as his rule was based on their support. They already played a more important role in the treaties of Strasbourg and Verdun than in the previous plans for partitioning the empire of the divisio regnorum 806 and the ordinatio imperii 817. The growing influence of his loyal followers after the fratricidal war enabled him to enforce his claim to power, at least in part. In Coulaines they placed themselves on the same legal level as the king himself. From now on, power was no longer with the king alone, but was based on the alliance with his loyal followers.
Meaning and consequences
The newly created and arbitrarily delimited part of Karl's empire had to be consolidated inside in order to be able to form a unity. A decisive step in this direction was taken with the Treaty of Coulaines. In retrospect, it can be seen as the founding document of the West Franconian Empire. The boundaries of the sub-kingdom became the boundaries of different laws and this right was based on all those who were loyal to the sub-kingdom. The treaty transformed the old conception of the state into a new one with an orderly and fixed form. The new form further restricted the royal rights, since the relationships and interdependencies, and thus the rights of the individual contracting parties, were defined. This means nothing else than that the king, who previously could follow or reject the advice of the fideles at his own discretion, was now obliged to do so. The secular fideles secured their influence against the will of the king, as was previously unknown in the other sub-kingdoms. The contract stipulated the inheritance of the fiefs, as the removal of the offices could only be withdrawn due to a violation of the law.
Like his successors, Karl was bound by written commitments. Not only through the contract itself, but also through documents that were based on it. The king's legal guarantees recur again and again in the records of the West Frankish Empire. In the Synodal Acts of Meaux and Paris (845/6), all six chapters of the Treaty of Coulaines were taken over verbatim, except for one crucial change: the expression of the promise ('promittimus'), which was inserted in chapter 3. Until then, the king was not bound by any promise. In order to emphasize the promise and at the same time to demand new ones, the expression of the promise ( promissio ) was repeated at the end and should henceforth bind the kings. The legal obligation lived on and was found in the justification ( responsio ) of the king at the royal ordination of Charles in Metz . In the capitular of the imperial assembly in Quierzy 877, where Ludwig II, the Stammler , was appointed as his successor, the first chapter is taken over by Coulaines, which in turn appears in the promise formula of his coronation. The content was also used in the promises made by Karlmanns 882, Odos 888 and later coronation ordines .
Since Charles the Bald lost so much power through the treaty, he found a way to secure his remaining power, which the League of Coulaines found difficult to oppose. Charles increased the kingship with the help of Hinkmar of Reims in a sacred way and now, like the clergy, based his rule on God. The anointing, which in the imagination of that time expressed the will of God, was supposed to ensure the right to rule. Therefore, their importance was increased, which did not only affect Karl's rule. Their importance was retained and spread to the neighboring empires. While the election of a king presupposed the constant support of the great, the anointing from the secular side could not be harmed, since the king had a special position among the laity through the ordination and disregard was considered outrageous. This enabled Karl to get the clergy on his side against the nobility if they rebelled against him. The penalties of the clergy were penance and excommunication , acting against the sworn contracts as well as against the anointed king was perceived as an intolerable breach of law. The clergy argued that disregarding the anointed king was against divine destiny.
The high degree of importance of the anointing of the king consolidated and spread the general medieval concept of divine right, which is thus a result of the Treaty of Coulaines.
swell
- MGH, Conc. 3, ed. Wilfried Hartmann (The Councils of the Carolingian Sub-kingdoms 843–859), Hanover 1984, No. 3, pp. 10–17.
- MGH, Capitularia 2, No. 254, Alfred Boretius and Victor Krause (eds.), Hannover 1960, pp. 253-255.
- MGH, Scriptores, Annales Bertiniani, G. Waitz (eds.), Hannover 1883.
- German translation and interpretation by A. Krah, The emergence of the "potestas regia" in Western Franconia during the first years of the reign of Emperor Charles II (840–877), Berlin 2000, pp. 209–212.
literature
- Classen, Peter: The treaties of Verdun and of Coulaines 843 as the political basis of the West Frankish empire . In: Selected articles by Peter Classen, J. Fleckenstein (ed.), Sigmaringen 1983, pp. 249–277 [first 1963].
- Apsner, Burkhard: Contract and Consensus in the Early Middle Ages. Studies on social programs and statehood in the West Franconian Empire (Trier Historical Research 58), Trier 2006.
- Krah, Adelheid, The emergence of the "potestas regia" in western France during the first years of the reign of Emperor Charles II (840–877), Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-05-003565-X , Chapter 3: The constitutional basis: The Treaties of Verdun and Coulaines as the results of the fratricidal wars pp. 187-256.
- Magnou-Nortier, Elisabeth: Foi et Fidélité. Recherches sur l'évolution des liens personnels chez les Francs du VIIe au IXe siècle (Publications de l'université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, Series A, vol. 28), Toulouse 1957.
- Penndorf, Ursula: The problem of the “imperial unity idea” after the division of Verdun (843). Investigations on the late Carolingians (Munich Contributions to Medieval Studies and Renaissance Research, Vol. 20), Munich 1974.
- Schramm, Percy Ernst: The King of France. The essence of the monarchy from the 9th to the 16th century, a chapter from the history of the occidental state , Vol. 1, Darmstadt 1960.
- Zöllner, Erich: The political position of the peoples in the Franconian Empire (publications by the Institute for Austrian Historical Research, L. Santifaller (ed.), Vol. XIII), Vienna 1950.