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Formation of the Frankish kingdom. The formation of Frankia under Clovis

Formation of the Frankish kingdom. The formation of Frankia under Clovis

Frankish state

first major political unification in Europe of the early Middle Ages; existed at the end of the 5th - mid-9th centuries. During the period of greatest expansion it covered all of Western and part of Central Europe. The starting point in the formation of F. was the conquest in 486 by the Salic Franks (See Franks) led by Clovis I (See Clovis I) (king in 481–511) from the Merovingian clan (See Merovingians) of the last Romans. possessions in Gaul. During many years of wars, the Franks, led by Clovis, also conquered most of the possessions of the Alemanni on the Rhine (496), the lands of the Visigoths in Aquitaine (507) and the Franks living along the middle reaches of the Rhine. Under the sons of Clovis, the Burgundian king Godomar was defeated (534), and his kingdom was included in F. In 536, the Ostrogothic king Witigis abandoned Provence in favor of the Franks. In the 30s 6th century the Alpine possessions of the Alemanni and the lands of the Thuringians between the Weser and Elbe were also conquered, and in the 50s. - lands of the Bavarians on the Danube. The Merovingian power was an ephemeral political entity. It lacked not only economic and ethnic communities, but also political and judicial-administrative unity (immediately after the death of Clovis, his 4 sons divided F. among themselves, only occasionally uniting for joint campaigns of conquest). The social structure of different parts of F. was not the same. In its northern part. areas denser than other populated germany. tribes, in the 6th–7th centuries. communal relations prevailed; in the area between the Seine and Somme, on the basis of a synthesis of decaying communal and late antique institutions, a feudal structure began to take shape: the formation of large private seigneurial land ownership and feudal classes began. At the same time, in the south of Fengland, essential elements of late antique relations were preserved, with the great significance of the exploitation of slaves and colons characteristic of them. Differences in the social structure were also reflected in the characteristics government agencies administrative structure changed under the influence of Frankish institutions: the main territorial unit became the rural district, which included several hundred (See Hundred) ; in the districts and hundreds there were assemblies of free francs, which retained certain judicial and administrative rights. However, already at the end of the 6th century. and especially in the 7th century. the prerogatives of the Counts appointed by the kings expanded , to whom many judicial affairs were transferred, as well as fiscal functions and the right to command local militia; began to fade away and political role annual all-Frankish military reviews and meetings (“March fields”). The highest legislative, military and executive power was gradually concentrated in the hands of hereditary kings, who ruled with the help of royal court. Such kings headed each of the main parts of F.: Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy. In the 6th–7th centuries. they waged an incessant struggle among themselves, which was accompanied by the destruction of many members of the warring clans.

In the 7th century. in F. the nobility became noticeably stronger. At this time it included, in addition to the descendants of the German nobility, many representatives of the Gallo-Roman aristocracy. The nobility owned the surviving part of the late Roman estates, along with the slaves and coloni who served them (slavery was not abolished). In an effort to gain the support of the nobility, the kings of the Merovingian dynasty provided them with important military and administrative posts and new land grants. The increasingly stronger nobility achieved, under Clovis's great-grandson Clothar II (king of all F. in 613–629), the legalization of a number of its privileges, in particular control over local government. After the death of Clothar II's son Dagobert I (king in 629–639), which briefly stopped the growth of the autocracy of the nobility, royalty comes into complete decline. The decision of state affairs passes into the hands of the Majordomos , appointed by the king in each kingdom from representatives of the most noble families. Separate parts of F. g. - Neustria, Austrasia, Burgundy, Aquitaine - became increasingly isolated from each other.

In the 1st half of the 8th century. the political unity of F. was restored. A dominant position was achieved by a group of nobility (which included the highest aristocracy of all the Frankish kingdoms), headed by the majordomos of Austrasia, who also managed to attract to themselves the wealthy elite of ordinary freemen, which was newly emerging in the course of social stratification. The first attempt to reunite F. was made by the Austrasian majordomo Pepin of Geristal (died in 714), who achieved recognition of himself as majordomo also in Neustria and Burgundy. His son Charles Martel (majordom in 715–741), retaining the rights of majordomo in these kingdoms, again subjugated Thuringia, Alemannia and Bavaria, which had fallen away during the weakening of the Merovingian power, and restored power over Aquitaine and Provence. His victory over the Arabs at Poitiers in 732 stopped Arab expansion in the West. Europe. Authority and power allowed Charles Martel to rule without elevating the Merovingian heirs to the royal throne. The strengthening of his power was facilitated by the beneficiary reform, which established the conditional nature of land grants granted for service (see Benefices). The son of Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, with the support of Pope Zacharias, proclaimed himself king of F. g. (751), founding a new dynasty– Carolingians (See Carolingians). Following this, at the request of Pope Stephen II, Pepin the Short spoke out against the Lombards (See Lombards) , forced them to recognize the supreme power of F. and transferred the cities of the Ravenna Exarchate and the Roman region to the papacy (see Papal Region). Under Pepin, Septimania was recaptured from the Arabs (759), and power over Bavaria, Alemannia and Aquitaine was strengthened. Greatest strength F.G. reached under Pepin's son Charlemagne (See Charlemagne) (reigned 768–814). Having again defeated the Lombards, Charlemagne annexed their possessions in Italy to F. (774), conquered the lands of the Saxons (772–804), and conquered the region between the Pyrenees and the river from the Arabs. Ebro (785–811). Continuing the policy of alliance with the papacy, Charles obtained from Pope Leo III the coronation of emperor (800), which represented an attempt to restore Western Rome. empire and strengthen the power of Charlemagne over the multi-tribal population of F. The successes of the first Carolingians were largely due to the fact that their entry into the political arena coincided with a time when the bulk of the nobility needed political consolidation to subjugate the free population. In the 8th - early 9th centuries. in F., and primarily in the area between the Rhine and Loire, a “revolution in agrarian relations” took place (see K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, 2nd ed., vol. 19, p. 495): the majority of free allodists (see Allod) and their lands came under the rule of the nobility; the leading type of economy was a large estate with Domain ; The system of vassalage spread among the ruling class. Thanks to the widespread development of all these phenomena in the area between the Rhine and Loire in the 8th–9th centuries. feudal relations win. In other parts of F., the feudal structure is noticeably intensifying.

During feudalization, the vestiges of communal institutions in the political system disappeared. All-Frankish military training was finally replaced by annual reviews of the feudal cavalry troops (“May fields”). The foundations of legal relations for all segments of the population were determined by the royal Capitularies. Local power was held by counts and margraves, from whose subordination only the possessions of lords who enjoyed immunity were withdrawn. General judicial assemblies in districts and hundreds were replaced by panels of juries appointed from above. The participation of rank-and-file freemen in the militia was also limited. All this meant a further expansion of the socio-economic and political power of the nobility. In the 9th century she achieved the establishment of the actual inheritance of land holdings and positions; in its midst, tendencies towards political independence sharply intensified again. The internecine struggle is intensifying. Already the son of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious (reigned 814–840), was unable to maintain the integrity of the empire, and according to the Treaty of Verdun 843 (See Treaty of Verdun 843) it was divided into three kingdoms, whose borders anticipated France, Germany and Italy (the latter was at the beginning connected to the lands along the Rhone and Rhine). Despite the fact that the empire of Charlemagne was a fragile political entity, the sharp acceleration of feudalization processes within its framework had a beneficial effect on economic and cultural development: the development of agriculture and crafts somewhat revived, new lands were plowed, and foreign trade expanded; Among the ruling class, interest in education, literature, and secular sciences increased (see “Carolingian Renaissance”).

Lit.: Engels F., The Frankish period, Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed., vol. 19; his, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, ibid., vol. 21; Neusykhin A.I., The emergence of the dependent peasantry as a class of early feudal society in Western Europe in the 6th–8th centuries, M., 1956; Korsunsky A. R., Early education feudal state in Western Europe, M., 1963; History of France, vol. 1, M., 1972, ch. 1; Muller Mertens E., Karl der Grosse, Ludwig der Fromme und die Freien, B., 1963; Tessier G., La baptême de Clovis, P., 1964; Folz R., Le couronnement imperial de Charlemagne, P., 1964; Karl der Grosse, hrsg. von W. Braunfels, Bd 1–4, Düsseldorf, 1965–67; Epperlein S., Karl der Grosse, B., 1975.

Yu. L. Immortal.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

See what the “Frankish state” is in other dictionaries:

Francia, Frankia empire, kingdom ← ... Wikipedia

An early medieval state that arose at the end of the 5th century. on part of the territory of the former Western Roman Empire during the conquest of Gaul by the Franks led by Clovis. As a result of the conquests of Charlemagne, it included almost the entire Western and part of the Central... Historical Dictionary

Arose in the end. 5th century on part of the territory of the former Western. the Roman Empire during the conquest of Gaul by the Franks led by Clovis; included, as a result of the conquests of Charlemagne, almost the entire West. and part of the Center. Europe. The Frankish state was ruled by... Big encyclopedic Dictionary

- (lat. Regnum Francorum) political. the formation of the era of the genesis of feudalism in the West. Europe; existed in the end. 5 ser. 9th centuries During the period of greatest expansion, it covered almost the entire West. Europe and part of Central; named after the Franks, who made up... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

The most important of all, founded by the Germans at the beginning of the Middle Ages. In its history until 843, 4 periods can be distinguished: 1) until the end of the 6th century, the first half of the Merovingian era, 2) from the end of the 6th century. before the Carolingians seized power, the era of growth... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Frankish state- an early medieval state that arose at the end of the 5th century. on part of the territory of the former Western Roman Empire during the conquest of Gaul by the Franks led by Clovis. As a result of the conquests of Charlemagne, it included almost the entire Western and part of the Central... Encyclopedic Dictionary " The World History»

It arose at the end of the 5th century. on part of the territory of the former Western Roman Empire during the conquest of Gaul by the Franks led by Clovis I; included, as a result of the conquests of Charlemagne, almost all of Western and part of Central Europe. In Frankish... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Frankish state- early feudal state, which arose in the end. 5th century during the conquests Franks of Gaul and included, as a result of the campaigns of Charlemagne, part of Italy, Germany, Spain and certain Slavic lands. The initial stage in the formation of F. was... ... Ancient world. encyclopedic Dictionary

Frankish state under the Merovingians- Origin of the Franks. Formation of the Frankish Kingdom of B historical monuments the name of the Franks appeared starting in the 3rd century, and Roman writers called many Germanic tribes that bore different names Franks. Apparently the Franks... The World History. Encyclopedia

A typical example of an early feudal monarchy was Frankish state, states in Western and Central Europe from the 5th to the 9th centuries. It was formed on the territory of the Western Roman Empire simultaneously with other barbarian kingdoms. This territory has been inhabited by the Franks since the 3rd century. Due to the continuous military campaigns of the mayor of the Franks - Charles Martella, his son - Pepin the Short, as well as grandson - Charlemagne, the territory of the Frankish empire reached its largest size by the beginning of the 9th century.

The Kingdom of the Franks lasted much longer than all the other barbarian states of continental Europe. Two and a half centuries later, having reached Charlemagne its highest power and its maximum territorial extent. Frankish Empire was the ancestral home of a number of modern Western European states - France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, etc.

The rapid formation of the Frankish state in the form early feudal monarchy contributed to the victorious wars and class differentiation of Frankish society. Since the Frankish state entered the era of feudalism in the process of decomposition of the primitive communal system, bypassing the stage of slavery in its development, elements of the old communal organization and tribal democracy still remained in it. The society was characterized multi-structure(a combination of slaveholding, tribal, communal, feudal relations) and the incompleteness of the process of creating basic classes of feudal society.

The genesis of feudalism among the Franks

The processes of feudalization among the Franks are developing during the wars of conquest of the 6th - 7th centuries. The right to dispose of the conquered land in Northern Gaul is concentrated in the hands of the king. Serving nobility and royal warriors, bound by vassalage to the king, became large owners of lands, livestock, slaves, and colones (small tenants of land). The nobility was replenished by the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, which went into the service of the Frankish kings. The development of feudal relations accelerated due to the clash between the communal orders of the Franks and the private property orders of the Gallo-Romans.

In the middle of the 7th century. in Northern Gaul begins to take shape feudal estate with its characteristic division of land into master's and peasant's. The royal land fund was reduced due to the distribution of land by kings to their vassals. The growth of large landholdings was accompanied by infighting among landowners, which showed the fragility of the Merovingian kingdom. During this period, state power was concentrated in the hands of the nobility, who seized all the main positions and, above all, the post of mayor. Mayordom under the Merovingians he was the highest official. Initially, he was appointed by the king and headed the palace administration.

With the weakening of royal power, his powers expand, and the mayor becomes the actual head states. At the turn of the 7th–8th centuries, this position became the hereditary property of a noble and wealthy family, which laid the foundation for the Carolingian dynasty.

Period of the Merovingian monarchy (VI-VII centuries)

Leader of the Western (Salic) Franks tribe Clovis from the family of Merovey, he defeated the Romans at the Battle of Soissons and subjugated Northern Gaul (486). He and his squad converted to Christianity according to the papal rite (496). The Merovingians had two goals:

elimination of tribal separatism, unification of all parts of the state;
the elimination of old forms of government, the subordination of the country, divided into territorial districts, to royal officials and judges.

The legal code of the Salic Franks was Salic truth . The land, previously considered the property of the clan, turned into allodium - property of a specific family (late VT century). Allod could be bequeathed, sold, bought.

The head of state was king. His government consisted of: the first councilor of the kingdom ( majordomo); legal adviser to the king (palace count); manager of the office (referendar); commander of the royal cavalry (marshal). The king's lieutenants in a certain district (counts) were judges and tax collectors.

After the death of Clovis, internecine wars began, as a result of which the kings were almost completely removed from governing the country. The period is coming "lazy kings" . The actual head of state becomes the major.

Mayordom Charles Martell carried out reforms. Having confiscated part of the church and monastery lands, he began to distribute them as benefices - grants of land under the condition of performing military service and performing certain duties. As a result, a standing army was created. This is how the connection began to develop: the king ( senor) and the beneficiary subordinate to him ( vassal).

Period of the Carolingian monarchy (8th century - first half of the 9th century)

The transfer of royal power to the Carolingians was ensured by successes Charles Martella , who was the mayor of the Frankish state in 715 - 741. He restored the political unity of the kingdom and actually concentrated the supreme power in his hands. The lands confiscated from rebellious magnates and monasteries, together with the peasants who lived on them, are transferred to them for conditional lifelong tenure - benefice .

Beneficiary - beneficiary holder - was obliged to perform service, mainly military, sometimes administrative, in favor of the person who awarded the land. Refusal to serve or treason against the king was deprived of the right to an award. The reform led to the growth of feudal land ownership and increased enslavement of peasants, and also gave impetus to education vassalage systems - feudal hierarchical ladder, a special system of subordination: contractual relations were established between the beneficiary (vassal) and the person who handed over the land (seigneur).

Charlemagne (768 - 814)

Son of Charles Martel Pepin the Short was proclaimed king of the Franks (751). With his son Charlemagne The Frankish kingdom reaches its peak (768-814). He takes the title emperor(800). The territory of the state grew due to conquests. Italy (774), Bavaria (788), northeastern Spain (801), Saxony (804) were annexed, and the Avar Khaganate in Pannonia was defeated (796-803).

Under Charlemagne, the traditions of ancient culture are being revived. Schools for boys are opened, and an Academy is established in Aachen. The Romanesque style in architecture is being formed.

At the head of the state was the king - the supreme overlord of all feudal lords. The vassals of the first level were large secular and spiritual feudal lords: dukes, counts, princes, archbishops, bishops. Vassals of the second level are barons. The knights (petty nobles) did not have their own vassals; they were directly subordinate to the peasants, to whom they gave the land to hold.

The peasant paid rent to the landowner. Forms of rent: labor (corvée), food, cash.

The basis of vassalage was the allotment fief- hereditary land property, which was given under the condition of military service, military or monetary assistance and loyalty to one’s overlord.

Collapse of the Frankish Empire

The grandchildren of Charlemagne, according to the Treaty of Verdun, divided the empire into three parts (843).

Senior - Lothair received possession of Italy, Burgundy and Lorraine - lands along the river. Rhine.
Second - Louis the German- land beyond the river Rhine (Saxony, Bavaria).
Third - Karl Baldy- lands of the Frankish kingdom itself.

The Treaty of Verdun marked the beginning of the formation of three future European countries - France, Germany, Italy. The Carolingian dynasty had five branches:

Lombard, founded by Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne. After his death his son Bernard ruled Italy as king. His descendants settled in France, where they had the titles of counts of Valois, Vermandois, Amiens, and Troyes.
Lorraine descended from Emperor Lothair, the eldest son of Louis the Pious. With his death, the Middle Kingdom was divided among his sons, who received Italy, Lorraine and Lower Burgundy. Since the new rulers had no sons left, in 875 their lands were divided between the German and French branches.
Aquitaine, founded by Pepin of Aquitaine, son of Louis the Pious. Since he died before his father, Aquitaine went not to the sons of Pepin, but to his younger brother Charles the Tolstoy. The sons left no descendants, and in 864 the dynasty died out.
German descended from Louis the German, ruler of the East Frankish kingdom, son of Louis the Pious. He divided his possessions between his three sons, who received the duchies of Bavaria, Saxony and Swabia. His youngest son Karl Tolstoy briefly reunited the western and eastern kingdoms of the Franks, which were finally separated with his death.
French- descendants of Charles the Bald, son of Louis the Pious. They owned the West Frankish kingdom, the reign of the dynasty was interrupted after the death of Karl Tolstoy and during the usurpation of the throne by the Robertines (twice) and the Bosonids. After the death of Louis V in 987, representatives of the French branch of the Carolingians lost the royal throne.

With the collapse of the Frankish Empire in Europe, a period began feudal fragmentation . With the growth of feudal land ownership, individual lords, large landowners, received privileges - immunity , which consisted in possessing the rights of military, judicial and financial power over the peasants living on their lands. The estates of the feudal lord who received the king's immunity letter were not subject to the activities of government officials, and all state powers were transferred to the owner of the estate. In the processes of establishing the power of large landowners over peasants in Western Europe,

Plan

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Age of the Merovingians

1.1 Franks

1.2 The emergence of a state among the Franks

1.3 Clovis I

1.4 Clovis I's adoption of Christianity

1.5 Social order

1.6 Political system

1.7 End of the Merovingian era

Chapter 2. The Carolingian era

2.1 Reform of Charles Martel

2.2 Charlemagne

2.3 Government system

2.4 Social order

2.5 Collapse of the state

Chapter 3. Right

3.1 Salic truth

3.2 Ownership

3.3 Law of obligations

3.4 Family law

3.5 Inheritance law

3.6 System of crimes and punishments

3.7 Judicial system

3.8 Process

Conclusion

Introduction

The Frankish state that emerged from the ruins of the Western Roman Empire was one of the largest in early medieval Europe. At its apogee it covered the entire territory modern France, Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as a number of regions of the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The Frankish state went through two main periods in its development (from the end of the 5th to the 7th century and from the 8th to the mid-9th century). The boundary separating these periods is characterized not only by a change of ruling dynasties (the Merovingians were replaced by the Carolingians). It marked the beginning of a new stage in the deep socio-economic and political restructuring of Frankish society, during which the feudal state itself gradually took shape in the form of a seigneurial monarchy.

In the second period, the creation of large feudal land ownership, two main classes of feudal society was basically completed: a closed, hierarchically subordinate class of feudal lords, bound by vassal-feudal bonds, on the one hand, and the dependent peasantry exploited by it, on the other. The relative centralization of the early feudal state is replaced by feudal fragmentation.

In this course work the main periods of the existence of the Frankish state will be considered - the emergence, flourishing, collapse; Attention will be drawn to the important importance of individual personalities of the ruling dynasties; a description will be given of the main legal source of the Salic francs - “Salic truth” and individual branches of law.

CHAPTER 1 THE MEROVINGIAN AGE

1.1 Franks

The union of Germanic tribes with a common name - the Franks - formed in the 3rd century AD. on the northeastern borders of Gaul, a province of the Roman Empire. The name Frank (“brave”, “free”, “free”) appears only in the middle of the 3rd century. Relations between the Franks and the Romans were quite friendly. At the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (451), the Franks fought on the side of the Romans as foederati. The Franks were divided into two large groups: the Ripuarian Franks, whose capital was the Roman city of Colonia, and the Salic Franks, the latter ruled by the Sicambrian family of the Merovingians. The most powerful were the Salic Franks. They first subjugated the coastal Franks, and this was their first step in conquering new lands.

The Franks, who settled in northern Gaul, in the Loire basin, spoke the Frankish dialect. But since the large indigenous population, consisting of Romanized Gauls, Visigoths and Burgundians, spoke Latin, the Franks gradually adopted this language. Compound Latin language and the Frankish dialect served as the basis for the formation of the Old French language.

The Franks had a primitive writing system. They knew the runic letter, which was used by almost all barbarians.

1.2 The emergence of a state among the Franks

For Gaul, the fifth century was a time of profound socio-economic transformations. In this richest province of Rome (territory almost coinciding with present-day France), the deep crisis that engulfed the empire found its manifestation. The protests of slaves, colonists, peasants, and the urban poor became more frequent. Rome could no longer defend its borders from invasions of foreign tribes and, above all, the Germans - the eastern neighbors of Gaul. As a result, most of the country was captured by the Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks (Salic and Ripuarian) and some other tribes. Of these Germanic tribes, the Salic Franks eventually turned out to be the most powerful (perhaps from Sala this was the name in ancient times for one of the rivers of what is now Holland). It took them a little more than 20 years to at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th century. take over most of the country.

The emergence of a class society among the Franks, which had begun to emerge even before they moved to their new homeland, sharply accelerated during the conquest of Gaul.

Each new campaign increased the wealth of the Frankish military-tribal nobility. When dividing up the spoils of war, she received the best lands, a significant number of colones, cattle, etc. The nobility rose above the ordinary Franks, although the latter continued to remain personally free and did not even initially experience increased economic oppression. They settled in their new homeland in rural communities (marks). The mark was considered the owner of all the land of the community, which included forests, wastelands, meadows, and arable lands. The latter were divided into plots, and quite quickly passed into the hereditary use of individual families.

The Gallo-Romans found themselves in the position of a dependent population, several times larger in number than the Franks. At the same time, the Gallo-Roman aristocracy partially retained its wealth. The unity of class interests marked the beginning of a gradual rapprochement between the Frankish and Gallo-Roman nobility, with the former becoming dominant. And this especially made itself felt during the formation of a new government, with the help of which it would be possible to maintain the captured country in one’s hands, to keep colonists and slaves in obedience. The previous tribal organization could not provide the necessary forces and means for this. The institutions of the tribal system begin to give way to a new organization with a military leader - the king and a squad personally devoted to him at the head. The king and his entourage actually decide the most important issues in the life of the country, although popular assemblies and some other institutions of the former Frankish system still remain. A new “public power” is being formed, which no longer coincides directly with the population. It consists not only of armed people who are independent of ordinary free people, but also of compulsory institutions of all kinds, which did not exist under the tribal system. The approval of the new public authority was associated with the introduction of territorial division of the population. The lands inhabited by the Franks began to be divided into "pagi" (districts), consisting of smaller units - "hundreds". The administration of the population living in pagas and hundreds is entrusted to special trustees of the king. In the southern regions of Gaul, where the former population many times prevailed at first, the Roman administrative-territorial division is preserved. But here, too, the appointment of officials depends on the king.

The emergence of a state among the Franks is associated with the name of one of their military leaders - Clovis (486-511) from the Merovingian clan. Under his leadership the main part of Gaul was conquered. Clovis's far-sighted political step was the adoption of Christianity by him and his squad according to the Catholic model. By this, he secured the support of the Gallo-Roman nobility and the dominant Catholic Church in Gaul.

1.3 Clovis I

The years of life of Clovis I are 466-511. The young king of the Salic Franks from the family of the semi-legendary Merovei quickly realized the doom of the state of Syagria (the last Roman governor) - the last fragment of the Western Roman Empire, which did not even formally exist after 476 - and went to war against it together with other Frankish kings, his relatives. At the Battle of Soissons (486), the Gallo-Romans were defeated; Syagrius fled to Toulouse to the Visigoth king Alaric II, but was handed over to Clovis and executed.

At this time he was about 19 years old. This victory was the beginning of a whole series of military triumphs for the Salic Franks. They defeat the Burgundians, defeat the army of the largest state of that time - the Visigothic kingdom, subjugate the Ripuarian Franks (middle reaches of the Rhine), and prevail over the Alemanni. In the future, Clovis will take possession of most of Gaul.

This is how the rich region of Roman Gaul with Paris fell into the hands of the Franks. Occupying it, Clovis acted like a businessman: personally, still remaining a pagan, he tried from the very first steps to establish good relations with the rulers of the cities, the Catholic bishops. A textbook example of this is the episode with the Soissons Cup. After the victory at Soissons, among the captured booty was a cup from Reims Cathedral, which Archbishop St. Remigius and asked to return it to him, Clovis immediately agreed, but the problem was that what was captured was subject to division among all the soldiers. The king tried to exclude the cup from this section by asking the army to give it to him over and above his share. But among the warriors there was one staunch defender of the norms of military democracy, who cut the cup with the sword with the words: “You will not receive anything more than what you get by lot.” Clovis could only hand over the fragments of the sacred vessel to the prelate's envoy. He knew how to control himself and understood the formal correctness of the daredevil, but he could not forget such a challenge. When, after a goal, he had the opportunity to conduct another review of his army, the king found fault with the supposedly poor state of this warrior’s weapons and personally cut off his head, saying publicly: “That’s what you did with the cup in Soissons!” This had an effect, they began to fear the king. The clergy quickly appreciated the good will of the young monarch, and St. Remigius acknowledged his authority in writing as administrator of the Roman province.

Clovis's physical elimination of all his relatives, as possible rivals in the struggle for power, became widely known. Bloody feuds in royal families have been common among the Germans for a long time. Clovis gave them an unprecedented scale, including treachery, treachery, and murder in the arsenal of means of his internal political struggle. Clovis's services to the church were great; as the baptist of his country, His wife, Queen Clotilde, received the halo of holiness. But Clovis was not canonized, and the reason for this was the character of the king, pragmatic to the point of cynicism. Baptism was not associated with a moral revolution for him. Clovis saw the adoption of Christianity, first of all, as a practical benefit, and having already become a Christian, without any remorse, he carried out his plans for reprisals against all the kings and relatives. He set his son against the king of the Ripuarian Franks, Sigebert, who ruled in Cologne, and when he, at his instigations, got rid of his parent, Clovis' envoys killed him; Clovis annexed Sigebert's lands to his possessions, declaring his innocence in everything that happened. On other occasions he resorted to military force. So, he captured one of the kings of the Salic Franks, Hararic, with his son and forcibly cut off their hair, declaring the father a priest and the son a deacon, but then still considered this insufficient and executed both. King Ragnahar, who ruled in Cambrai, after a short war, was betrayed to Clovis by bribed traitors and killed by him personally. Combining strength with treachery, Clovis destroyed other kings related to him. The news reported by Gregory of Tours is colorful. “Having once gathered his own, he... They say that he remembered with regret the relatives whom he himself had destroyed: “Woe is me, I am left as a wanderer in a foreign land and have no relatives who could help me in case of misfortune!” But this did not mean that he was saddened by their death, but said so out of cunning, hoping to find out if anyone was still alive in order to kill every last one.”

1.4 Clovis's adoption of Christianity

The most important event of Clovis's reign was his baptism. This was preceded by the king's marriage to the Burgundian princess Clotilde, a devout Catholic, although the official religion of the Burgundian dynasty was Arianism. Clotilde immediately began to convince her husband to be baptized. Clovis waited for the new god to show what his strength was worth. The hesitation ended when the king, turning to Christ for help, won an important victory for him over the Alemanni. It was then, on December 25, 496, that the baptism of the king of the Franks with a 3,000-strong retinue took place in Reims at the hands of St. Remigration.

What was important was that Clovis accepted Christianity in its orthodox form. Previously, the baptized Germanic peoples (Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, etc.) preferred Arianism. The orthodox, Nicene religion was perceived by them as the official religion of imperial Rome, and since their states arose in heavily Romanized territories, the kings instinctively feared that their people would “dissolve” in an alien and powerful civilization. Clovis felt that these fears were unfounded, and the configuration of his possessions was such that it provided the possibility of a constant influx of new forces from the Germanic world. The decision he made created the precondition for Romano-Germanic cultural unity and synthesis, and this is the merit of the Frankish monarch to European culture.

But the direct political benefits of baptism soon became obvious. Clovis became the natural protector of all faithful Christians of Southern Gaul, who were under the rule of the Arian monarchs of the Visigothic kingdom. He used this as an excellent reason to start a war of conquest, which took on the character of “ crusade” (507). Accompanied by miraculous signs, the Frankish army crossed the Loire and defeated the Visigoths, and Clovis himself defeated Alaric II in single combat. The Visigoths were expelled beyond the Pyrenees, Aquitaine became Frankish. The international prestige of the young state immediately increased. He was noticed in distant Constantinople, Emperor Anastasius sent ambassadors to Clovis (508), announcing the elevation of the new coreligionist of the Byzantine monarch to the dignity of consul, Clovis began to travel everywhere in the consular attire brought to him; he added a diadem to it, clearly showing that he interpreted this act as recognition of his complete supremacy over Gaul; it was not for nothing that he began to be called not only consul, but also Augustus. For the Christian population of the country, this meant additional confirmation of the legitimacy of Frankish power.

1.5 Social order

The bulk of the population of the Frankish state during the era of its formation were free Franks and Gallo-Romans. Below them on the social ladder stood litas, freedmen and slaves. The Salic Franks did not have a clan nobility during the Merovingian dynasty, but very quickly a service nobility emerged from among the royal warriors and trusted servants endowed with large land holdings.

In the VI century. Important changes took place in the socio-economic structure of the Frankish state: the scale of slavery was further reduced, and the role of rent exploitation of small landowners sharply increased. In the social elite, the place of the slave-owning layers was increasingly occupied by landowning and serving nobility of different ethnic origins; among the exploited population, the proportion of small free owners and semi-dependent land holders increased.

The founding of a number of new German settlements had a significant impact on the change in the social system. True, the proportion of newly settled Germans among the local (Gallo-Roman or Romanized Germanic) population was very small - in general they amounted to no more than 5%. But certain areas - the lower reaches of the Rhine and Meuse, the left bank of the Middle Rhine - were populated by them quite compactly.

Possessing the rights and responsibilities of members of barbarian society, the Franks participated in the military militia, were present at meetings of the “hundred” - the lowest territorial-tribal administrative unit, ensured the implementation of court decisions, elected judges, enjoyed the right to a share of war booty, etc. The Frankish nobility opposed the rank and file freemen. In the VI century. its dominance was not yet based on the industrial exploitation of ordinary free people, but on the occupation of important government positions, military spoils, from the middle of the 6th century. - after the appearance of large estates among the Frankish nobility - and on the exploitation of foreign slaves and dependents. Social differentiation in Frankish society of the 6th century. did not, therefore, reach a class split; it was limited to early class forms.

Social relations of the same type existed in the 6th century. and in the settlements created by the Ripuarian Franks and Alemanni. Although the area of dominance of these relations as a whole was very small, they introduced their own specificity into the social structure of the Frankish state, increased its internal heterogeneity, and contributed to the disintegration of late antique orders. As a result social order Frankish state for most of the 6th century. was distinguished by a bizarre combination of deformed features of the late antique system, elements of a decaying tribal society, as well as some “proto-feudal” phenomena in its essence.

Salic truth consolidated the following social structure of Frankish society: secular feudal lords represented by the new service aristocracy; clergy; free Franks - peasants (the bulk of the country's population), litas - semi-free, Gallo-Romans, slaves.

The Free Franks were engaged in agriculture and lived in a neighboring community - a mark. They formed the basis of social organization. The general meeting of full members of the community decided the most important issues. Only it could, with the consent of all members of the community, accept a new resident of the village; also, by order of the king, anyone could settle on communal lands.

The arable land was the collective property of the mark. The entire peasant community as a whole retained the supreme rights to this land, but it was no longer redistributed, but was in the hereditary use of each individual peasant. The Frank could not alienate his allotment; in the event of his death, the land passed to his sons. Arable land was considered possession, not property. Forests, meadows, and pastures for livestock were in common use. The community was responsible for murder on its territory. Relatives were obliged to pay a fine for the offenses of their relatives. The Franks were annually called upon to participate in training camps called “March fields.” The king reviewed the militia.

The personal property of a Frank peasant in those days usually consisted of a house, livestock, and a plot of land. The rest of the land was allocated with farmsteads. Such household use included arable land and vineyards; sometimes meadows and forests. A wealthy family had slaves and semi-free litas as servants and artisans. Among them, the Salic truth mentions a blacksmith, a groom, a swineherd, and a winegrower.

It should be borne in mind that the Salic truth in articles about the community already records new social connections: the clan community, based on blood kinship, is replaced by a neighboring community (mark). The community-mark was the basis of the economic and social organization of Frankish society.

Staying in a mark community was not an obligation: its member could leave the community through the so-called renunciation of kinship. To do this, it was necessary at a court hearing to break three branches measuring an cubit over your head, scatter them in four directions and say that you renounce partnership, inheritance and the help of relatives title X. Leaving the community by renouncing kinship was beneficial to the richest and most powerful people. The stratification of free francs into poor and rich is also indicated by the title “About a Handful of Land,” titles about debt and methods of repaying it, about loans and their collection from the debtor, and others.

The decrees (capitularies) of the kings of the 6th century, which supplemented the Salic Truth and characterized the process of class stratification of Frankish society, already spoke of the land-poor Franks, large landowners owning estates in different places and of ruined people who were no longer able to pay fines and were wandering around the country. The reasons for the ruin were obvious: the severity of military service, separation from the economy, onerous taxes, widespread in the 6th century. and on free francs and causing a number of unrest, unaffordable fines for various types of offenses.

Salic truth contains a provision on allods - plots of land belonging to their owners as private property. Every year there were more and more allods. A layer of new service nobility appeared in the kingdom, whose representatives received lands from the king on the right of allod. Clovis also appropriated vast lands of the former Roman imperial fiscus. His successors gradually seized all the free lands, which at first were considered the property of the entire people. From this fund, the Frankish kings distributed land grants to their confidants and the church on the right of private property. . This nobility gradually turned into large landowners - feudal lords. The king's associates, his officials (counts), and his warriors (antrustions) became major owners. Salic truth sets them apart from the rest of the Franks, especially protecting their lives with a triple wargeld (a fine of 600 solids. At that time, the cost of a cow was 3 solids for murder) and creating from them, along with the clergy, a privileged class of the serving aristocracy.

The formation of private land ownership (allod) was supposed to subsequently lead to the widespread development of large-scale land ownership. The expansion of privately owned lands threatened the very existence of the community.

As already indicated, communal ownership of arable land, meadows and forests was combined among the Franks with individual (family) ownership of a house, plot of land, livestock, household utensils, and agricultural implements. These Frankish communities coexisted with the private land ownership of the Gallo-Romans, preserved from the times of the Western Roman Empire, and the allods that appeared among the serving feudal aristocracy and the church. However, coexistence did not last long. Communal ownership of the Franks in a large part of the country gave way to allod. At the same time, there was a process of gradual establishment of dependence on the secular and spiritual feudal lords of the free peasant population. This process took place in the 7th - 8th centuries. in various forms: in the form of giving a free person under the protection of large feudal lords (commendation) The fact is that at the end of the 6th century. A royal decree appeared, according to which communal peasants received, with the permission of the community, ownership of their hereditary land plots, which had previously been outside of civil circulation. ; debt bondage; by settling ruined free people on the land of the feudal lord under the condition of fulfilling the corresponding duties in favor of the large landowner. At the same time, the practice of so-called precaries is becoming widespread, both when a landless person receives a plot of land from a feudal lord for lifelong (and sometimes hereditary) use, and during commendation, when a peasant transfers his allod into ownership of the feudal lord and receives this land back with the obligation to pay quitrent (qualification) and perform corvée work.

Simultaneously with the growth of large landownership and the enslavement of the peasantry, there was a process of strengthening the personal power of large magnates by granting them so-called immunities (royal immunity letters), as a result of which the feudal nobility received the right within their possessions to carry out administrative, judicial, police, and military duties within certain limits and fiscal functions.

It is necessary to note the growth of church land ownership, as a result of which church magnates - bishops and abbots of large monasteries - were not inferior to secular magnates in their influence, privileges and power.

The landowning nobility began to occupy a dominant position in both the central and local government of the kingdom. The role and importance of the congress of secular and spiritual nobility is increasing, without whose consent the king could not accept any important decision. In the Frankish state there is a process of decentralization, which is accompanied by internecine wars.

1.6 Government system

In the processes of formation and development of the state apparatus of the Franks, three main directions can be identified. The first direction, especially characteristic of initial stage(V-VII centuries), manifested itself in the degeneration of the bodies of tribal democracy of the Franks into bodies of new, public power, into state bodies proper. The second was determined by the development of the bodies of patrimonial administration, the third was associated with the gradual transformation of the state power of the Frankish monarchs into the “private” power of the lord-sovereigns with the formation of the seigneurial monarchy, which was fully revealed at the final stage of the development of Frankish society (VIII-IX centuries). .

The conquest of Gaul served as a powerful impetus for the creation of a new state apparatus among the Franks, for it required the organization of administration of the conquered regions and their protection. Clovis was the first Frankish king to assert his exclusive position as sole ruler. From a simple military leader, he turns into a monarch, achieving this position by all means: treachery, cunning, destruction of relatives, other tribal leaders. One of the most important political actions of Clovis, which strengthened the position of the Frankish state through the support of the Gallo-Roman clergy, was the adoption of Christianity.

With the adoption of Christianity by Clovis, the church became a powerful factor in strengthening royal power. It was the church that gave into the hands of the Frankish kings such a justification for wars of conquest as a reference to the “true faith”, the unification in faith of many peoples under the auspices of a single king as the supreme, not only secular, but also spiritual head of their peoples.

The gradual transition of the Gallic elite to the Christian faith also becomes an important historical factor in the unification of Gaul and the development of a special regional feudal-Christian, Western European (Romano-Germanic) civilization.

After Clovis exterminated the clan aristocracy that competed with him, his closest support was not only the Frankish serving nobility. The latter was still very small: the number of “leudas” - warriors, the term leudes is close to fideles “faithful”, baptized along with Clovis, was only 3000. The Merovingians retained the Roman monetary tax system and Roman law (for the Gallo-Roman population).

Socio-economic, religious-ideological, ethnographic and other changes in Gallic society had a direct impact on the processes of formation and development of specific features of the state apparatus of the Frankish empire, which absorbed in the 8th-9th centuries. most barbarian states Western Europe. Already in the 5th century. Among the Franks, the place of the old clan community is finally replaced by a territorial community (mark), and with it a territorial division into districts (pagi), hundreds. Salic truth already speaks of the existence of officials of the kingdom: counts, satsebarons, etc. At the same time, it testifies to the significant role of communal government bodies. At this time the Franks no longer had a general tribal people's assembly. It was replaced by a review of the troops - first in March ("March fields"), then (under the Carolingians) in May ("May fields"). But local assemblies of hundreds ("malus") continued to exist, performing judicial functions under the chairmanship of the Tungins, who, together with the Rakhinburgs, experts in law ("passing judgment"), were representatives of the community.

The role of the community in court cases was exceptionally great. The community was responsible for a murder committed on its territory, nominated co-jurors who testified to the good name of its member; The relatives themselves brought their relative to court, and together with him they paid the wergeld.

The king was recognized as the bearer of supreme power. His title was inherited, so that all the Frankish kings of the 6th - early 8th centuries. belonged to the direct descendants of Clovis. The most important state prerogatives were concentrated in the hands of the king. He commanded a military militia, using not only Germans, but also free Gallo-Romans. He appointed - "on the advice and will of bishops and nobles" - and removed all senior officials, rewarding them for their service with chain gifts or land grants. In the VI-VII centuries. these awards became the full property of the new owners.

The king acted, first of all, as a “guardian of peace”, as an executor of judicial decisions of the community. His counts and social lords performed mainly police and fiscal functions. Salic truth provided for punishment for royal officials who refused to accede to the demand of a free man and to exercise power against offenders. At the same time, protecting to a certain extent the independence of the community on the part of royal officials, the Salic truth prohibited, for example, more than three social barons from appearing at one community meeting.

Royal instructions, according to Salic truth, concern a small range of state affairs - conscription into the army, summons to court. But Salic truth also testifies to the strengthening of the power of kings. Thus, for example, the performance of royal service justifies the failure of the accused to appear in the community court. Moreover, the king directly interferes with the internal affairs of the community, with its land relations, and allows a stranger to settle on communal land.

In the VI-VII centuries. under the direct influence of the late Roman order, the legislative powers of kings are strengthened, and the capitularies, not without the influence of the church, already speak of the sacred nature of royal power and the unlimited nature of its legislative powers. It is significant that the concept of treason against the king, classified as a serious crime, also appears there.

However, the king at this time is primarily a military leader, a military commander, whose main concern is “order” in the kingdom, pacifying the local nobility that goes out of obedience. The limited royal functions were also associated with the absence of effectively functioning central administration bodies, the treasury, and independent royal courts with appellate functions.

The central governing body was the royal court. It was here that the king held council with his entourage. From the end of the 6th century. The mayordomo (“house lord”) began to play an increasingly important role in this council. Initially, he managed only the palace economy, but gradually became the main administrative person of the kingdom. In addition to the palace council, state affairs were discussed on the March fields. Representing annual reviews of the general military militia in the time of Clovis - a relic of tribal meetings of the era of military democracy - the “March fields” turn into the 7th century. into the meetings of the serving nobility of different ethnic origins. Here the decisions outlined at meetings of the royal entourage were approved. The power of the Frankish kings increasingly expressed, thus, the interests of the aristocratic elite of society, which now included both secular magnates and the highest clergy; both Germans and Gallo-Romans.

The emerging state apparatus is also characterized by extreme amorphousness, the absence of clearly demarcated official powers, subordination, and organization of office work. Threads government controlled concentrated in the hands of royal servants and associates. Among them are the palace count, referendarium, and chamberlain. The palace count primarily performs judicial functions, directs legal battles, and oversees the execution of sentences. The referendar (speaker), keeper of the royal seal, is in charge of royal documents, draws up acts, orders of the king, etc. The chamberlain monitors receipts in the royal treasury and the safety of the palace property.

In the VI-VII centuries. The chief manager of the royal palace, and then the head of the royal administration, was the chamber mayor, or mayor, whose power was strengthened in every possible way in the conditions of the incessant campaigns of the king, who ruled his territories “from the saddle.”

Formation local authorities power occurs at this time under the significant influence of late Roman orders. The Merovingian counts begin to rule the districts as Roman governors. They have police, military and judicial functions. In the capitularies, Tungin is almost never mentioned as a judge. The concepts of “count” and “judge” become unambiguous, their appointment falls within the exclusive competence of the royal power.

At the same time, the newly emerging bodies of the state apparatus of the Franks, copying some late Roman state orders, had a different character and social purpose. These were authorities that expressed the interests primarily of the German service nobility and large Gallo-Roman landowners. They were built on different organizational foundations. For example, they were widely used in public service the king's warriors. Initially consisting of a royal military detachment of free Franks, the squad, and consequently the state apparatus, was subsequently replenished not only by Romanized Gauls, who were distinguished by their education and knowledge of local law, but also by slaves and freedmen who made up the royal court staff. All of them were interested in strengthening royal power, in destroying the old tribal separatism, in strengthening new orders that promised them enrichment and social prestige.

Among the sources of state revenue in the 6th - early 7th centuries. Land and poll taxes, preserved from Roman times, played an important role. They were now levied not only on the Gallo-Romans, but also on the Germans. Although tax rates were increased more than once, tax revenue was not enough, especially since kings began to grant tax immunities to many churches, monasteries and other large landowners. From the middle of the 7th century. The place of tax revenues in the royal budget began to gradually be taken by emergency levies, court fines, trade duties, and income from royal estates. The irregularity of most of these sources of income undermined the treasury and made it difficult to reward the royal retainers; arbitrariness in the collection of fines, duties, etc. increased the discontent of the population. At the same time, the fund of land holdings, through which the serving nobility was allocated land, was also declining. The only way to ensure the loyalty of the nobles, all that remained was to grant them new privileges: the exclusion of themselves and their possessions from subordination to the county court, the transfer to them of the right to collect judicial fines, exemption from the obligation to place militia at the disposal of the kings, the promise “not to remove” them from their positions, the expansion of tax exemptions. Some of these privileges were secured by the edict of Chlothar II in 614, others were recorded in immunity charters of the mid-7th century. The Edict of 614 gave the nobility the opportunity to control the appointment of counts, who could henceforth be selected only from local landowners.

In the second half of the 7th century. A new system of political domination and management is emerging, a kind of “democracy of the nobility,” which presupposes the direct participation of the top of the emerging class of feudal lords in governing the state.

The expansion of the participation of the feudalizing nobility in government, the "seignorization" of government positions led to the loss of the relative independence of the royal power that it had previously enjoyed. This did not happen immediately, but precisely during the period when large landholdings had already acquired significant dimensions. At that time great power appropriates the previously created Royal Council, consisting of representatives of the serving nobility and the highest clergy. Without the consent of the Council, the king actually could not make a single serious decision. The nobility are gradually being given key positions in management not only in the center, but also locally. Along with the weakening of the power of kings, counts, dukes, bishops, and abbots, who became large landowners, acquired more and more independence, administrative and judicial functions. They begin to appropriate taxes, duties, and court fines.

Management functions were assigned to large local feudal lords.

In later truths, local rulers - dukes and counts - are given no less attention than the king. A fine according to the Alamanian Pravda threatens anyone for failure to comply with the demands of a duke or count, for “disregard for their summons with a seal.” The special title of the 2nd Bavarian Pravda is dedicated to the dukes “whom the people appointed or elected them”; it testifies to the breadth of those matters “that concern them.” It provides for punishment in the form of a significant fine not only for non-compliance, but also for “negligence” in carrying out their orders (2, 13), in particular, it speaks of impunity in the case of carrying out the Duke’s order to kill a person (2, 6), probably “acted against the law” (2, 2).

Moreover, according to the Alamannic truth, the position of duke is inherited by his son, who, however, faces “expulsion and disinheritance” for attempting to “take possession of it extortionately” (25, 1-2), however, the king could “forgive his son... and transfer his inheritance" (34:4). Over time, all the most important positions in the state apparatus became hereditary.

The obedience of the local nobility to the king, which remained to one degree or another, began to be increasingly determined by its personal relations with the royal court, vassal dependence on the king as a lord.

From the middle of the 7th century, during the era of the so-called lazy kings, the nobility directly took the reins of power into their own hands, removing the king. This is done first by increasingly strengthening the role and importance of the position of majordomo, and then by directly removing the king. A striking example of this is the very change of the royal dynasty among the Franks. Back in the 7th century. The Pipinid family of mayors began to stand out for its power and land wealth. One of them, Charles Martel, actually already ruled the country. Thanks to the reforms he carried out, he managed to strengthen for a certain time the unity of the Frankish state, which was experiencing a long period of political destabilization.

1.7 End of the Merovingian era

After the death of King Dagobert I in 639, there were constant internecine wars between representatives of the powerful aristocracy. At the same time, each surrounded himself with vassals, ruled as a small sovereign, involving the sections of the population dependent on him into internecine strife. In each of the three parts into which the Frankish state was divided - in Burgundy, Neustria and Austrasia, there were special heads of the palace - mayordomos, who, being representatives of the nobility, actually led the external and internal politics states, ignoring royal authority and fighting each other. In the beginning. 640s Thuringia, Alemannia and Bavaria were separated from the Frankish kingdom, ca. 670 Aquitaine became independent, which began to be governed by its independent dukes.

In the process of internecine struggle among representatives of the aristocracy, the strongest of them rose to power - Pepin of Geristal, Major of Austrasia, who in 687 became the single Major of all three parts of the Frankish state. The title was left to the kings of the Merovingian house, and all actual power passed to the mayors. Relying on their enormous land wealth and many free vassals, Pepin and his successors brought the nobility to obedience and strengthened the military power of the Frankish kingdom. Pepin himself, having dealt with the nobility, successfully acted against the Germans in the east; he subjugated part of the Frisian territory to his power and again established Frankish influence in Alemannia and Bavaria.

Pepin's son, majordomo Charles Martell (715-741), distributing the lands of the Frankish Church as military benefices to his warriors, created a well-organized army with which he could undertake the most difficult campaigns. He conquered all of Friesland, strengthened the power of the Franks in Thuringia, and even imposed tribute on the warlike Saxons. He established close ties with Catholic missionaries who spread Christianity among the Germans and consolidated the successes of Frankish weapons across the Rhine.

In the south of the state, Charles Martel won a brilliant victory at Poitiers in 732 over the Arabs who had moved to Gaul from Spain they had conquered. The Battle of Poitiers became turning point, after which the further advance of the Arabs into Europe was suspended. He again subjugated Aquitaine to the Franks. Charles Martel's son, Pepin the Short (741-768), finally expelled the Arabs from Gaul, conquered Septimania, and continued to consolidate the successes of the Franks across the Rhine. He completed the conquest of Thuringia, following the example of his father in the closest alliance with the church.

The Frankish majordomo, with the support of a friendly pope, imprisoned the last Merovingian king in a monastery and in 751 he himself took the throne. The new Frankish king, from whom the new Carolingian dynasty came, helped, in turn, the pope in the fight against the Lombards and gave him the region taken from the Lombards (the former Zarchate of Ravenna) to the pope as a secular sovereign. Thus, Pepin laid the foundation for the penetration of Frankish influence into Italy.

CHAPTER 2 THE CAROLINGIAN AGE

2.1 Reform of Charles Martel

In the second half of the 7th century. From among the landowning nobility of the Frankish state, a strong clan of the Pipinids (Arnulfings) emerged, which managed to unite it and subsequently replace the Merovingian dynasty with the new Carolingian dynasty. The Arnulfings took possession of the highest position of the Frankish kingdom - the chamber mayor (majordomo). In the first years of his reign, the power of the mayor of Charles (715-741), later nicknamed Martell (which means “hammer”), was finally strengthened. At this time, a serious danger loomed over the Franks from the Arab Caliphate: the Arabs, having conquered Spain, began an attack on Gaul in 720. The wars with the Arabs showed the superiority of cavalry over the infantry militia, which made up the bulk of the Frankish army. To create a cavalry, as well as strengthen the social base of his power, Charles Martell secularized a number of church and monastic land holdings and transferred them to representatives of the secular nobility. He took advantage of the right of kings to fill the highest church positions. Representatives of the secular nobility were supposed to distribute these lands in the form of lat benefices. beneficium - beneficence, mercy under the conditions of military service is possible more persons who had to appear on horseback with appropriate weapons. The sources did not preserve data on how long it took Charles to form a new army and what its number was. It is only known that the Franks survived the decisive battle with the Arabs at Poitiers in October 732; Moreover, by ambushing an Arab camp where the looted booty was stored, the Franks caused confusion in the enemy camp; the leader of the Arab army was killed. Not daring to continue the battle, the Arabs retreated the next day. The movement of Islam to the west was stopped.

With the reform of Charles Martel, peasants were almost excluded from military service. Large landowners, medium and small feudal lords served as the basis for the creation of a new professional cavalry army. Before Charles Martell, the predominant form of royal land grants was grants of land by right of allod. Such donations quickly reduced the fund of royal lands and at the same time did not establish any new connection between the king and the feudal lords. Charles Martel introduced completely new system grants of land in the form of benefices on conditions primarily of military service. The fund for these grants was first the lands confiscated from the rebellious magnates, and when these lands dried up, a partial secularization of church lands was carried out. . The beneficiary usually received the land along with the people sitting on it, who paid rent in his favor and performed corvée work. The use of the same form of awards by other large landowners led to the formation of suzerainty-vassalage relations between large and small feudal lords.

It should be noted that the reform of Charles Martel strengthened the central government. The layer of middle and small feudal lords, strengthened thanks to it, formed the support of the Carolingian dynasty for a certain time. Following the example of the king, other large magnates also began to practice the distribution of benefices, which contributed to the creation of a hierarchical structure of feudal society and land ownership.

2.2 Charlemagne

The Frankish state reached its peak under Charlemagne (768-814), who sought to unite all the Roman and Germanic peoples of the West, using the fighting power of the Franks and the support of the Church for this. In 773-774, Charlemagne conquered Northern Italy and annexed it to the Frankish state, declaring himself king of the Franks and Lombards, the very fact of this conquest making the papal throne completely dependent on his power. Of the Germanic tribes, only the Saxons, who occupied almost all of Lower Germany and preserved the ancient Germanic system, remained independent. For as long as 33 years (772-804), Charlemagne introduced Christianity and Frankish rule among the Saxons with iron and blood, until he finally broke their stubbornness. Having conquered Saxony and undertaken a series of campaigns into the Slavic lands, Charles built several fortresses on the border, which later became strongholds for the spread of the Germans to the east.

Charles's Danube campaigns led to the destruction of the independence of Bavaria (788) and the defeat (final in 799) of the Avar Khaganate. In the south, Charles, continuing the struggle of his predecessors with the Arabs, undertook several campaigns in Spain and extended Frankish rule here to the river. Ebro.

The conquests of Charlemagne, which brought all Western European Christian countries (with the exception of England) under the rule of the king of the Franks, gave him the opportunity to move to first place among the rulers of Europe and allowed him to achieve imperial title as the successor of the Western Roman emperors. Charlemagne's assumption of the imperial title in 800 formalized his conquests and cemented his hegemony in Europe.

Charles's great merit lies in the fact that he was able to put in order and put into practice the correct governance of the country, which contributed to its pacification. And if the first means of unifying the empire is considered to be the personality of Emperor Charles, and the second - his Reichstag, then the third means of uniting the disparate components of the empire were, undoubtedly, the officials appointed by him.

In relation to the church hierarchy, Charles maintained his position as autocrat completely intact. By accepting the new title of Roman Emperor, he became, in part, the head of the church. Charles's multilateral administrative activities were mainly aimed at encouraging the people to practical activities- classes agriculture, industry, trade. He created all the conditions for this - security from external invasions and internal order, as far as was possible at that time of the predominance of brute force and, so far as it was in his power, encouraged the development of individual branches of industry. He himself, as the largest landowner, was a reasonable and excellent owner; his estates were exemplary economic establishments. He demanded an exact report from his stewards: if they were guilty, they had to come to the king’s residence “and answer with their backs or suffer any other punishment that the queen wishes to impose.”

The main thing was considered to be the multiplication and improvement of communication routes, and this was easier for the autocratic ruler of a large state than for the rulers of scattered possessions. Charles paid attention, first of all, to improving water communications - and in 793, a grandiose project for that time appeared to connect the Danube and Rhine basins with a canal. The project was not carried out due to the inability to obtain a sufficient number of necessary labor. Another beneficent undertaking, the construction of a permanent bridge across the Rhine near Mainz, also ended unsuccessfully. It took 10 years to build and was built so firmly that, according to Einhard, “everyone believed that this bridge would last for a century,” but the fire of 813 destroyed this beautiful structure within just three hours.

The collapse of the Frankish state began immediately after the death of Charlemagne.

2.3 Government system

The center of government of the empire was the imperial court with its officials - the palace count. The post of chamber mayor (mayordomo), which served as a step to the throne for Charlemagne's predecessors, was abolished. , who united in his hands, together with the administration of justice, the leadership of the royal administration; chancellor - custodian of the state seal, responsible for drawing up royal acts and heading the office; Count Palatine, in charge of palace management; archchaplain - head of the Frankish clergy, confessor of the king and his adviser on church affairs, custodian of the special shrine of the Frankish monarchs - the cloak of St. Martin Tulsky. Most of the other positions that existed earlier (marshal, seneschal, etc.) remained under the Carolingians.

Under Charlemagne, there was a council, which included high dignitaries and representatives of the nobility invited by the king. The council was convened by the king as needed; his competence extended to all matters “pertaining to the good of the king and kingdom.” To discuss matters concerning the entire state, Charles convened general congresses twice a year. At the end of spring, a general meeting (“Mayfield”) was held, in which major dignitaries, royal vassals, bishops, magnates with their vassals, as well as militias from among the free peasants took part. This meeting was also a military review.

The meetings and congresses of the times of Charlemagne were of an aristocratic character. Only courtiers, bishops and lords were called to the meeting. At the congresses, issues of war and peace, the adoption of laws, church affairs, trade matters, etc. were discussed. There was no voting. The king listened to opinions, then, in a close circle of the king’s closest dignitaries, a capitular decree was drawn up, on the basis of which various national affairs were decided.

The main administrative unit was the county. The border counties were called marques, and the leading counts were called margraves. Every two counties constituted a bishopric; Bishops, in addition to church affairs, had to monitor the behavior of the counts.

Every year, the territory of the state was divided by the king into audit districts, to which the sovereign's envoys were sent (one secular and one clergy), who took the oath of allegiance to the monarch from the population, promulgated royal orders, monitored their execution, the management of royal estates, the correct administration of justice, over the behavior of the clergy; holding officials, including counts, accountable, with the right to remove them and cancel the decisions they made.

Frankish state

The Frankish state was the first public education in Europe in the Middle Ages. It is here that we learn about Charles Martel, Pepin the Short and Charlemagne. These are the main characters in the formation of the Frankish state. Initially, there was no state, but only a tribal union consisting of the Sigambri, Bructeri and other tribes of the lower Rhine.

The term "Franks" was first mentioned in 291. Later, the Franks became subjects of the fading Roman Empire. They receive from her land in Gaul for further settlement. Their relationship was ambivalent, although they were good allies. For example, when the Franks came out in their defense. When the Frankish state was at the peak of its development, it occupied the area up to the Somme.

Rise of the Frankish state

But while 486 was going on, the ruler of the Romans in Northern Gaul, Syagria, attacked the Franks and was defeated. They named the new captured territory Neustria. In 496, the first Frankish king converted to Christianity. This elevated him to the forefront of Christian believers. There was also an outstanding victory at the Battle of Poitiers. The king defeated the Visigoth army. Gradually, many began to recognize the new state that arose on such a large territory.

The Franks did not leave their home territory. They only increased its area. Most of the Gauls and Franks lived on the territory of the state. The Franks preferred to settle in a separate territory. For a long time they preserved old Germanic rites and customs.

To understand the socio-economic situation in the Frankish state, one should consider the Salic Truth. This legal document records legal customs. Of course, it has survived to this day in later lists. But, nevertheless, this is a very important source. One of the assumptions prevailing in historical science that this document was written in the last decade of the reign. The truth records the most ancient customs of the Frankish state. Local peasants lived in a community. It was she who regulated land relations in society. Gradually, large families in the Frankish kingdom are becoming a thing of the past, only small ones remain. Family families lived next door to each other. This is how large rural settlements gradually appear.

There are many interesting customs in the Salic Truth. For example, refusal of kinship. To break family ties, it was necessary to loudly inform everyone at the meeting about the renunciation of inheritance rights and obligations. That is, to refuse inheritance, blood feud and paying taxes. If a person had no children, then the state received his property.

Social structure in the Frankish state.

For that period of the Middle Ages in any state, the largest layer were free people. The clan nobility was replaced by service, but it was still just taking shape. The king had warriors in his service. Any person could become a warrior in the kingdom, or maybe even a count. Free people were part of the national assembly and were landowners.

Slaves were also characteristic of the society of the Frankish kingdom. Without them, the Frankish state could not exist. If a slave died or was killed, his owner received compensation. Although, unlike other states, in the Frankish state the main labor force was still free people.

The Franks usually sent slaves to work on the land, and as payment they had to pay a quitrent. The owner could set the slave free, although this did not happen often. And if a slave became free, he still paid to the former owner various duties. Over time, a new stratum of society appeared in the state - litas. Judging by how they were assessed by the Salic Truth, they were probably the descendants of previously freed slaves.

Government structure of the Frankish state

With the development of the state, new governing bodies appeared in the Frankish kingdom. The Franks captured new territories, and at the same time gained invaluable experience government system. Gradually it became clear to keep large areas, then we need to change government management. The role of the People's Assembly as the main governing body is gradually declining. When he was already on the throne, “March fields” took place every year in the Frankish kingdom. These are inspections where free men came with weapons.

All conquered peoples paid taxes, and the Franks themselves did not contribute a penny to the state treasury. They only pledged to serve the king. Local government has also undergone many changes. The division was not tribal, but had already become territorial. These territories are now ruled by counts. In small areas, people's assemblies were still convened.

As for settlements, they are also changing. Villages and villas are built with fortifications. Defensive structures are also being built in cities. When the Merovingians began to rule, they began to build citadels in cities with a foundation in the form of a solid structure left over from old buildings. By the end of the reign of the Merovingian dynasty, one can already observe features general development Frankish state.

Do you know that...

Interestingly, the territories of the Franks and Gallo-Romans developed differently. The Gallo-Romans mainly retained the old, everyday Roman features in their state development. But the territory of the state where the Franks lived increasingly accepted the achievements state development from conquered countries. But at the end of the reign of the Merovingian dynasty, it is already clear that the two cultures united into one common culture characteristic of a single Frankish state.

IN Early Middle Ages In Europe, a new state arises on the territory of Gaul. It has no common ethnic composition, as well as general economic ties. But it gradually becomes clear that this new state entity is becoming the leading kingdom in Europe. A very powerful entity, with strong power of the king, with a well-organized government structure.

Formation of the Frankish kingdom. The formation of Frankia under Clovis

See what the “Frankish state” is in other dictionaries:

The genesis of feudalism among the Franks

Period of the Merovingian monarchy (VI-VII centuries)

Period of the Carolingian monarchy (8th century - first half of the 9th century)

Charlemagne (768 - 814)

Collapse of the Frankish Empire

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