HIST-102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 43: Theocracy, Capitulary, Missus Dominicus
10 Oct 2020
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Carolingian administration blended civil, military, and ecclesiastical authority into one; it was, in other words, a theocracy, and charlemagne himself possessed (or wished to be thought to possess) a priestly aura. His laws, known as capitularies, dealt with ecclesiastical and even doctrinal matters as much as they did with taxation, diplomacy, criminal statutes, and educational reform. The crucial point is that charlemagne did not think of himself as possessing both political authority and religious authority, for these, to him, were not separate things. There was only authority, and he alone had it. For practical purposes he divided his empire into administrative units called counties and placed his most loyal followers, whether lay or religious, in charge of them: these counts formed the backbone of his government. They possessed no legislative power of their own; their job was to defend the land and to enforce charlemagne"s laws and local customs. But delegating authority to local rulers posed potential problems.
