Carolingian Period Research Articles

Roman Law Sources and Canonical Collections in the Early Middle Ages

Roman Law Sources and Canonical Collections in the Early Middle Ages Antonia Fiori Canonical 'preservation' of Roman Law It is well known that, being a part of the Roman Empire, the Church lived under Roman law from its earliest organization, and that canon law was one of the most important means for the preservation of Roman law in the early medieval period. But 'preservation' can be understood in two different ways: first, as a preservation of the spirit and the rules of Roman law through canon law; secondly, as a preservation of the original texts themselves. The first is a general problem of legal culture, the second a specific philological matter. But these different points of view are not completely independent of one other, but rather two faces of the same process. In this paper, I shall attempt to analyze the Italian canon law collections up to the year 900 together with some almost contemporary ecclesiastical quotations of Roman law. Yet we must remember the caveat that what happened in the ninth and tenth centuries is only a stage, and not the final one, in the process just mentioned, which would be completed with the Gregorian Reform. At that time almost every part of Justinian's compilation, including some which have since disappeared, were rediscovered by canon lawyers (the only exception being the Tres Libri). The philological passion of the Gregorian supporters—even if not technically well-founded—was an important instrument that helped and sustained the formation of a legal order of the Church in the age of the so-called 'Papal Revolution'.1 In fact, canon law was not an organized body of laws in the early Middle Ages, and it is also hard to see it as the unified legal [End Page 1] order of the Church. There were several canonical traditions greatly influenced by local customs and often strongly devoted to them. Up to the Gregorian Reform these local or 'national' churches, with their canonical councils and canonical customs, were in a dialectical relationship with the Roman Church, which entailed a wide autonomy.2 It was the Roman Church, representing the 'Römische Zentrum', which tried to maintain the spirit of Roman law in this period, and sometimes imposed it on the 'Kirchliche Peripherie' (to use the terminology of a relatively recent congress held at the Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom).3 In most of Europe during the early Middle Ages Roman law was still represented by the Theodosian tradition, mainly known through the Breviarium Alaricianum, but not so in Italy, where—leaving aside the difficult matter of surviving elements of Theodosian law4—Justinian's compilation was promulgated in 554 after the Gothic Wars. Thus the Pragmatica sanctio introduced the Corpus iuris civilis into Italy less than 15 years before the arrival of the Lombards (568). As he had died three years before, Justinian did not see how vain had been his great effort to reconquer Italy. His Corpus did not have enough time to become known and studied. Along with Radding and Ciaralli, we can say that 'the Justinianic codification simply fell from sight and from use, in Italy and everywhere else, between the end of the sixth century and the end of the eighth'.5 The Church saved the spirit of Roman law, even influencing through it some developments in Lombard law. But there is no [End Page 2] evidence at all of a textual knowledge in ecclesiastical contexts until the Carolingian period, when many Roman law fragments reappeared in a few canonical collections. Two questions are open. First, why did they reappear in the Carolingian period and not before? Secondly, what kind of knowledge did these canon lawyers have or, better, which kinds of texts did they know? The cultural Renaissance which occurred with the birth of the Carolingian empire is obviously one good answer to the first question. But even more significant was the papal idea, or papal hope, that the Western Empire, reborn under Charles the Great, should in its second life still be Roman and, furthermore, holy. While general attention was fixed on Charles and his Frankish kingdom, and Frankish customs were obviously ready to break out into the...

The bridge of Dieulouard (Meurthe-et-Moselle, France): a fresh perspective on metal supply strategies in Carolingian economy

A rescue excavation has unearthed the remains of a bridge crossing the Moselle River at Dieulouard (Meurthe-et-Moselle, France). This constitutes one of the rare examples of non-religious monumental architecture from the Carolingian period in France. The present archaeometrical study, conducted on a set of architectural iron fastenings, provides an opportunity to examine the modalities through which early medieval building yards acquired ferrous materials. Located within the vicinity of active ironmaking zones, a hypothesis was subsequently put forward that the iron supply was provided by a local market. The results nevertheless highlight a more complex acquisition strategy than expected, relying at least partially on metal salvaging. This study therefore stimulates current discussions of the importance of recycling in the Carolingian economy, and of the value attributed to material and its transformation.

Forming Orthodoxy through Friendship : Alcuin, Guarnarius, and Benedict of Aniane’s Munimenta verae fidei

This article endeavors to examine how a network of friendship between Alcuin of York, Benedict of Aniane, and Guarnarius contributed both to the creation of the Munimenta verae fidei, a little studied collection of original and borrowed materials composed by Benedict of Aniane, and to the formation of orthodoxy in the Carolingian period. In the Munimenta verae fidei, Benedict of Aniane provided his own theological response to the threat of Felicianism or Adoptionism in concert with the work of Alcuin, particularly the De fide sanctae Trinitatis, in order to persuade a wayward friend, Guarnarius, back into Carolingian orthodoxy. The Munimenta verae fidei thus stands as a history of the relationship between these three figures and a testament to how orthodoxy is not just achieved through the mastery of theology but also through the negotiation of relationships.

Genesis B and the Comedic Imperative. John F. Vickrey. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Pp. xii+324.

<i>Genesis B and the Comedic Imperative</i>. John F. Vickrey. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press; Lanham, MD: Rowman &amp; Littlefield, 2015. Pp. xii+324.

Carolingian Doubt?

This essay seeks to refute the idea that doubt is an essentially modern phenomenon and to show that doubt was also a feature of earlier medieval existence. It argues that in the Carolingian period, for both individuals and groups, debate, disturbance and religious doubt coexisted uneasily with religious faith and cultic community. Religious experience is examined at the level of individuals, groups, and larger social organizations. Three case studies focus on the noblewoman Dhuoda, unique in having left a detailed record of a spiritual life lived out within a family and in social and political relationships at once collaborative and conflictual; the heretic Gottschalk, whose voluminous works reveal something of his spirituality and much about the religious and political pressures that taxed his faith; and Archbishop Elipand of Toledo, a Church leader living under Muslim rule, and accused of heresy by Christian scholars themselves uncertain of their ground. Two further sections discuss particular contexts in which doubts were harboured: conversion from paganism, in a world of Christian mission; and local cults of relics which depended on the establishing of authenticity where there had been doubt, and then the forming of believer-solidarities. Finally the figure of Doubting Thomas is considered in a period when faith and cult sustained individual identities in dyadic relationships founded on oaths of fidelity and mutual trust but also on collective solidarities.

Assembling the Austrasian Letters at Trier and Lorsch

This article is a reconsideration of the Epistulae Austrasicae. We critique the widespread notion that the constituent letters were compiled by a courtier in the late sixth century at Metz as a book of models for use in the Austrasian chancellery. We argue instead that a monk from the monastery of Lorsch assembled the letters in the early ninth century from individual exemplars and groupings that he found in archives at Trier. We conclude by outlining some implications of this rereading for the edition and interpretation of the letters as sources for the Merovingian period, and point out some avenues for future research on their reception in the Carolingian period.

Formgenese karolingischer Elfenbeine. Strukturen der Antikenrezeption

Often, we mention Renovatio Imperii when we talk about the reception of ancient art during the Carolingian period. We like to imagine that Carolingian artists, for both political and religious reasons, sought out normative examples in ancient art. However, the example of ivory carvings from the period serves to demonstrate that Carolingian artists were astonishingly freewheeling in their adaptation of models from Late Antiquity; in fact, virtually without exception, they produced highly innovative compositions rather than exact copies. Thus, the results of my inquiry show that the criteria for the reception of ancient art should be reformulated to account for innovative recreation rather than exact imitation.

Les Actes de Paul et Thècle latins. Édition de la version A et de sa réécriture dans le manuscrit de Dublin, Trinity College, 174

This edition is designed as a tribute and as a complement to the irreplaceable work of Oscar von Gebhardt, Passio s. Theclae virginis. Die lateinischen Übersetzungen der Acta Pauli et Theclae (1902). It is the result of a new research on the Latin tradition of the Acts of Paul and Thecla (APThe) and intends to increase the accuracy of the apparatus of the Greek text edited by Willy Rordorf and Jean-Daniel Kaestli (to be published in the Corpus christianorum, Series apocryphorum). Two texts are edited, translated and annotated on facing pages. The left page contains a new edition of version A of the Latin APThe, based on three manuscripts : A = Paris, BnF, 5306, fourteenth cent. ; B = Toulouse, Bibl. municipale, 479, fourteenth cent ; Du = Dublin, Trinity College, 174, eleventh cent. For his edition, Gebhardt used A and B, which have been copied from the same model, but Du was hitherto unknown. The right page is devoted to a quasi-diplomatic edition and translation of the Dublin manuscript, which is characterised by largely rewritten passages alternating with passages remaining very close to the original text. The new evidence supplied by Du allows improving in several ways the text edited by Gebhardt as « Übersetzung A ». Du preserves some passages omitted by A B (see in particular chapters 5 and 43) ; it often reflects the original text of latA more accurately than A B ; it contains traces of it even in totally rewritten chapters ; it helps arbitrate between A and B and identify the secondary readings of one or the other. But the Dublin MS is of great interest not only as a valuable witness of version latA, but also as a very original rewriting of the same version. This rewriting presents several noteworthy characteristics. Beside the already mentioned alternation of rewritten and unchanged passages – whose logic is sometimes difficult to grasp – three features are standing out ; (1) direct speech is frequently, but non systematically, changed into indirect speech, with the result that the text is amplified, and not abbreviated as it is normally the case (cf. Monique Goullet, Écriture et réécriture hagiographiques, Turnhout 2005, p. 165) ; (2) the rewriter aims at enhancing the style of the source text ; (3) he strives to anchor the text in the Biblical world, as it happens with hagiographical rewritings of the Carolingian period (cf. M. Goullet, op. cit., p. 35).

Contextualizing marriage: conjugality and Christian life in Jonas of Orléans' De institutione laicali

The De institutione laicali by Jonas of Orléans has frequently been examined as a source for conjugal life in the Carolingian period, but rarely analysed in its entirety. In this article I propose an overall reading of the text, based on the version addressed to Count Matfrid before 828, in order to place the chapters about marriage in their context. I will formulate new interpretations of its purposes – arguing that Book II was configured as a speculum comitale – and of Jonas's view of marriage. The De institutione laicali will therefore be shown to have served the needs of Carolingian representations of society and public power.

Carolingian Religion

The Carolingian period, roughly the eighth and ninth centuries, was dynamic and decisive in European religious history. The ruling dynasty and the clerical elite promoted wave after wave of reform that I call “unifying,” “specifying,” and “sanctifying.” This presidential address argues that religion was the key unifying and universalizing force in the Carolingian world; that the Carolingians were obsessed with doing things the right way—usually the Roman way; and that the Carolingians sought to inculcate Christian behavior more than religious knowledge. The address concludes by arguing that the Carolingians put a markedly European stamp on Christianity and that they Romanized Christianity well before the papacy attempted to do so.

La période carolingienne au travers des recherches archéologiques en Belgique du XIXe siècle à nos jours

The Carolingian Period as Seen Through Archaeological Research in Belgium, from the 19th Century Onwards. Far from claiming to provide an exhaustive inventory of archaeological discoveries on the Carolingian period, we discuss the major milestones of archaeological research in Belgium since the mid-19th century. Archaeologists have long considered this period not to be part of their domain. Since the 1980s, with the implementation of preventive archaeology on open spaces over large areas, archaeologists have been able to collect data that now enable us to sketch the living environment of a dynamic society, both rural and urban.

L’abbatiale carolingienne de Saint-Philbert-de-Grandlieu. Le chevet et ses aménagements

The Carolingian abbatial church of Saint-Philbert-de-Grandlieu. The chevet and its reworkings At the end of the nineteenth century, when the question arose as to whether to restore the abbey church of Saint-Philbert-de-Grandlieu, it was decided to build a new parish church and to convert the old building into a covered market. At the time, Léon Maître, archivist for the lower Loire valley, studied the monument, which he dated to the Carolingian period on the basis of a text written in the ninth century by the monk Ermentaire recounting the transfer in 836 of the relics of St Philibert from Herio (Noirmoutier) to Deas (Saint-Philbert-de-Grandlieu), because of the Viking threat. In the Miracula Ermentaire briefly describes the placement of the sarcophagus in the transept of the abbey and the partial reconstruction of the chevet. The excavations made by Père de la Croix indicated the structure of the monument, but some of his interpretations were immediately contested, notably by Léon Maître and Robert de Lasteyrie. In 1960, Pierre Lebouteux made a close analysis of the masonry, but could not arrive at a conclusion concerning the structure and date of the building without further excavations. On the basis of soundings and a new reading of the construction in 1997, the chevet of the abbey church was attributed without any doubt to the Carolingian period. The nave, rebuilt in the eleventh century, preserves only a few earlier elements. Two Carolingian phases came to light. The first, probably in the early ninth century, concerns the transept and foundation works discovered in the excavations, which revealed a polygonal apse, enveloped by a narrow corridor for circulation that led to a small rectangular eastern oratory. In the second phase, after 836 and before 858 (abandonment of Deas), the chevet was enlarged, with a deep semicircular apse, on a raised platform ; underneath was a confessional crypt with the sarcophagus of Saint Philibert and a small cruciform oratory, all of which are preserved in large part. On the periphery was built an important exterior crypt with three chapels at the east end. Radio-carbon dating, analysis of architectural terracottas, archaeomagnetic and thermoluminescent datings all confirm an attribution to the Carolingian period for the two phases.

Bischofsnamen und Verwandtschaft in den Libri memoriales

Bishop names and kinship in the early medieval Libri memoriales. Comments on the social origins of the bishops in the Carolingian Empire. – The following article deals with kinship and social origins of bishops in the Carolingian Empire. Based on selected entries in the Libri memoriales of the early Middle Ages it especially asks for how much bishops came from the highest aristocratic ruling class. Using the entries in the Libri vitae it has to be noted that the bishops of the Carolingian Empire not only came from the aristocratic elite. Obviously, the climb to a bishop was conceivable and possible for a serf through personal excellence too, even if only rarely and in exceptional cases. Nevertheless, however, the majority of the bishops is not to relate to the “Hocharistokratie” as Schulte and later on others asserted. As far as the entries in the Libri memoriales make clear, the identifying of people is often difficult; but in the cases in which the identification is possible, they can certainly provide valuable information on the relationship of bishops and thus contribute to their social origins. As the studied items with their name material let see, bishops like Salomon III. of Konstanz, Hunfrid of Thérouanne or Hartbert of Chur belong to the nobility. However, apparently their families did not belong to the “elite” of the aristocracy, the so-called “Reichsaristokratie”. Rather, the memorial book entries at the most indicates a very extensive relationship to nobility, which were active in a leading position. For this reason the frequently encountered statement, the bishops of the Carolingian period were primarily attributable to the highest nobility must be reviewed and modified. Certainly bishops among in very much cases from the nobility, but obviously they came not from those families, who were very closely related to the king.

Constellations in the Middle Ages

CONSTELLATIONS IN THE MIDDLE AGES Sternbilder des Mittelalters: Der gemalte Himmel zwischen Wissenschaft und Phantasie, Band I: 800-1200. Dieter Blume, Mechthild Haffner and Wolfgang Metzger (Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 2012). Pp. 651+ 403 in two vols. euro298. ISBN 978-3-05-005664-7.In 1898 Georg Thiele published a first, very suggestive of the delineation of celestial in Greek and Roman Antiquity. Thiele's approach was of an art historian, since the process of isolating groups of stars and of naming them involves the projection of figurative into the heavens. However, this nineteenth-century scholar was also familiar with more specialized, mathematical aspects of the of astronomy.More than a century later, a collective of three art historians has extended into the Middle the of celestial conceived primarily as pictorial representations. The first part of their two-part publication, in two volumes, ends with the twelfth century; the second part will cover the period from 1200 through the end of the Middle Ages. The authors relate their work not to Thiele but to Fritz Saxl, who in 1915 published a first catalogue of medieval manuscripts containing astrological and mythological illustrations. And indeed, Sternbilder des Mittelalters is, above all, an extensive catalogue of 68 manuscripts present illustrations of the then usual forty-two (cf., for instance, Hyginus), both isolated and gathered within celestial maps (pp. 179-566). The second volume of Part I is devoted entirely to illustrations.Over the last century, our knowledge of manuscript material has greatly increased and publications dealing with a period of the Middle usually ignored by historians of science have multiplied, especially those concerning time-reckoning (i.e., beyond the work of Charles W. Jones and Amo Borst on the Carolingian period). Relying on an extensive bibliography, Blume, Haffner and Metzger offer, as an introduction, a cultural of the of celestial (pp. 13-176). They systematically contextualize the documents, distinguishing types of manuscripts and textual traditions, as well as general cultural and intellectual environments (monastic and courtly). They focus especially on the computistical manuscripts, comprised of texts deal with time-reckoning and establishing the Church calendar. They also include calendars and more general cosmological expositions. The introduction also attempts to subdivide the period spanning the end of Antiquity to 1200.The authors present their history of the representations of constellations as being, above all, a case study of the usage of in the Middle Ages (p. 66), assigning to these particular three functions: didactical, a bridge to observing nature, and stimulation of viewers' fantasy and imagination (p. 16). Obviously, of the represent a chapter of the of astronomy. However, the authors' understanding of medieval science in general and of astronomy in particular may perplex some readers. Thus, while pushing the beginning of modem science of nature (Naturwissenschaft) as far back as the tenth century, they simultaneously note that the concept 'modem' does not make any sense. For the period of the tenth to the late twelfth century, science is understood to be about questions relating to the calendar, scientific curiosity, and the fascination with images (p. 16). The scope of astronomy is never defined, but appears to be reduced, in their presentation, to the practice of calendar-making and the subject of constellations, occasionally also to representing planets and their movements (the latter in reference to the work of Bruce S. Eastwood). Mathematical aspects are excluded. One might agree, of course, the latter were not a dominant aspect of pre-twelfth-century Latin astronomy. But when it comes to the twelfth century and the reception of Arabic astronomy, the authors' overly general remarks about diagrams are part of geometrical demonstrations are simply inadequate in they are treated as some kind of additions (p. …

Learning for God: Education in the Carolingian Age

Schools in the Carolingian age functioned within a context of political fragmentation, geographic isolation, institutional insecurity, limited communication, limited and unequal distribution of resources, and frequent political and social violence. Thus, the history of education in the Carolingian period was discontinuous. Nevertheless, reform movements made education and learning socially significant. At the heart of the reforms was a profound respect for the power of books and their texts to lead Europeans to truth. The collection, organization, and systematization of knowledge in book form is the principal achievement of Carolingian schools and their teachers. The continuity of Carolingian education, so difficult to observe in human and institutional terms, is implicit in the texts teachers and scholars created.

Material Christianity in the Early Medieval Household

Tu autem cum oraveris, intra in cubiculum tuum, et clauso ostio, ora Patrem tuum in abscondito: et Pater tuus, qui videt in abscondito, reddet tibi. (‘But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door. Pray to your Father in private, and your Father, who sees into concealed places, will reward you’: Matt. 6: 6)Manuscript D.V.3 in the Biblioteca Nazionale of Turin is a fat, late eighth-century volume of martyr narratives. Produced at Soissons, probably in the nunnery of Notre-Dame, it may be no coincidence that eighteen of its forty texts concern female martyrs. A further four address familial groups in which wives or mothers play prominent roles. The earliest Latin version of the passion of St Adrian (BHL3744) is among them: one of many late, ‘novel-esque’ accounts of martyrdom, it is constructed out of clichéd formulae and predictable tropes for post-persecution audiences, like others of its genre. Lacking any historical verisimilitude about the age of persecutions, the passion of Adrian is characteristic of this group of hagiographies in offering valuable insights into domestic Christianity in the age in which it was composed: it brings into sharp focus links between women and material Christianity within the late antique household, the theme this essay pursues into the Carolingian period.

Under the aegis of the saints. Hagiography and power in early Carolingian northern Italy

In the transition from the Lombard to the Carolingian period, hagiography came to play a fundamental role in the strategies of legitimation and representation of the episcopal churches of the regnum Langobardorum. This article gives an overview of the features, choices, tastes and models of sanctity characteristic of Italian hagiography, against the background of local contexts and political competition. It demonstrates that in the territories under Frankish rule, hagiography represented a chief instrument in the hands of the ecclesiastical elites to shape and use the past in light of the concerns of the present.

Elites in the Early Middle Ages: Identities, Strategies, Mobility

When considering status within early medieval societies, it is necessary to set aside juridical classifications in favor of concepts derived from political sociology—the notion of an “elite” can thus encompass any individual occupying an elevated social position within his or her community, be it through wealth, power, or culture. Using textual and archaeological sources, historians can seek out the processes of distinction and social recognition that were characteristic of elites throughout the early Middle Ages (from the sixth to the eleventh century). The Carolingian period shows signs of increasing hierarchization, which led both individuals and groups to devise strategies for bolstering their position and forestalling the loss of social status. Within the framework of these processes of social mobility, it becomes possible to examine elites at various levels and from different chronological and regional perspectives while avoiding an overly structural analysis.

The Two Latin Cultures and the Foundation of Renaissance Humanism in Medieval Italy by Ronald G. Witt (review)

Reviewed by: The Two Latin Cultures and the Foundation of Renaissance Humanism in Medieval Italy by Ronald G. Witt Charles M. Radding The Two Latin Cultures and the Foundation of Renaissance Humanism in Medieval Italy. By Ronald G. Witt. (New York: Cambridge University Press. 2012. Pp. xii, 604. $120.00. ISBN 978-0-521-76474-2.) As Ronald Witt explains at the beginning of this book, he began his research into Italian culture in 1977 with the idea of studying language, literature, and education in the kingdom of Italy from the Carolingian period until the fifteenth century. It was only later that he decided to divide his initial project into two parts and to publish first the book that dealt specifically with the (much better studied) first 150 years of the humanist movement; that book turned out to be the monumental “In the Footsteps of the Ancients”: The Origins of Italian Humanism from Lovato to Bruni (Boston, 2000). Indeed, the historiography of the earlier period has been a mess, with studies of varying quality on single localities, authors, or texts but nothing to provide a general overview. But Witt never lost sight of his original plan, and now we have the book to fill the gap in the historiography that originally stymied him. This will be an essential work for historians of medieval culture and not just in Italy, for in addition to sifting the wheat from the abundant chaff of earlier research, Witt’s deep familiarity with the original sources permits him to arrive at a comprehensive picture of Italian culture and education from the eighth to the thirteen centuries. Witt introduces the concept of the dual Latin cultures of medieval Italy in part I, covering the period between the Carolingians and the late-eleventh century. Although the first of these cultures, focused on studying books and centered in ecclesiastical schools, is familiar to all scholars of medieval Europe, Italy was unique in possessing a second strata of education and culture largely in the hands of laymen, especially the legal professionals—notaries and judges—of northern Italy. Not only does this second culture, focused on law and expressed by the production and use of documents, [End Page 781] have no parallel elsewhere in Europe, but Witt shows in parts II and III that it grew in importance in the later eleventh and twelfth centuries as it expanded to include ars dictaminis, the study of Roman law, and eventually canon law. But the growing importance of legal studies had the effect of greatly restricting the role in Italian cul-ture of other kinds of literary activities. Little poetry was written in the twelfth-century kingdom of Italy, and what there was usually took as its subject local, civic concerns. The same was true of history, and even hagiography—often a subject that inspired more ambitious Latin prose—rarely achieved anything of literary interest. In parts IV and V Witt turns his attention to the thirteenth century, beginning with an explicit comparison with the literary culture of twelfth-century France, where by the later part of the century the elements of Italian ars dictaminis merged into a broader study of rhetoric and composition, including manuals for composing sermons. By the thirteenth century, these influences fed back into Italy as they were taken up both by the papal initiatives in favor of preaching and in the education and practice of the growing class of notaries. Although still overwhelmingly laymen, these notaries were now educated at Bologna and elsewhere to an increasingly sophisticated mastery of Latin, and they put those skills to use as authors of histories, defenders of the active life of the towns, and eventually pioneers in returning to classical norms of eloquence. With this last development, seen in Lovato de’ Lovati, a notary of Padua, and his disciple and successor Albertino Mussato, we arrive at the starting point of “In the Footsteps of the Ancients.” In this book, therefore, Witt demonstrates how the unique culture of the Italian humanism grew out of the unique culture of medieval Italy. Charles M. Radding Michigan State University Copyright © 2013 The Catholic University of America Press

Carolingian Catalonia: The Spanish March and the Franks, c.750–c.1050

AbstractCatalonia is an autonomous community within modern Spain with a distinct history. In the Middle Ages the region became a key component of the Crown of Aragon, and it has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention for its wealth, power, and ‘feudal revolution’. Most historians recognize but do not emphasize the earlier history of the later principality, with roots in the Carolingian period. This article draws attention to the conclusions reached by historians who have built our understanding of Catalonia's early medieval history. The nucleus of the later Catalonia was the Carolingian Spanish March, established as the Franks conquered the territory in the period around 800 CE. The Spanish March functioned as an integral province of the Carolingian Empire, and its leaders, both Franks and locals, played important roles in the dynamics of monarchy in the ninth century. In the tenth century, as Carolingian royal power faded, the locally based leaders of the Spanish March had to find their own ways through trying times. By the beginning of the 11th century, the Carolingian legacy remained intact, even as Frankish royal authority was a thing of the past.