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Rethinking Authority in the Carolingian Empire: Ideals and Expectations during the Reign of Louis the Pious (813-828)

by Rutger Kramer

Amsterdam University Press, 2019

ISBNs

Paper: 978-94-6298-264-2

eISBN: 978-90-485-3268-1

About the Book
By the early ninth century, the responsibility for a series of social, religious and political transformations had become an integral part of running the Carolingian empire. This became especially clear when, in 813/4, Louis the Pious and his court seized the momentum generated by their predecessors and broadened the scope of these reforms ever further. These reformers knew they represented a movement greater than the sum of its parts; the interdependence between those wielding imperial authority and those bearing responsibility for ecclesiastical reforms was driven by comprehensive, yet still surprisingly diverse expectations.Taking this diversity as a starting point, this book takes a fresh look at the optimistic first decades of the ninth century. Extrapolating from a series of detailed case studies rather than presenting a new grand narrative, it offers new interpretations of contemporary theories of personal improvement and institutional correctio, and shows the self-awareness of its main instigators as they pondered what it meant to be a good Christian in a good Christian empire.
About the Author
Rutger Kramer is currently a post-doctoral researcher within the project Visions of Community (FWF Austrian Science Fund F42) at the Institute for Medieval Research in Vienna.
Tags
The Early Medieval North Atlantic, Ideals, To 987, 476-1268, Carolingians, Rethinking Authority, To 1500, Italy, Catholic Church, France, Religious aspects, Medieval, Politics and government, Europe, History
Open Access Information

License: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0