home Botany book “The Frankish state as a typical example of an early feudal state. State structure of the Frankish state

“The Frankish state as a typical example of an early feudal state. State structure of the Frankish state

Plan

Introduction

Chapter 1

1.1 Franks

1.2 The emergence of the state among the Franks

1.3 Clovis I

1.4 Adoption of Christianity by Clovis I

1.5 Social order

1.6 State system

1.7 End of the Merovingian era

Chapter 2

2.1 Reform of Charles Martel

2.2 Charlemagne

2.3 Political system

2.4 Social order

2.5 Disintegration 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 Judiciary

3.8 Process

Conclusion

Introduction

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

The state of the Franks went through two main periods in its development (from the end of the 5th to the 7th century and from the 8th to the middle of the 9th century). The boundary dividing these periods is characterized not only by a change 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 a feudal state proper was gradually taking shape in the form of a seigneurial monarchy.

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

In this course work, the main periods of the existence of the Frankish state will be considered - the emergence, flourishing, decay; attention will be drawn to the importance of individual personalities of the ruling dynasties; a description of the main legal source of the Salic Franks - "Salic Truth" and individual branches of law will be given.

CHAPTER 1 THE AGE OF THE MEROVINGIAN

1.1 Franks

The union of Germanic tribes, having a common name - the Franks, was 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. The relations of the Franks with the Romans were quite friendly. In the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (451), the Franks fought on the side of the Romans as federates. The Franks were divided into two large groups: the Ripuarian Franks, whose capital was the Roman city of Colonia, and the Salic Franks, the last rulers of the Sicambrian family of the Merovingians. The strongest were the Salian 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 a large indigenous population, consisting of Romanized Gauls, Visigoths and Burgundians, spoke Latin, the Franks gradually learn this language. The combination of the Latin language and the Frankish dialect served as the basis for the folding of the Old French language.

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

1.2 The emergence of the state among the Franks

For Gaul, the fifth century was a time of profound socio-economic transformation. In this richest province of Rome (the territory almost coinciding with present-day France), a deep crisis that engulfed the empire found its manifestation. The performances of slaves, columns, peasants, and the urban poor became more frequent. Rome could no longer protect the 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, in the end, the Salic Franks turned out to be the most powerful (perhaps one of the rivers of present-day Holland was called from Sala in ancient times). It took them a little over 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 been outlined for them even before moving to a new homeland, accelerated sharply in the process of conquering Gaul.

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

The Gallo-Romans found themselves in the position of a dependent population, several times larger than the Franks. At the same time, the Gallo-Roman aristocracy partially retained their 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 keep the occupied country in their hands, to keep the colonies and slaves in obedience. The former tribal organization of the necessary forces and means for this could not provide. 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 questions of the life of the country, although popular assemblies and some other institutions of the former system of the Franks are still preserved. A new "public authority" is being formed, which no longer coincides directly with the population. It consists not only of armed people who do not depend on the rank and file of the free, but also of all kinds of compulsory institutions, which did not exist under the tribal system. 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), which consisted of smaller units - "hundreds". Management of the population living in pagas and hundreds is awarded to special trusted persons king. In the southern regions of Gaul, where the former population repeatedly prevailed at first, the Roman administrative- territorial division. But even here the appointment of officials depends on the king.

The emergence of the 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. The far-sighted political step of Clovis was the adoption by him and his squad of Christianity according to the Catholic model. By this he secured the support of the Gallo-Roman nobility and the Catholic Church that dominated Gaul.

1.3 Clovis I

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

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

So the rich area of Roman Gaul with Paris fell into the hands of the Franks. Occupying it, Clovis acted in a businesslike way: personally, still remaining a pagan, he tried from the very first steps to establish good relations with the lords of the cities, the Catholic bishops. A textbook example of this is the episode with the Soissons bowl. After the victory at Soissons, among the captured booty was a bowl from the Cathedral of Reims, which the Archbishop of St. Remigius and asked him to return, Clovis immediately agreed, but the problem was that the captured was to be divided 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 soldiers there was one staunch defender of the norms of military democracy, who cut a bowl with a sword with the words: "You will not get anything more than what you get by lot." Clovis had only to hand over the fragments of the sacred vessel to the envoy of the prelate. He knew how to control himself and understood the formal correctness of the daredevil, but he could not forget such a challenge. When he had a chance to hold another review of his troops through a goal, the king found fault with the supposedly poor condition of this warrior’s weapons and personally cut off his head, saying publicly: “That’s what you did with the bowl in Soissons!” It worked, the king began to be afraid. The clergy quickly appreciated the goodwill of the young monarch, and St. Remigius acknowledged in writing his authority as administrator of the Roman province.

The physical elimination by Clovis of all his relatives, as possible rivals in the struggle for power, became widely known. Bloody strife in the royal families met with the Germans for a long time. Clovis gave them an unprecedented scale, including deceit, treachery, and murder in the arsenal of means of his internal political struggle. The merits of Clovis before the church were great, as the baptizer of his country, His wife, Queen Clotilde received a 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 for him with a moral upheaval. Clovis saw in the adoption of Christianity, first of all, practical benefits, and already becoming a Christian, without any remorse, he carried out his plans for the massacre of all the kings-relatives. On the king of the Ripuarian Franks, Sigebert, who ruled in Cologne, he set his son, and when he, at his instigation, got rid of his parent, the envoys of Clovis killed him; Clovis, however, annexed the lands of Sigebert 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 Hararik with his son and forcibly cut their hair, declaring his father a priest and his son a deacon, but then he still considered this insufficient and executed both. King Ragnahar, who ruled in Cambrai, after a short war, was given over 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, with regret, he remembered the relatives whom he himself killed: “Woe to me, I remained 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 he spoke like that out of cunning, hoping to find out if anyone else was still alive in order to kill everyone to the last.

1.4 Adoption of Christianity by Clovis

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

It was important that Clovis accepted Christianity in its orthodox form. Previously, the baptized Germanic peoples (Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, etc.) preferred Arianism. Orthodox, Nicene religion was perceived by them as official religion imperial Rome, and since their states arose in heavily romanized territories, the kings instinctively feared that their peoples would “dissolve” into 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 German world. The decision he made created the prerequisite for Romano-Germanic cultural unity and synthesis, and this is the merit of the Frankish monarch before European culture.

But the direct political benefit of baptism soon became apparent. Clovis became the natural protector of all orthodox Christians of Southern Gaul, who were under the rule of the Arian monarchs of the Visigothic kingdom. He used this as an excellent pretext for starting a war of conquest, which took on the character of “ crusade” (507). Accompanied by miraculous signs, the army of the Franks 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. Immediately increased international prestige young state. He was noticed in distant Constantinople, Emperor Anastasius sent ambassadors to Clovis (508), announcing the elevation of a new fellow believer of the Byzantine monarch to the dignity of a 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 a recognition of his complete supremacy over Gaul, it was not for nothing that they began to call him not only the consul, but also Augustus. For the Christian population of the country, this meant additional confirmation of the legitimacy of the Frankish power.

1.5 Social order

The bulk of the population of the Frankish state in the era of its formation were free Franks and Gallo-Romans. Below them on the social ladder stood the litas, freedmen and slaves. There was no tribal nobility among the Salic Franks during the Merovingian dynasty, but very quickly the serving nobility stood out from among the royal warriors and trusted servants, endowed with large land holdings.

In the VI century. in the socio-economic structure of the Frankish state, there were important changes: the scale of slaveholding was reduced even more, the role of rent exploitation of small landowners sharply increased. In the social elite, the place of the slave-owning strata was increasingly occupied by the landowning and serving nobility of different ethnicity; among the exploited population, the proportion of small free owners and semi-dependent land holders increased.

The foundation of a number of new German settlements had a considerable influence on the change in the social system. True, the proportion of the 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 separate areas - the lower reaches of the Rhine and Meuse, the left bank of the Middle Rhine - were inhabited by them rather compactly.

Possessing the rights and obligations of members of a barbarian society, the Franks participated in the military militia, attended 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 military booty, etc. The freemen were opposed by the Frankish nobility. In the VI century. its dominance was not yet based on the industrial exploitation of ordinary freemen, but on the occupation of important government posts, military booty, 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 the Frankish society of the VI century. did not reach, therefore, the class split, it was limited to early class forms.

Public relations of the same type existed in the VI century. and in the settlements created by the Ripuarian Franks and the Alemanni. Although the area of predominance of these relations as a whole was very small, they introduced their own specifics into the social structure of the Frankish state, increased its internal heterogeneity, and contributed to the decomposition of late antique orders. As a result, the social structure of the Frankish state during most of the VI century. was distinguished by a bizarre combination of the deformed features of the Late Antique system, elements of a decomposing tribal society, as well as some essentially "proto-feudal" phenomena.

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

Free Franks were engaged in agriculture and lived in a neighboring community - the brand. 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 into its composition; also, by order of the king, anyone could settle on common lands.

The arable land was collectively owned by the brand. 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. 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, pastures for livestock were in common use. The community was responsible for the murder on its territory. Kindred were obliged to pay a fine for the offenses of their relatives. The Franks were annually called up for training camps called "March Fields". The king held a review of the militia.

The personal property of a Frank peasant in those days usually consisted of a house, livestock, and a personal plot. The rest of the land was allocated to households. In such household use were arable land, vineyards; sometimes meadows and forests. A wealthy family had slaves and semi-free litas as servants and artisans. Of these, the Salic truth mentions a blacksmith, a groom, a swineherd, a winegrower.

It should be borne in mind that the Salic truth in the articles about the community fixes new social ties: the tribal community, based on blood relationship, is replaced by a neighboring community (mark). The brand community was the basis of the economic and social organization of Frankish society.

Staying in the Marche community was not an obligation: its member could leave the community by the so-called renunciation of kinship. To do this, it was necessary at a court session to break three branches above your head with a measure of a cubit, scatter them in four directions and say that you refuse conjugation, 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 its repayment, about loans and their recovery 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 the Frankish society, already spoke of small-landed Franks, large landowners owning estates in different places and ruined people who were no longer able to pay fines and roaming the country. The reasons for the ruin were obvious: the severity military service, separation from the economy, burdensome taxes common in the VI century. and on free francs and caused a number of unrest, unbearable fines for various kinds of offenses.

Salic truth contains a provision on allods - plots of land belonging to their owners on the right of 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 the allod. Even Clovis appropriated the 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 whole people. From this fund, the Frankish kings distributed land grants to their confidants and churches on the basis of the right of private property. . This nobility gradually turned into large landowners - feudal lords. Close associates of the king, his officials (counts), his warriors (antrustions) became large owners. Salic truth distinguishes them from the rest of the Franks, especially guarding their lives with a triple wergeld (a fine of 600 solidi. At that time, the cost of a cow was 3 solidi per murder) and creating from them, along with the clergy, a privileged estate of a serving aristocracy.

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

As already mentioned, communal ownership of arable land, meadows and forests was combined among the Franks with individual (family) ownership of a house, household plot, livestock, household utensils, and agricultural implements. These Frankish communities coexisted with the private landed property of the Gallo-Romans, preserved from the time of the Western Roman Empire, and with the service feudal aristocracy and the church of allods. However, coexistence did not last long. The communal property of the Franks in a significant part of the country's territory 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 patronage of large feudal lords (commendation) The fact is that at the end of the 6th century. a royal decree appeared, according to which the communal peasants received, with the permission of the community, the right of ownership of their hereditary land plots, which had previously been outside civil circulation. ; debt bondage; by settling ruined free people on the land of the feudal lord under the condition that the relevant duties be performed in favor of the large landowner. At the same time, the practice of the so-called precarias is becoming widespread, both when a landless person receives a piece of land from a feudal lord for life (and sometimes for hereditary) use, and when a peasant transfers his allod into the ownership of the feudal lord with the receipt of this land back with the obligation to pay quitrent (qualification) and perform corvee 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 within certain limits administrative, judicial, police, military 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 begins to occupy a dominant position, both in the central and local administration of the kingdom. The role and significance of the congress of secular and spiritual nobility is increasing, without the consent of which the king could not make any important decision. In the Frankish state, a process of decentralization is taking place, which is accompanied by internecine wars.

1.6 State 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 the tribal democracy of the Franks into the bodies of a new, public authority, into the proper state bodies. The second - was determined by the development of patrimonial administration, the third - was associated with the gradual transformation state power Frankish monarchs into the "private" power of senior sovereigns with the formation of a senior 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 the administration of the conquered regions and their protection. Clovis was the first Frankish king to establish his exclusive position as sole ruler. From a simple commander, he turns into a monarch, achieving this position by all means: treachery, cunning, the 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 becomes a powerful factor in strengthening royal power. It was the church that gave into the hands of the Frankish kings such a justification for the wars of conquest as a reference to the "true faith", the unification in the faith of many peoples under the auspices of a single king as the supreme, not only secular, but also the 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, the development of a special regional feudal-Christian, Western European (Romano-Germanic) civilization.

After the extermination by Clovis of the clan aristocracy that competed with him, his closest support was not only the Frankish service nobility. The latter was still very small: the number of "Leuds" - combatants, the term leudes is close to fideles "faithful", who were baptized 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 folding and development of specific features of the state apparatus of the Frankish empire, which absorbed in the VIII-IX centuries. majority barbarian states Western Europe. Already in the 5th century among the Franks, the place of the old tribal community finally comes to the territorial community (mark), and with it the 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 administration. At that time, the Franks no longer had a 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 on the ground, hundreds of meetings ("malus") continued to exist, performing judicial functions under the chairmanship of the Tungins, who, together with the Rakhinburgs, experts in law ("sentencing"), were representatives of the community.

The role of the community in court cases was exceptionally large. The community was responsible for the murder committed on its territory, exhibited jurors, testifying to the good name of its member; the relatives themselves delivered their relative to the court, together with him they paid the wergeld.

The king was recognized as the bearer of supreme power. His title was hereditary, so that all the Frankish kings of the VI - early VIII century. 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 in it not only Germans, but also free Gallo-Romans. He also appointed - "according to the advice and will of bishops and nobles" - and dismissed all senior officials, rewarding them for their service with chain gifts or land grants. In the VI-VII centuries. these awards passed into the full ownership of the new owners.

The king acted, first of all, as a "guardian of the world", as an executor of the court decisions of the community. His counts, satsebarons performed mainly police and fiscal functions. Salic truth provided punishment for royal officials who refused to meet the demand of a free man and apply power to offenders. At the same time, protecting to a certain extent the independence of the community on the part of the royal officials, the Salic Truth forbade, for example, that more than three satsebarons attend one community meeting.

Royal prescriptions, according to the Salic truth, relate to an insignificant 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 communal court. Moreover, the king directly intrudes into the internal affairs of the community, into its land relations, and allows a stranger to settle on the communal land.

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

However, the king at this time is first of all a military leader, a military leader, whose main concern is "order" in the kingdom, the pacification of the local nobility that is out of obedience. The lack of effective bodies of the central administration, the treasury, independent royal courts with appellate functions was also associated with the limited royal functions.

The central governing body was the royal court. It was here that the king held council with those close to him. From the end of the VI century. an increasingly important role in this council began to play the mayor ("head of the house"). Initially, he managed only the palace economy, but gradually turned into the main administrative person of the kingdom. In addition to the palace council, state affairs were discussed on the March fields. Representing in the time of Clovis the annual reviews of the general military militia - a relic of the tribal meetings of the era of military democracy - the "March fields" turn into the 7th century. in the meetings of the service nobility of different ethnic origins. Here the decisions outlined at the meetings of the royal entourage were approved. The power of the Frankish kings thus increasingly expressed 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 still distinguished by its extreme amorphousness, the absence of clearly delineated official powers, subordination, and organization of office work. The threads of state administration are concentrated in the hands of royal servants and associates. Among them are the palace count, the referendary, the cameraman. The count of the palace performs mainly judicial functions, directs judicial fights, and oversees the execution of sentences. The referendary (speaker), the keeper of the royal seal, is in charge of royal documents, draws up acts, orders of the king, etc. The chamberlain monitors the receipts to the royal treasury, the safety of the property of the palace.

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

The formation of local authorities takes place at this time under the significant influence of the late Roman orders. Merovingian counts begin to rule the districts as Roman governors. They have police, military and judicial functions. In the capitularies, the 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 of the late Roman state orders, had a different character and social purpose. These were authorities expressing the interests primarily of the German service nobility and large Gallo-Roman landowners. They were built on other organizational foundations. For example, they are widely used in public service the king's companions. Initially, the retinue, which consisted of the royal military detachment of free Franks, and, consequently, the state apparatus, was subsequently replenished not only by Romanized Gauls, who were distinguished by their education, knowledge of local law, but also by slaves, 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 the new order, which promised them enrichment and social prestige.

Among the sources of state revenues in the VI - early VII century. an important role was played by land and poll taxes, preserved from Roman times. They were now levied not only from the Gallo-Romans, but also from the Germans. Although tax rates were increased more than once, tax revenues were not enough, especially since the 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 gradually began to be occupied by extraordinary requisitions, 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 king's associates; arbitrariness in the collection of fines, duties, etc. exacerbated popular discontent. At the same time, the fund of land holdings was also reduced, at the expense of which the serving nobility was endowed with land. The only way to ensure the loyalty of the nobles was to provide them with ever new privileges: exclusion of themselves and their possessions from subordination to the count's court, transferring them the right to collect court fines, exemption from the obligation to put the militia at the disposal of the kings, the promise "not to remove" from their positions, the expansion of tax seizures. Some of these privileges were secured by the edict of Chlothar II in 614, others were fixed by immunity charters of the middle of the 7th century. The edict of 614 gave the nobility control over the appointment of earls, who henceforth could only be selected from local landowners.

In the second half of the 7th c. a new system of political domination and administration is taking shape, a kind of "democracy of the nobility", which involves the direct participation of the top of the emerging class of feudal lords in government.

The expansion of the participation of the feudalizing nobility in government, the "seigneurization" of state positions led to the loss of the royal power of the relative independence that it had previously enjoyed. This did not happen immediately, but precisely in the period when large-scale landownership had already acquired significant proportions. At this time, the Royal Council created even earlier, consisting of representatives of the service nobility and the higher clergy, assigns great power. Without the consent of the Council, the king could not actually take a single serious decision. The nobility is gradually transferred to key positions in management, not only in the center, but also in the field. Together with the weakening of the power of kings, counts, dukes, bishops, and abbots, who became large landowners, acquire more and more independence, administrative and judicial functions. They begin to appropriate taxes, duties, 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 under the Alaman Pravda threatens anyone for failing to comply with the requirements of a duke or count, for "neglecting their agenda with a seal" A special title of the 2nd Bavarian Pravda is dedicated to dukes "whom the people appointed or elected"; it testifies to the breadth of those cases "which 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 refers to impunity in the event that the duke's order to kill a person is carried out (2, 6), probably "acting against the law" (2, 2).

Moreover, according to the Alaman truth, the position of the duke is inherited by his son, who, however, is threatened with "exile and disinheritance" for trying to "seize 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 was preserved 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, in the era of the so-called lazy kings, the nobility directly takes the reins of government into their own hands, removing the king. First, this is done by increasing the role and importance of the post of mayordom, and then by directly removing the king. A vivid example of this is the very change of the royal dynasty among the Franks. Back in the 7th century with their power, land wealth, the Pipinid family of majordoms began to stand out. One of them, Charles Martel, actually already ruled the country. Thanks to the reforms carried out, he managed for a certain time to strengthen the unity of the Frankish state, which was going through a long period of political destabilization.

1.7 End of the Merovingian era

After the death of King Dagobert I in 639, constant internecine wars took place between representatives of the powerful aristocracy. At the same time, everyone surrounded himself with vassals, ruled like a small sovereign, involving in internecine strife the sections of the population dependent on him. In each of the three parts into which the Frankish state was divided - in Burgundy, Neustria and Austrasia, there were special chiefs of the palace - mayordoms, who, being representatives of the nobility, actually led the foreign and domestic policy of the state, ignoring royal power and fighting with each other . In the beginning. 640s Thuringia, Alemannia and Bavaria were deposited from the Frankish kingdom, ca. 670 Aquitaine became independent, which began to be controlled by its own independent dukes.

In the process of internecine struggle among the representatives of the aristocracy, the strongest of them rose to the top - Pepin of Herstal, the major of Austrasia, who in 687 became the single major of all three parts of the Frankish state. The title was left behind the kings of the Merovingian house, all actual power passed to the mayordoms. Relying on their vast land wealth and many vassals from among the free, Pepin and his successors led to the obedience of the nobility, strengthened the military power of the Frankish kingdom. Pepin himself, having coped with the nobility, successfully acted against the Germans in the east, he subjugated part of the territory of the Frisians to his power and again established Frankish influence in Alemannia and Bavaria.

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

In the south of the state, Charles Martell won a brilliant victory at Poitiers in 732 over the Arabs, who had moved into Gaul from Spain they had conquered. The battle of Poitiers was turning point, after which the further advance of the Arabs to Europe was suspended. He again subjugated Aquitaine to the Franks. The son of Charles Martel, Pepin the Short (741-768), finally expelled the Arabs from Gaul, conquered Septimania, and continued to consolidate the successes of the Franks behind the Rhine. He completed the conquest of Thuringia, while 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 Ravenna zkzarhat) to the pope as a secular sovereign. Thus, Pepin laid firm foundations for the penetration of Frankish influence into Italy.

CHAPTER 2

2.1 Reform of Charles Martel

In the second half of the 7th c. a strong clan of Pipinids (Arnulfings) emerged from among the landowning nobility of the Frankish state, who managed to unite it and later replace the Merovingian dynasty with a new dynasty of Carolingians. The Arnulfings took over the highest position of the Frankish kingdom - the chamber mayor (mayordom). In the first years of the reign, the power of Major Charles (715-741), later nicknamed Martell (which means "hammer") was finally consolidated. At this time, a serious danger loomed over the Franks from the Arab Caliphate: the Arabs, having conquered Spain, from 720 began an attack on Gaul. The wars with the Arabs showed the advantage of the cavalry over the infantry militia, which made up the bulk of the Frankish army. In order to create cavalry, as well as to strengthen the social base of his power, Charles Martel secularized a number of church and monastic land holdings and transferred them to representatives of the secular nobility. At the same time, 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 beneficiaries lat. beneficium - beneficence, mercy on the terms of military service is possible more persons who were supposed to be on horseback with appropriate weapons. Sources did not retain data on how long it took Charles to form a new army and what was its size. It is only known that in the decisive battle with the Arabs at Poitiers in October 732, the Franks survived; moreover, by ambushing the Arab camp where the loot 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.

By the reform of Charles Martel, the peasants were almost removed from military service. Large landowners, medium and small feudal lords served as the basis for the creation of a new professional cavalry army. Prior to Charles Martel, the predominant form of royal land grants was land grants on the right of the allod. Such gifts 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. Karl Martell introduced completely new system grants of land in the form of beneficiaries on the terms of predominantly military service The fund for these awards 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 dues in his favor and performed corvée work. The use of the same form of grants 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 medium and small feudal lords, strengthened thanks to it, constituted for a certain time the support of the Carolingian dynasty. Following the example of the king, other large magnates also began to practice the distribution of beneficiaries, which contributed to the creation of a hierarchical structure of feudal society and landed property.

2.2 Charlemagne

The Frankish state reached its peak under Charlemagne (768-814), who sought to unite all the Romanesque and Germanic peoples of the West, using for this the fighting power of the Franks and the support of the Church. In 773-774, Charlemagne conquered Northern Italy and annexed it to the Frankish state, declaring himself king of the Franks and Lombards, by 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 old Germanic system, remained independent. For 33 whole years (772-804), Charlemagne introduced Christianity and Frankish domination among the Saxons with iron and blood, until he finally broke their stubbornness. Having conquered Saxony and undertaking a number of campaigns in the Slavic lands, Charles built several fortresses on the border, which later became strongholds for the expansion of the Germans to the east.

The Danube campaigns of Charles 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 advance to the first place among the rulers of Europe and allowed him to achieve the imperial title as the successor to the Western Roman emperors. Charlemagne's assumption of the imperial title in 800 formalized his conquests and cemented his hegemony in Europe.

The great merit of Charles lies in the fact that he was able to put in order and put into practice the correct government of the country, which contributed to its appeasement. And if the first means of uniting the empire is the personality of Emperor Charles, and the second - his Reichstag, then the third means of uniting heterogeneous constituent parts empire were, undoubtedly, the officials appointed by him.

In relation to the church hierarchy, Charles maintained his position as autocrat in complete immunity. Assuming the new title of Roman emperor, he became in part the head of the church. Karl's multilateral administrative activities were mainly aimed at encouraging people to practical activities - classes agriculture, industry, trade. He created all the conditions for this - security from external intrusions and internal order, as far as it was possible at the time of the predominance of brute force and, as far as it was in his power, encouraged the development of individual industries. He himself, as the largest landowner, was a reasonable and excellent owner; his estates were exemplary economic institutions. From his stewards, he demanded an accurate account: if they were guilty, they had to come to the residence of the king "and answer with their backs or suffer any other punishment that the queen would like to appoint."

The main thing was considered to be the multiplication and improvement of means of communication, and this was easier for the sovereign ruler of a large state than for the rulers of scattered possessions. Karl paid attention, first of all, to the improvement of 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 charitable enterprise ended unsuccessfully - the construction of a permanent bridge across the Rhine near Mainz. It took 10 years to build and was built so solidly that, according to Einhard, "everyone thought that this bridge would last a century," but the fire of 813 destroyed this beautiful structure in just three hours.

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

2.3 Political system

The center of the empire's administration was the imperial court with its officials, the count of the palace. who combined in his hands, together with the administration of justice, the leadership of the royal administration; chancellor - the keeper of the state seal, responsible for drawing up royal acts and standing at the head of the office; count palatine, in charge of the palace economy; archchaplain - head of the Frankish clergy, confessor of the king and his adviser on church affairs, the keeper of a special shrine of the Frankish monarchs - the cloak of St. Martin of Tulsky. Most of the other positions that existed earlier (marshal, seneschal, etc.) were preserved under the Carolingians.

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

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

The main administrative unit was the county. The frontier counties were called margraves, and the heading counts were called margraves. Each 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 revision districts, in which the sovereign's envoys (one secular and one clergyman) were sent, who took an oath from the population of allegiance to the monarch, promulgated royal orders, monitored their execution, over the management of royal estates, over the correct administration of justice, for the behavior of the clergy; held accountable officials, including counts, with the right to remove them and cancel their decisions.

Frankish state

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

The term "Franks" was first mentioned in 291. Later, the Franks become subjects of the fading Roman Empire. They receive from her land in Gaul for further settlement. Their relationship was ambiguous, although they were good allies. For example, when, then the Franks came out in their defense. When the state of the Franks 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 occupied territory Neustria. In 496 the first Frankish king converted to Christianity. This exalted him before the Christian believers. An outstanding victory was also won at the Battle of Poitiers. The king defeated the army of the Visigoths. Gradually, many began to recognize the new state that arose on such a large territory.

The Franks did not leave their native territory. They only increased its area. On the territory of the state most of all lived Gauls and Franks. The Franks preferred to settle in a separate territory. For a long time they preserved the 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 usages. Of course, it has reached our days in later lists. But, nevertheless, it is a very important source. One of the assumptions prevailing in historical science is that this document was written in the last decade of the reign. In truth, the most ancient customs of the Frankish state are recorded. The local peasants lived in the community. She then regulated land relations in society. Gradually, large families in the Frankish kingdom become a thing of the past, only small ones remain. Tribal families lived next door to each other. This is how large rural settlements gradually appear.

There are many interesting customs in Salic Pravda. For example, renunciation. In order to break family ties, it was necessary to loudly inform everyone at the meeting about the renunciation of hereditary rights and obligations. That is, to refuse inheritance, blood feud and paying taxes. If a person was without children, then the state received his property.

Social structure in the Frankish state.

For that period of the Middle Ages in any state, the most numerous layer was free people. The tribal nobility was replaced by the service, but it was still taking shape. In the service of the king were vigilantes. Druzhinnikov in the kingdom, and maybe even any person could become a count. Free people were part of the people's assembly, they were proprietors-farmers.

Also, the society of the Frankish kingdom was characterized by slaves. Without them, the Frankish state could not exist. In the event of the death or murder of a slave, his master 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 quitrent. The master could set the slave free, although this did not happen often. And if the slave became free, he still paid former owner different duties. Over time, a new stratum of society appeared in the state - litas. Judging by the way they were evaluated by Salichnaya Pravda, they were probably the descendants of previously freed slaves.

State structure of the Frankish state

With the development of the state in the Frankish kingdom, new governments appear. The Franks captured new territories, and at the same time gained invaluable experience in government. Gradually, it became clear that in order to keep large territories in the composition, it was necessary to change the administration of the state. The role of the People's Assembly as the main body of government is gradually falling. When he was already on the throne, the “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 territories, a people's assembly was still convened.

As for the settlements, they also change. Villages and villas are fortified. Cities are also being built fortifications. When the Merovingians began to rule, they began to build citadels in the 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 the features of the general development of the Frankish state.

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Interestingly, the territories of the Franks and the Gallo-Romans developed differently. Among the Gallo-Romans, in the main, in the state development, the old everyday Roman features were preserved. But the territory of the state, where the Franks lived, increasingly perceived the achievements of state development in the conquered countries. But at the end of the reign of the Merovingian dynasty, it is already clear that the two cultures merged into one common characteristic of a single Frankish state.

In the Early Middle Ages in Europe, a new state arises on the territory of Gaul. It does not have a common ethnic composition, as well as common economic ties. But gradually it becomes clear that this new state formation will become the leading kingdom in Europe. A very powerful formation, with a strong power of the king, with a well-organized state structure.

Frankish state video

5. The Frankish kingdom in the early Middle Ages (VI-VIII centuries)

In 486, as a result of the Frankish conquest in Northern Gaul, the Frankish state arose, headed by the leader of the Salian Franks, Clovis from the Merovean family (hence the Merovingian dynasty). Thus began the first period of the Frankish state - from the end of the 5th to the end of the 7th centuries, usually called the Merovingian period. Under Holdwig, Aquitaine was conquered, under his successors Burgundy, and the Ostrogoths ceded Provence to the Franks. By the middle of the VI century. The Frankish state included almost its territory of the former Roman province of Gaul. The Franks also subjugated a number of Germanic tribes living beyond the Rhine: the Thuringians, Almants and Bavarians recognized the supreme power of the Franks; the Sakas were forced to pay them an annual tribute.

The process of feudalization of the Frankish state took place in the form of a synthesis of decaying late Roman and German tribal relations. At the first stage of the existence of the Frankish state (the end of the 5th - the end of the 7th centuries) in the north of Gaul, the late Roman and barbarian structures existed in the form of various ways: the decaying slave-owning and barbarian, tribal, and also the emerging feudal (colonate, different forms land dependence, friendly relations among the Franks), which belonged to the future.

The most important source for studying the social system of the Franks in the Merovingian period is the Salic Truth. It is a record of the court customs of the Salic Franks, which is believed to have been made at the beginning of the 6th century, even under Clovis. Roman influence was much less pronounced here than in other barbarian truths, and is found mainly in external features: Latin language , fines in Roman monetary units. "Salic Truth" reflects the archaic orders of the primitive communal system that existed among the Franks even before the conquest, and weakly reflects the life and legal status of the Gallo-Roman population. According to this document, during this period, the Franks had a fully developed private, freely transferable ownership of movable property. The main land fund of each village belongs to the collective of its inhabitants - free small landowners who constituted the community. The right to freely dispose of hereditary allotments belonged only to the entire collective of the community. Individual-family ownership of land among the Franks at the end of the 5th and in the 6th centuries. was just being born. This is evidenced by the chapter "On Allods", according to which land inheritance, unlike movable property, was inherited only through the male line. At the end of the VI century. under the influence of property stratification and the weakening of tribal ties, in the edict of King Chilperic, this chapter was changed: it was established that in the absence of a son, the land could be inherited by the daughter, brother or sister of the deceased, and not by “neighbors”, that is, the community. The land became an object of sale and purchase, turns into the property of a community member. This change was of a fundamental nature and led to a further deepening of property and social differentiation in the community, to its disintegration. The emergence of allod stimulated the growth of large land ownership among the Franks. Even during the conquest, Clovis appropriated the lands of the former imperial fiscus. His successors gradually seized all the free lands, which at first were considered the property of their people. From this fund, the Frankish kings distributed land grants in full ownership to their confidants and the church. Harassment from large secular landowners, church institutions and royal officials forced the free Franks to surrender under the protection of secular and spiritual landowners, who became their lords. The act of entering under personal protection was called "commendation". Simultaneously with the feudalization of Frankish society, the process of the emergence of an early feudal state was going on. The king concentrated in his hands all the functions of state administration, the center of which was the royal court. He ruled the state as a personal economy, which came to him in the form of taxes, fines and trade duties. Royal power relied on the support of the emerging class of large landowners. At one time, Clovis with his retinue, and after him all the Franks, adopted Christianity, which not only increased the authority of the king among the Christian population of Gaul, but also provided him and his successors with an alliance with the church. The adoption of Christianity was accompanied by the introduction of Latin writing. In almost every village a temple was erected, where the priest led worship. The ministers of the church represented a special layer of society - the clergy. After the death of Clovis, who divided his kingdom between his 4 sons and who lost part of their income due to the generous distribution of land, the Frankish kings were powerless in the fight against the separatist aspirations of large landowners. The fragmentation of the Frankish state began. All regions were weakly interconnected economically, which prevented their unification in one state. The kings from the Merovingian house fought among themselves for supremacy, and at the end of the 7th century. the actual power in all areas of the kingdom was in the hands of the majors of the houses - the managers of the royal household. In the future, the kings from the Merovingian house, who lost real power, received the nickname "lazy kings" from their contemporaries. After a long struggle among the Frankish nobility in 687, Major of Austrasia, Pepin of Herstal, became Major of the entire Frankish state.

Pepin's successor Charles Martell ("The Hammer") began his reign by pacifying unrest in the kingdom. Then he carried out the so-called beneficial reform. Its essence was that instead of the allods that prevailed under the Merovingians, a system of land grants to conditional feudal property in the form of benefices (literally, “good deeds”) was widely used and completed. Beneficiy complained to lifelong use on the terms of performing certain services, most often mounted military. Over time, benefices began to turn from life into hereditary possession and during the 9th-10th centuries. acquired the features of a feud, that is, a hereditary conditional holding associated with the obligation to perform military service.

In 732, in the decisive battle of Poitiers, Charles Martell inflicted a crushing defeat on the Arabs, who by that time had conquered the Iberian Peninsula, thus stopping their further advance into the interior of the continent. Martell's son and successor, Pepin the Short, settled relations with the church, somewhat exacerbated by the reform carried out by his father, and in 751, at a meeting of the Frankish nobility and his vassals in Soissons, Pepin was proclaimed king of the Franks. The last Merovingian king, Childeric III, was imprisoned in a monastery. The era of the Carolingians began. At the call of Pope Stephen II, Pepin forced the Lombard king by force of arms to give the pope the cities of the Roman region and the lands of the Ravenna Exarchate (former Byzantine possession) that he had previously captured. On these lands in Central Italy, in 756, the Papal State arose, which lasted more than a thousand years. Pepin the Short's son Charlemagne became the most famous Frankish king.

Origin of the Franks. Formation of the Frankish kingdom

The name of the Franks appeared in historical monuments starting from the 3rd century, and Roman writers called many Franks Germanic tribes bearing various names. Apparently, the Franks represented a new, very extensive tribal association, which included in its composition a number of Germanic tribes that merged or mixed during the migrations. The Franks split into two large branches - the seaside, or salic, Franks (from the Latin word "salum", which means sea), who lived at the mouth of the Rhine, and the coastal, or Ripuarian, Franks (from the Latin word "ripa", which means coast) who lived south along the banks of the Rhine and Meuse. The Franks repeatedly crossed the Rhine, raiding Roman possessions in Gaul or settling there in the position of allies of Rome.

In the 5th century the Franks captured a significant part of the territory of the Roman Empire, namely North-Eastern Gaul. At the head of the Frankish possessions were the leaders of the former tribes. Of the leaders of the Franks, Merovei is known, under which the Franks fought against Attila in the Catalaunian fields (451) and on whose behalf the name of the Merovingian royal family came. The son and successor of Merovei was the leader Childeric, whose grave was found near Tournai. The son and heir of Childeric was the most prominent representative of the Merovingian family - King Clovis (481-511).

Having become the king of the Salic Franks, Clovis, together with other leaders who acted like him, in the interests of the Frankish nobility, undertook the conquest of vast areas of Gaul. In 486, the Franks captured the Soissons region (the last Roman possession in Gaul), and later the territory between the Seine and the Loire. At the end of the 5th century the Franks inflicted a severe defeat on the Germanic tribe of the Alemanni (Alamans) and partially forced them out of Gaul back across the Rhine.

In 496, Clovis was baptized, having accepted Christianity along with 3 thousand of his warriors. Baptism was a clever political move on the part of Clovis. He was baptized according to the rite adopted by the Western (Roman) Church. The Germanic tribes moving from the Black Sea region - the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, as well as the Vandals and Burgundians - were, from the point of view of the Roman Church, heretics, since they were Arians who denied some of its dogmas.

At the beginning of the VI century. Frankish squads opposed the Visigoths, who owned all of southern Gaul. At the same time, the great benefits that flowed from the baptism of Clovis affected. All the clergy of the Western Christian Church, who lived beyond the Loire, took his side, and many cities and fortified points that served as the seat of this clergy immediately opened the gates to the Franks. In the decisive battle of Poitiers (507), the Franks won a complete victory over the Visigoths, whose dominance from then on was limited only to the borders of Spain.

Thus, as a result of the conquests, a large Frankish state was created, which covered almost all of the former Roman Gaul. Under the sons of Clovis, Burgundy was annexed to the Frankish kingdom.

The reasons for such rapid successes of the Franks, who still had very strong community ties, was that they settled in North-Eastern Gaul in compact masses, without dissolving among the local population (like the Visigoths, for example). Moving deep into Gaul, the Franks did not break ties with their former homeland and all the time drew new forces for conquest there. At the same time, the kings and the Frankish nobility were often content with the vast lands of the former imperial fiscus, without entering into conflicts with the local Gallo-Roman population. Finally, the clergy provided Clovis with constant support during the conquests.

"Salic truth" and its meaning

The most important information about the social system of the Franks is reported by the so-called "Salic Truth" - a record of the ancient judicial customs of the Franks, which is believed to have been made under Clovis. This law book examines in detail various cases from the life of the Franks and lists fines for a wide variety of crimes, ranging from the theft of a chicken to a ransom for killing a person. Therefore, according to the "Salic Truth" it is possible to restore the true picture of the life of the Salic Franks. The Ripuarian Franks, the Burgundians, the Anglo-Saxons, and other Germanic tribes also had such judicial codes - Pravda.

The time for recording and editing this ordinary (from the word custom) folk law is the 6th-9th centuries, that is, the time when the tribal system of the Germanic tribes had already completely decomposed, private ownership of land appeared and classes and the state arose. To protect private property, it was necessary to firmly fix those judicial penalties that were to be applied to persons who violated the right to this property. Required firm fixation and such new social relations that arose from tribal, such as territorial, or neighboring, communal peasant ties, the ability for a person to refuse kinship, the subordination of free Franks to the king and his officials, etc.

The Salic Truth was divided into titles (chapters), and each title, in turn, into paragraphs. A large number of titles were devoted to determining the fines that had to be paid for all sorts of thefts. But the “Salic Truth” took into account the most diverse aspects of the life of the Franks, so there were also such titles in it: “On murders or if someone steals someone else’s wife”, “On if someone grabs a free woman by the hand, by the brush or by the finger”, “About quadrupeds, if they kill a man”, “About a servant in witchcraft”, etc.

In the title "On Insult with Words" punishments for insult were determined. The title "On Mutilation" stated: "If someone plucks out another's eye, he is awarded 62 1/2 solidi"; “If he tears off his nose, he is awarded for payment ... 45 solidi”; “If the ear is torn off, 15 solidi are awarded,” etc. (The solidus was a Roman monetary unit. According to the 6th century, it was believed that 3 solidi was equal to the cost of a “healthy, sighted and horned” cow.)

Frankish state

the first major political association in Europe in the early Middle Ages; existed at the end of the 5th - the middle of the 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. g. 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 Rome. 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 who lived along the middle reaches of the Rhine. Under the sons of Clovis, Godomar, the king of the Burgundians, was defeated (534), and his kingdom was included in Fg. In 536, the Ostrogothic king Witigis renounced Provence in favor of the Franks. In the 30s. 6th c. the Alpine possessions of the Alemanni and the lands of the Thuringians between the Weser and the Elbe were also conquered, and in the 50s. - the lands of the Bavarians on the Danube. The Merovingian state represented an ephemeral political entity. It did not have not only economic and ethnic communities, but also political and judicial-administrative unities (immediately after the death of Clovis, his 4 sons divided the F. g. among themselves, only sometimes uniting for joint conquest campaigns). was not the same and social order different parts F. g. In his sowing. areas denser than other populated german. tribes, in the 6th-7th centuries. communal relations prevailed; in the interfluve of the Seine and the Somme, on the basis of a synthesis of decomposing communal and late antique institutions, a feudal structure began to take shape: the formation of large private seigneurial landownership and feudal classes began. At the same time, essential elements of Late Antique relations with their characteristic great value exploitation of slaves and colonies. Differences in the social structure were reflected in the features public institutions. In the south of F., the late Roman municipal curia remained, Rome. tax, customs and monetary systems; The main administrative-territorial unit remained the urban district. North of the Loire, the Roman system of local government was held mainly in the cities; in other places, the administrative structure changed under the influence of Frankish institutions: the main territorial unit was the rural district, which included several hundred (See Hundred) ; in districts and hundreds there were assemblies of free francs, which retained certain judicial and administrative rights. However, already at the end of the 6th c. and especially in the 7th c. expanded the prerogatives of the Counts appointed by the kings , to whom many court cases were transferred, as well as fiscal functions and the right to command the local militia; the political role of the annual all-Frank military review meetings (“March fields”) began to fade away. The highest legislative, military and executive power was gradually concentrated in the hands of hereditary kings, who ruled with the help of the royal court. Such kings headed each of the main parts of the Fg: Austrasia, Neustria, and 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. g., the nobility noticeably increased. It included at that time, 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 columns serving them (slavery was not abolished). In an effort to enlist the support of the nobility, the Merovingian kings provided her with important military and administrative posts and new land grants. Under the great-grandson of Clovis Chlothar II (the king of all F. in 613-629), the increasingly stronger nobility achieved the legitimization of a number of its privileges, in particular control over local government. After the death of the son of Chlothar II Dagobert I (king in 629-639), who briefly stopped the growth of the autocracy of the nobility, royalty comes to a complete standstill. The decision of state affairs passes into the hands of the Mayor , appointed by the king in each kingdom from representatives of the most noble families. Separate parts of F. g. - Neustria, Austrasia, Burgundy, Aquitaine - became more and more isolated from each other.

In the 1st half of the 8th c. the political unity of the FG was restored. The dominant position was achieved by a group of nobility (which absorbed the highest aristocracy of all the Frankish kingdoms), headed by the mayordoms of Austrasia, who also managed to attract the wealthy elite of the free rank and file, which was newly formed in the course of social stratification. The first attempt to reunite Fg was made by the Austrasian Major Pepin of Herstal (died 714), who also achieved recognition as Major in Neustria and Burgundy. His son Karl Martell (majordom in 715–741), retaining the rights of majordom in these kingdoms, again subjugated Thuringia, Alemannia and Bavaria, which had fallen away during the weakening of the power of the Merovingians, restored power over Aquitaine and Provence. His victory over the Arabs at Poitiers in 732 stopped the Arab expansion into the West. Europe. Authority and power allowed Charles Martell to rule without building on royal throne Merovingian heirs. Strengthening his power was facilitated by the beneficiary reform, which established the conditional nature of land grants granted for service (see Beneficiary). The son of Charles Martell, Pepin the Short, with the support of Pope Zacharias, proclaimed himself king of Fg (751), founding a new dynasty - the 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 authority of Fg and transferred the cities of the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Roman region to the papacy (see Papal Region). Under Pepin, Septimania was conquered from the Arabs (759), power was strengthened over Bavaria, Alemannia and Aquitaine. Fg reached its greatest strength under Pepin's son Charlemagne (See Charlemagne) (reigned 768–814). Having again defeated the Lombards, Charlemagne annexed their possessions in Italy to Fg (774), conquered the lands of the Saxons (772–804), 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 crowning 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. g. 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 main part of the nobility needed political consolidation in order to subjugate the free population. In the 8th - early 9th centuries. in F. g., and primarily in the interfluve of 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 power of the nobility; the leading type of economy was a large patrimony with Domain ; in the ruling class, the system of vassalage a. Thanks to the wide development of all these phenomena in the interfluve of the Rhine and Loire in the 8th-9th centuries. feudal relations win. In other parts of the feudal economy, the feudal system is noticeably intensifying.

In the course of feudalization, the remnants of communal institutions in the political structure disappeared. The general Frankish military training was finally replaced by the annual reviews of the feudal cavalry (“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 seniors who enjoyed Immunity were withdrawn. General court meetings in counties and hundreds were replaced by juries appointed from above. The participation of ordinary 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 heredity of land holdings and positions; in its midst, tendencies towards political independence again sharply intensified. The internecine struggle escalates. Already the son of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious (ruled 814-840), could not preserve the integrity of the empire, and according to the Verdun Treaty of 843 (See Treaty of Verdun 843), it was divided into three kingdoms, anticipating France, Germany and Italy with their borders (the latter was at the beginning connected with the lands along the Rhone and the Rhine). Despite the fact that the empire of Charlemagne was an unstable political entity, the sharp acceleration of the processes of feudalization within its framework had a beneficial effect on economic and cultural development: the development of agriculture and handicrafts somewhat revived, new lands were plowed up, and foreign trade expanded; interest in education, literature, and secular sciences increased among the ruling class (see "Carolingian Renaissance").

Lit.: F. Engels, Frankish Period, K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 19; his, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, ibid., vol. 21; Neusykhin A.I., The emergence of a dependent peasantry as a class of early feudal society in Western Europe VI–VIII centuries., M., 1956; Korsunsky A.R., Formation of the early feudal state in Western Europe, M., 1963; History of France, vol. 1, M., 1972, ch. one; 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. Bessmertny.

Big soviet encyclopedia. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

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Francia, Frankia empire, kingdom ← ... Wikipedia

Early medieval state, which 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

It arose in con. 5th c. on part of the territory of the former Zap. the Roman Empire during the conquest by the Franks led by Clovis of Gaul; included as a result of the conquests of Charlemagne almost the entire Zap. and part of the Center. Europe. In the Frankish state ruled ... ... Large encyclopedic Dictionary

- (lat. Regnum Francorum) political. formation of the era of the genesis of feudalism in the West. Europe; existed in con. 5 ser. 9th century During the period of greatest expansion, it covered almost the entire Zap. 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 Carolingian takeover, 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 "World History"

It arose at the end of the 5th century. on a 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 the Frankish ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Frankish state- early feud. state., which arose in con. 5th c. during conquests. Franks of Gaul and included, as a result of the campaigns of Charlemagne, part of Italy, Germany, Spain and some Slavic lands within its borders. The initial stage in the formation of F. g. was ... ... Ancient world. encyclopedic Dictionary

Frankish state under the Merovingians- The origin of the Franks. Formation of the Frankish Kingdom The name of the Franks appeared in historical monuments starting from the 3rd century, and Roman writers called many Germanic tribes Franks, bearing various names. Apparently, the Franks ... ... The World History. Encyclopedia

“The Frankish state as a typical example of an early feudal state. State structure of the Frankish state

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