A Sacred Kingdom: Bishops and the Rise of Frankish Kingship, 300-850

by Michael Edward Moore

Overview

Over a period of some five centuries, Europe was transformed by the emergence of barbarian kingdoms in the regions of the former Roman Empire. In the turbulent post-Roman world, the Christian church and its bishops had considerable sway, as these kingdoms developed new institutions such as Christian kingship. Warlike kingdoms competed with each other and took on projects of political consolidation, religious accommodation, and conversion. Religious imperatives shaped the understanding of political culture, alongside aristocratic consensus and cooperation. The Franks ultimately dominated Europe and built a great empire, pursuing a doctrine of missionary warfare. Carolingian kings and nobles were mobilized by a religiously saturated ideology and by the appeal of an aggressive and expansionist political order.

Throughout these changes, bishops played a guiding role. Their special garments, liturgies, and hairstyle indicated their character as a priestly brotherhood, set apart from the rest of society, whose task was to regulate the affairs of men and ensure the benevolence of God. The function of bishops as a cohesive religious order, and their collaboration with kings, meant that their ideas had a special prestige. By their blessings bishops could protect crops, houses, and even the kingdom and its warriors. By their mastery of laws--canon, Roman, and barbarian--the bishops grasped the right nature of the social order and indicated to others God's plan for the world.

Drawing on the records of nearly 100 bishops' councils spanning the centuries, alongside royal law, edicts, and capitularies of the same period, this study details how royal law and the very character of kingship among the Franks were profoundly affected by episcopal traditions of law and social order.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813229621
Publisher:	The Catholic University of America Press
Publication date:	12/09/2016
Series:	Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Canon Law , #8
Pages:	434
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Michael Edward Moore is associate professor of medieval and European history at the University of Iowa

Editorial Reviews

"A detailed, deeply researched study of the formation of the political theology of the Frankish Kingdom from the collapse of Rome through the fragmentation of the Carolingian dynasty. Moore is even-handed throughout, and gives attention to the workings of councils, the liturgical shape of episcopal power, the various patristic sources on which Frankish bishops drew, and their development of a distinctive political vision. It is a rewarding entree into one of the formative periods of Western political theology." —First Things

"Moore's emphasis on the role of episcopal models for royal office is both novel and engaging. His command of the secondary literature is impressive and his readings of primary sources are nuanced . . . This is a subtle, well-argued monograph that will greatly enrich our understanding of the early Middle Ages; it should be required reading for anyone interested in the religion and politics of the era." —Journal of Ecclesiastical History

"The book presents an excellent and nuanced understanding of early medieval kingship that situates it firmly in an ecclesiastical tradition stretching back to the Roman Empire. Michael Edward Moore is a legal historian at heart . . . yet this is no mere history of ecclesiastical law."—The Historian

"Will be helpful to specialists in early-medieval episcopal history, and, perhaps in its wake, a new consensus regarding the role of bishops in the long period of transformation from antiquity to the middle ages will emerge." —Catholic Historical Review

"A well-crafted tale which uses not only varied primary and secondary sources but also utilizes structures of space, symbols, language, and cult to illustrate the true roles which bishops play. It is a must read for anyone who studies the late antique/early medieval western Europe and the religious and governmental origins contained within; that it is clearly written by a widely read and careful historian makes it as enjoyable as it is instructive." —Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies

From the Publisher