Church property and the Carolingian political order in the last years of Louis the Pious (834-840). Contested property, rebellions, and the ordering of Carolingian society

Dekker, Boudewijn Frederik (2013) Church property and the Carolingian political order in the last years of Louis the Pious (834-840). Contested property, rebellions, and the ordering of Carolingian society. MRes thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This dissertation is set within the reign of Louis the Pious, emperor of the Carolingian empire from 814 to 840, and focusses specifically on the understudied period of 834 to 840, after the empire had to endure serious rebellions in 830-833. Traditionally, historians of the Carolingian period have seen the rebellions and the subsequent public penance of the emperor in 833 as the turning point in the unity of the empire, after which everything went downhill, the emperor had lost his authority and the Carolingian empire was destined to break apart. Because they have given much weight to the rebellions, scholars have often neglected the period after these tumultuous events. Therefore, through the contextualization, analysis and application of a treatise on the sacrosanctity of church property, the De rebus ecclesiasticis non invadendis, written in 836 by Bishop Jonas of Orléans, this dissertation tries to shed light on this understudied period of 834 to 840, and focusses on the question whether the rebellions of the 830s had indeed any impact on the political discourse on the stability of the political order. By analyzing the mode of argument in the De Rebus, it argues for continuity, rather than discontinuity with regard to this political discourse, and shows that the issues discussed in and the purpose of the De Rebus are in direct line with those of the Church synods of the 820s, before the rebellions. Moreover, it argues that the destination of the De Rebus shows that the bishops in 836 still considered the Carolingian empire as a unified realm, instead of cracking down after the tumultuous events of the early 830s, as is traditionally argued.

• Item Type: Thesis (MRes)
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Keywords: Carolingian politics, Louis the Pious, early medieval Europe, church property, Carolingian Empire, political discourse, rebellion
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > History
• Supervisor's Name: Airlie, Dr. Stuart
• Date of Award: 2013
• Depositing User: B F Dekker
• Unique ID: glathesis:2013-4109
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 24 Apr 2013 10:41
• Last Modified: 24 Apr 2013 10:43
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/4109