Charlemagne's Practice of Empire

A new interpretation of Charlemagne, examining how the Frankish king and his men learned to govern the first European empire.

Jennifer R. Davis (Author)

9781107076990, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 20 August 2015

552 pages, 3 b/w illus. 2 maps 5 tables
23.6 x 16 x 5.1 cm, 0.79 kg

'This is material with which Davis is intimately familiar, and her command of the subtleties of these texts and their manuscript traditions comes through clearly throughout the volume … Whether one accepts some or all of Davis' conclusions, her study is now essential reading for all specialists working on early medieval Europe. Essential.' David S. Bachrach, H-France Review

Revisiting one of the great puzzles of European political history, Jennifer R. Davis examines how the Frankish king Charlemagne and his men held together the vast new empire he created during the first decades of his reign. Davis explores how Charlemagne overcame the two main problems of ruling an empire, namely how to delegate authority and how to manage diversity. Through a meticulous reconstruction based on primary sources, she demonstrates that rather than imposing a pre-existing model of empire onto conquered regions, Charlemagne and his men learned from them, developing a practice of empire that allowed the emperor to rule on a European scale. As a result, Charlemagne's realm was more flexible and diverse than has long been believed. Telling the story of Charlemagne's rule using sources produced during the reign itself, Davis offers a new interpretation of Charlemagne's political practice, free from the distortions of later legend.

Introduction
Part I. Strategic Rulership: Introduction: tools of control and coercion
1. Managing royal agents
2. Disciplining royal agents
3. Fractured control: Charlemagne's response to dissent
Conclusion: control and its limits
Part II. Center and Region in Charlemagne's Empire: Introduction: unity and diversity in Charlemagne's empire
4. An empire of regions?
5. The conquered regions as arenas for experimentation
6. The nature of the empire: centralization and communication
Conclusion: the imperial character of Charlemagne's realm
Part III. An Empire of Practice: Introduction: continuity, change, and the building of an empire
7. The chronology of the reign
8. Recta via: the dynamics of political change
Conclusion: an empire of practice
Conclusion: Charlemagne's invention of medieval rulership
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], Regional & national history [HBJ], History [HB], Peace studies & conflict resolution [GTJ], Development studies [GTF], Interdisciplinary studies [GT]