The Rise of the Carolingians

The Carolingians were among many aristocratic families on the rise during the Merovingian period, (See “Frankish Kingdoms with Roman Roots,” in Chapter 8) but they gained exceptional power by monopolizing the position of “palace mayor”—a sort of prime minister—under the Merovingian kings. Charles Martel (“Charles the Hammer”), mayor 714–741, gave the name Carolingian (from Carolus, Latin for “Charles”) to the dynasty. Renowned for defeating an invading army of Muslims from al-Andalus near Poitiers in 732, he also contended vigorously against other aristocrats who were carving out independent lordships for themselves. Charles Martel and his family turned aristocratic factions against one another, rewarded supporters, crushed enemies, and dominated whole regions by supporting monasteries that served as focal points for both religious piety and land donations.

The Carolingians also allied themselves with the Roman papacy. They supported Anglo-Saxon missionaries like Boniface (See “Christianity and Classical Culture in the British Isles” in Chapter 8) who went to areas on the fringes of the Carolingian realm as the pope’s ambassador. Reforming the Christianity that these regions had adopted, Boniface set up a hierarchical church organization and founded new monasteries. His newly appointed bishops were loyal to Rome and the Carolingians.

Pippin III (d. 768), Charles Martel’s son, turned to the pope directly. When he deposed the Merovingian king in 751, taking over the kingship himself, Pippin petitioned Pope Zachary to legitimize the act; the pope agreed. The Carolingians returned the favor a few years later when the pope asked for their help against hostile Lombards. That papal request signaled a major shift. Before 754, the papacy had been part of the Byzantine Empire; after that, it turned to Europe for protection.

Pippin launched a successful campaign against the Lombard king that ended in 756 with the so-called Donation of Pippin, a peace accord between the Lombards and the pope. The treaty gave back to the pope cities that had been taken by the Lombard king. The new arrangement recognized what the papacy had long before created: a territorial “republic of St. Peter” ruled by the pope, not by the Byzantine emperor. Henceforth, the fate of Italy would be tied largely to the policies of the pope and the Frankish kings to the north, not to the eastern emperors.

Partnership with the Roman church gave the Carolingian dynasty a Christian aura, expressed in symbolic form by anointment. Bishops rubbed holy oil on the foreheads and shoulders of Carolingian kings during the coronation ceremony, imitating the Old Testament kings who had been anointed by God.