TY - JOUR
T1 - The Carolingians, the Church, and the medieval constitution
AU - Young, Andrew T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Western Social Science Association
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - In the eighth century, Charles Martel confiscated Church property to make distributions of benefices and precaria to his vassals. This project was an investment in state capacity and secularizations of Church property were continued under Charles’ son Pippin III. Many scholars have characterized this development as the expansion of Carolingian (monarchical) authority at the expense of the Church and to the benefit of the lay nobility. I argue that a better characterization is one of constitutional bargains that, taken together, benefited the Church as well as the Carolingians and their noble vassals. This opportunity for mutually beneficial constitutional exchange arose because of a decrease in the importance of trade relative to landed wealth and the increased papal insecurity resulting from Muslim and Lombard threats.
AB - In the eighth century, Charles Martel confiscated Church property to make distributions of benefices and precaria to his vassals. This project was an investment in state capacity and secularizations of Church property were continued under Charles’ son Pippin III. Many scholars have characterized this development as the expansion of Carolingian (monarchical) authority at the expense of the Church and to the benefit of the lay nobility. I argue that a better characterization is one of constitutional bargains that, taken together, benefited the Church as well as the Carolingians and their noble vassals. This opportunity for mutually beneficial constitutional exchange arose because of a decrease in the importance of trade relative to landed wealth and the increased papal insecurity resulting from Muslim and Lombard threats.
KW - Comparative economic development
KW - Medieval constitution
KW - Medieval economic history
KW - Political property rights
KW - Polycentric governance
KW - State capacity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054396751&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.soscij.2018.08.004
DO - 10.1016/j.soscij.2018.08.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054396751
VL - 56
SP - 358
EP - 366
JO - Social Science Journal
JF - Social Science Journal
SN - 0362-3319
IS - 3
ER -