Formation of a barbarian kingdom. State of the Franks
From a surname Merovingian occupied all of Gaul. Under the rule of the kings of this dynasty were, on the one hand, the Gallo-Romans, on the other, except for the Franks (Salic and Ripuarian), and others Germanic tribes, conquered by the Franks under Clovis and his successors (Allemans, Burgundians, Bavarians and Thuringians). After the death of Clovis (511), he left four sons, who divided their father's inheritance into four portions, since at that time the Franks had not yet developed a real understanding of what a state is, in contrast to a private estate. Although the youngest of the sons of Clovis (Chlothar I) managed to reunite the whole kingdom under his rule, but after him it again fell apart. Already under the sons of Clovis, between the individual Merovingians, there were quarreling And civil strife, characterized by extreme unbridledness and cruelty of morals. Separate parts of the kingdom also did not get along with each other. northeastern part of the monarchy (Austria) inhabited by the Ripuarian Franks and other Germanic tribes, who only very loosely obeyed Roman principles, while the northwest (Neustria), southwest (Aquitaine) and southeast Burgundy) were, on the contrary, heavily romanized.
Growth of the Frankish state 481-814
The Merovingian kings sought to subjugate the Franks to their power along with the Gallo-Romans, who were already accustomed to the absolute power of the emperor, but the Franks not particularly friendly looked at the strengthening of royal power. In most of the state, however, the Frankish beginnings of life fell into decay. people's assembly, which was of primary importance in the life of the Germans in their homeland, has already become impossible after the Franks settled throughout Gaul. The place of veche meetings was taken under the Merovingians by the so-called March fields, to which the kings annually convened their army, consisting of Franks and Gallo-Romans; but it was more military review, although they also took place the approval of new laws or various royal orders. At the head of certain areas were graphs(comites), appointed by the king and used great power, but next to them, for more important matters, local councils continued to exist. Thus, the kings ruled the state in a Roman way - through the officials appointed by them; however, this system proved to be unfeasible given the then state of society.
The state economy of the empire under the Franks came to Gaul into disorder. Society did not want to pay taxes, the government did not know how to collect them. Having no state revenues at their disposal, the Frankish kings began to reward their servants, who were entrusted with certain positions, grants from their estates. In Gaul, during the era of the empire, there were many estates that belonged to the imperial fiscus (treasury); these estates went to the Frankish kings, who began to look upon them as their private property, and began to give them out generously for service, moreover, without making much difference between purely court and state posts. While there were many such lands left, the Merovingians had something to reward their servants, but then they impoverished and with this lost their former significance. But in society took great power to know. It was made up of large landowners from the Roman era and from close associates or servants of the king, enriched by royal grants. Of this nobility, the so-called mayordoms(major domus) or chamber measures (major palatii), which were at the head of the entire palace administration; they were in charge of the royal estates and their distribution, and were at the same time the chiefs of the royal squad. The weakening of state power led to the strengthening of the nobility. Rich and powerful people started oppress the common people: the strong took away the lands from the weak, and they themselves were subjected to their power, and many poor and entrenched themselves in order to find protection and patronage from some noble and rich person.
Kingdom of the Franks. Video lesson
33. Austrasian mayordoms
In VII. V. main importance in the Frankish kingdom received austria, where the old Frankish ways and customs were stronger. In this part of the state of the Franks, the mayor rose Pepin Herstalsky, who possessed very many estates and distinguished himself in the fight against the Saxons. The post of mayor became hereditary in his family, and he himself even began to be called the Duke of the Austrasian Franks. His son Charles, nicknamed the Hammer (Martell), also defeated the Neustrian Franks and forced them to submit to his authority; he also dealt a blow to the Allemans, Bavarians and Thuringians, who wanted to regain their independence. Thus Karl Martell brought together again the whole kingdom. The Merovingian kings under the Austrasian mayordoms were kings in name only; the mayors were in charge of the throne. In addition to wars with the neighbors of Austria. Karl Martel had to to repel the invasion of Gaul by the Arabs, shortly before that they conquered Spain and invaded Aquitaine, and this victory also raised his authority. Meanwhile, he had too few material resources, because almost all of the royal estates were distributed. Then the resolute mayor began to use to meet state needs those properties that belonged to the clergy and monasteries, which, of course, caused displeasure of representatives of the church. Son of Charles Martell Pepin Short, no longer wanted to remain a mayor and put the royal crown on his head (752), thereby founding a new dynasty Carolingian .
The expansion of the Western Roman Empire contributed to the further migration of many-sided tribes from Asia and Central Europe, which began as early as the 2nd century. The great migration of peoples led to the formation of new states.
Causes of the Great Migration
The mass migration of numerous tribes to Western Europe had its own cause and effect :
- In IV, a sharp change in climate began.
Constant crop failures due to cooling forced people to look for a warmer climate. - Tribes with a common cultural and linguistic ethnos united in unions.
These alliances of tribes sought to capture new territories and prepared the basis for the emergence of their statehood. - Significant population growth, especially in Southern Europe, also contributed to the development of new lands.
Unions of eastern tribes, for example, the Proto-Slavs, gradually settled in the territory of South-Eastern and Central Europe.
As a result, the migration of peoples led to numerous clashes of tribal unions among themselves and the formation of barbarian kingdoms. All this served as the basis for the birth of a new political and religious system on the territory of the Western Roman Empire.
Rice. 1. Rider on horseback from Hornhausen. About 700 years.
Formation of the Frankish kingdom
The tribes of the Franks, whose name is first mentioned in the 3rd century, created a powerful alliance that included the Germanic tribes. The Franks constantly waged small local wars with the Western Roman Empire, gradually moving deeper into the territory of the once formidable state.
Rice. 2. Frankish warriors. 5th century
In the era of the formation of the Frankish kingdom, the bulk of its population were the Gallo-Romans and free Franks, lower in the hierarchical ladder were the litas, who were able to get out of the position of slaves, but remained dependent on the owners and slaves. There was no tribal nobility yet, however, the warriors grew rich quickly enough, who later became large landowners.
In the 5th century, under the threat of the invasion of a powerful army of the Huns, who swept away everything in their path, the Franks united with the alliances of the Visigoths and Burgundians. In the bloody battle on the Cataluan fields in 451, the Huns were defeated. Thus, the first beginnings of the formation of the state of the Franks arose. The table below will briefly review important dates in the history of the Frankish kingdom:
TOP 4 articleswho read along with this
date |
Event |
|
Battle of the Cataulan Fields. |
|
|
The union of Childeric and the leader of the Visigoths Odoar against the Alemanni. |
|
|
The beginning of the reign of Clovis. |
|
|
Battle of Soissons. |
|
|
Baptism of Clovis. |
|
|
Battle of Poitiers. |
|
|
The beginning of internecine wars. |
|
|
640-670 years |
Further collapse of the state of the Franks. |
|
Beginning of the reign of Pepin of Herstal. |
|
|
715-741 years |
Reign of Charles Martel |
|
Battle of Poitiers. |
|
|
741-768 years |
The reign of Pepin the Short. |
|
768-814 years |
Reign of Charlemagne. |
|
Signing of the Treaty of Verdun. |
|
The Frankish kingdom was divided into regions, where the king appointed his deputies-counts. Therefore, the areas began to be called counties. The count could administer court, collect taxes and have a small detachment. Under Charlemagne, the activity of each governor of the region was strictly controlled. For this purpose, so-called “state envoys” were sent to all the counties of the king.
Rice. 3. Bust of Charlemagne. 15th century
What have we learned?
The history of the Middle Ages, briefly studied in the 6th grade, does not accidentally begin with the Great Migration of Nations. After the capture in the territories of the Western Roman Empire, the barbarians began to form their own states. Thus the Frankish kingdom was created. And the obsolete slave system was replaced by a new feudal era.
Topic quiz
Report Evaluation
Average rating: 4.7. Total ratings received: 192.
1. Central authorities government controlled Since in the state of the Franks there was still no distinction between national issues and the affairs of the royal palace, the chief administrators of the royal economy - the ministerials - began to acquire the importance of the highest officials of the state and actually headed the state administration and the court. The most important ministerials were the following:
· The ward mayor, or mayor, is the chief administrator of the royal palace, and then the head of the royal administration. The holders of this office abolished it after they themselves took the royal throne;
The palace count, or count palatine, first observed the royal servants, later began to perform judicial functions (led judicial fights, execution of sentences), then headed the palace court;
· thesaurary - the state treasurer, who supervised the accounting of material values that came at the disposal of the king;
marshal - head of the cavalry;
Archcapellan - spiritual mentor of the king, senior among the palace clergy, member of the royal council.
2. Local government system free francs was gradually replaced by a system of appointed officials - authorized by the king.
The main territorial unit of the country was the rural district (pagi), which included several hundred. The hundred included communities (brands), originally an association of free courts.
peasants on a neighborly basis and retained self-government: people's meetings of hundreds, chaired by an elected centurion, resolved military, administrative and other issues. The administration of the district was headed by the count, who had at his disposal a military detachment and commanded the pagi militia. Under the rule of the Merovingians, elected officials are replaced by appointed persons - centenaries in the North and vicars in the South. They obeyed the count and exercised his power within a hundred.
On the borders of the country, duchies were created, consisting of several districts. Their management was entrusted to the dukes, who were commanders of the local militia. They were tasked with defending the frontiers.
3. Supreme Judiciary carried out by the monarch together with representatives of the nobility. The most dangerous offenses were within the competence of the royal council.
The main judicial institutions of the country were local courts - "hundred courts". They considered the vast majority of cases, since at first the members of the hundred participated in administration and legal proceedings. The people's assembly of hundreds - malberg - chose from among its judges - rahinburgs, as a rule, wealthy, respected people. The court was held under the leadership of an elected chairman - tungin. All the free and full-fledged residents of the hundreds were present at the court session.
Under the Carolingians, general judicial assemblies were replaced by juries appointed from above: the envoys of the king - missions - received the right to appoint members of the court - skabins instead of rachinburgs. The duty of free men to attend court was abolished. Over time, judicial power was concentrated in the hands of the feudal lords. At first, the count, centenaries or vicar only convened the malberg and monitored the correctness of legal proceedings. Gradually, the king's delegates become chairmen of the courts instead of the Tungins. From subordination to the counts and margraves, only the possessions of the lords who enjoyed immunity were withdrawn. The votchinniki-immunists (seniors, as well as the highest hierarchs of the church) had full power in the area of judging the peasants who lived on their lands.
4. Army In the course of feudalization, the structure of the army changed. The all-Frankish military gatherings of the people's militia of the free peasants-Franks were finally replaced by annual reviews of the feudal knightly militia. Participation in the militia of ordinary free people was also limited.
The reform of Charles Martell led to the formation of a large, well-armed cavalry knightly army, consisting of beneficiary holders, who also helped in the fight against popular uprisings.
IN 843 d. the split of the state was legally fixed in treaty at Verdun grandchildren of Charlemagne. Three kingdoms became the successors of the empire: West Frankish, East Frankish and Middle (future France, Germany and partly Italy).
22. Salic truth as a monument of early feudal law.
General provisions In parallel with the formation of statehood among the Frankish tribes, the creation of law was going on. For this purpose, written fixation of ancient Germanic customs was carried out - a record of the customary law of the Germanic tribes. In this way, "barbarian truths" were recorded: Salic, Ripuarian, Burgundian, Allemann, etc.
Salic truth (Salic law) was created at the beginning of the 6th century, in last years the life and reign of King Clovis, and is one of the oldest collections of German customary law records. It is divided into titles (chapters).
Salic truth is characterized by a casuistic character and the absence of general, abstract concepts; the legal actions and acts described in it are distinguished by their formalism. It reproduces the various stages of the archaic judicial procedure.
2. Commitment in the Salic truth they are poorly covered, which is explained by the underdevelopment of commodity-money relations, private property.
Such types of transactions are mentioned: purchase and sale, loan, loan, hire, exchange, donation.
The transfer of ownership in transactions was carried out publicly by simply transferring things.
Failure to fulfill obligations or delay in their fulfillment entailed. constitutes property liability. The collection of debt took place in a strictly prescribed form.
3. Marriage and family relations Salic truth describes in general terms.
Marriage was in the form of buying a bride by the groom. The kidnapping of a girl for the purpose of marriage was punishable by a fine. The following circumstances served as obstacles to marriage:
the existence of a legal marriage;
Declaring a person outside the law;
The presence of a close consanguinity;
The unfree state of a person.
The Salic truth does not mention the dissolution of the marriage.
The position of a woman in the family was determined by the remnants of the matriarchal system.
4. Salic truth provides for inheritance by law and by will.
Inheritance by law was carried out differently in relation to movable and immovable property. When inheriting movable property, children were the first priority, then mother, brothers and sisters, mother's sisters, father's sisters, next of kin. Women were excluded from the number of heirs of real estate, land was transferred only through the male line.
Inheritance by will was carried out by donation (aftatomy), which was made publicly in the people's assembly in a strictly prescribed form: property was transferred to a third party, who was obliged to transfer this property to the specified person no later than a year after the death of the donor.
5. Crime definitions Salic truth does not. From the meaning of the articles devoted to crimes, it follows that this concept included infliction of harm to a person or property and violation of the royal peace.
Types of crime according to the Salic truth can be divided into four groups:
• crimes against a person - murder, self-mutilation, slander, insult, rape;
Crimes against property - theft, arson, robbery;
• crimes against the administration of justice - failure to appear in court, perjury;
violation of the orders of the king.
Salic truth knows the concept of aggravating circumstances, which are considered a group murder, murder on a campaign, an attempt to hide the traces of a crime, as well as the concept of incitement - to theft or murder.
The subjects of the crime could be free Franks, Litas and slaves. The purpose of punishment is to compensate the victim and pay a fine to the king for violating the royal peace.
6. Litigation Salic truth endowed with a competitive character. The process was oral, public, distinguished by strict formalism. The case was initiated only at the initiative of the plaintiff. The parties had equal rights.
Criminal and civil proceedings were carried out in the same forms.
Salicheskaya Pravda admits the following as evidence at the trial:
• joint juries - the accused were his relatives, friends or neighbors as "witnesses of the good reputation" of the accused;
· testimonies of eyewitnesses;
· ordeals.
23. Senior monarchy in France. Reforms of Saint Louis IX.
The seigneurial monarchy in France usually dates from the 9th-13th centuries.
During this period, in conditions of political decentralization, which led to deep territorial fragmentation, royal power lost its former significance. The king was considered by the feudal lords as “first among equals” (rp "ggshz t (er pares). In fact, his power extended only to the royal domain. In 987, with the election of Hugo Capet (Count of Paris) as king, the Carolingian dynasty ceases. Under the first Capetians the election of the king is preserved, but the future successor was elected during his lifetime reigning king; in the 12th century approved the procedure for the transfer of the royal throne by inheritance.
The royal court, which carried out the reign, consisted of noble feudal lords and palace servants (ministerials), leading role in the royal administration until the end of the XII century. the sene-chal played, the constable (head of the royal cavalry), the royal treasurer, and the royal chancellor were also influential courtiers. The development of feudal relations was reflected in the assembly of royal vassals - the curia of the king (sipa Ked15). Bodies of local royal government (prevost - performed administrative functions, balls - judicial) were created only in the royal domain, large seignories had their own system of local government, closed to the corresponding feudal lord (duke, count, baron).
The reforms of King Louis IX Capet (1226-1270) significantly increased the efficiency of royal power:
1. Military reform - feudal militia in to a large extent was replaced by detachments of mercenaries and city police.
2. A significant restriction (actually a ban) on private wars between the king's vassals.
3. Specialized central departments are separated from the royal curia (for example, the Accounts Chamber, which was in charge of royal finances). In 1260, on the basis of the royal curia, the highest judicial body was created - the Parlement of Paris.
4. The introduction of a single money throughout France (before that, every major feudal lord minted his own coin).
The transformation of a seigneurial monarchy into a representative one in France is usually dated to 1302, when King Philip IV convened the Estates General (although the name of this supreme French estate-representative body appeared later).
24. Early feudal and seigneurial monarchy in England.
The first early feudal states in England began to form as a result of the decomposition of tribal relations among the Anglo-Saxon tribes. During the IX-XI centuries. in England, feudal relations finally win: the entire free population bears various burdens in favor of the state, dependent and serfs - in favor of the feudal lords, who have judicial and personal power over them.
All power in the state is concentrated in the hands of the king and the nobility, which forms the royal council - uantagemot ("meeting of the wise"). It is uantagemot that becomes the highest organ of state power. Without his consent, the king had no right to legislate or carry out any other important state activities.
A new stage in the history of English feudal statehood is associated with the conquest of the country in 1066 by the Norman Duke William the Conqueror, who became King William I of England.
After the Norman conquest in England was formed centralized state with strong royalty.
The king owned the supreme rights to all the lands of the country, which provided him with power over the feudal lords. Legislative, judicial and military power was concentrated in the hands of the king.
Under the king, the so-called Royal Curia operated - an advisory body from the nobility and close associates of the king. The highest officials were: marshal, commander of the army; the camerlein, who manages the lands and property of the king; chancellor, head of the royal chancellery; jurist, first assistant to the king, replacing him during his absence.
At the beginning of the XII century. a special body was allocated from the Royal Curia, which was in charge exclusively of financial matters - the Chamber of the Chessboard.
1. Milestones of development the English feudal state are:
The period of the Anglo-Saxon early feudal monarchy (IX - XI centuries);
· period of centralized seigneurial monarchy (XI - XII centuries);
· the period of estate-representative monarchy (the second half of the XIII century - XV century);
The period of absolute monarchy (the end of the 15th century - the middle of the 17th century).
2. Main features social order In the 1st century n. e. Britain was one of the outlying provinces of the Roman Empire.
At the beginning of the 5th century n. e. Roman rule ended here. The conquest of Britain by the Anglo-Saxons began - the North Germanic tribes of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who pushed the Celtic population (Britons) to the outskirts of the island.
By the end of the VI century. on the territory of Britain, seven early feudal kingdoms were formed (Wessex, Sussex, Kent, Mercia, etc.), which in the 9th century. under the leadership of Wessex united in the Anglo-Saxon state - England.
The main feature of the formation of feudalism among the Anglo-Saxons is the preservation of a free rural community for a long time.
In the first century after the conquest, the society was based on free communal peasants (kerls) and noble people (erls). The tribal nobility at first occupied a special position, but was gradually pushed aside by the combatants, on whom the king relied, asserting his power, and to whom he distributed land grants - communal lands along with the peasants who lived on them. The peasants bore duties in favor of the landowners and became personally dependent on their masters. Those peasants who remained free performed duties in favor of the state.
With the growth of social inequality and the decomposition of the community, the earls turned into large landowners.
By the 11th century thanks to the support of both the royal authorities and the church, which encouraged the development of feudal ownership of land and justified the enslavement of peasants, communal relations were replaced by feudal ones.
3. Characteristics of the political system In the Anglo-Saxon era, the need for defense in the fight against the raids of the Normans and the need to rally all the forces of the ruling class in order to overcome the resistance of the peasants to enslavement created the prerequisites for the rise and strengthening of royal power. Despite the fact that the attitude towards the king as a military leader and the principle of elections when replacing the throne were still preserved, the monarch gradually approved:
· their right of supreme ownership of the land;
· monopoly right to mint coins, duties;
· the right to receive in-kind supplies from the entire free population;
The right to military service on the part of the free.
The royal court became the center of government of the country, and the royal confidants became officials of the state. The highest state body was the witanagemot - the council of the witans, which included the king, the highest clergy, and the secular nobility. The main functions of the Witani council were the election of kings and the highest court. Local government in England retained the principles of territorial self-government.
The main territorial units of the country in the X century. 32 districts became counties, the centers of which were fortified cities. The most important local matters were discussed twice a year at a county meeting. All the free people of the district were to participate in it. Cities and ports had their own collections, which eventually turned into city and merchant courts. There were also assemblies of villages.
The county was headed by an ealdorman, appointed by the king with the consent of the vita-nagemot from among the representatives of the local nobility, and who led the county assembly, as well as its armed forces.
By the X century. the personal representative of the king - geref (appointed by the king from the middle layer of the service nobility), who oversees the timely receipt of taxes and court fines to the treasury, acquires police and judicial powers.
Period of centralized senior monarchy During the period of centralized seigneurial monarchy (XI - XII centuries) in England, the formation of the feudal system was completed. After the Norman conquest (1066) salient feature English feudalism - the political unification of the country and the centralization of state power.
The kings of the Norman dynasty found strong support in the layer of medium and small feudal lords; the support of large feudal lords was of a relative and temporary nature, since they themselves strove for independence. Nevertheless, during the formation of the feudal-hierarchical ladder, a direct vassal dependence of all feudal lords on the king was established, which distinguishes England from other European countries. In 1086, a general land census was carried out ("The Book of the Last Judgment"), which assigned to each feudal lord his land holdings and his place in the feudal hierarchy.
Free peasants for the most part were recorded in it as serfs - villans; the rest - as freeholders.
English villans are characterized by duties "at the will of the lord", heavy corvée, strict restriction of the right to leave the allotment, jurisdiction only to the court of their lord (seigneurial justice);
Freeholding assumed free holding, opposed to Villanian holding, on the terms of payment of rent (comparatively low). Freeholder peasants were characterized by personal freedom, fixed rent, the right to a free will, division and alienation of holdings, as well as the right to defend themselves in royal courts. As a result of the reforms of Henry (ruled in 1154 - 1189), the judicial, military and financial powers of the royal power were strengthened.
The main directions of these reforms are the creation of a system of central financial and judicial institutions, as well as the reorganization of the army. The emergence (since the 10th century) and the growth of cities as centers of crafts and trade also contributed to the strengthening of the monarchy. Cities usually received the right to self-government and annually paid the king (for the most part they were located on royal land) a certain sum of money.
Citizens and freeholders needed protection from the royal power and supported it, which also strengthened the monarchy. In view of the development of commodity-money relations and the growth of market relations, taxes and duties increasingly acquired a monetary character:
Knights, obliged to the overlord for military service, already in the XII century. often replaced it with a cash contribution - the so-called "shield money";
Peasants also often made cash payments in return for the performance of their duties.
25. The Magna Carta of 1215 and the formation of a class-representative monarchy in England.
In the XIII century. in England, a sharp political struggle unfolded, which determined its subsequent political development. Strong royal power was opposed by the established estates. It was the heyday of the feudal system. The centralization of feudal relations in England reached a level unknown to Western European feudalism at that time. The royal power exercised political dominance over a large majority of the population. Opponents of strong royal power were the feudal magnates, who, although they did not have such power in England as in continental countries, nevertheless could successfully resist royal power. Under John the Landless (1199-1216), the struggle of the barons acquired national character and received the support of other active political forces countries - the nobility and the urban elite. A common anti-royal front was formed in the country, headed by the barons and the higher clergy.
The situation escalated due to unsuccessful domestic and foreign policy. John waged a hopeless war in France and came into conflict with the powerful pope, which ended in the victory of the latter. Dissatisfaction was also caused by numerous requisitions levied contrary to feudal customs. In such conditions, the barons, together with the knights and the London elite, forced John the Landless on July 15, 1215 to sign the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta of Henry I served as a model for it, however, in its content, the Charter of 1215 is richer and wider. The central place in the Charter is occupied by articles expressing the interests of the barons who led the movement. Baronial fiefs were declared freely inheritable possessions. The king did not have the right to demand from the young baron who entered into the inheritance more than the payment - relief established from the old days in the feudal contract - and promised not to abuse the right of guardianship over minor vassals. The charter restored some of the seigneurial rights of the barons, infringed as a result of the expansion of royal jurisdiction. Thus, it was forbidden to transfer, by royal order, claims for property from the baron's curia to the royal curia. The king promised to eliminate all arbitrariness in the imposition of monetary duties on the barons. Only in three cases were the barons obliged to give the king moderate monetary assistance: when the king was redeemed from captivity, when his eldest son was knighted, and at the wedding of his eldest daughter from his first marriage. At the same time, some provisions of the Charter protected the interests of other participants in the movement. Thus, the previously existing privileges and freedoms of the church and clergy, in particular the freedom of church elections, were confirmed. With regard to the knights, the Charter provided for the promise of the barons not to take any fees from their vassals without their consent, except for the usual feudal benefits, and also not to force them to perform duties in a larger amount than that which follows according to custom. The charter confirmed the ancient liberties of London and other cities, as well as the right of merchants, including foreign ones, to freely leave and enter England, to trade without any restrictions. The Charter established the unity of weights and measures necessary for trade. Free peasants were promised not to be burdened with unbearable requisitions, not to ruin with fines. Certain provisions of the Charter have played a significant role in the political evolution of England. It's about first of all, about articles 12 and 14. Article 12 states: "Neither shield money, nor (any other) allowance should be collected in our kingdom except by the general advice of our kingdom." Article 14 defines the composition of this council: "And in order to have a general council of the kingdom in the taxation of benefits in other cases than the above, or for the taxation of "shield money", we will order to call archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and senior barons by our letters each separately and, in addition, we will order to call indiscriminately, through our sheriffs and bailiffs, all those who keep from us directly.
Thus, the council of the realm is the assembly of all the royal vassals, which can be seen as the prototype of the House of Lords. If to this assembly of royal vassals we add representatives from the counties and cities, then we have an English medieval parliament. Thus Magna Carta was a prologue in the history of the English Parliament. Articles 39 and 40 of the Charter deserve great attention. The first of them reads: "No free man shall be detained, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any other otherwise than by the lawful verdict of his equals (his peers) and by the law of the land. At that time, the concept of "free man" denoted the feudal lord. However, in the future, under the "free man" formally began to understand any free inhabitant of England. The content of Article 39 of the Charter was subsequently developed in the Petition of Right of 1628. and in the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. Article 40 of the Charter, which states: "Let us sell fairness and justice to no one, deny it to no one, or delay it," is closely related in essence to article 39.
John the Landless, yielding to the armed force of his subjects, subsequently abandoned the Charter. Armed struggle began again, but the death of John (1216) prevented it from being brought to any definite result.
IN early XIII V. royalty failed in foreign policy(in particular, in the crusades), so she really needed the money that she tried to get from her subjects. But royal arbitrariness ran into resistance from the barons, who were supported by knights and freeholders (free holders of land plots). King John Landless in 1215 was forced under their pressure to accept the Magna Carta, which is considered the first English constitutional act.
Most of the articles of the Charter deal with the vassal-fief relations of the king and the barons and seek to limit the king's arbitrariness in the use of his seigneurial rights related to land holdings. These articles regulate the procedure for guardianship, obtaining relief (payment for entering into an inheritance), debt collection, etc. (Art. 2-11, etc.).
At the same time, among the purely "baronial" articles of the Charter, those that had a general political character stand out. The barony's most openly political claims are expressed in Art. 61 of the Charter. It traces the desire to create a baronial oligarchy by establishing a committee of 25 barons with control functions in relation to the king. Art. 12, 14 provided for the creation of a council of the kingdom, limiting the power of the king on one of the important financial issues - the collection of "shield money". Articles 21, 34 were. aimed at weakening the judicial prerogatives of the king (also in favor of the barons).
A much more modest place in the Charter is occupied by articles reflecting the interests of other participants in the conflict (knights, townspeople, merchants). So, for example, Art. 41 of the Charter allows all merchants free and safe movement and trade within the country without imposing illegal duties on them.
Of great importance was the numerous group of articles of the Charter, aimed at streamlining the activities of the royal, judicial and administrative apparatus. Yes, Art. 40 prohibited the collection of arbitrary and disproportionate court fees, and Art. 39 prohibited the arrest, imprisonment, dispossession, outlawing, expulsion, or "deprivation in any way" of free people except by the lawful judgment of equals and by the law of the land.
The Magna Carta reflected the balance of socio-political forces in England at the beginning of the 13th century, and above all the temporary compromise between the king and the barons. The political articles of the Charter testify that the barons sought to preserve some of their immunities and privileges by placing the exercise of certain prerogatives of the central government under their control or by limiting their use in relation to the feudal elite.
The fate of the Charter clearly demonstrated the futility of baronial claims and the irreversibility of the processes of state centralization in England. A few months after the end of the conflict with the barons, King John Landless, relying on the support of the Pope, refused to comply with the Charter. Subsequently, the kings repeatedly confirmed the Charter (1216, 1217, 1225, 1297), but more than 20 articles were withdrawn from it.
Of the political institutions provided for by the "baronial" articles of the Charter, the Grand Council of the kingdom, which had advisory functions and consisted of large feudal magnates, more or less established itself. In the middle of the XIII century. it was often referred to as "parliament". However, such a "parliament" was neither an estate nor a representative institution. A real parliament appeared in England a little later.
Initially, there was no electoral qualification for parliamentary elections. The statute of 1430 established that freeholders who received at least 40 shillings of annual income could participate in county assemblies that elected representatives to parliament.
Transition to new form states - to a class-representative monarchy (second half of the 13th century - 15th century) - realized as a result of the civil war of 1263 - 1267.
From the end of the XII century. royal power began to damage the interests of a significant part of the population: confiscations of land were carried out, large landowners were oppressed, new monetary requisitions and duties were introduced. The country responded to this with a number of opposition speeches, and at the beginning of the 13th century, after the uprising of the barons, supported by knights and townspeople, King John Landless signed the Magna Carta (1215), which is considered the first constitutional act of England. The main content of the Charter is a compromise between the king and the barons; requirements of knights, townspeople, merchants paid much less attention.
After a new political conflict in 1258, King Henry III approved the Provisions of Oxford, which established the regime of the baronial oligarchy. In response, dissatisfied knights, with the support of the townspeople and some barons, demanded that the king sign the Provisions of Westminster, which protected chivalry and free peasants from the arbitrariness of large feudal lords and the royal administration. In 1263 began Civil War, which lasted until 1267. Its result was the creation of the first English parliament, finally established under Edward I. In the XIV century. Parliament became bicameral:
the upper house - the House of Lords, where the barons and the higher clergy sat;
· the lower chamber - the House of Commons, where the knights and the city elite sat together with the lower clergy.
Their strong union provided the House of Commons with greater political influence than estate-representative assemblies in other countries.
Initially, Parliament only determined the amount of property taxes and filed collective petitions in the name of the king, but gradually consolidated its competence in the following matters:
the right to participate in the making of laws;
· the right to resolve issues of extortion from the population in favor of the state treasury;
the right to control senior officials;
The right to act as the highest judicial authority.
Local administration was carried out by a sheriff with an assistant - bailiff, as well as coroners and constables elected in local assemblies.
Justices of the peace appointed by the king were vested with police and judicial powers.
The highest courts during this period were the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of the Treasury.
The first real English estate-representative parliament was convened in 1265 as a result of the struggle of three groups: supporters of the king, barons and chivalry. In 1295 a "model" parliament was convened, the composition of which served as a model for subsequent English parliaments. In addition to the large secular and spiritual feudal lords personally invited by the king, it included two representatives from 37 counties (knights) and two representatives from the most important cities.
The creation of parliament led to a change in the form of the feudal state, the emergence of a monarchy with estate representation. Until the middle of the XIV century. the English estates sat together, and then divided into two chambers. At the same time, the knights from the counties began to sit together with representatives of the cities in one chamber (the House of Commons) and separated from the largest secular and spiritual magnates, who formed the upper house (the House of Lords).
Initially, there was no electoral qualification for parliamentary elections. The statute of 1430 established that freeholders who received at least 40 shillings of annual income could participate in county assemblies that elected representatives to parliament.
The Franks are a group of Germanic tribes. Until the 3rd century known as iskevons, or istevons. In the III century. located along the lower and middle reaches of the Rhine. From the 3rd century began the conquest of Gaul, which by the beginning of the VI century. led to the formation of the Frankish state. Two branches of the Frankish tribes are known - Salic and Ripuarian. Salic (marine) Franks by the middle of the 4th century. inhabited the coast of the North Sea from the mouth of the Rhine to the Scheldt. Then they settled in the territory of Northern Gaul. The military leaders of the Franks, the kings, dukes, conquered the lands from the Rhine to the Somme, then between the Seine and the Loire, moving south, drove the Goths beyond the Pyrenees. The time of existence of the Frankish state is 486-843. The founder is Merovig (448-458), a descendant of Chlogion (Pharamon (420-428) is considered the first legendary king of the Franks, it is he who has three toads in his coat of arms, probably the totems of a pagan tribe that came from the wetlands of Eastern Europe. These toads, having dreamed King Clovis, turned into golden lilies - a symbol of the royal power of France (later there will be seven).Pharamon is the author of the law that eliminated women, even those who belonged to the royal family, from the control of the Franks.. Then he was succeeded by Chlodion (Chlogion) Shaggy, and only the third was Merovei) belonged to a noble Frankish family. Fought against the Huns in the Battle of Catalaun, Roman federate. He was succeeded by Childeric I (461-481). His grandson is Clovis (466-511). The Merovingian dynasty was also named after Merovig.
Merovingians. The most famous among the Merovingians is Clovis (466-511), V-VII centuries. - Merovingian period of the Frankish state. As a result of the conquest and subjugation of other Frankish tribes, Clovis became the king of a single Christian state. Under Clovis, Aquitaine was conquered (507), under his successors - Burgundy (534), the Ostrogoths ceded Provence to the Franks (536), the Franks also managed to subordinate the Thuringians, Alemans, Bavarians to their influence, the Saxons paid tribute to them. As a rule, researchers trace the development of feudal relations on the material of the Frankish state. The Frankish state gave rise to 3 future states - France, Germany, Italy. The process of feudalization took place in the form of a synthesis of decaying late Roman and German tribal relations. In 486 Clovis converted to the Roman Catholic faith. (“Bend, neck, sicambre,” - St. Remigius (Remy), who baptized Clovis on December 25, 486). This was of decisive importance for the strengthening of the Frankish state. Unlike the Visigoths and other barbarians, who professed Christianity in the form of Arianism, which was considered a heresy by Rome, Clovis adopted the orthodox religion. And this means that he could fight against other barbarian states, since they were heretics. The conquests of Clovis can be seen as a kind of Crusades. Clovis, shortly before his death, divided his state between his sons. Although, in principle, the state was considered one and at times united under the rule of one king. (After Clovis ruled - Childebert I (496-558, king of Paris from 511, king of Orleans from 558), died childless, he was succeeded by his brother Chlothar I (500-561 - years of life, 560-561, before that he was king Soissons), had 4 sons - Charibert (561-567), Chilperic I (567-584), Sigebert, Gontran, Charibert and Chilperic were kings, under Chilperic an internecine war begins 570-584 (because of Fredegonda (Chilperic's mistress) and Brunhildes - the wives of Sigebert), the son of Chilperic and Fredegonda became king - Chlothar II (584-628), Dagobert I (628-639), Clovis II (639-662 - the first of the Lazy kings, it was under him that the ward mayor - Pepin the Old , who also served his father Dagobert), Chlothar III (662-673), Childeric, Theodoric, Clovis III (died at 14), Childebert II (-711), Dagobert II (711-714), Chilperic II, Theodoric IV, Childeric III (-751/752).
The Frankish state occupied almost all of Gaul and a significant part of Germany, and was the most major state in the West. It included various ethnic territories. Separate areas - ( West Side) Neustria (Reims, Paris, Soissons), (eastern part) Austrasia (Cambrai, Tournai), Burgundy - differed in their level of socio-economic development. The most backward is Austrasia, the German population prevailed here, so the process of feudalization proceeded at a slower pace. In Neustria (the region was strongly Romanized, here the Gallo-Roman population quickly merged with the Germans), Burgundy had large land ownership, the regions were more Romanized than Austrasia (the influence of the Galo-Roman orders was weaker, the Marka community slowly decomposed here, a large role Allodists played), the process of feudalization went faster. Separate regions were headed by independent kings from the Merovingian dynasty, who constantly waged internecine wars. The most important source to study the social system of the Franks is the Salic Truth (Lex Salica). This record of the judicial customs of the Salic Franks was made, as is believed, at the beginning of the 6th century. at Clovis. Unlike the other barbarian Pravdas, the Salic Pravda is of greater interest because it shows less Roman influence. In the Salic Pravda, the concept of "allod" appears for the first time. Initially, this concept meant the archaic order of inheritance of movable and immovable property. In chapter LIX "On allods" it is clear that at the end of the VI century. the allod is transformed from the possession of a large family into the property of small families separated from it and its individual members. During the VII-VIII centuries. the allod became the property of a small family and its members. This process began at a late stage in the evolution of the agricultural community, in the conditions of its transition to the neighboring community-marka, and ended in the bowels of the latter. Freely alienable property is a complete allod. The structure of the community was a combination of communal sovereignty over the entire territory of the village with various property rights and ownership of individual free householders on various components of their land plots. The land allotment of each community member-householder consisted of strips of an arable field, vegetable gardens, orchards, vineyards, and individual plots of forest or meadow, but in relation to them the owner had the rights of ownership, but not property. When moving to a neighboring community, meadows and some parts of the forest gradually turn into components of the allotment of each community member. However, even at a late stage in the development of an agricultural community, meadows and forests could be the property of the community itself and lie in continuous massifs. The area of arable land, common to the whole village, was also placed, which in turn was divided into various fields, the so-called gevans, or horses (according to the quality of the soil). These horses were united in fields. Therefore, each community member was bound in his own economic activity the routines of the whole community: everything was done in the same time frame. At the same time, grazing of livestock was practiced according to the harvest and fallow, i.e. system of open fields with forced crop rotation. The system of open fields is combined for the most part with the type of settlement that is called the "cumulus village": the houses are located randomly, at a considerable distance from each other, and between them lay household plots with gardens and orchards. Undivided lands were the collective property of the community. In the community during this period, social and property differentiation is observed - there are 3 main categories - noble, free, semi-free. This is manifested in the Salic Pravda in the size of the wergeld of different categories of the population. For ordinary francs - 200 solidi, for antrustions - or officials - from 600 solidi to 1800 solidi, litas - 100 solidi.
The emergence of allod stimulated the growth of large land ownership among the Franks. Clovis appropriated the lands of the former imperial fiscus. His successors seized all the free lands that were the property of the community. From this fund, the kings distributed lands to their confidants and churches. In the VI century. a layer of large landowners appears, on whose estates the litas, freedmen, slaves, halo-Romans, who were obliged to bear duties (tributarii) - former columns, worked. One of the social strata of the barbarian society, which served as material for the formation of a dependent peasantry, were semi-free - litas and freedmen. In some respects, the position of the litas was equal to that of the free. The semi-free possessed land allotments and independently run a household, take part in a campaign, could speak at a court meeting, give obligations and sue, can partially dispose of their property and enter into transactions with other persons. Their life is protected by the wergeld. But they are in personal and partly material dependence on the free, free, having a litas, is designated as his master. Lit could be set free. Marriages between free men and women, daughters of the Litas, are prohibited under penalty of fine. For the abduction of a free woman by a litas - death. In the event of a murder by a litas, a free murderer is placed at the disposal of the relatives of the murdered. The position of the litas is contradictory: the litas is placed on someone else's land, but not as a feudal-dependent holder, but rather in the position of a serf of the 1st-2nd centuries, paying contributions in kind to the master, but running his own household. During the period of the formation and triumph of feudal relations, the litas turn into feudally dependent holders of large estates, and holders of taxable estates, and not precarious plots.
Freedmen (libertines) - came from slaves or litas, but were divided into categories depending on the method of their release. Only one of the Germanic tribes of the pre-feudal period - the Salian Franks at the beginning of the 6th century. there was only one “higher” way to release a slave or litas to freedom, namely, the release was carried out by knocking out a coin (denarius) in the presence of the king: a litas or slave thus received complete freedom, and this act was irreversible, even if the master of the slave was not interested in it. Other tribes had various ranks of freedmen, who retained material and personal dependence on the patron who liberated them and even turned into dependent holders of church and lands of the royal fiscus. Among the Lombards, liberation was carried out through a denarius in the church, and a slave was turned into an aldiya (lita) by way of release.
Slaves - domestic servants, artisans, served certain sectors of the economy. There were slaves who carried out administrative tasks. Royal slaves were equated with litas, the wergeld was 100 solidi (in this case, and so - 30-35 solidi) and held positions in the royal service. Later, the slaves turned into holders of taxable manses and merged with the dependent peasantry, its lower stratum.
Simultaneously with the feudalization of society, the process of the emergence of the early feudal state was going on. In the 7th century we can say that the Frankish state acquires the features of an early feudal state. The king concentrated in his hands all the functions of state administration, the center of which is the royal court. The power of the king was based on the fact that he was the largest landowner and was at the head of a strong military squad. He ruled the state as if it were his own household. In the central administration of the Frankish state, weak traces of tribal organization remained in the form of annual military reviews - “March”, later “May” fields. The territorial-administrative unit were hundreds, which were combined into counties. The administration of the county was in the hands of the count - a royal official who performed administrative and judicial functions, was the chief judge in the county and collected 1/3 of the court fines in favor of the king. Hundreds gathered people's meetings - mallus, held under the leadership of an elected person - tungin. But a centenary was also present here. Then below were elected persons - rahinburgs. Under the sons of Clovis, there is a weakening of royal power. In the 7th century the separation of three political units as part of the Frankish state continues: Neustria, Austrasia, Burgundy. At the end of the 7th century Aquitaine also stands out in the southwest. All these areas were little connected economically. At the end of the 7th century the actual power in all areas of the kingdom was in the hands of the mayors (chamber mayors - (hereditary position) - managers of the royal court, or heads of the royal administration. The last Merovingians received the nickname "lazy" kings. Therefore, in 687, after the battle of Tertri with the major of Neustria Mayor of Austrasia Pepin Geristalsky (the founder of the dynasty Pepin Landensky, then Grimoald (the possession of the Pipinids of the land between the Meuse, Moselle, Rhine) became the mayor of the entire Frankish state. It was Pepin Geristalsky who laid the foundation for the Pipinid dynasty, or Carolingians.
Carolingians. In the reign of the Carolingians in the Frankish society, the foundations of the feudal system were formed. The successor of Pepin of Geristal, his son Karl Martel (715-741) (ruler from 719) began his reign by pacifying internal unrest in the kingdom. Having defeated the feudal lords of Neustria who rebelled against him, and then, in alliance with the Arabs, the feudal lords of Aquitaine and the rulers of Provence, Charles opposed the Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine - Saxons, Frisians, Alamanni, Bavarians - who had gone out of obedience, and again imposed tribute on them. In 732, in the battle of Poitiers, he defeated Abbderrahman (Arabs), who, having conquered in the 8th century. Spain, invaded southern Gaul in 720, threatening the Frankish state. This battle put an end to the advance of the Arabs in Europe. In the hands of the Arabs remained part of southern Gaul - Septimania. The created Frankish feudal cavalry played an important role in the fight against the Arabs. Since a significant part of the free community members did not have material opportunities to serve in the militia, Charles carried out a beneficiary reform. The essence of which was that instead of donations of land that prevailed under the Merovingians to full, unconditional ownership (allod), lands began to be provided to conditional feudal ownership in the form of beneficiation (beneficence) - for bearing military service and for service life. In the event of the death of the beneficiary or recipient of the beneficiation, the beneficiaries returned to the original owner or his heirs. If the heir of the beneficiary wanted to receive the benefices of his predecessor, or the beneficiary himself wanted to continue to enjoy such possession, a renewal of the award was required. Benefits could be taken away if the service was not performed or the economy fell into decay. Over time, benefices began to turn from life into hereditary possession and during the 9th-10th centuries. acquired the features of a feud (lena), i.e. hereditary conditional holding associated with the obligation to perform military service. Charles Martell carried out a wide distribution of beneficiaries. He took the lands from the church, carrying out a partial secularization of its lands. The clergy agreed to this measure. Later, at a church synod, a resolution was adopted that the secularized land remains the property of the church, and the owners of beneficiaries are required to pay a small chinsh for it. In addition, Charles Martel rewarded the church with new land awards in the conquered areas where Christianity was spreading. The one who received the beneficiary became a vassal (dependent on the terms of ownership), took an oath of allegiance and performed the prescribed services, the one who granted the beneficiary was a lord and retained the right of supreme ownership of the granted land. This reform had a number of consequences: 1. strengthened the layer of small and medium feudal lords, became the basis of the cavalry militia and the entire military organization, the predecessor of chivalry; 2. strengthened feudal land ownership and peasant dependence; 3. land ties were created between the complainant and the beneficiary and relations of vassalage.
Since that time, the Carolingians were in close alliance with the Catholic Church and with its head - the pope. In 751, Pepin II the Short turned to the pope with the question: "Who should be the king of the Franks: the one who has power, or the one who uses only the title?" The pope, who wanted military help against the Lombards, replied that the king should be the one with real power. In 751, Pepin in Soissons was proclaimed king, and Childeric III and his family were tonsured monks. For this, the Franks in 754 and 757. made two campaigns against the Lombards. The lands reclaimed from them in the region of Rome and Ravenna (Ekharhat of Ravenna) were given to Pope Stephen II ("Pipin's gift"). Thus arose the Papal States - the secular possession of the Roman throne. To give more legitimacy to this deal, a fake charter was later drawn up - the “Gift of Constantine”, according to which Emperor Constantine (IV century) transferred the Roman region and all of Italy to the authority of the Roman bishop Sylvester I, making him his “vicar” over the entire western part of Rome. empire. The falsity of this charter was proved only in the 15th century. Lorenzo Valloy. The papal state lasted until 1870.
The Frankish state reached its greatest power under Charlemagne (768-814). Epic hero. Biographer Eingard - a scientist of that time left his biography "The Life of Charlemagne". Charlemagne pursued an aggressive policy in order to create a world empire. In 774, he made a campaign in Italy against the Lombards and captured all their possessions. In 778 - a campaign in Spain and reached Zaragoza, but was forced to retreat, on the way back, the rearguard of his army under the command of Margrave Roland was ambushed by the Basques and was destroyed. Roland also died. "The Song of Roland". But as a result of these campaigns, the "Spanish Mark" (Barcelona County, Catalonia) was created. In 772-804. - war against the Saxons. 778 - Abolished the Duchy of Bavaria. Then Karl made a series of campaigns against the Slavs - Polabsky, encouraged, Lutici, Sorbs, Czechs were taxed. In the southeast, the Franks subjugated Slovenia (Carinthia), Croatia. In 788, the Franks defeated the Avar Khaganate. Empire of Charlemagne - from r. Ebro to the river. Elbe and the Baltic coast, from the Channel to cf. Danube and Adriatic, including all of Italy. In 800 he became emperor. Pope Leo III crowned him in the Lateran Church with the crown of "Roman emperors". True, until 812 the Byzantine emperor did not want to recognize Charles as emperor. Under Charles, the Frankish early feudal state reached its peak. In the VIII-IX centuries. it increasingly began to act as an instrument of the political power of the feudal lords. Twice a year, meetings of the most influential large landowners met at the king's court. On their advice, the king issued decrees - capitularies - on a variety of issues. Control over local government was carried out through the "sovereign" envoys, who traveled around the counties and observed the actions of local officials. Military reviews now took place in May - "May fields" - congresses of royal beneficiaries.
Charlemagne carried out a new military reform. Now only relatively prosperous free landowners who had 3-4 average peasant allotments (mansa) were obliged to serve in the army. All less wealthy peasants had to unite and put up 1 armed warrior. Military service became the privilege of the feudal lords. G. Delbrück (History of the Art of War) believed that this was a disguised taxation. In most cases, he writes, (p. 8) calls are a fiction that served as a legitimate reason for the king to levy taxes on the free and at the same time protect the latter from arbitrary abuses of this right by officials (since it was expensive for peasants to equip soldiers for war , the horse was especially expensive). “In the entire history of the Middle Ages, we again and again encounter such an order in which, under the letter of the law, citizens were called up for war, but in reality taxes were levied on them in the same way” (Delbrück G. History of military art ...). From the end of the VI century. in the wars of the Merovingians, the decisive role was played not by general conscription, but by vassals. Under the grandsons of Charlemagne, all traces of the previously existing forms of universal conscription finally disappeared. Therefore, the military system was not based on the call of the peasantry, which had long lost its militancy. Therefore, the capitularies of Charlemagne should be interpreted in the sense that the owners of allotments or groups of such owners, unless by chance someone among them showed a voluntary desire to go to war, handed over the equipment that they were obliged to supply to the vassal of the count, who took upon himself the execution of their military duties. Such an interpretation of the royal decree was convenient for both parties - both for the peasants and for the count. The armies of Charlemagne were not numerous - 5000-6000 people, necessarily a convoy, a herd of slaughter cattle, wine, etc. population combat strength maxi 10,000 people - the largest Carolingian army - not a peasant militia, but a small but highly skilled professional army. The tax levied instead of military service - geribann, corresponded to the cost of the warrior's equipment and was equal to 60 solidi. If they did not want to pay the tax, they fell into bondage. A tax of 60 solidi was equal to the value of a half allotment or 1/3 of a rich estate with land. By the beginning of the IX century. the price doubled, the cost of a rural estate-yard ranged from 20 to 200 solidi. The cost of weapons in the time of Charlemagne (according to G. Delbrück): cow = 1 solid, helmet = 6 cows, greaves = 6 cows, armor = 12 cows, sword with greaves = 7, spear and shield = 2, warhorse = 12; total = 45 cows = 15 mares, i.e. the value of the cattle of the entire village. Here it is necessary to add provisions, a cart with a draft horse, or a pack animal for transporting this food, a groom with an animal. Under the king there was a life guard (skara). The Frankish kings, like the German kings, did not have a permanent capital, but wandered around their vast state. The residences were Paris, Soissons, Reims, Orleans, Aachen. The yard moved from one food point to another. Already the Merovingian kings had built innumerable castles, often only a day's journey from one another, and clearly intended to house a traveling court. Under the first Carolingians, the vassal took an oath of allegiance to the lord, that is, only his direct vassals swore allegiance to the king. Charlemagne realized the danger, in 786, during the Thuringian uprising led by Hardrad, the rebels referred to the fact that they did not swear allegiance to the king. The king issued an edict, according to which all subjects over 12 years old took the oath directly to the king (i.e. warriors + clergy). The formula of the oath states that the one who takes the oath promises such fidelity as the lord, by his right, could demand from his vassal. In 802, it was explained that the oath was taken not only to the monarch, but to the whole dynasty. Moreover, a warrior was understood only as an equestrian warrior.
the process of feudalization. By the end of the VIII-beginning of the IX centuries. we can talk about the folding of the feudal system in the Frankish state. One of the most common ways to draw the free peasantry into dependence even under the Merovingians was the practice of transferring land to the precaria. precarium- this is a conditional land holding, which a large owner transfers for temporary use (sometimes for several years, sometimes for life). For this you need to bear dues and corvee. There were several types of precariae. Precariadata- granting by the patrimony of his land to the holder. In the 8th century farmers often transferred their allotments to monasteries, secular lords, and then received them as precaria (precariaoblate) - returned precarium. Sometimes a peasant bequeathed his monastery to a monastery and in return received a piece of the monastery's land. He used both allotments for life, and after his death they (plots) went to the monastery. This type of precaria was called precariumremuneratorium- precarium with reward. Apparently, the precarium was often combined with comment, so that the holder of the land found himself in this way also in personal dependence on the patrimony. The process of concentration of power in the hands of the magnates led to the fact that the kings, being unable to prevent this process, were forced to sanction it through special awards, the so-called. immunity. It was forbidden for officials to enter the territory belonging to this or that magnate in order to perform any judicial, administrative, police, or fiscal functions there. All these functions were transferred to the magnates and their assistants. Immunity contributed to the strengthening of the independence of the feudal lords from the central government. The development of vassal relations also contributed to the growth of the political independence of the feudal lords. The vassal was obliged to serve his lord, becoming his man. (hommo - homage), and the lord was supposed to protect the vassal. In 847, the grandson of Charlemagne, Charles the Bald, in the Mercian capitulary decided - "that every free person should choose a lord." Thus, vassalage was legalized.
Feudal estate. (senoria). Feudal estate. There were several types. He identifies two main types of patrimony: the estate, divided into domains and the holdings of small landowners; villas, consisting of small holdings. Moreover, the patrimony in different areas of the Frankish state was different. Sometimes it coincided with the village, sometimes not. Now we have come to the conclusion that the existence of free farmers and estates is not mutually exclusive, especially in the region where the Frankish state was formed. Sources for studying the large feudal estates of the Carolingian period are polyptics, capitularies, cartularies. Votchina is an organization for the exploitation of the dependent peasantry. It was usually divided into a domain (master's land), and allotments of peasants (mansi in the western part of the Frankish state, gufas in the east, colonies in the south). Moreover, the allotments were taxable, free (ingenuil), Lithuanian, slave (servile). The peasants, according to their position, were divided into 3 groups - columns, litas, slaves. The nature of the patrimonial economy was natural, although some researchers (A. Dopsh, M. Blok, etc.) believe that, nevertheless, commodity-money relations existed at that time. Those. in the presence of significant in-kind requisitions, there were also small monetary ones. The peasants paid their lord chinsh, various banal payments, quitrent in kind, working off, tithes, etc. The main form of secular holding was the feud, which was inherited from father to eldest son according to the law of seniority on special conditions. A hierarchy of fief ties was also established. According to the capitulary of Kersii in 877, it was said that the heredity of the count's position was officially recognized. Emperor, king, duke, margrave (marquis), count, vicegrave (viscount), baron, knight.
Charlemagne died in 813 and was succeeded in 814 by Louis the Pious (814-840). His sons demanded a partition, which was carried out in 817. Pepin - Aquitaine, Louis - Bavaria, Lothair - emperor. This section did not satisfy anyone. In 819, Louis married again, so he had to allocate lands to him younger son Carla. This situation led to a series of internecine wars, during which Louis was captured by his sons. After his death, the enmity between the brothers escalated even more. Louis the German, united with Charles the Bald, fought against Lothair. In the battle of Fontenoy in 841, Lothair was defeated. In 842, Charles and Louis renewed their alliance in Strasbourg. And here it turned out that the troops do not understand each other. The oath was pronounced in two languages - Romance (Old French) and German. In 843, the final division of the empire of Charlemagne took place in Verdun: Lothair - emperor - lands in Northern Italy and a corridor between the West Frankish and East Frankish states (all lands from the mouth of the Rhine to the mouth of the Rhone, + Friesland); Louis the German - the East Frankish state (all lands on the right side of the Rhine except Friesland, on the left bank of the Rhine - Speyer, Worms, Mainz); Charles the Bald - West Frankish state (lands west of the Rhine). Lothar's inheritance was the most colorful - Burgundy, Lorraine, German Frisia. Soon Lorraine and Frisia went to Germany, Provence and Burgundy - separate kingdoms. The descendants of Lothair lost the imperial crown, by the beginning of the 10th century. imperial title.
Vrubel I., Savushkin A. Merovingians - the first french kings// Historian and artist. No. 1. 2005. P.7-22.
Introduction.. 2
The emergence of the state among the Franks .. 2
Formation of a feudal society and the state of the Franks. 4
Political system francs. 10
Frankish Empire in the VIII-IX centuries. 14
Conclusion.. 16
Many barbarian tribes were scattered over the vast territory of the Roman Empire: Goths, Franks, Burgundians, Alamanni, Anglo-Saxons, etc.
The Romans increasingly used the Germans as mercenary soldiers and settled them on their frontiers. In the 5th century The highest ranks of the Roman magistrates began to be worn by the leaders of the barbarian tribes, who led the allied armies of Rome, which concluded an agreement on the transition under the rule of Rome.
The decline of imperial power, the ever-increasing unpopularity of Roman rule created favorable conditions for the allied kings of Rome to expand their powers, to satisfy their political claims. They often, with reference to the imperial order, appropriated full power, levied taxes from the local population, etc.
The Visigoths, for example, settled by Rome as their federates in 412 in Aquitaine (Southern France), subsequently expanded the territory of their kingdom of Toulouse through territorial conquests recognized in 475 by the Roman emperor. In 507, this kingdom was conquered by the Franks. In 476, power in the Western Roman Empire was seized by one of the barbarian commanders Odoacer. He was killed in 493 by Theodoric I, the founder of the Ostrogoth kingdom, who established his sole rule over all of Italy. This kingdom fell in 555. Other "tribal states" of the barbarians arose and were absorbed as a result of bloody wars, internecine strife.
But a special role in Western Europe was destined to be played by the Salic (coastal) Franks, who were part of the union of Germanic tribes that took shape in the 3rd century. on the northeastern border of Gaul, a province of the Roman Empire.
The Salian Franks, led by their leader Clovis (481-511), as a result of victorious wars in Gaul, sometimes in confrontation, sometimes in alliance with Rome, create a vast kingdom that stretched by 510 from the middle reaches of the Rhine to the Pyrenees. Clovis, having established himself as a representative of the Roman emperor, becomes the ruler of the lands, the ruler of a single, no longer tribal, but territorial kingdom. He acquires the right to dictate his own laws, collect taxes from the local population, etc.
Gaul, however, remained under the shadow of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) for a long time. Only in the 8th century the title of Roman emperor was given to the Frankish king Charlemagne. Thanks to the influence of Rome and the Roman Christian Church, Gaul, in spite of geographical fragmentation, maintained a kind of unity over the centuries, turning in the course of a long evolutionary process into that Franconia, which became the progenitor of the future France and Germany, as well as the territorial foundation of the development of Western Christian civilization.
For Gaul, the fifth century was a time of profound socio-economic transformation. In this richest province of Rome (the territory almost coinciding with present-day France), a deep crisis that engulfed the empire found its manifestation. The performances of slaves, columns, peasants, and the urban poor became more frequent. Rome could no longer protect the borders from invasions of foreign tribes and, above all, the Germans - the eastern neighbors of Gaul. As a result, most of the country was captured by the Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks (Salic and Ripuarian) and some other tribes. Of these Germanic tribes, in the final south, the Salic Franks turned out to be the most powerful (perhaps one of the rivers of present-day Holland was called from Sala in ancient times). It took them a little over 20 years to at the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th century. seize most countries.
The emergence of a class society among the Franks, which had been outlined for them even before moving to a new homeland, accelerated sharply in the process of conquering Gaul.
Each new campaign increased the wealth of the Frankish military-tribal nobility. When dividing military booty, she got the best lands, a significant number of columns, cattle, etc. The nobility rose above the ordinary Franks, although the latter continued to remain personally free and did not even experience increased economic oppression at first. They settled in their new homeland in rural communities (marks). Mark was considered the owner of all the land of the community, which included forests, wastelands, meadows, arable land. The latter were divided into allotments, and rather quickly passed into the hereditary use of individual families.
The Gallo-Romans found themselves in the position of a dependent population, several times larger than the Franks. At the same time, the Gallo-Roman aristocracy partially retained their wealth. The unity of class interests marked the beginning of a gradual rapprochement between the Frankish and Gallo-Roman nobility, with the former becoming dominant. And this especially made itself felt during the formation of a new government, with the help of which it would be possible to keep the occupied country in their hands, to keep the colonies and slaves in obedience. The former tribal organization of the necessary forces and means for this could not provide. The institutions of the tribal system begin to give way to a new organization with a military leader - the king and a squad personally devoted to him at the head. The king and his entourage actually decide the most important questions of the life of the country, although popular assemblies and some other institutions of the former system of the Franks are still preserved. A new "public authority" is being formed, which no longer coincides directly with the population. It consists not only of armed people who do not depend on the rank and file of the free, but also of all kinds of compulsory institutions, which did not exist under the tribal system. The approval of the new public authority was associated with the introduction of the territorial division of the population. The lands inhabited by the Franks began to be divided into "pagi" (districts), which consisted of smaller units - "hundreds". The management of the population, which lived in pagas and hundreds, is handed over to special trustees of the king. In the southern regions of Gaul, where the former population repeatedly prevailed at first, the Roman administrative- territorial division. But even here the appointment of officials depends on the king.
The emergence of the state among the Franks is associated with the name of one of their military leaders - Clovis (486-511) from the Merovingian clan. Under his leadership, the main part of Gaul was conquered. The far-sighted political step of Clovis was the adoption by him and his squad of Christianity according to the Catholic model. By this he secured the support of the Gallo-Roman nobility and the dominant Gaul, catholic church.
The Frankish wars of conquest accelerated the process of creating the Frankish state. The deepest reasons for the formation of the Frankish statehood were rooted in the decomposition of the Frankish free community, in its class stratification, which began in the first centuries of the new era.
The state of the Franks in its form was early feudal monarchy. It arose in a transitional society from communal to feudal society, which in its development passed the stage of slavery. This society is characterized by a multiform structure (a combination of slave-owning, tribal, communal, feudal relations), and the incompleteness of the process of creating the main classes of feudal society. Because of this, the early feudal state bears a significant imprint of the old communal organization, the institutions of tribal democracy.
The state of the Franks went through two main periods in its development (from the end of the 5th to the 7th century and from the 8th to the middle of the 9th century). The line separating these periods is characterized not only by the change of ruling dynasties (the Merovingians were replaced by the Carolingians). It marked the beginning of a new stage in the deep socio-economic and political restructuring of Frankish society, during which a feudal state proper was gradually taking shape in the form of a seigneurial monarchy.
In the second period, the creation of large-scale feudal land ownership, the two main classes of feudal society, is basically completed: the closed, hierarchically co-subordinate class of feudal lords, bound by vassal ties, on the one hand, and the dependent peasantry exploited by it, on the other. The relative centralization of the early feudal state was replaced by feudal fragmentation.
In the V-VI centuries. the Franks still retained communal, tribal ties, relations of exploitation among the Franks themselves were not developed, and the Frankish service nobility, which formed into the ruling elite during the military campaigns of Clovis, was not numerous.
The social and class differences in the early class society of the Franks, as evidenced by the Salic truth, the legal monument of the Franks, dating back to the 5th century, manifested themselves most clearly in the position of slaves. Slave labor, however, was not widespread. A slave, in contrast to a free community-franc, was considered a thing. His theft was equivalent to the theft of an animal. The marriage of a slave to a free man entailed the loss of freedom by the latter.
Salic truth also points to the presence of other social groups among the Franks: serving nobility, free francs(community) and semi-free litas. The differences between them were not so much economic as socio-legal. They were mainly related to the origin and legal status of a person or the social group to which this person belonged. An important factor influencing the legal differences of the Franks was belonging to the royal service, the royal squad, to the emerging state apparatus. These differences were most clearly expressed in the system of monetary compensation, which served to protect the life, property and other rights of individuals.
Along with slaves, there was a special category of persons - semi-free litas, whose life was estimated by half a free wergeld, at 100 solidi. Lit was an inferior resident of the Frankish community, who was personally and materially dependent on his master. Litas could enter into contractual relations, defend their interests in court, participate in military campaigns together with their master. Lit, like a slave, could be freed by his master, who, however, had his property. For a crime, the litu was supposed, as a rule, the same punishment as a slave, for example, the death penalty for kidnapping a free person.
The law of the Franks also testifies to the beginning of the property stratification of Frankish society. The Salic Truth speaks of the master's servants or yard servants-slaves (vine growers, grooms, swineherds and even goldsmiths) serving the master's economy.
At the same time, the Salic truth testifies to the sufficient strength of the communal order, to communal ownership of fields, meadows, forests, wastelands, to the equal rights of communal peasants to communal land allotment. The very concept of private ownership of land in the Salic truth is absent. It only fixes the origin of the allod, providing for the right to transfer the allotment by inheritance through the male line. The further deepening of social class differences among the Franks was directly related to the transformation of the allod into the original form of private feudal land ownership. Allod - the alienable, inheritable land ownership of the free Franks - took shape in the process of decomposition of communal ownership of land. It underlay the emergence, on the one hand, of the patrimonial land tenure of feudal lords, and on the other hand, the land holding of peasants dependent on them.
The processes of feudalization among the Franks receive a powerful impetus during the wars of conquest of the 6th-7th centuries, when a significant part of the Gallo-Roman estates in Northern Gaul passes into the hands of the Frankish kings, the serving aristocracy, and royal warriors. Serving nobility, bound to some extent by vassal dependence on the king, who seized the right to dispose of the conquered land, becomes a major owner of land, livestock, slaves, colonies. It is replenished with a part of the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, which goes into the service of the Frankish kings.
The clash of the communal orders of the Franks and the late Roman private property orders of the Gallo-Romans, the coexistence and interaction of social structures so different in nature, accelerated the creation of new, feudal relations. Already in the middle of the 7th century. in Northern Gaul, a feudal patrimony begins to take shape with its characteristic division of land into master (domain) and peasant (hold). The stratification of the "ordinary freemen" during the period of the conquest of Gaul also occurred due to the transformation of the communal elite into petty estates due to the appropriation of communal land.
The processes of feudalization in the VI-VII centuries. in the south of Gaul did not receive such rapid development as in the north. At this time, the size of the Frankish colonization here was insignificant, the vast estates of the Gallo-Roman nobility remained, the labor of slaves and columns continued to be widely used, but profound social changes took place here, mainly due to the widespread growth of large church land ownership.
5th-6th centuries in Western Europe were marked by the beginning of a powerful ideological offensive of the Christian Church. The ministers of dozens of newly emerging monasteries and churches preached about human brotherhood, about helping the poor and suffering, about other moral values.
The population of Gaul, under the spiritual influence of the clergy, headed by bishops, began to perceive more and more Christian dogmas, the idea of redemption, relying on the intercession of the holy fathers for the sake of gaining forgiveness in the transition to another world. In the era of endless wars, destruction, widespread violence, disease, under the dominance of religious consciousness, people's attention naturally focused on such issues as death, posthumous judgment, retribution, hell and heaven. The church began to use the fear of purgatory and hell in its own selfish interests, collecting and accumulating at the expense of both rulers and ordinary people numerous donations, including land. The growth of church landownership began with the land waivers of the church from Clovis.
The growing ideological and economic role of the church could not fail to manifest itself sooner or later in its power claims. However, the church at that time was not yet a political entity, did not have a single organization, representing a kind of spiritual community of people led by bishops, of which, according to tradition, the bishop of Rome was considered the most important, who later received the title of pope.
In the activities of the church as "Christ's governors" on earth, kings also increasingly interfered, who, in order to strengthen their extremely unstable power, appointed bishops from their close associates, convened church councils, presided over them, speaking sometimes on problems of theology. In 511, at the Orleans church council convened by Clovis, it was decided that not a single layman could be inducted into the church without royal permission. The subsequent decision of the Orleans Church Council in 549 finally secured the right of kings to control the appointment of bishops.
It was a time of increasingly close intertwining of secular and religious power, when bishops and other religious figures sat in government bodies, and local civil administration was carried out by diocesan administrations.
Under Dagobert I at the beginning of the 7th century. the administration of church functions has become an integral part of the path to honor, having passed which, the king's associates became local rulers - counts and bishops at the same time; it was not uncommon for bishops to rule cities and the surrounding rural settlements, mint money, collect taxes from taxable lands, control market trade, etc.
The bishops themselves, owning large church farms, began to occupy more and more high place in the emerging feudal hierarchy, which was facilitated by the unforbidden marriages of priests with laity, representatives of the feudal elite.
The rapid growth of feudal relations is characterized by the 7th-9th centuries. At this time, in Frankish society there is agricultural revolution, which led to the widespread establishment of large-scale feudal land ownership, to the loss of land and freedom by the community, to the growth of the private power of feudal magnates. This was facilitated by the action of a number of historical factors. Started from the VI-VII centuries. the growth of large landownership, accompanied by strife among the landowners, revealed the fragility of the Merovingian kingdom, in which internal borders arose here and there as a result of the disobedience of the local nobility or the resistance of the population to the collection of taxes. Moreover, by the end of the 7th c. the Franks lost a number of lands and actually occupied the territory between the Loire and the Rhine.
One of the attempts to solve the problem of strengthening state unity in the face of widespread disobedience to the central authorities was the church council of "prelates and noble people", held in Paris in 614. The edict, adopted by the council, called for "the suppression in the most severe manner of rebellions and arrogant attacks of intruders", threatened with punishment for "embezzlement and abuse of power by officials, tax collectors in trading places", but at the same time limited the right of civil judges and tax collectors on church lands, laying thus the statutory basis of their immunity. Bishops, moreover, according to the decision of the council, were to henceforth be elected "by the clergy and the people" while retaining the king's only right to approve the results of the elections.
The weakening of the power of the Frankish kings was primarily due to the depletion of their land resources. Only on the basis of new grants, the granting of new rights to landowners, the establishment of new lordship-vassal ties, could the strengthening of royal power and the restoration of the unity of the Frankish state take place at this time. Such a policy was pursued by the Carolingians, who actually ruled the country even before the transfer of the royal crown to them in 751.
Charles reform Martella
Mayor Charles Martell (715-741) began his work by pacifying internal unrest in the country, by confiscating the lands of his political opponents, and by partially secularizing church lands. At the same time, he took advantage of the right of kings to fill the highest church positions. At the expense of the land fund created in this way, land grants began to be distributed to the new nobility for life conditional holding - beneficiaries(from lat. beneficium - beneficence, mercy) when performing one or another service (most often equestrian military). The land was given to those who could serve the king and bring an army with them. Refusal to serve or betrayal of the king entailed the loss of an award. The beneficiary received land with dependent people who carried corvee in his favor or paid dues. The use of the same form of grants by other large landowners led to the formation of relations of suzerainty-vassalage between large and small feudal lords.
Expansion of feudal landownership in the VIII century. contributed to the new wars of conquest, accompanied by a new wave of Frankish colonization. Moreover, if in the Frankish colonization of the VI-VII centuries. Since the top of the Frankish society took part mainly, then the wealthy allodists were attracted to the colonization of the 7th-9th centuries, which took place on a much larger scale, due to which the class of feudal lords was replenished at that time with equestrian chivalry.
From the middle of the 8th century the period begins prior to the completion of the process of stratification of Frankish society into a class of feudal landowners and a class of peasants dependent on them, relations of patronage, domination and subordination, arising on the basis of special agreements, become widespread commendations, precaria, self-enslavement. The development of patronage relations was greatly influenced by the Roman institution - clientella, patronage. The relations of patronage and patronage among the Franks were brought to life by the collapse of old tribal ties, the impossibility of the economic independence of the small-peasant economy, ruined by wars, robberies of feudal lords. Patronage entailed the establishment of the personal and property dependence of the peasants on the landowners-tycoons, since the peasants transferred to them the ownership of their land plots, receiving them back on the terms of performing certain duties, paying dues, etc.
In the processes of establishing the power of large landowners over the peasants in Western Europe, the Christian Church, which itself became a large landowner, played an enormous role. The stronghold of the dominant position of the church was the monasteries, and the secular nobility - fortified castles, which became patrimonial centers, a place for collecting rent from the peasants, a symbol of the power of the lords.
Treaties of commendation (patronage) arose primarily in the relations of peasants with the church and monasteries. They were not always directly related to the loss of freedom and property rights to the land plot of the commandee, as was the case in the case of the self-enslavement agreement. But once under such patronage, the free peasants gradually lost their personal freedom and after a few generations, most of them became serfs.
The contract of precaria was directly related to the transfer of land. It entailed the emergence of a conditional holding of land transferred for temporary use, was accompanied by the emergence of certain duties of a precarist in favor of a large landowner (to work on the fields of the master, give him part of the crop). In the face of the precarists, a transitional layer was created from free allodists to dependent peasants. There were three forms of precaria: precaria data ("given precaria") - a kind of land lease, on the basis of which a landless or land-poor peasant received a plot of land for temporary use. Under the contract precaria remuniratoria ("reimbursed precaria"), the precarist initially gave his plot of land to the landowner and received it back into possession. This type of precaria arose, as a rule, as a result of the pledge of land as security for a debt. Under the agreement precaria oblata (“precaria donated”), the precarist (most often under the direct pressure of the landowner), who had already become economically dependent, gave his plot to the master, and then received from him his and an additional plot of land, but already as a holding.
The owner of the precaria had the right of judicial protection against third parties, but not against the landowner. The precarium could be taken back by the landowner at any moment. As the number of people subject to the magnate (precarists, commandees) grew, he gained more and more power over them.
The state did everything possible to strengthen this power. In the capitulary of 787, for example, it was forbidden for anyone to take under the protection of people who left the lord without his permission. Gradually, vassal ties, or relations of dependence, cover all the free. In 808 they were ordered to go to war with their lord or with the count.
Later "barbarian truths" also testify to other changes in the social structure of barbarian societies, taking place in connection with the development of new feudal relations. In the Alaman and Bavarian truths (VIII century), the figure of a column is increasingly mentioned. The column or slave planted on the ground was also known to Roman law, which deprived him of economic independence, the right to conclude contracts, sign documents, etc.
Visigoths in the V-VI centuries. adopted these prohibitions from Rome. But the Ostrogoths began to move away from them. According to Art. 121 of the Ostrogothic Truth, for example, "if someone lent money to a colonel or a slave, without the knowledge of the master, then he could repay the debt from the peculium," that is, from the property that he owned.
A new feudal form of the colony arose, differing from the previous one in that not only a slave or a landless tenant, but also a free peasant could become a colony. According to the Alaman Pravda (22, 3), the colon is self-employed, but must pay taxes in kind to the church or work off corvée 3 days a week.
There are also changes in the legal status of slaves. Weakened, for example, strict prohibitions on the marriage of slaves with the free. If, according to Roman law, a free woman was enslaved for having a relationship with a slave, and according to the Salic truth, she could be killed with impunity, then the Alamannic truth gave such a woman the right to object to the "slave work of a servant" (18.2).
And finally, in the ninth century. large beneficiaries seek the right to transfer beneficiaries by inheritance. Benefits are being replaced fief(Hereditary, in contrast to beneficiation, feudal land ownership, granted by the lord to his vassal for service). Large feudal lords are turning into sovereigns with political power in their domains.
In the processes of formation and development of the state apparatus of the Franks, three main directions can be identified. The first direction, especially characteristic of the initial stage (5th-7th centuries), manifested itself in the degeneration of the organs of the tribal democracy of the Franks into the organs of a new, public authority, into the proper state organs. The second - was determined by the development of patrimonial administration, the third - was associated with the gradual transformation of the state power of the Frankish monarchs into the "private" power of sovereign sovereigns with the formation of a seigneurial monarchy, which was fully revealed at the final stage of the development of Frankish society (VIII-IX centuries) .
The conquest of Gaul served as a powerful impetus for the creation of a new state apparatus among the Franks, for it required the organization of the administration of the conquered regions and their protection. Clovis was the first Frankish king to establish his exclusive position as sole ruler. From a simple commander, he turns into a monarch, achieving this position by all means: treachery, cunning, the destruction of relatives, other tribal leaders. One of the most important political actions of Clovis, which strengthened the position of the Frankish state through the support of the Gallo-Roman clergy, was the adoption of Christianity.
With the adoption of Christianity by Clovis, the church becomes a powerful factor in strengthening royal power. It was the church that gave into the hands of the Frankish kings such a justification for the wars of conquest, as a reference to the "true faith", the unification in the faith of many peoples under the auspices of a single king as the supreme, not only secular, but also the spiritual head of their peoples.
The gradual transition of the Gallic elite to the Christian faith also becomes an important historical factor in the unification of Gaul, the development of a special regional feudal Christian, Western European (Romano-Germanic) civilization.
Socio-economic, religious, ideological, ethnographic and other changes in Gallic society had a direct impact on the processes of folding and development of specific features of the state apparatus of the Frankish empire, which absorbed in the VIII-IX centuries. most of the barbarian states of Western Europe. Already in the 5th century among the Franks, the place of the old tribal community finally comes to the territorial community (mark), and with it the territorial division into districts (pagi), hundreds. Salic truth already speaks of the existence of officials of the kingdom: counts, satsebarons, etc. At the same time, it testifies to the significant role of communal administration. At that time, the Franks no longer had a tribal people's assembly. It was replaced by a review of the troops - first in March ("March fields"), then (under the Carolingians) in May ("May fields"). But on the ground, hundreds of meetings ("malus") continued to exist, performing judicial functions under the chairmanship of tungins, which, together with rahinburgs, connoisseurs of law ("sentencing"), were representatives of the community.
The role of the community in court cases was exceptionally great. The community was responsible for the murder committed on its territory, exhibited jurors, testifying to the good name of its member; the relatives themselves delivered their relative to the court, together with him they paid the wergeld.
The king acted primarily as a "guardian of the world", as a performer judgments communities. His counts, satsebarons performed mainly police and fiscal functions. Salic truth provided punishment for royal officials who refused to meet the demand of a free man and apply power to offenders. At the same time, protecting to a certain extent the independence of the community on the part of the royal officials, the Salic truth forbade, for example, that more than three satse barons would appear at one community meeting.
Royal prescriptions, according to the Salic truth, relate to an insignificant range of state affairs - conscription into the army, summons to court. But Salic truth also testifies to the strengthening of the power of kings. Thus, for example, the performance of royal service justifies the failure of the accused to appear in the communal court. Moreover, the king directly intrudes into the internal affairs of the community, into its land relations, and allows a stranger to settle on the communal land.
The power of the Frankish kings began to be inherited. "In the 6th-7th centuries, under the direct influence of the late Roman orders, the legislative powers of the kings were strengthened, and in the capitularies, not without the influence of the church, they already spoke of the sacred nature of royal power, of the unlimitedness of its legislative powers. It is significant that there the concept of treason to the king appears, attributable to serious crimes.
However, the king at this time is first of all a military leader, a military leader, whose main concern is "order" in the kingdom, the pacification of the local nobility that is out of obedience. The lack of effective bodies of the central administration, the treasury, and independent royal courts with appellate functions was also associated with the limited royal functions.
The emerging state apparatus is still distinguished by its extreme amorphousness, the absence of clearly delineated official powers, subordination, and organization of office work. The threads of state administration are concentrated in the hands of royal servants and associates. Among them are the palace count, the referendary, the cameraman. Palace Count performs mainly judicial functions, directs judicial fights, oversees the execution of sentences. referendary(speaker), keeper of the royal seal, in charge of royal documents, draws up acts, orders of the king, etc. Camerarius monitors the receipts to the royal treasury, the safety of the property of the palace.
In the VI-VII centuries. the chief administrator of the royal palace, and then the head of the royal administration, was the ward mayor, or majordomo, whose power was strengthened in every possible way in the conditions of the incessant campaigns of the king, who ruled his territories "from the saddle".
The formation of local authorities takes place at this time under the significant influence of the late Roman orders. Merovingian counts begin to rule the districts as Roman governors. They have police, military and judicial functions. In the capitularies, the tungin is almost never mentioned as a judge. The concepts of "count" and "judge" become unambiguous, their appointment falls within the exclusive competence of the royal power.
At the same time, the newly emerging bodies of the state apparatus of the Franks, copying some of the late Roman state orders, had a different character and social purpose. These were authorities expressing the interests primarily of the German service nobility and large Gallo-Roman landowners. They were built on other organizational foundations. For example, they are widely used in public service the king's companions. Initially, the retinue, which consisted of the royal military detachment of free Franks, and, consequently, the state apparatus, was subsequently replenished not only by Romanized Gauls, who were distinguished by their education, knowledge of local law, but also by slaves, freedmen, who made up the royal court staff. All of them were interested in strengthening royal power, in destroying the old tribal separatism, in strengthening the new order, which promised them enrichment and social prestige.
In the second half of the 7th c. develops new system political domination and control, a kind of "democracy of the nobility", which involves the direct participation of the top of the emerging class of feudal lords in government.
The expansion of the participation of the feudalizing nobility in government, the "seigneurization" of state positions led to the loss of the royal power of the relative independence that it had previously enjoyed. This did not happen immediately, but precisely in the period when large-scale landownership had already acquired significant proportions. At this time, the previously created royal council, consisting of representatives of the service nobility and higher clergy. Without the consent of the Council, the king could not actually take a single serious decision. The nobility is gradually transferred to key positions in management, not only in the center, but also in the field. Together with the weakening of the power of kings, counts, dukes, bishops, and abbots, who became large landowners, acquire more and more independence, administrative and judicial functions. They begin to appropriate taxes, duties, court fines.
As early as 614, the aforementioned edict (art. 12) forbade the appointment of "an official (judex - probably a duke or count), as well as a person subordinate to him", unless they were local landowners. In 673, the secular nobility achieved the confirmation of this article of the edict by Chilperic II. Management functions, thus, were assigned to large local feudal lords.
In later truths, local rulers - dukes and counts - are given no less attention than the king. A fine under the Alaman Pravda threatens anyone for failing to comply with the requirements of a duke or count, for "neglecting their agenda with a seal" A special title of the 2nd Bavarian Pravda is dedicated to dukes "whom the people appointed or elected"; it testifies to the breadth of those cases "which concern them." It provides for punishment in the form of a significant fine not only for non-compliance, but also for "negligence" in carrying out their orders (2, 13), in particular, it refers to impunity in the event that the duke's order to kill a person is carried out (2, 6), probably "acting against the law" (2, 2).
Moreover, according to the Alaman truth, the position of the duke is inherited by his son, who, however, is threatened with "exile and disinheritance" for trying to "seize it extortionately" (25, 1-2), however, the king could "forgive his son ... and transfer his inheritance" (34, 4). Over time, all the most important positions in the state apparatus became hereditary.
The obedience of the local nobility to the king, which was preserved to one degree or another, began to be increasingly determined by its personal relations with the royal court, vassal dependence on the king as a lord.
From the middle of the 7th century, in the era of the so-called lazy kings, the nobility directly takes the reins of government into their own hands, removing the king. First, this is done by increasing the role and importance of the post of mayordom, and then by directly removing the king. A prime example this can serve as a change itself royal dynasty at the Franks. Back in the 7th century with their power, land wealth, the Pipinid family of majordoms began to stand out. One of them, Charles Martel, actually already ruled the country. Thanks to the reforms carried out, he succeeded in certain time to strengthen the unity of the Frankish state, which was going through a long period of political destabilization and dismemberment. The son and successor of Charles Martel, not even wanting to formally recognize the king, carried out a coup d'etat, imprisoned the last reigning Merovingian in a monastery and took his throne.
Agrarian revolution of the 8th century. contributed to the further development of the feudal state, the administrative system in which the patrimonial administration began to play the main role. The new restructuring of the administrative apparatus was facilitated by the widespread use of immunity certificates, by virtue of which the territory belonging to the owner of immunity was withdrawn (partially or completely) from the jurisdiction of state authorities in judicial, tax, administrative cases. The votchinnik thus gained political power over his peasants. Immunity letters, as a rule, sanctioned the already existing relations of political dependence of the peasants on their lords-patrimonials.
The system of immunities was bound to lead to increased fragmentation and local separatism. But under Charlemagne (768-814), the state of the Franks reaches its highest power, covering a vast territory. Moreover, Charles in 800 was crowned by the pope in Rome with the imperial crown, which emphasized his strength as a successor to the power of the Roman emperors. Charles and the church supporting him needed the coronation as a political and ideological means of strengthening royal power at the expense of the attributes of the Roman Empire.
Long before his coronation, Charles began to be called the guardian of the "Christian Empire" (imperium christianum). In 794, he himself convened an Ecumenical Church Council in Frankurt, at which he announced important changes in theological doctrine and church law. Fighting for the "purity of the faith," he sent missionaries to all corners of the country, published capitulary, providing for the death penalty for insulting the priests and the Christian faith.
Despite all the efforts of Charles I and the church, the empire did not become a single territorial entity. The chronicle testifies to continuous wars, rebellions in the empire. Many clans, tribal, feudal semi-autonomous state units in the Frankish Empire were held together by the personal power of the emperor, which provided him with the subordination of local armies, which were called upon to protect it from Scandinavian, Arab, Slavic and other raids.
The rapid process of enslavement of the peasants at that time also contributed to the strengthening of the personal power of the emperor. In the conditions of predatory seizure of land in the VIII-IX centuries. the king (emperor) acts as the highest lord, the highest manager of the land, securing the land holdings of spiritual and secular feudal lords, communities, but invariably at the expense of the communities, in the interests of large land ownership.
Under the Merovingians, the free peasant was the mainstay of royal power. The people's militia consisted of free community members-Franks, they participated in the court, in the protection of order. So long as this support was maintained, the royal power could resist the claims to power of the landed magnates. The real power of the Carolingians relied on other forces, on their direct vassals, beneficiaries. These were the social strata that were under their direct patronage. The power of the Carolingians became more and more senior, private, it was taken away by local lords, counts, bishops.
In the hands of Charlemagne remained only certain part nationwide powers. These real powers still included "protection of the world", protection of borders, certain coordination of the actions of the central government and the patrimonial authorities.
The capitulary, added to the Bavaria Pravda by Charles I, indicated that the emperor "as the guardian of the world" should stop "violation of power", ensure "the right peace for the church, widows, orphans and the weak", pay "special attention" to the punishment of "robbers, murderers , adulterers and incest", to strictly protect the "rights of the church and its property". Formally, the emperor also had the highest appellate power. "If anyone declares that he was wrongly judged," it is written in the same capitulary, "then let him appear before us." But it was immediately indicated that all property disputes should "receive a final decision with the help of counts and local judges."
The imperial administrative apparatus was also adapted to perform these functions. The council, consisting of the highest representatives of the spiritual and secular nobility, decided all matters "related to the good of the king and kingdom." This aristocratic body ensured the obedience of subjects to Charlemagne. Under his weak successors, he directly imposed his will on them.
The local administration was headed by large landowners, governors and counts, who shared power with the bishops. "Bishops together with counts and counts with bishops," prescribed the capitulary of Charles I, "must be in such a position that each of them has the opportunity to perform his office." played an important role margraves, military commanders in the border counties who monitor the security of the state's borders.
Charles ruled not through the imperial bureaucracy, he did not even have a capital city, but through the administrative-judicial apparatus of "sovereign envoys" scattered throughout the empire, who were called upon to implement the royal orders. The sovereign's envoys, consisting of one secular and one clergyman, annually traveled around the districts, including several counties. Their competence included, first of all, monitoring the management of royal estates, the correctness of religious rites, royal judges, and consideration of appeals against decisions of local courts on serious crimes. They could demand the extradition of a criminal who was in the territory of a spiritual or secular lord. The disobedience of the bishop, abbot and others threatened them with a fine. The controlling tandem of secular and ecclesiastical envoys of the king is another evidence of the weakness and inefficiency of the central government, which has no local support.
At the beginning of the 9th century, the Frankish state was at the zenith of its power. Covering the territory of almost all of Western Europe and not having an enemy on its borders equal in strength, it seemed indestructible and unshakable. However, even then it carried elements of the approaching decline and decay. Created by conquest, it was a conglomerate of nationalities, not connected by anything other than military force. Having broken for a while the mass resistance of the enslaved peasantry, the Frankish feudal lords lost their former interest in single state. At this time, the economy of Frankish society was natural. Accordingly, there were no strong stable economic ties between individual regions. There were no other factors capable of restraining the fragmentation of the country. The Frankish state was completing its path of development from the early feudal monarchy to the statehood of the period of feudal fragmentation.
In 843, the split of the state was legally fixed in an agreement concluded in Verdun by the grandchildren of Charlemagne. Three kingdoms became the successors of the empire: West Frankish, East Frankish and Middle (future France, Germany and partly Italy).
Louis V, the last Carolingian king, died in 987 and was succeeded by Hugh Capet. The title of emperor passed to the leader of the Eastern Franks, who inhabited the territory that many centuries later was called Germany.
The Capetians only maintained power by controlling the vassals in the king's ancestral domain. So, along with the transformation of the power of the monarch-leader into the power of the sovereign-seigneur, the early feudal monarchy was gradually replaced by a new feudal state form - senior monarchy.
1. History of State and Law of Foreign Countries / ed. Zhukova O.A., Krasheninnikova N.A. - M., 1996
2. General history of state and law / ed. Batyra K.I. - M., 1993
3. Chernilovsky ZM General history of state and law. - M., 1995
4. Reader on the general history of state and law. / ed. Z.M.Chernilovsky. - M., 1998
5. Reader on the history of the Middle Ages. / ed. Gratsiansky and Skazkin. - M., 1993