1. System of Carolingian government comitatus (pl. comitati = county)
comes (pl. comites = count)
dux (pl. duces = duke)
Map Link: Empire of Charlemagne:
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2. King
Subkings
Dukes
Counts

3. Missi Dominici (“envoys of the lord,”
royal agents)
Checking on counts
Publishing decrees
Administering justice
Surveys

4. Sent in pairs, usually count and (arch)bishop
Assigned missaticum, with four month-long
visits/year
“Home ground”
Missatica only in core lands. More distant
regions with subkings, dukes or counts.
Marches with counts

5. Courts of justice:
Reformed c. 769
Held by counts and missi dominici
Role of scabinus

6. Public assemblies:
Irregular (but at least one/year), often
for war, political/ecclesiastical
discussions, and/or judgments
Held by king at palace
Local counts’ courts

7. Royal courts:
Itinerant, from palace to palace
Making king available and seen
Architecture as propaganda

8. Royal chancery office:
Staffed by clergy
Partial following of Merovingian
precedents
Carolingian royal chancery hand
Authentication with seal, notary’s
signature, possibly royal monogram

9. Pactus Legis Salicae (Law of the Salian
Franks, issued btw. 508 and 511)
Revised/re-issued by Charlemagne as
Lex Emendata/Lex Reformata
(Amended/Reformed Law) in 798
Capitularies capitula (chapters)