Article Author: Starostin D. N

Merovingian royal court’s records of proceedings allow one to make a judgment on the ways in which dynasties sought to legitimize their rule. The investigation of the placita shows that the legal principles they sought to prove and defend were of fairly limited social significance since it could be expected that many of the widows would enter the protection of the church, and in particular, of the monastery of St-Denis. I argue that these court proceedings were the way for the literate people around the kings to tap a hidden source of authority, the power of a judge that had been known to Romans as part of the barbarians’ polity since Tacitus, to let the dynasty carry on despite obvious signs to the contrary.

Keywords: Merovingian dynasty; The Frankish kingdom; judicial privilege

Article Review Status: Published

Pages: 41 - 60

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