Charlemagne: Great Capitulary

Part administrative decree, part constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, and part sermon, the Capitulary of Charlemagne, issued in 802, was one of numerous such documents promulgated by the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties in the medieval Frankish, or French, Empire. The documents were termed capitularies because they were divided into sections called capitula, a Latin word meaning “headings” or “chapters.” Although several kings wrote and published capitularies, these documents are most closely associated with Pépin III's son Charlemagne (“Charles the Great,” or “Carolus Magnus” in Latin), inarguably the most famous Frankish emperor in the Carolingian Dynasty and the dominant figure in Europe in the late eighth and early ninth centuries.

It would be difficult to exaggerate Charlemagne's impact on the development of western and central Europe. Known in some circles as “the father of Europe,” Charlemagne ruled over Frankish territories and, through warfare and diplomacy, expanded his realm to include Germany and numerous other territories. He was crowned imperator romanorum, or emperor of the Romans, by Pope Leo III, thus making him the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and a rival to the emperor of the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople. Charlemagne's success in imposing unity on Europe became a model for later European leaders, including Napoléon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler.

Charlemagne's Capitulary of 802, issued two years after he was crowned Holy Roman emperor and sometimes referred to as the Great Capitulary, the Programmatic Capitulary of 802 (the date is included to distinguish it from other programmatic capitularies), or the Capitulare missorum generale, survives in three different forms addressed to three distinct audiences throughout the empire. Indeed, all of the capitularies from Charlemagne's reign exist in varying versions, for the documents were not intended as official records of laws and proclamations. Rather they were more in the nature of communications of decrees that the emperor had issued orally and which were then passed along to administrators throughout the empire, each of whom may or may not have preserved his written copy. The chief purpose of the Capitulary of Charlemagne was to lay out the obligations of the government and the people of the empire in light of Charlemagne's crowning as Holy Roman emperor in 800. It instructed officials throughout the realm to execute justice, to enforce respect for the rights of the king, to supervise the administration of royal officials, to receive from the people an oath of allegiance to the king, and to oversee the activities and conduct of the clergy.