132 Chapter 7
form of land, grants of revenue, or other valuables. Un-
like the benefices of later—feudal—times, such gifts
implied no long-term obligation or relationship. Each
new service demanded a new favor.
All of this was typical Germanic practice. The ma-
jor difference between the Frankish idea of kingship
and that of the other Germanic peoples was that Frank-
ish kings from the time of Clovis onward were invested
by the church with a sacred quality that other chief-
tains lacked. A bishop anointed the king with oil at his
coronation to indicate that he ruled by God’s grace.
Such an endorsement could not always save the life of
an individual, but it helped to stabilize the position of
the dynasty.
Economically, Francia or Frankish Gaul had
changed little since the days of the Roman Empire.
Most of its people were non-Frankish tenants on estates
owned either by members of the old Gallo-Roman aris-
tocracy or by Frankish warriors. The poorer Franks and
a few Gallo-Romans owned smaller farms, but life even
for the freeholder remained a struggle. Yields were far
lower than in Roman times—one-and-a-half grains for
each grain planted seems to have been the rule. Coins
were rarely seen by any but the rich, who tended to
hoard them or convert them into jewelry, which be-
came one of the dominant art forms of the day (see il-
lustration 7.5).
In any case, little was available to buy. Every
landowner, great or small, tried to be self-sufficient.
When necessary, bartering for necessities was possible
at a town fair, but towns were few and poor and often
far away. A handful of Jews and Syrians managed the
remnants of the long-distance trade in which metal-
work was the chief Frankish export. The superbly
crafted iron tools and weapons of the Franks found a
market in nearly every part of Europe.
Better weapons may have given the Franks a small
advantage over their neighbors, for their military orga-
nization remained no better than that of any other Ger-
manic tribe. Every male Frank, as opposed to the
Gallo-Romans and other non-Frankish inhabitants of
the realm, was expected to answer the king’s call to
arms and to support himself for the duration of the
campaign. Most Franks fought on foot, armed with a
short sword and the small throwing axe that served as
an emblem of their tribe. Unlike their ancestors who
fought the legions of Rome, they seem to have been
wholly innocent of strategy or of tactics that went
much beyond the straightforward brawl, but this
impression may reflect only the inadequacy of histori-
cal sources. Literacy had declined during the years of
imperial collapse, and written records in this period are
few and incomplete.
The Merovingian dynasty began to decline almost
immediately after the death of its founder. The Frankish
custom of dividing even a kingdom equally among
heirs ensured that each generation would be involved
in bitter feuds that often ended in murder if not civil
war. Many of the kings appeared to suffer from physical
or mental problems and left the political direction of
their realms to their queens. Fredegund (d. 597) and
Brunhilda (d. 613) were especially notable for their
cunning and forcefulness.
After the death of Dagobert I in 639 the dynasty
sank into utter incompetence. War leadership as well as
the administration of the royal properties fell into the
hands of the mayor of the palace. This official was usu-
ally one of the Arnulfings, a powerful clan whose
wealth derived from estates in the same region from
which Clovis had sprung. Originally no more than the
majordomo of the royal household, the mayor had, by
the end of the seventh century, become the de factoIllustration 7.5
Jewelled Cover of the Lindau Gospels.This book cover,
from the ninth century, is an example of Carolingian jewel work.