134 Chapter 7
outrage marked the beginning of a long and bloody
struggle. The Saxons destroyed Christian settlements
and monasteries. The Franks resorted to wholesale mas-
sacre and deportations and the Saxons were at last con-
verted and incorporated into the empire in 797.
Charlemagne did not shrink from converting people at
swordspoint.
The rest of Germany fell into his hands when he
deposed the ruler of Bavaria, who was not only a Christ-
ian but also a nominal tributary of the Franks. Then, to
secure his borders, he defeated the Avars in 791 and
803, pressing into Croatia, which was partially resettled
with Slavic and German immigrants. In the west, he re-
pelled a Muslim raid on Narbonne and seized Catalonia,
which after 811 became a Christian enclave in Muslim
Spain. When he died three years later Charlemagne
ruled everything from Catalonia to the Baltic and from
the Netherlands to the middle Danube (see map 7.2).
To govern this vast territory, he relied upon counts,
dukes, and bishops who supposedly acted on his behalf
in their own regions and who transmitted his decrees to
their subjects. These men were bound to him by per-
sonal allegiance fortified with powerful oaths, but dis-
tance, poverty, and primitive communications left them
with a great deal of independence. Though imperial ad-
ministration remained fragmentary, communication was
maintained through missi dominici,officials who traveled
constantly from place to place on the ruler’s business
(see document 7.6). Charlemagne did, however, estab-
lish the principle that law was to be administered on a
territorial instead of a tribal basis. That is, if a Frank
committed a crime in Burgundian territory he was to be
tried under Burgundian, not Frankish, law. This change
represented a greater advance than it seems, for law was
no longer paralyzed by jurisdictional disputes.
Everywhere, Charlemagne relied heavily upon the
church to support his policies. In return, he strength-
ened its financial and institutional base. Monasteries es-
tablished by royal grants on the fringes of the empire
converted, and in some cases civilized, new subjects.Atlantic
OceanNorth
SeaMediterranean
SeaDivision of Empire
by Treaty of Verdun: 843NORTHUMBRIAEAST
ANGLIA
ESSEX
SUSSEXKENTWESTWESSEX
WALESWALESDANISH
MARCHSAXONYBAVARIAPEOPLES
VENETIAPAPAL
STATESBURGUNDYALEMANNIAUSTRASIANEUSTRIABRITTANYSPANISH
MARCHAQUITAINETRIBUTARY
SLAVICFRISIAIRELANDDUCHY
OF BENEVENTOBYZANTINE
EMPIREUMAYYAD
KINGDOM
OF SPAINCórdobaToledo BarcelonaBordeaux LyonsParisAachen
MainzMilanRomeYorkVerdunCorsicaSardiniaSeine
LoireR. R.MERCIA BalticSeaSicilyPyre
nees
Mts.ElbeR. Ode
rR.RhineDanu
be
R.Ad
ria
tic
SeaAlps Mts.R.0 200 400 Miles0 200 400 600 KilometersNorth
SeaSeaMediterraneanBaltiSeacKINGDOM
OF
LOUISKINGDOM
OF
LOTHARKINGDOM
OF
CHARLESFrankish kingdom: 768
Territories gained
by CharlemagneMAP 7.2
The Carolingian Empire