Communication of Authority in Carolingian Titles

This article presents a departure from traditional diplomatics with its concentration on rulers’ perceptions of, as well as statements about, their authority. The author states that early medieval intitulature also described the relationships involved in the creation of authority and was visibly affected by the subjects’ visions of their ruler’s authority. He argues that the reception of official Carolingian titles was not a passive unilateral process: some elements were accepted by local audiences; some were omitted as insignificant; and some were consciously rejected. Consequently, Carolingian aristocrats, especially clerics, frequently gave different names to authority in their correspondence with the ruler and the court, because they saw the mutual bonds of power and submission from a different perspective. To study the development of these views in the eighth and ninth centuries, the paper focuses on the addressing line in the letters sent from and to Carolingian rulers and the title legend on Caroli...