Conclusion: A Christian Empire
What distinguished the medieval empire from the ancient empires of which it was a successor? It is a commonplace that the term is derived within the European tradition from the Latin imperium (rule, sphere of control) rather than a defined territorial unit.
Modern definitions of empire based on nineteenth- and twentieth-century manifestations of a territorially extensive polity that assumes, in Doyle’s definition, a relationship between a dominant group and a subordinate and necessarily foreign power are of limited utility. Certainly belonging to an empire, and one’s legal status within it, means that the territorial entity needs to be seen from the perspective of both the emperor and rulers, as well as from that of the citizens or subjects.[1345] Yet that belonging, concomitant sense of identity and their implications have another crucial dimension, usefully highlighted when the Emperor Louis II, “by order of Divine Providence, Emperor Augustus of the Romans” in 871 robustly refuted any suggestions on the part of the Byzantine emperor, “our well-beloved spiritual brother Basil, very glorious and pious emperor of the new Rome,” that a western emperor was inappropriate, claiming:it was the decision of God which caused us to assume the government of the people and of the city [of Rome], as well as the defence and exaltation of the mother of all the churches, who conferred authority, first as kings and then as emperors, on the first princes of our dynasty... Just as, by virtue of our faith in Christ, we belong to the race of Abraham... so we have received the government of the Roman empire by virtue of our right thinking and our orthodoxy. The Greeks on the other hand, because of the cacodoxy, that is to say their heretical opinions or wrong thinking, have ceased to be emperors of the Romans; indeed, not only did they abandon the city and seat of empire but, losing Roman nationality and even the Latin language, they established their capital in another city and transformed entirely the nationality and language of the empire.[1346]
Louis Il’s claims that he and his Carolingian predecessors were the true heirs of Rome, as well as chosen by God, also articulate the two most distinctive elements of Charlemagne’s empire and its crucial augmentation of Roman imperial ideals and historical precedent, namely, the Christian orthodoxy of the Western Empire and its maintenance of Latin culture.
Time and again, in response to the dispute over icons in Byzantium,[1347] refuting the Adoptionist heresy emanating from northern Spain,[1348] proposing a theologically correct emendation of filioque to the Creed,[1349] insisting on the catholic interpretation of the Eucharist,[1350] rejecting robustly Gottschalk’s theories of double predestination,[1351] affirming their loyalty to Rome in claiming their liturgical practice to be Roman,[1352] fostering devotion to Roman saints,[1353] and encouraging the observance of the papally approved collection of canon law known as the Dionysiana,[1354] the Franks had demonstrated their orthodoxy and loyal conformity with Roman practice.Let us return to Charlemagne, who has proved far more of a guiding inspiration of the ideology of empire within Europe than even the pagan and Christian emperors of Rome. By Charlemagne’s will, recorded in Einhard’s biography of the emperor, four inscribed tables, one of gold and three of silver and depicting Rome, Constantinople, and the whole world, were to be given to the archbishop of Ravenna, the pope, and the emperor’s heirs, respectively. These tabletop images are usually understood to be straightforward reflections of Charlemagne’s imperial domination of the known world and relations with Old and New Rome. There are obvious parallels with Augustus and the Mensuratio orbis (measurement of the provinces of the earth) commissioned by the emperor Theodosius, for Charlemagne too was a conqueror.[1355] If we wonder what a representation of the world at the beginning of the ninth century might have looked like, extant world maps from the late eighth century suggest schematic representations of the world surrounded by seas and extending from Britain to Babylon, and even including the unknown southern land surmised by the classical geographers.
As we have seen, the conquest and control of the geographical extent of Charlemagne’s empire was accompanied by an extraordinarily coherent effort to promote the Christian faith and a composite Greco-Roman, Judean, and Christian learned tradition.
Indeed, it was Christian Latin culture and the Christian religion which made Charlemagne’s empire cohere. Thus the world map depicted on Charlemagne’s silver table in particular could be taken to symbolize the ruler’s control of time and knowledge as well as space.[1356]The Carolingian Empire was not a consequence of straightforward aggressive expansion or opportunistic defense, but was energized by a strong ideological and religious fervor. The overall strategy of Carolingian rule and the driving force behind the expansion was religious reform and the expansion of Christian Latin culture. The Christian faith, manifest in the building of churches, the imposition of ecclesiastical institutions, Christian ritual, the insertion of Christian morality into social relations, the uncompromising insistence on doctrinal orthodoxy, the teaching of correct Latin and Christian education, and the definition and dissemination of a canon of texts representing the range of human knowledge bound this disparate realm together. The Christian faith provided the medieval empire with an essential unity as well as its ideological underpinning. Alongside the secular magnates, bishops and abbots played a fundamental role as government officials and administrators.
Empires and empire building are often seen as the outcome of military expansionism and conquest in which economic interests and political ambitions are up- permost.[1357] This chapter has suggested that the reality of the creation of an empire is also more often driven, in relation to the early medieval empire at least, by more than any mere wish to expand territory and impose political power over further groups of people. The promotion of a single language, Latin, and a single religion, Christianity, both secured within Christian learning and an intellectual and educational tradition that itself rested on the Greco-Roman and Judaean inheritance, was a part of an overall strategy of control. As part of this strategy, ideology was perceived and used as the dominant ingredient of the glue to make this great empire stick together, expressed through the media of culture, religion, law, and written texts.
A European identity was forged in this early medieval empire which proved resilient enough to endure throughout the many political changes of the coming centuries.Bibliography
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