Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2017

 

The Discourse of Admonitio and the Political Culture of the Carolingian Period

(Abstract)

 

Liu Yin

 

State governance characterized by the dispersion of power and diversified political participation was the major political legacy the Frankish Carolingian period left to medieval Europe. The use of “admonition” in Charlemagne’s capitulary Admonitio Generalis and Hincmar of Rheims’ treatise De Ordine Palatii reflect the unique contemporary understanding of ministerium as the center of the principles of political and religious life. This shows the political culture of cooperation between the political and religious elites and the Carolingian regime. This political culture constitutes the intellectual basis for the practice of “cooperative politics” in the Carolingian period. The Christianization of state governance activities in the Carolingian era marked the formal establishment of “theocracy” in medieval Europe.