After these things, on the day of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, when all the people were assembled in the Church of the blessed St. Peter,[173] the venerable and gracious Pope with his own hands crowned him [Charlemagne] with an exceedingly precious crown. Then all the faithful Romans, beholding the choice of such a friend and defender of the holy Roman Church, and of the pontiff, did by the will of God and of the blessed Peter, the key-bearer of the heavenly kingdom, cry with a loud voice, "To Charles, the most pious Augustus, crowned of God, the great and peace-giving Emperor, be life and victory." While he, before the altar of the church, was calling upon many of the saints, it was proclaimed three times, and by the common voice of all he was chosen to be emperor of the Romans. Then the most holy high priest and pontiff anointed Charles with holy oil, and also his most excellent son to be king,[174] upon the very day of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
21. The General Capitulary for the Missi (802)
Throughout the larger part of Charlemagne's dominion the chief local unit of administration was the county, presided over by the count. The count was appointed by the Emperor, generally from among the most important landed proprietors of the district. His duties included the levy of troops, the publication of the royal decrees or capitularies, the administration of justice, and the collection of revenues. On the frontiers, where the need of defense was greatest, these local officers exercised military functions of a special character and were commonly known as "counts of the march," or dukes, or sometimes as margraves. In order that these royal officials, in whatever part of the country, might not abuse their authority as against their fellow-subjects, or engage in plots against the unity of the empire, Charlemagne devised a plan of sending out at stated intervals men who were known as missi dominici ("the lord's messengers") to visit the various counties, hear complaints of the people, inquire into the administration of the counts, and report conditions to the Emperor. They were to serve as connecting links between the central and local governments and as safeguards against the ever powerful forces of disintegration. Such itinerant royal agents had not been unknown in Merovingian times, and they had probably been made use of pretty frequently by Charles Martel and Pepin the Short. But it was Charlemagne who reduced the employment of missi to a system and made it a fixed part of the governmental machinery of the Frankish kingdom. This he did mainly by the Capitulare Missorum Generale, promulgated early in 802 at an assembly at the favorite capital Aix-la-Chapelle. The whole empire was divided into districts, or missaticæ, and each of these was to be visited annually by two of the missi. A churchman and a layman were usually sent out together, probably because they were to have jurisdiction over both the clergy and the laity, and also that they might restrain each other from injustice or other misconduct. They were appointed by the Emperor, at first from his lower order of vassals, but after a time from the leading bishops, abbots, and nobles of the empire. They were given power to depose minor officials for misdemeanors, and to summon higher ones before the Emperor. By 812, at least, they were required to make four rounds of inspection each year.
In the capitulary for the missi Charlemagne took occasion to include a considerable number of regulations and instructions regarding the general character of the local governments, the conduct of local officers, the manner of life of the clergy, the management of the monasteries, and other things of vital importance to the strength of the empire and the well-being of the people. The capitulary may be regarded as a broad outline of policy and conduct which its author, lately become emperor, wished to see realized throughout his vast dominion.
Source—Text in Monumenta Germaniæ Historica, Leges (Boretius ed.), Vol. I., No. 33, pp. 91-99. Translated by Dana C. Munro in Univ. of Pa. Translations and Reprints, Vol. VI., No. 5, pp. 16-27.
1. Concerning the embassy sent out by the lord emperor.
Therefore, the most serene and most Christian lord emperor Charles has chosen from his nobles the wisest and most prudent The missi sent out men, both archbishops and some of the other bishops also, and venerable abbots and pious laymen, and has sent them throughout his whole kingdom, and through them he would have all the various classes of persons mentioned in the following chapters live in accordance with the correct law. Moreover, where anything which is not right and just has been enacted in the law, he has ordered them to inquire into this most diligently and to inform him of it. He desires, God granting, to reform it. And let no one, through his cleverness or craft, dare to oppose or thwart the written law, as many are wont to do, or the judicial sentence passed upon him, or to do injury to the churches of God, or the poor, or the widows, or the wards, or any Christian. But all shall live entirely in accordance with God's precept, honestly and under a just rule, and each one shall be admonished to live in harmony with his fellows in his business or profession; the canonical clergy[175] ought to observe in every respect a canonical life without heeding base gain; nuns ought to keep diligent watch over their lives; laymen and the secular clergy[176] ought rightly to observe their laws without malicious fraud; and all ought to live in mutual charity and perfect peace.
And let the missi themselves make a diligent investigation whenever any man claims that an injustice has been done him by any one, just as they desire to deserve the grace of omnipotent God and to keep their fidelity promised to Him, so that in all cases, in accordance with the will and fear of God, they shall administer the law fully and justly in the case of the holy churches of God and of the poor, of wards and widows, and of the whole people. And if there be anything of such a nature that they, The duties of the missi together with the provincial counts, are not able of themselves to correct it and to do justice concerning it, they shall, without any reservation, refer it, together with their reports, to the judgment of the emperor; and the straight path of justice shall not be impeded by any one on account of flattery or gifts, or on account of any relationship, or from fear of the powerful.[177]
2. Concerning the fidelity to be promised to the lord emperor.
He has commanded that every man in his whole kingdom, whether ecclesiastic or layman, and each one according to his Oath to be taken to Charlemagne as emperor vow and occupation, should now promise to him as emperor the fidelity which he had previously promised to him as king; and all of those who had not yet made that promise should do likewise, down to those who were twelve years old. And that it shall be announced to all in public, so that each one might know, how great and how many things are comprehended in that oath; not merely, as many have thought hitherto, fidelity to the lord emperor as regards his life, and not introducing any enemy into his kingdom out of enmity, and not consenting to or concealing another's faithlessness to him; but that all may know that this oath contains in itself the following meaning: