Editing Carolingian dynasty (section)

===== Ruling Francia =====
Charles also ruled the Frankish realm, although the majority of his policies were centred upon his conquests and his military ventures. In 19th century historiography, historians like [[Heinrich Brunner]] even centred their arguments around Charles' necessity for military resources, in particular the development of mounted warrior or cavalry that would peak in the [[High Middle Ages]]. However, in modern historiography, historians like Pierre Riche and Paul Fouracre have discredited his ideas as too simplistic and have aimed to depict more realistic fragments of development that may or not have been interdependent.<ref name="Fouracre-2000c">{{Cite book|last=Fouracre|first=Paul|title=The Age of Charles Martel|publisher=Pearson Education Limited|year=2000|location=Harlow|pages=28, 34–35, 37–40, 48, 60, 70, 96–97, 106, 108–109, 121, 137–154}}</ref> This was the period in which the Carolingians first began to establish themselves as fully independent from the Merovingian royalty.

====== Vassalage and Church ======
Charles Martel has become notorious in historiography for his role in the development of the concept of [[feudalism]]. The debates are rooted in the arguments of historians like [[François-Louis Ganshof]], who viewed Charles' reign as the birth of the 'feudal' relationship between power and property. This results from the increased use of ''[[Precarium|precaria]]'' or temporary land grants by the Carolingians, who allocated and spread their power to their subordinates. Ganshof's arguments connect these ties to a military-tenure relationship; however, this is never represented in primary material, and instead is only implied, and likely derived from, an understanding of 'feudalism' in the High Middle Ages. Recent historians like Paul Fouracre have criticised Ganshof's review for being too simplistic, and in reality, even though these systems of vassalage did exist between lord and populace, they were not as standardised as older historiography has suggested. For example, Fouracre has drawn particular attention to the incentives that drew lords and warriors into the Carolingian armies, arguing that the primary draw was 'booty' and treasure gained from conquest rather than 'feudal' obligation.<ref name="Fouracre-2000c" />

Although Charles' reign is no longer considered transitional in its feudal developments, it is seen as a transitional period in the spread of the existing system of vassals and ''precaria'' land rights. Due to Charles' continued military and missionary work, the political systems that existed in the heartlands, Austrasia and Neustria, officially began to spread to the periphery.<ref name="Fouracre-2000c" /> Those whom Charles appointed as new nobility in these regions, often with lifetime tenures,<ref name="Collins-2010c">{{Cite book|last=Collins|first=Roger|title=Early Medieval Europe 300–1000|publisher=Palgrave MacMillan|year=2010|edition=3rd|series=Palgrave History of Europe|location=London|pages=264, 266, 269, 271}}</ref> ensured that Carolingian loyalties and systems was maintained across the kingdoms. The Carolingians were also far more strict with their land rights and tenure than their Merovingian predecessors, carefully distributing their new land to new families temporarily, but maintaining their control. Merovingians kings weakened themselves by allocating too much of their royal domains to supporting factions; the Carolingians themselves seemingly became increasingly powerful due to their generosity. By giving away their land, the Merovingians allowed themselves to become figureheads and the 'do nothing kings' that Einhard prefaced in the ''Vita Karoli Magni''.<ref name="Riché-1993c"/><ref>{{Cite book|last=Einhard|title=Two Lives of Charlemagne: Einhard and Notker the Stammerer|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2008|isbn=978-0-140-45505-2|location=London|pages=18–19|translator-last=Ganz|translator-first=David}}</ref>

Due to his vast military conquests, Charles often reallocated existing land settlements, including Church property, to new tenants. Ecclesiastical property and monasteries in the late Merovingian and Carolingian period were political centres and often closely related to the royal court;<ref>{{Cite book|last=de Jong|first=Mayke|title=The New Cambridge Medieval History|url=https://archive.org/details/newcambridgemedi00allm|url-access=limited|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1995|editor-last=McKitterick|editor-first=Rosamond|location=Cambridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newcambridgemedi00allm/page/n643 622]|chapter=Carolingian monasticism: the power of prayer}}</ref> as such they often became involved in political matters, which often overlapped with Charles' reallocation of land. This 'secularisation' of Church property caused serious tension between the [[Carolingian church]] and state, and often gave Charles a negative depiction in ecclastical sources. The reallocation of church land was not new by Charles' reign; Ian Wood has managed to identify the practice going back to the reigns of Dagobert I (629–639) and Clovis II (639–657).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wood|first=Ian|date=2013|title=Entrusting Western Europe to the Church, 400–750|journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society|volume=23|pages=60–61|doi=10.1017/S0080440113000030|jstor=23726102|s2cid=163341734}}</ref> The majority of the sources that depict Charles' involvement in Church land rights come from the 9th century, and are therefore less reliable, but two supposedly contemporary sources also identify this issue.<ref name="Fouracre-1995d">{{Cite book|last=Fouracre|first=Paul|title=The New Cambridge Medieval History|url=https://archive.org/details/newcambridgemedi00allm|url-access=limited|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1995|editor-last=McKitterick|editor-first=Rosamond|location=Cambridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newcambridgemedi00allm/page/n109 88]–90, 91|chapter=Frankish Gaul of 814}}</ref> The first, a letter sent by missionary Saint Boniface to Anglo-Saxon king [[Æthelbald of Mercia]], called Charles' a 'destroyer of many monasteries, and embezzler of Church revenues for his own use...', condemning him for his use of Church property. This is supported by the second source, the ''Contintuations'', which related that, in 733 in Burgundy, Charles split the [[Lyonnais]] between his followers, this likely including Church land.<ref name="Wood-1994d">{{Cite book|last=Wood|first=Ian|title=The Merovingian Kingdoms 450–751|url=https://archive.org/details/merovingiankingd751wood|url-access=limited|publisher=Longman Publishing|year=1994|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/merovingiankingd751wood/page/n265 256], 260, 267, 275–276, 280, 285, 287}}</ref> Further chronicles like the ''[[Gesta episcoporum Autissiodorensium]]'' and the ''[[Gesta sanctorum patrum Fontanellensis coenobii|Gesta Sanctorum Patrum Fontanellensis Coenobii]]'' recorded monasteries losing substantial land. The monastery at [[Auxerre]] was reduced to a hundred ''[[mansus]]'' by Pippin III's reign, and at the [[Abbey of Saint Wandrille]] under Abbot [[Teutsind]], who was appointed by Charles in 735/6, the Church's local property was reduced to a third its size.<ref name="Fouracre-2000c" /> Wood has also criticised this point and proven that the loss of land by the Church was in reality very small, the remaining land being simply leased as it went beyond the Church's capabilities.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wood|first=Ian|title=Property and Power in the Early Middle Ages|url=https://archive.org/details/propertypowerear00davi|url-access=limited|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1995|editor-last=Fouracre|editor-first=Paul|location=Cambridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/propertypowerear00davi/page/n44 31]–52|chapter=Teutsind, Witlaic and the history of Merovingian precaria|isbn=9780521434195|editor-last2=Davies|editor-first2=Wendy}}</ref> Regardless, it is apparent that Charles' expansion of control consumed plenty of reallocated properties, many of which were ecclesiastical domains.