Continuity of Carolingian Judicial Institutions in Ottonian Lotharingia

The institution of the scabini, men from the pagus who served as legal fact finders in comital courts, was established by Charlemagne in the later eighth century and has received considerable attention from scholars for well over a century. Much of the early debate about the scabini focused on the origins of the institution, and whether Charlemagne was successful in replacing the previous ad hoc administration of justice with more formal procedures that followed more closely on the dictates of the royal court. A second important element in the historiography has focused on the fate of the institution of the scabini following the end of Charlemagne’s reign, and particularly after the division of the unitary empire following the death of Louis the Pious in 840. Many scholars, following the lead of F.L. Ganshof, have argued that the institution of the scabini, and governmental courts more generally, ceased to function at some point in the later ninth century, to be replaced by so-called feudal courts. The following study challenges this latter model by examining the institution of the scabini under the later Carolingians and their Ottonian successors in the region of Lotharingia, which gained a long-standing political coherence following the brief reign of King Lothair II (854–869). This region was the scene of intense political and military conflict throughout much of the period from the later ninth through the early eleventh century. Nevertheless, numerous private and royal charters of the Carolingians and Ottonians, as well as ostensibly prescriptive texts included in royal capitularies, point to the continuity of the institution of the scabini during the entirety of the Ottonian period from ca. 919–1024.

RUS` IN THE INTERNATIONAL LIFE OF EUROPE IN VIII-X CENTURIES

The article attempts to outline the main aspects of the situation of Rus` land in the international life of Europe in the VIII-X centuries. Vikings have long been known East Europe, and the first contacts began far away before the famous «Іnvitation of the Varangians» in the «Povist mynulykh lit». Old Ladoga became the center of a conglomerate of the surrounding Ugro-Finnish-Varyag-Slavic tribes, and is known in Arabic sources as «Slavia». Versions of Askold’s origin are also considered and the hypothesis that he probably belonged to the Scylding dynasty is supported. Askold pursued a very active foreign policy, in particular, he signed an agreement with the Byzantine Empire and was baptized. It is likely that he commissioned his own chronicle, the corrected version of which was included in the oldest Chronicle reports. As for Dyrr, the most likely assumption today is that Dyrr lived before Askold, and he was the first to try to get rid of dependence on the Khazars Khaganate, and information from the «Povist mynulykh lit» is an insert of chroniclers. The article analyzes information from the «Annales Bertiniani», which report on the famous embassy to the Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious from the Kagan of the Rus`. This message caused a heated discussion about the localization of the Rus` Khaganate. The assumption of Omelyan Pritsak, who claimed that the Rus` Khaganate was located not far from the Khazar Khaganate, and Kyiv was founded by the Khazars, does not have sufficient scientific arguments in its favor today. The localization of the Rus` Khaganate in the North-East Rus` is also unconvincing, because in the IX century the rulers of Aldeigyuborg did not make campaigns to the Byzantine Empire, and did not use the title of Khagan, but called themselves konungs. Based on a various sources, in particular using the Geographus Bavarus and archaeological research, the version of localization of the Rus` Khaganate in the Dnipro region with the center in Kyiv was supported.

Forgery in the Chancery? Bishop Anno at Worms

This chapter discusses the forgeries of Bishop Anno at Worms. The main texts comprised by the Worms forgeries have long been known. But new light is shed on the subject by a privilege of Louis the Pious of 814, which has only recently been the subject of scholarly scrutiny. The diploma in question confirms Worms's immunity and grants its dependents partial exemption from military service — they are only to serve in cases of need, and then are to do so under direct episcopal oversight. Ultimately, the Worms counterfeits are a symptom of change, a sign of the bishopric's growing ambitions and developing sense of corporate identity. By producing a more useful past, Anno and his associates served the present. It was a means of situating immediate concerns at Worms, Ladenburg, and Wimpfen in relation with the past. And as ever with cultural memory, the focus was on those rights (immunity and tolls) and individuals who were most constitutive of local identity. According to the German couple Jan and Aleida Assmann, Hildibald B was involved in a process of canonization, whereby the bishopric's undifferentiated past was winnowed down to a few iconic moments.