Recht und Raum in den Anfängen der karolingischen Reform

Zu den fränkischen Synoden 742–762

Abstract

The article analyzes the concepts of space found in the decrees of the early Carolingian synods, especially their new spatial concept of ecclesiastical hierarchy. The synods, driven forward by the papal legate St. Boniface and the Carolingian rulers themselves, aimed to confine episcopal authority to the boundaries of the dioceses and to abolish all roaming bishops, to re-establish church provinces with metropolites at their head, and to gather all bishops together at annual meetings, thereby building up a virtual community of the clergy in the whole regnum Francorum. The success of these efforts is not easy to judge, but seems to have been limited to the northern and eastern parts of the Frankish realm. This is demonstrated by the manuscript tradition of the decrees and by the fact that it was primarily bishops from the north and the east who attended the reform synods. Only in these regions did »space in law« transform into »law in space«.