Table of Contents
Not a Modern Constitution
The Frankish constitutional order, both under the Merovingians and later the Carolingians, did not resemble a modern constitution. It lacked a single written document outlining governmental powers. Instead, it consisted of a set of customs, legal traditions, institutional practices, and personal bonds that together structured political life. These elements formed a flexible system that adapted to changing circumstances while preserving certain core principles. The Frankish realm rested on a fusion of Germanic traditions, Roman administrative practices, and Christian ideology, creating a distinctive constitutional framework that shaped early medieval Europe.
Kingship as the Central Pillar of Governance
At the heart of the Frankish constitution stood the king. Royal authority was personal rather than bureaucratic: the king governed by virtue of his lineage, military leadership, and sacred role within Christian society. The Frankish king was expected to uphold justice, protect the weak, defend the Church, and maintain peace throughout the realm.
Merovingian kingship emphasized sacral legitimacy, linked to claims of divine ancestry and ritual symbolism such as long hair and royal treasure. Under the Carolingians, kingship became explicitly Christianized. Coronation and anointing fused secular power with religious sanction, portraying the king as God’s chosen ruler. After 800, the imperial crown added a Roman dimension, merging Frankish kingship with the ideal of a Christian empire.
Despite this symbolic power, the king relied heavily on cooperation with aristocratic elites. The strength of the monarchy depended on personal loyalty, military success, and the ability to reward followers with offices and land.
Law, Custom, and the Role of Written Capitularies
Frankish constitutional order was rooted in customary law, inherited from Germanic tradition. Each major people (Franks, Alemanni, Bavarians, Saxons) possessed its own law code, such as the Lex Salica, Lex Alamannorum, or Lex Baiuvariorum. These codes were not abstract legal systems but collections of compensations, procedural rules, and social norms.
The Carolingians introduced a new element: the capitulary, a written royal decree that complemented regional law codes. Capitularies addressed matters of justice, taxation, administration, Church reform, and military obligations. Although they did not form a unified legal code, they expressed the king’s legislative authority and his ambition to impose a more coherent order across the realm.
Law in the Frankish kingdom thus combined traditional customs with evolving royal legislation, creating a dynamic constitutional landscape.
Local Power and the Role of the Aristocracy
The Frankish realm relied on a powerful aristocracy that performed essential administrative and military functions. The king appointed counts, dukes, and other officials to govern regions, collect revenues, hold courts, and lead armies. These offices were not purely bureaucratic; they were deeply tied to personal loyalty and family networks.
Local nobles exercised considerable autonomy, especially in distant frontiers such as Aquitaine, Bavaria, and Saxony. Their cooperation was crucial for maintaining order in a realm too large for direct royal administration. Aristocratic families also held significant influence within the Church, providing bishops and abbots who shaped spiritual and cultural life.
The Frankish constitutional order therefore rested on a delicate balance between royal authority and aristocratic power. The king needed noble support to govern effectively; nobles needed the king for legitimacy, land grants, and protection.
Assemblies and the Collective Dimension of Kingship
An important feature of Frankish constitutional practice was the annual assembly, known in Carolingian times as the placitum generale. These gatherings brought together leading nobles, bishops, and royal representatives. At these assemblies, the king announced new capitularies, organized military campaigns, settled disputes, and sought counsel. While the king’s authority was not subject to formal approval by the assembly, the event expressed a cooperative system of governance in which consensus and communication were essential.
Assemblies reinforced the idea that the realm was not merely the king’s personal possession but a political community guided by shared obligations and responsibilities.
The Church as a Pillar of the Constitutional Order
The Frankish constitution cannot be understood without the Church, which provided spiritual authority, administrative expertise, and ideological support. Bishops acted as royal advisers, judges, and local administrators. Monasteries served as centers of learning, manuscript production, and economic management.
The alliance with the papacy, strengthened under Pepin the Short and Charlemagne, gave the Carolingian monarchy a universal, Christian legitimacy. In return, kings protected the Church, enforced ecclesiastical discipline, and promoted reform. This partnership blurred the boundaries between secular and spiritual authority, creating a unified Christian-political order.
Personal Bonds and the Structure of Loyalty
The Frankish constitutional system was grounded in personal relationships. Loyalty was expressed through oaths, vassalage, and service. The king rewarded faithful service with land grants, known as benefices or fiefs, which became increasingly hereditary over time.
Although this practice later contributed to feudal fragmentation, in the early Middle Ages it served as a mechanism for binding the aristocracy to the crown. The Frankish state operated less through impersonal institutions than through networks of obligation.
A Flexible Constitutional Model
The fundamental structures of the Frankish constitution combined:
- a sacralized kingship,
- a partnership between monarchy and aristocracy,
- a pluralistic legal system,
- assemblies as instruments of collective governance,
- and the central role of the Church.
This system lacked the rigid formalism of later medieval governments, but it was well suited to a world shaped by personal ties, regional diversity, and the need for adaptation.
Even after the Carolingian Empire fragmented, these constitutional structures remained influential. They shaped the development of the Holy Roman Empire in the East, the feudal monarchy of France in the West, and the evolving political cultures of the medieval European world.