This project investigated how the Bible shaped the formation of political communities and their legal order in early medieval Europe. It examined the impact of biblical models on (royal) legislation in the Carolingian period, from Charlemagne to Charles the Bald (c. AD 768-877). Under the Carolingian rulers from Charlemagne onwards, the Bible was frequently cited in legal texts issued by the ruler or by assemblies of lay and ecclesiastical advisors (so-called “capitularies” and conciliar decrees). This effort to implement biblical law is quite surprising: after all, the Bible is a complicated text full of contradictions, and its laws and moral norms were written for a different society in the distant past. What, then, were the implications and consequences of this renewal of biblical law? How was it adapted to a new social context, and what does this tell us about Carolingian notions of the political community and its cohesion, and of law and justice?
To understand these questions, the project has studied the legal texts in comparison with the rich material of Carolingian biblical exegesis, that is, written commentaries which explain and interpret the books of the Bible to an early medieval audience. Biblical commentaries are among the most widely transmitted texts from the Carolingian period. They were often written by eminent scholars and courtiers, who acted also as royal advisors, and were involved in political decision-making and sometimes also in the drafting of legal texts. The biblical commentaries thus allow us to understand how Carolingian scholars interpreted the biblical texts cited in the legal sources – moreover, their authors often used the commentaries to address current societal debates or to voice political criticism. However, biblical commentaries remain sorely neglected by most legal historians.
In drawing together Carolingian law and Carolingian exegesis, the project has pursued a twofold objective: (1) to analyse the concrete impact of biblical models upon Carolingian society, and the ways in which the biblical tradition shaped its legal and moral framework; (2) to understand the “social life” of Carolingian biblical commentaries, both as an intellectual and spiritual endeavour and as a social and political practice.
In doing so, the project has explored a new approach to studying the intersection of religion and politics during a formative period of European history, when crucial resources for the development of political and religious communities, state institutions, and law were created. Thinking about the law’s moral and ideological dimensions, about the role of religion in shaping (or enforcing) social and political consensus, and about shifting conceptions of the “sacred” and the “secular” sphere in the past can perhaps also provide new perspectives on similiar debates in modern societies.
