The Bible and the Law in Carolingian Europe: Scriptural Exegesis and Royal Legislation from Charlemagne to Charles the Bald (ca. AD 780-880)

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BIBLACE (The Bible and the Law in Carolingian Europe: Scriptural Exegesis and Royal Legislation from Charlemagne to Charles the Bald (ca. AD 780-880))

Berichtszeitraum: 2016-03-01 bis 2017-08-31

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.

The first step of the project was to record the biblical quotations contained in the corpus of legal texts, followed by an analysis of their form, purpose, and rhetorical function. In a second step, the patterns of interpretation and argument were compared with those found in the relevant biblical commentaries. This comparison revealed interesting overlaps between legal and exegetical debates, for example concerning the dispensation of justice, oath-taking, marriage and divorce, and church property and its (ab)uses. In the second phase of the project, two case studies were carried out. The first concentrated on the legal reforms under Charlemagne and on the efforts of his court to create a legal order in accordance with divine law as revealed in the scriptures. The second case study took its starting point from the Gospel of Matthew, a text that profoundly shaped Carolingian notions of law and justice and that was frequently cited in the legal texts. Its aim was to trace the shifting uses and interpretations of Matthew in the legal sources as well as in the Carolingian commentaries on Matthew.
This research has demonstrated that under Charlemagne, efforts to implement biblical law not only served to introduce and justify legal reforms, but also had an important ideological function. By claiming that divine law as revealed in the scriptures and secular law as set down by the king were in harmony, royal legislation acquired additional religious authority. Biblical notions of law and covenant changed the ways in which the political community addressed by these laws was imagined. Like the biblical chosen people of Israel, the Carolingian political community was presented as a people with a special covenant with God, who therefore had the obligation to obey divine law. In the time of Charlemagne’s successors, the uses of the Bible in legal texts shifted. Biblical quotations were no longer mainly used to formulate general norms and social ideals, but increasingly applied with regard to more specific legal problems or to individual cases. This often involved considerable exegetical knowledge. The use of the Bible as a source of law also generated broader discussions about the interpretation and salience of biblical law, especially that contained in the Hebrew Old Testament. These discussions are also reflected in the biblical commentaries. The entanglement between legislation and biblical exegesis became tighter in the course of the ninth century. A new generation of Carolingian authors began to use their commentaries as a medium to comment on current affairs and political debates, for example with regard to a politically explosive divorce case involving a king (Lothar II), or concerning the hotly debated question whether church property could be used for secular purposes.

The project’s overall aim was to connect two fields - legal history and biblical exegesis – which have usually been studied separately. By integrating, for the first time, the study of Carolingian law with that of biblical exegesis, it has contributed to a more nuanced understanding of Carolingian capitulary and conciliar legislation and the debates which accompanied its drafting and implementation. It has also successfully explored a new angle from which to study Carolingian biblical commentaries, focussing on a series of texts which have hitherto either been insufficiently studied, or, in some cases, still lack printed editions and therefore have to be consulted directly in the original manuscripts. By working out the links between legislation and biblical commentaries in the Carolingian period, the project has also contributed to a better understanding of the political significance of exegesis and its role in Carolingian society.
One of the highlights of the project was an international conference organised by the fellow, entitled “The Politics of Interpretation: The Bible and the Formation of Legal Authority”. It brought together experts on both legal history and biblical exegesis from six European countries and the United States. The conference provided the opportunity to put the theme of the project on the agenda of a broader scholarly community, and to situate the project’s results within a broader discussion of both Carolingian developments and comparative examples from other early medieval societies. The project results will be published in scholarly articles in journals and collaborative volumes. A volume collecting the contributions of the international conference, edited by the fellow, is in preparation.

"Charles the Bald receiving a Bible, ""Vivian Bible"", Paris BNF lat. 1, f. 423r (wikimedia commons)"

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BIBLACE (The Bible and the Law in Carolingian Europe: Scriptural Exegesis and Royal Legislation from Charlemagne to Charles the Bald (ca. AD 780-880))

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