Feudal fragmentation
During the reign of the Carolingians, the state system became more complex and ramified, but it remained imperfect. Charlemagne tried to prevent the excessive autonomy of his officials. He eliminated the position of the Dukes, who led the conquered large tribes. The whole territory of the state was divided into almost 200 counties. They were headed by Counts, appointed by the king himself. The counts were the main representatives of the central authority on the ground and performed judicial, administrative and military functions. Border regions – “stamps” – were in charge of the Markgrafs. By the way, this title is the title of the Marquis. During the reign of Charles the Great, special royal envoys appeared who carried out his most varied assignments. They, in particular, had to deal with abuses and local authorities.
A large territory of the country forced Charlemagne to be in constant movement. Because in his state there was no capital. Instead, Karl
Difficulties in managing remote territories led to the fact that sometimes kings passed their functions to close people. This entailed the strengthening of the power of feudal lords on the ground and the lack of control over their actions. Some feudal lords secured their posts as hereditary. This led to the separation of some areas and the weakening of royal power. Therefore, the successors of Charlemagne could not get obedience from their vassals.
IX century. From the ode of the deacon Flora of Lyons “Complaint about the division of the empire”
The Frankish nation shone in the heads of the whole world. Foreign kingdoms… sent embassies to her. The Romulus tribe, Rome itself, the mother of the kingdom – were subordinate to this nation: there its head, with the strong support of Christ, received his diadem as an apostolic gift…
But now, decaying, this great state has lost both its splendor and the name of the empire; The state, which was only recently united, is now divided into three parts, and
At the end of IX – at the beginning of the X century. the title of duke was restored, who had already become a large landowner and, for the importance, hired a second step after the king. The counts did not want to obey and tried to turn the counties into their seigniories. In addition, the custom made it possible to enter into vassalage dependence on several seniors, even in different countries. This led to constant conflicts and military clashes. The king had neither the strength nor the means to influence these processes. His position was characterized by the formula “first among equals”. The period of feudal disintegration has come.
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