Important title in medieval Western Europe
The title
Duke
(and Prince)
of the Franks
(
Latin
:
dux
(et princeps)
Francorum
) has been used for three different offices, always with "duke" implying military command and "prince" implying something approaching sovereign or regalian rights. The term "
Franks
" may refer to an ethnic group or to the inhabitants of a territory called
Francia
.
The first office was that of the
mayors of the palace
of the
Merovingian
kings of the Franks
, whose powers increased as those of the kings declined. The second was that of the second-in-command to the early
kings of France
, the last incumbent of which succeeded to the throne in 987. This title was sometimes rendered as
Duke of France
(
dux Franciae
). The third instance was that of the rulers in
East Francia
(now Germany) of the so-called
"tribal" duchy
of
Franconia
.
Dux et princeps Francorum
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Up until the time after
Dagobert I
, the title
princeps
(prince) had royal connotations. The first time it was used to describe the mayors of the palace of
Neustria
was in mid-7th-century saints' lives. The
Vita Eligii
refers to unspecified
principes
of the
palatium
of Neustria, and the
Vita Baldechildis
and
Passio Leudegarii
describe the mayors
Erchinoald
and
Ebroin
as princes.
Pippin II
first used the title
princeps
after his victory at the
Battle of Tertry
in 687.
Both the
Liber historiae Francorum
and the
Vita Dagoberti tertii
refer to him by this title, but the continuation of the
Chronicle of Fredegar
uses only the title "duke".
The historian
Bede
refers to Pippin II as
dux Francorum
, but the ninth-century
Anglo-Saxon
translator of Bede uses the term
Froncna cyning
(king of the Franks).
The continuator of
Fredegar
refers to
Ragamfred
as a prince, but he only calls his rival, Pippin's son
Charles Martel
, a prince after his victory over Ragamfred in 718.
The princely title was used continuously from this point on for Charles and his descendants, the
Carolingians
, both in narrative and charter sources.
In 742, Pippin's grandson,
Carloman
, held his great
Concilium Germanicum
, at which he addressed the assembled "servants of God and my great men ... who are in my kingdom" as "duke and prince of the Franks".
The council declared that "without the patronage of the prince of the Franks it is impossible to defend the people of the church, the presbyters, clerics, monks and nuns of God."
When in 744 Carloman's brother,
Pippin III
, used the same title, he did not refer to "my kingdom", since by then a
Merovingian
king,
Childeric III
, had been appointed.
The ducal/princely title used by the early Carolingians marked them off as peers of the
duke?princes of Aquitaine
, also nominally under the Merovingians, rather than as sovereigns over them.
Dux Franciae
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A charter from the reign of King
Odo
(888?898) for the church
Saint-Aignan d'Orleans
that titles
Robert the Strong
dux Francorum
is a 17th-century forgery.
Between 936 and 943, the title
dux Francorum
was revived at the request of
Hugh the Great
, the most powerful magnate in France. A charter of King
Louis IV
of 936 refers to him that way, and a charter of Hugh's own from 937 employs the title. Its usage was not exclusive, however, since the title "count" (
comes
) continued to be used as well.
In one charter, Louis explained that Hugh was second to him in all his kingdoms.
This interpretation of the title
dux Francorum
was not universally accepted. According to
Flodoard of Reims
, the king only "invested Hugh with the duchy of France"
in 943 in reward for the latter's help in returning the king from exile. The duchy of
Francia
(
ducatus Franciae
) comprised the region between the
Loire
and the
Seine
, the ancient kingdom of
Neustria
.
On this contemporary understanding, Hugh's title was analogous to that of the dukes of Aquitaine,
dux Aquitanorum
, where the territorial designation ("of Aquitaine") was eschewed in favour of an ethnic one ("of the Aquitainians").
"Duke of the Franks" thus became the preferred title of the
Robertian
margraves of Neustria
from 943.
Walther Kienast suggested that the title served to connect Hugh with the previous
duces Francorum
, Pippin II and Charles Martel, and buttress his authority in Francia, from which he was frequently absent on visits to the royal court.
Hugh died in 956 and was succeeded by his son and heir, the child
Hugh Capet
. In 960, according to Flodoard, "the king [
Lothair
] made Hugh [Capet] a duke, and added for him the
country of Poitou
to the land which his father had held."
The younger Hugh's first charter with the ducal title dates to 966, while the first royal charter with the title dates to 974.
Lothair son,
Louis V
, already
king of the Aquitainians
, recognised Hugh as duke of the Franks in a charter of 979.
The title fell into abeyance and the Neustrian march ceased to form an administrative unit after Hugh succeeded to the French throne in 987.
Nevertheless, the officials and vassals (
fideles
) of the duchy of Francia became the chief men of the king of France after 987. Although the
royal demesne
was enlarged by Hugh's accession, royal action became more geographically restricted to Francia.
Modern historians have proffered two interpretations of the 10th-century use of
dux Francorum
. Jan Dhondt and Walther Kienast argued that the title was a royal concession recognising the actual power acquired by the Robertians over the region known as
Francia
, that is, old Neustria. Thus the title was territorial in nature, reflective of Hugh's real power and a royal (legal) grant.
Ferdinand Lot
argued that the title was viceregal and represented authority in theory over the entire realm and in fact power second only to that of the king.
Dux Francorum orientalium
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The emergence of the
Duchy of Franconia
from "a position of leadership amongst the Frankish nation in the eastern kingdom" in the late 9th century is poorly documented. The first clear duke was
Conrad the Elder
, who was also
Duke of Thuringia
. In 906 he died and was succeeded as duke by his son,
Conrad the Younger
, who was elected
King of Germany
in 911, without relinquishing his ducal office. Although it seems likely that Conrad's brother,
Eberhard
, held the duchy of Franconia during the reign of
Henry I
(919?36), the first reference to him with the title
dux Francorum
comes from early in the reign of
Otto I
(936?73).
In 956,
Otto (II) the Salian
inherited
Nahegau
from his father,
Conrad the Red
, then added
Wormsgau
,
Speyergau
,
Niddagau
and between the Neckar and the Rhine the counties of
Elsenzgau
,
Kraichgau
,
Enzgau
,
Pfinzgau
and perhaps
Ufgau
.
Otto was
Duke of Carinthia
from 978 to 985, and after his retirement from Carinthian office was titled
Wormatiensis dux Francorum
("Frankish duke of Worms"), the first titular dukedom in Germany. His son,
Conrad
, who succeeded him in Carinthia, was also titled "duke of Worms".
Conrad III of Germany
, before his election as king, held the title "Duke of the East Franks" (
dux Francorum orientalium
).
Notes
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]
Sources
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]
- Bautier, Robert-Henri (1961). "Le regne d'Eudes (888?898) a la lumiere des diplomes expedies par sa chancellerie".
Comptes rendus des seances de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
.
105
(2): 140?57.
doi
:
10.3406/crai.1961.11298
.
- Boniface
(1976) [1940].
Ephraim Emerton
(ed.).
The Letters of Saint Boniface
. New York: Norton.
- Boussard, Jacques (1968). "Les destinees de la Neustrie du IX
e
au XI
e
siecle".
Cahiers de civilisation medievale
.
11
(41): 15?28.
doi
:
10.3406/ccmed.1968.1435
.
- Dunbabin, Jean (2000).
France in the Making, 843?1180
. Oxford University Press.
- Depreux, Philippe (2012). "Le
princeps
pippinide et l'Occident chretien".
De Mahoma a Carlomagno: Los primeros tiempos (siglos VII?IX) (Acts of the XXXIX Semana de Estudios Medievales de Estella, 17?20 July 2012)
. Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra. pp. 61?97.
ISBN
9788423533367
.
- Jackman, Donald C. (1990).
The Konradiner: A Study in Genealogical Methodology
. Frankfurt: Vittorio Klostermann.
- Fanning, Steven (1995). "Neustria". In Kibler, William W.; Zinn, Grover A.; Earp, Lawrence (eds.).
Medieval France: An Encyclopedia
. Routledge. pp. 1249?50.
- Ganshof, Francois-Louis
(1972).
"A propos de ducs et de duches au Haut Moyen Age"
.
Journal des savants
.
1
(1): 13?24.
- Glenn, Jason (2001). "Robertians". In Jeep, John M. (ed.).
Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia
. Routledge. pp. 1069?70.
- Higgins, John Seville (1933). "The Ultramontanism of Saint Boniface".
Church History
.
2
(4): 197?210.
doi
:
10.1017/s0009640700120566
.
- Lewis, Archibald R.
(1976). "The Dukes in the Regnum Francorum, A.D. 550?751".
Speculum
.
51
(3): 381?410.
doi
:
10.2307/2851704
.
JSTOR
2851704
.
S2CID
162248053
.
- Loyn, H. R.
(1953). "The Term Ealdorman in the Translations Prepared at the Time of King Alfred".
The English Historical Review
.
68
(269): 513?25.
doi
:
10.1093/ehr/lxviii.cclxix.513
.
- Lyon, Jonathan R. (2012).
Princely Brothers and Sisters: The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100?1250
. Cornell University Press.
- Pixton, Paul B. (2001). "Salians". In Jeep, John M. (ed.).
Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia
. Routledge. pp. 1119?22.
- Wolfram, Herwig
(1971). "The Shaping of the Early Medieval Principality as a Type of Non-Royal Rulership".
Viator
.
2
: 33?51.
doi
:
10.1484/J.VIATOR.2.301682
.
Further reading
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]
- Brunner, Karl (1973). "Der frankische Furstentitel im neunten und zehnten Jahrhundert".
Mitteilungen des Instituts fur osterreichische Geschichtsforschung
.
24
. Vienna: 179ff.
- Kienast, Walther (1966). "Der Herzogstitel in Frankreich und Deutschland (9. bis 12. Jahrhundert)".
Historische Zeitschrift
.
203
(3): 532?80.
doi
:
10.1524/hzhz.1966.203.jg.532
.
S2CID
164924190
.
- Levillain, Leon (1913). "La succession d'Austrasie au VII
e
siecle".
Revue historique
.
112
: 62?93.
- Wolfram, Herwig
(1967). "Intitulatio: Lateinische Konigs- und Furstentitel bis zum ende des 8. jahrhunderts".
Lateinische Herrscher- und Furstentitel im neunten und zehnten Jahrhundert
. Vol. 21. Hermann Bohlaus.