Reintegration of the Peripheral Principalities
Barrie Brill
Charles Martel’s policy led him to intervene militarily against the new forms of political organization that appeared at the end of the seventh century. This involved moving against the peripheral principalities that had emerged in southern Gaul, as well as in the eastern Germanic lands.
Origin of the Principalities
At the end of the seventh century, the Kingdom of the Franks, that is to say all the territories that were under control of the Merovingian kings, witnessed a process of dissolution that was related to the weakening of the monarchy. In many regions, magnates, both secular and ecclesiastical, who had received from the Merovingian monarch the power to govern at the local level, were more and more tempted to exercise it autonomously, while still recognizing the nominal authority of the Merovingian king who remained the sole source of legitimacy. In the process they created a new form of political organization, the principality, which was a territory or region governed by a non-royal dynasty. The Kingdom of the Franks by the end of the seventh century had become a conglomerate of principalities whose leaders claimed equality with the mayor of the palace of Neustria-Austrasia who had arrogated to himself the title of princeps Francorum.
These principalities were of two kinds. First, especially in Burgundy, episcopal principalities had emerged that were made up of several dioceses whose bishop, like Savaric of Auxerre, assumed all the local administration not only exercising the powers of a count, but also possessing an army. Secondly, the majority of the principalities, such as Aquitaine, Bavaria or Provence, generally had a regional character and were led by an aristocratic family such as the Agilofings in Bavaria or the family of Maurontus in Provence. This should not be interpreted as hostility to Frankish domination since most of these families were of Frankish origin themselves and had been put in place, some as early as the sixth century, by the Merovingian king whose theoretical authority they continued to recognize. What was at issue was who could claim authority over all free men. Clearly the mayor of the palaces of Neustria and Austrasia had a delegation of power in the name of the Merovingian king. The chieftains of the peripheral regions felt that they had received a similar delegation of power concerning their principality from the king and did not have to bow to the wishes of Charles Martel who was only their equal and not their superior. Charles was determined to demonstrate that this was not the case.
Aquitaine, Burgundy, and Provence
Aquitaine was a vast region that extended south of the Loire where Frankish penetration had never been very strong. Duke Eudo[1] had negotiated with Charles Martel in 720 and had been recognized as governing in an autonomous and legitimate manner. Eudo created a principality around Bordeaux and Toulouse, where he had to not only watch