Continuity of Governmental Practice under the East Frankish King Henry I

This study examines how order was maintained in written form in the East Frankish Kingdom during the first half of the tenth century. Relatively few sources have been handed down from this period of a succession of kings of different origins, namely Louis the Child, Conrad I and Henry I. However, we know that royal charters and synodal decrees continued to be issued. Meanwhile, previous research found that the self-image and model of a bishop as guiding the Christian kingdom alongside the king disappeared following the synod of Hohenaltheim in 916, and that the kingdom was consolidated through horizontal personal bonds of friendship and prayer, especially under Henry I. In this regard, it remains an open question how this ( dis )continuity of governmental practice should be evaluated. Here, I explain the mechanisms for this continuity in terms of interactions between the court of the non-Carolingian king, Henry I, and the ruling elites who retained the memory of earlier royal rule.