Carolingian Cultures of Dialogue and Debate: Third Early Medieval Europe Lecture (2015)

Was Christianity incompatible with public debate? There is a persistent and widespread idea that there was an ‘end of dialogue’ in late antiquity, because the church demanded obedience to authority, and did not encourage debate and criticism. Presumably, this also held true for the early middle ages, yet my research into the narratives concerning the rebellions of the 830s against Louis the Pious (814-840) taught me differently: these revolts triggered debates that went on for decades. The focus of the ensuing struggle for truth and legitimation after the event were the ruler and his court, but there was also a wider group of leading men who, by virtue of their public office carried a heavier moral burden than others. Their accountability to God and the ruler defined the extent of the Carolingian public domain.