The Exemption that Proves the Rule: Autonomy and Authority between Alcuin, Theodulf and Charlemagne (802)

When the two Carolingian intellectuals Alcuin of Tours and Theodulf of Orleans engaged in a dispute over the fate of a criminal who had sought asylum in the church of Saint Martin in Tours, their conflict quickly turned into a heated political debate that reached the highest level of the Frankish Empire. As evidenced by the letters written during this altercation, this seemingly simple matter of church asylum brought up intractable questions of who should arbitrate on matters such as these, what it would mean if bishops interfered in church matters outside their own diocese, and how this matter affected the essential unity of the Carolingian church. From appeals to personal responsibility to the institutionalisation of the Empire, the debate between Alcuin, Theodulf and Charlemagne was ultimately about everybody’s place in the greater scheme of things, and the question of who should play by the rules, and who would be exempt.