Missus dominicus
Encyclopedia
A missus dominicus Latin
for "envoy[s] of the lord [ruler]", also known in Dutch
as Zendgraaf (German
: Sendgraf), meaning "sent Graf
", was an official commissioned by the Frankish king or Holy Roman Emperor
to supervise the administration, mainly of justice, in parts of his dominions too far for frequent personal visits. As such, the missus performed important intermediary functions between royal and local administrations. There are superficial points of comparison with the original Roman corrector
, except that the missus was sent out on a regular basis. Four points made the missi effective as instruments of the centralized monarchy: the personal character of the missus, yearly change, isolation from local interests and the free choice of the king.
(ruling 768—814), who made them a regular part of his administration, "a highly intelligent and plausible innovation in Carolingian government", Norman F. Cantor observes, "and a tribute to the administrative skill of the ecclesiastics, such as Alcuin
and Einhard
". The missi were at first chosen from Charlemagne's personal, most trusted retainers, of whatever social degree. Soon they were selected only from the secular and eccesiastical nobility: the entry for 802 in the so-called Lorsch Annals (794-803) states that instead of relying on "poorer vassal
s", Charlemagne "chose from the kingdom archbishops and bishops and abbots, with dukes and counts, who now had no need to receive gifts from the innocent, and sent them throughout his kingdom, so that they might administer justice to the churches, to widows, orphans and the poor, and to all the people." It was presumably the same year that the capitulary
usually known as the Capitulare missorum generale was issued, which gives a detailed account of their duties and responsibilities. They were to execute justice, to enforce respect for the royal rights, to control the administration of the military duke
s and administrative count
s (then still royal officials), to receive the oath of allegiance, to let the king's will be known, at times by distributing capitularies
, and to supervise the conduct and work of the clergy. They were to call together the officials of the district and explain to them their duties, and to remind the people of their civil and religious obligations. In short, they were the direct representatives of the king or Holy Roman Emperor
. The inhabitants of the district they administered had to provide for their subsistence, and at times they led the host to battle.The missi were protected by a triple wergeld and armed resistance to them was punishable by death. In addition special instructions were given to various missi, and many of these have been preserved.
As missi became a conventional part of court machinery, missus ad hoc came to signify missi sent out for some particular purpose. The districts placed under the ordinary missi, which it was their duty to visit for a month at a time, four times a year, were called missatici or legationes (a term illustrating the analogy with a papal legate
); the missatica (singular missaticum) avoided division along the lines of the existing diocese
s or province
s. The missi were not permanent officials, but were generally selected from the ranks of officials at the court, and during the reign of Charlemagne personages of high standing undertook this work. They were sent out collegially, usually in twos, an ecclesiastic and a layman, and were generally complete strangers to the district which they administered, to deter them from putting out local roots and acting on their own initiative, as the counts were doing. In addition there were extraordinary missi who represented the emperor on special occasions, and at times beyond the limits of his dominions. Even under the strong rule of Charlemagne it was difficult to find men to discharge these duties impartially, and after his death in 814 it became almost impossible.
(ruling 813—840), who, however, lacked Charlemagne's military charisma, the process of disintegration was hastened, as, once he had associated the choice of missi with the assembly of nobles, the nobles interfered in the appointment of the missi, who, now selected from the district in which their duties lay, were soon found to be looking after their own interests rather than those of the central power, and to be associated with the rising local hereditary filiations. The list of missi of 825 reveals that the circuits of the missatica now corresponded with provinces, strengthening local powers. The duties of missi, who gradually increased in their number, became merged in the ordinary work of the bishops and counts, and under the emperor Charles the Bald
(ruling 843–877), who was repeatedly pressured by bishops to send out missi, they took control of associations for the preservation of the peace. Louis the German
(ruling 843–876) is not known to have sent out missi. About the end of the ninth century, with the implosion of Carolingian power, the missi disappeared from France too, and during the tenth century from Italy.
The missi were the last attempt to preserve centralised control in the Holy Roman Empire
. In the course of the ninth century, the forces which were making for feudalism
tended to produce inherited fiefdoms as the only way to ensure stability, especially in the face of renewed external aggression in the form of Viking
attacks, to which the impaired central power was demonstrated to be impotent..
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "envoy[s] of the lord [ruler]", also known in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
as Zendgraaf (German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: Sendgraf), meaning "sent Graf
Graf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
", was an official commissioned by the Frankish king or Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
to supervise the administration, mainly of justice, in parts of his dominions too far for frequent personal visits. As such, the missus performed important intermediary functions between royal and local administrations. There are superficial points of comparison with the original Roman corrector
Corrector
A corrector is a person who or object that practices correction, usually by removing or rectifying errors.The word is originally a Roman title corrector, derived from the Latin verb corrigēre, meaning "an action to rectify, to make right a wrong."Apart from the general sense of anyone who corrects...
, except that the missus was sent out on a regular basis. Four points made the missi effective as instruments of the centralized monarchy: the personal character of the missus, yearly change, isolation from local interests and the free choice of the king.
Reign of Charlemagne
Based on Merovingian ad hoc arrangements, using the form missus regis (the "king's envoy") and sending a layman and an ecclesiastic in pairs, the use of missi dominici was fully exploited by CharlemagneCharlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
(ruling 768—814), who made them a regular part of his administration, "a highly intelligent and plausible innovation in Carolingian government", Norman F. Cantor observes, "and a tribute to the administrative skill of the ecclesiastics, such as Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...
and Einhard
Einhard
Einhard was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the Vita Karoli Magni, "one of the most precious literary bequests of the early Middle Ages."-Public life:Einhard was from the eastern...
". The missi were at first chosen from Charlemagne's personal, most trusted retainers, of whatever social degree. Soon they were selected only from the secular and eccesiastical nobility: the entry for 802 in the so-called Lorsch Annals (794-803) states that instead of relying on "poorer vassal
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
s", Charlemagne "chose from the kingdom archbishops and bishops and abbots, with dukes and counts, who now had no need to receive gifts from the innocent, and sent them throughout his kingdom, so that they might administer justice to the churches, to widows, orphans and the poor, and to all the people." It was presumably the same year that the capitulary
Capitulary
A capitulary was a series of legislative or administrative acts emanating from the Frankish court of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, especially that of the first emperor, Charlemagne...
usually known as the Capitulare missorum generale was issued, which gives a detailed account of their duties and responsibilities. They were to execute justice, to enforce respect for the royal rights, to control the administration of the military duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
s and administrative count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
s (then still royal officials), to receive the oath of allegiance, to let the king's will be known, at times by distributing capitularies
Capitulary
A capitulary was a series of legislative or administrative acts emanating from the Frankish court of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, especially that of the first emperor, Charlemagne...
, and to supervise the conduct and work of the clergy. They were to call together the officials of the district and explain to them their duties, and to remind the people of their civil and religious obligations. In short, they were the direct representatives of the king or Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
. The inhabitants of the district they administered had to provide for their subsistence, and at times they led the host to battle.The missi were protected by a triple wergeld and armed resistance to them was punishable by death. In addition special instructions were given to various missi, and many of these have been preserved.
As missi became a conventional part of court machinery, missus ad hoc came to signify missi sent out for some particular purpose. The districts placed under the ordinary missi, which it was their duty to visit for a month at a time, four times a year, were called missatici or legationes (a term illustrating the analogy with a papal legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
); the missatica (singular missaticum) avoided division along the lines of the existing diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s or province
Province
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
s. The missi were not permanent officials, but were generally selected from the ranks of officials at the court, and during the reign of Charlemagne personages of high standing undertook this work. They were sent out collegially, usually in twos, an ecclesiastic and a layman, and were generally complete strangers to the district which they administered, to deter them from putting out local roots and acting on their own initiative, as the counts were doing. In addition there were extraordinary missi who represented the emperor on special occasions, and at times beyond the limits of his dominions. Even under the strong rule of Charlemagne it was difficult to find men to discharge these duties impartially, and after his death in 814 it became almost impossible.
Reigns of Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald
Under Charlemagne's surviving legitimate son, Louis the PiousLouis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
(ruling 813—840), who, however, lacked Charlemagne's military charisma, the process of disintegration was hastened, as, once he had associated the choice of missi with the assembly of nobles, the nobles interfered in the appointment of the missi, who, now selected from the district in which their duties lay, were soon found to be looking after their own interests rather than those of the central power, and to be associated with the rising local hereditary filiations. The list of missi of 825 reveals that the circuits of the missatica now corresponded with provinces, strengthening local powers. The duties of missi, who gradually increased in their number, became merged in the ordinary work of the bishops and counts, and under the emperor Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald
Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...
(ruling 843–877), who was repeatedly pressured by bishops to send out missi, they took control of associations for the preservation of the peace. Louis the German
Louis the German
Louis the German , also known as Louis II or Louis the Bavarian, was a grandson of Charlemagne and the third son of the succeeding Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious and his first wife, Ermengarde of Hesbaye.He received the appellation 'Germanicus' shortly after his death in recognition of the fact...
(ruling 843–876) is not known to have sent out missi. About the end of the ninth century, with the implosion of Carolingian power, the missi disappeared from France too, and during the tenth century from Italy.
The missi were the last attempt to preserve centralised control in the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
. In the course of the ninth century, the forces which were making for feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
tended to produce inherited fiefdoms as the only way to ensure stability, especially in the face of renewed external aggression in the form of Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
attacks, to which the impaired central power was demonstrated to be impotent..
Sources and external links
- Capitulare missorum generale ("General Capitulary of the Missi"), Spring 802, ed. G. Pertz, MGHMonumenta Germaniae HistoricaThe Monumenta Germaniae Historica is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published sources for the study of German history from the end of the Roman Empire to 1500.The society sponsoring the series was established by the Prussian reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr vom...
Cap. 1, no. 33; ed. Boretius, no. 60, p. 147; tr. H.R. Loyn and J. Percival, The Reign of Charlemagne. London, 1975. pp. 73-9; tr. D.C. Munro, "General Capitulary of the Missi (802) [no. 5]". In Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European history. Vol. 6. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1900. pp. 16-8. Available online - Capitularia missorum speciale, ed. G. Pertz, MGHMonumenta Germaniae HistoricaThe Monumenta Germaniae Historica is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published sources for the study of German history from the end of the Roman Empire to 1500.The society sponsoring the series was established by the Prussian reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr vom...
Cap. 1, no. 34; tr. H.R. Loyn and J. Percival, The Reign of Charlemagne. London, 1975. pp. 79-82. - Lorsch Annals, ed. G. Pertz, MGH Scriptores 1. entry for 802, pp. 38-9.
- Catholic Encyclopaedia (passim)
Further reading
- Ganshof, F.L. Frankish Institutions under Charlemagne (tr. Bryce and Mary Lyons). Providence (Rhode Island), 1968. 566-7 and 14-20.
- Hannig, Jürgen. "Pauperiores de infra palatio? Zur Entstehung der karolingischen Königbotenorganisation." MIÖG 91 (1983): 309–74.
- Krause, V. "Geschichte des Instituts der missi dominici." MIÖG 11 (1890). 193-300.
- Werner, K.F. “Missus – Marchio – Comes. Entre l'administration centrale et l'administration locale de l'Émpire carolingien.” In Histoire Comparée de l'administration (IVe-XVIIe siècles), ed. W. Paravicini and K.F. Werner. Beihefte der Francia 9. Munich, 1980. 191-239. Reprinted in Vom Frankenreich zur Entfaltung Deutschlands und Frankreichs. Ursprünge, Strukturen, Beziehungen; ausgewählte Beiträge; Festgabe zu seinem 60. Geburtstag, ed. K.F. Werner. Sigmaringen, 1984. 108–56. ISBN 3-7995-7027-6.
See also
- St. Paulinus II, Patriarch of AquileiaPatriarch of AquileiaThe Patriarch of Aquileia was an office in the Roman Catholic Church. During the Middle Ages the Patriarchate of Aquileia was a temporal state in Northern Italy. The Patriarchate of Aquileia as a church office was suppressed in 1752....
and one of twelve episcopal missi dominici in PistoiaPistoiaPistoia is a city and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno.-History:...
under Charlemagne - Theodulf of OrléansTheodulf of OrléansTheodulf of Orléans , was the Bishop of Orléans during the reign of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious...
, a bishop and missus dominicus under Charlemagne