HISTORY OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN 2500 YEARS: Ancient Origins Are Renewed In The Present Aeternitas

By Roberto Amati

The history of European integration did not begin in the aftermath of the 20th century AD: only the epilogue of a very long political, religious and socio-cultural formation process that started with the great adventure of Alexander the Great and his impromptu universal empire. In the centuries that followed, Europe became a land of immigration of peoples of Asian origin and Indo-European matrix, who found themselves on a continent that had emerged from the ice and occupied their own 'living space'. People still essentially present today who recognise themselves in Europe as an entity that retains its own characteristic identity in political, religious and historical-cultural terms. This book tells the story of the forces and ideas that enabled different 'gentes' to integrate and live together through facts, characters, thoughts, faiths, royal dynasties and power struggles.

The text is conceived with a plural thematic structure that aims to reflect the various European 'souls' and offer each specific interpretation. The Introduction sets out principles, concepts, questions, but also the philosophical/cultural paths along which the overall European culture was formed, even if not entirely homogeneous and for long periods dramatically conflicting, highlighting the turning milestones of the common continental thought thanks to an oriental and classical philosophical discourse. Part One, on the other hand, recounts the history of European events, personalities and evolutionary lines, with a Greek historical approach, relating them to the action and function of the Empire (especially the Christian one), which over the centuries 'attracted' the various peoples settled in Europe and trained them in a model of civilisation and socio-political organisation still visible today in every corner of the continent: the formation of the European states and nations now included in the EU is thus the product of the 'budding' of the Empire over two thousand years. Part Two examines the evolution of European legal and political thought using the method of Roman jurist treatises, following the development of the function of auctoritas, from its first configuration in the ancient Res Publica of Rome through the medieval, renaissance and modern eras to demonstrate the continuity of its conceptual reworking in every political and legal form of power established at every latitude of Europe, up to the so-called 'modern states' of today's democratic and constitutional republics. Part Three is a synthesis of the history of Christianity, from the events of the first 'communities' formed in the imperial age and then spread to the whole of Europe thanks to the evangelical action of the missionary monks and the policy of Christianization of the peoples of Europe conducted by the Empire and the institutional Church, under the sign of the biblical eschatological vision of 'salvation for all believers in Christ' which has an evident Jewish matrix and draws strength from the unique figure in human history of Jesus of Nazareth. The story also deals with the events that have marked the history of the Christian Church in every era, from the original conceptual controversies to imperial dogmatism, from the confrontation between the different 'churches' that arose in Europe in the Middle Ages to the struggles between Papacy and Empire, up to the Protest and Reformation that shaped the state of Christian religiosity today. Part Four is a cryptic narrative that seeks to 'unveil' (and thus end the evolutionary process underway) European history by its cultural roots, its founding myths and the journey of the 'European people', inspired by a Celtic metaphysical approach: only by delving into the various 'mysteries' collected in Eastern Greek cosmogony, in ancient Greco-Roman mythology, in the biblical letter and again in the most famous medieval legends narrated by the Chanson de geste, can one reconstruct the whole of European history and understand its unity of orig

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tektime
• Release date: Mar 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9788835434962

Book preview

PART I )

History of European integration in 2500 years

From classical civilisations to the Roman Empire, from the βάρβαρος to the Sacrum Imperium, from modern states to the European Union: a thousand-year struggle between the drive for unification and the spirit of freedom, which has resulted in the differentiation and historicity of today's nation-states.

The search for the roots of Europe is a Τόπος that has always fascinated historians, philosophers and intellectuals, as well as being one of the central points in the European political debate, especially concerning the process of integration of the continent that began with the establishment of the European Economic Community.

Opinions on the subject are diverse and contrasting, in line with the current knowledge system's ideological opposition³⁴. However, beyond these positions, which by their very nature are difficult to reconcile, it may be helpful to attempt to extend the concept of European integration beyond the conventional temporal limit of the post-World War II period of the twentieth century A.D., aware of the fact that the continent's history is much older and that the events of our day relate to our more remote past. This is an argument that probably finds few supporters. However, I intend to try to prove it: it will be useful to go back in time, to look for the elements of connection or continuity related to those political, social, economic, ethnic or cultural entities that are and have been the necessary and living 'foundation' for the construction of the present integrated continental system. For example, the idea of a politically 'united Europe' was certainly not born in Maastricht in 1992 A.D.: that was the historical moment in which a will that Europeans had held for centuries was sanctioned, and which they have sought to make concrete continuously over time, with different formal and operational modalities.

The millenary struggle for the unification of Europe, both political and religious, has shaped the complex political framework of today, determining the differentiation of modern nation-states, often arising from a movement for freedom and independence of some European peoples against the 'totalitarian' ecumenical entities that, for centuries, dominated the European political and cultural scene. Thus, the intentions to build large unitary systems, on the one hand, and the drives towards independence and freedom, acted as opposing forces that marked the course of events in Europe, initiating a centuries-long confrontation that produced the current geopolitical framework. It was the dominant figure of the Empire, conceived in ancient Persia and then spreading from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea to the heart of continental Europe, that acted as a pole of attraction and repulsion for all those peoples who passed through its sphere of influence. The Empire, therefore, as a significant element of political and cultural continuity and, above all, a unifying and generative force for the whole of Europe, throughout all the historical eras in which it has existed in its various forms.

Since this subject is inextricably linked to history, as a source of data and facts and as an instrument of investigation, it is from it that the search for the elements practical to provide a plausible answer to the τόπος on the roots of Europe begins.

BEGINNING OF HISTORY: THE CLASSICAL GREEK AGE

Conventionally, History began with the chronicles Thucydides wrote about the Peloponnesian Wars [431-404 BC], which pitted the Greek city-states (πόλις), now commonly regarded as the point of origin of Western classical civilisation, against each other in an ongoing political and economic competition: the free Greek cities, which colonised the northern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea ('Magna Graecia'), regularly fought each other in order to impose their hegemony on their rivals. It was an anarchic political framework in which, often, the independent πόλις organised themselves in political-military alliances (League of Delos, League of Peloponnesus) in order to defeat their rivals, demonstrating how already then, the survival of every city-state, small or big, was necessarily linked to that of the others and depended on the regime of the international political system of the time, which was very unstable. However, the times of the freedom wars against the Persian menace were not far off [Persian Wars, 499-479 BC]: on that occasion, all πόλις had allied themselves against the common enemy (referred to by the Greek term βάρβαρος because of the incomprehensible language) and succeeded in defeating several times (battles of Thermopylae, Salamis and Plataea) a much more powerful and numerous opponents. In that case, the external threat had driven the Greek city-states to give up part of their independence to survive. Nevertheless, once the enemy had been repelled, they began to rechallenge each other for hegemonic power over the Aegean and the Mediterranean.

However, the era of the free πόλις ended abruptly when the Macedonians led by King Philip II succeeded in definitively defeating the league that brought together all the other cities [battle of Chaeronea, 338 BC] and subjugating them to their kingdom. Shortly afterwards, Alexander 'the Great' continued his father's work and conquered the Persian Empire, which included all the lands between the Indus and Nile rivers, to find the Hellenic Empire: it was a brief but fundamental step for the future of Europe. In just a few years, Αλεχανδρος had unified in a single political and cultural system a vast geographical area, which in previous millennia had seen the prosperity of opposing and very different empires, kingdoms and civilisations (Egyptians, Hittites, Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Mitanni, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Mycenaeans, Achaeans, Lydians, Medes, Persians). The 'Hellenistic' experiment of fusion between the cultures of the Western-Greek and the Eastern-Persian civilisation (οίκουμένη) came to an end with the death of the Macedonian βασιλεύς [323 BC]. Although short-lived, it was an attempt that left its mark on the political and cultural consciousness of Europeans in the centuries to follow in fact, the first to imitate the Alexandrian example was the διάδοχοι, the generals of the Macedonian leader who inherited parts of his empire and divided it up by establishing several independent kingdoms (Ptolemy in Egypt, Antigonus in Asia, Seleucus in Syria, Antipater in Greece and Lysimachus in Thrace). For decades, they fought each other for absolute dominance, but none of them managed to prevail over all the others. Thus, the Hellenic Empire was never reconstituted, and the extraordinary task of reconstituting the immense common multi-ethnic and multi-cultural political entity, bringing together civilisations, religions and political systems of all kinds dreamed of by Αλεχανδρος, was only to be achieved by the Romans towards the end of the pre-Christian era.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus on the left bank of the Tiber, Rome was the city-state of the Latins and Romans (Civitas), which opposed the dominance of the Etruscans and the expansionist ambitions of the other peoples who inhabited Italy at that time (Taurians, Ligurians, Celts, Veneti, Osco-Piceni, Illyrians, Sabines, Samnites, Bruzi, Lucani, Sicani, Sardinians, etc.), including the southern cities that were colonies of the Greek πόλις. ), including the southern cities that were colonies of the Greek πόλις. Having freed themselves from the Etruscan yoke and established the Res Publica [509 BC], the Romans soon succeeded in subduing and unifying all the Italic peoples, also using alliances and federative peace treaties (Foedus). After that, they defeated the Mediterranean rivals of Carthage [Punic Wars, 264-146 BC], incorporating its possessions in the Iberian and Balearic Islands, Sardinia and Sicily. Subsequently, Roman legions conquered Illyria and the Greek and Macedonian kingdoms [146 BC]. Rome was a militaristic city organised into social castes. It had now annexed by force of the sword and its civic pride all the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, from Gibraltar to the Dardanelles Strait, maintaining a republican political and legal order.

At that point, it became clear that the Senatus, the political-legislative body at the head of Rome, was no longer able to manage alone the power over dominions that continued to expand in all directions: to the north and west, towards Gaul and Iberia, to the East in Dalmatia and Asia Minor, until the conquest of Syria and Palestine [64 B.C.]. Moreover, there were continuous social conflicts between the Plebeians and the Patricians, the latter belonging to the ancient and glorious aristocratic Gens that had always held power in Rome (Optimates) and dominated over the Populus, the whole of the citizens (Cives) whom Roman law had established as the source of all political and religious power. This class confrontation turned into civil war [from 88 B.C.]. It continued for decades in confrontations between generals and consuls (first Marius against Sulla, then Caesar against Pompey, finally Antony against Octavian), further extending Rome's dominions to Egypt and Anatolia. The epilogue of the prolonged republican crisis was the birth of the Principatus [27 B.C.], an innovative political and legal formula of authoritarian government invented by Augustus, which placed the Princeps at the centre of the system and in a leading position to all other powers (Summa Potestas). In his hands was concentrated the supreme military command (Imperium), exclusive and personal, with political pre-eminence in the Senate (Primus inter Pares in Auctoritas). At the same time, he represented the guarantor of state unity (Curator et Tutelar Res Publica Universae) and the religious head who mediates with the Gods (Pontifex Maximus)³⁵.

This high-imperial political model was preserved for centuries, with the transmission of the title of Imperator Caesar Augustus between members of the Gens Senatorie (I and II centuries A.D. the Julio-Claudi, Flavi, Antonini and Severi dynasties succeeded each other), through the public act of adoptio, followed by the concessio Senatus and the indispensable ancient famous proclamation. In the centuries that followed, the power of the Imperator became increasingly absolute, independent of the caste of the Roman patriciate and the noble families of the Provinciae, united in the Senatus together with the representatives of the wealthiest citizens (Ordo equestre) chosen and elevated by census by the Emperor himself (Dignitas). The Emperor also imposed a bond of loyalty to the imperial bureaucracy (chosen with a personal nomination) and to the military class (Ordo milites), which had always been made up of the popular class. Thus, the Imperator concentrated in his person entire military, diplomatic, legislative and supreme judicial powers (Summa potestas) and was considered superior to the law (legibus solutus), issued money and collected his tribute (Fiscus Caesaris), ruling in a regime of absolute monarchy of a hereditary, deified, totalising... Persian type!

The progressive enlargement of the borders of the Imperium (Limes), which ran along with the courses of the Rhine and Danube rivers to the north, and along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea to the south and East (now called Mare nostrum), created many difficulties for the Romans: From the inside, it was necessary to integrate the different peoples who lived there, while from the outside, the pressure from the Germanic tribes, who populated the lands north of the border, and from the Slavs, Dacians, Scythians, Goths, Parthians, who settled in the eastern lands, was increasing. Moreover, in the 3rd century A.D., the Empire entered a severe general crisis: of power, marked by successive coups and civil wars between various military commanders who tried to grab the imperial title [an era of 'military anarchy', 235-284 A.D.]; agricultural and economical, which eventually led to the emergence of aristocratic latifundia and the almost total loss of ownership of land and rights by the people; religious-cultural, triggered by currents of pagan thought praising the deified figure of the Emperor and oriental mysticism. The Christian religion, increasingly widespread in the Empire, especially in the popular communities, among the troops and in the patriciate (from which many bishops and Church Fathers emerged), was increasingly perceived as a severe destabilising danger for the imperial political power and was put under pressure (with persecutions).

In order to solve all these problems, two leading political solutions were found. The first was the reform of the Empire in an autarchic sense, with the institution of Domination by Diocletian [284 AD]: a model that strengthened imperial power by transforming it into a Hellenistic type of monarchy (the figure of Dominus et Deus) and organising it into a dynastic reign (Tetrarchy), reserved exclusively for members of the imperial family with the strong support of the military power (Duces) and supported by a vast bureaucratic system (Dioecesis). The other operation, on the spiritual level, was necessary to integrate the immense and growing population of the Empire³⁶: by recognising the status licita religio to the Christian cult [Edict of Tolerance, 313 A.D.], completed by conferring on Constantine the role of head of the Ecclesiae Christiana as Pontifex Maximus [Council of Nicaea, 325 AD], the power was reconciled with the power of the Christian Church. This reconciled the absolute and sacred power of the emperor (who now referred directly to the mithraic divine figure of Sol Invictus) with the economic-religious power held by the Bishops in the Dioecesis³⁷, of which they became the regents and depositaries of the benefits and civil-jurisdictional powers, attributed to them in competition with the other imperial administrative and military figures (Duces, Comites, Magister).

With Theodosius, I decided to sanction Christianity as the only religion allowed in the Empire [Edict of Thessalonica 380 A.D.], with the consequent ban on all pagan worship and Arianism. With the Imperium transformed into a theocracy, on the death of the first 'Christian Emperor' the split between the Greek East and the Latin West was consummated: the Pars Occidens was progressively abandoned to the power of the military, landowners and the Western Church, which was headed by the Bishop of Rome, populated by the barbarian tribes already federated and settled for some time within the Limes to counter the continuous invasions of Goths and Huns, which finally determined the final dissolution of Roman power [476 AD. In the East, the Empire survived in the form that had evolved into orientalising, verticist, theocratic and universalistic, later known as the Byzantine Empire, or 'Second Rome'.

ROMAN-BARBARIAN REIGNS AND THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE

The Germans were an Indo-European people (ÜrVolk) of probable Aryan ancestry, semi-nomadic warriors/farmers, bound together by common blood (lineage), language, religion and laws, tribes from northern Europe already known to the Greeks and Romans who classified them as Goths (distributed along the course of the Danube and on the coast of the Black Sea, between Pannonia and Dacia), Franks (having penetrated northern Gaul, on the left bank of the Rhine, they were also present on the other bank and in Germany), Lombards (who first settled east of the Elbe, then moved on to Bohemia and Pannonia), Suebi (who occupied the Swiss Alps, the right bank of the Rhine and south-west Germany), Bavarians and Thuringians (who settled along the upper reaches of the Elbe, in Bohemia and the Austrian Alps). During the pre-Christian centuries, the Goths met and intermingled with other Iranian (Alani, Sarmatians), Mongolian (Huns, Avars) and other nomadic Asian warrior tribes (Reitervolker) in the vast area outside the Imperium to the east of the Danube. Between the 3rd and 5th centuries A.D., there was slow immigration of these 'barbarian' groups³⁸ within the Limes, favoured by the granting of accession/inclusion treaties (Foedus) and by the ancient Roman rules on hospitality to foreigners (hospitalitas), which allowed the enrolment of those among the soldiers and officers of the legions stationed along the border.

This was possible thanks to Rome's policy of 'civilisation' (so-called 'romanisation'), which was inspired by Christian philanthropy and the Roman conception of Felicitas, considered the means of evangelisation and conversion of pagan peoples Catholic-Conciliar Christianity had developed at the time³⁹. In addition, the barbarian tribes were granted economic and fiscal autonomy, political and administrative powers, critical roles in the marshalling of trade and the command of indigenous military units (limitares), placed to defend the borders along the Danube, the Rhine, the North Sea and in Britain, and subject to the control of the bishops at the head of the dioceses and the Roman aristocracy, who managed the city offices. Between the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., the new provinces of Germania Superior and Inferior were settled by tribes of Alamanni, Suebi, Burgundians, Franks, Batavians and Frisians. At the same time, the Lombards entered Pannonia and the Goths, some areas of Moesia and Thrace.

The Roman Empire thus succeeded in transmitting its own political and economic system and the Roman modus vivendi to all the dominated peoples, guaranteeing protection for the actual trade (slaves, soldiers, goods, gold) across the limes, on the routes towards Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the East. The ethnic Germanic society thus inherited, through assimilation, the clientelistic political organisations of Rome (clans) and developed its symbolic-legal mix of Roman-Germanic-Celtic power, innovating the ancestral ties of kinship to transform the political leader into the role of Rex Gentium of his tribe. All this was propitious for the formation of the so-called 'Roman-Barbarian kingdoms', formed from the 5th century A.D. onwards, and guaranteed their integration into the Imperium Romanum, the reference model of integrative/attractive civilisation that had favoured the consolidation of the Christian religion, of Roman Civitas and Law, as well as of the Latin language and culture, even among the Celtic and Germanic peoples, who now identified with the peoples of the Mediterranean and southern Europe.

The unforeseeable, however, happened during the 4th century A.D.: the Huns began to attack all the surrounding empires (Han in China, Gupta in India, Sasanian in Parthia), then invaded the Russian steppes and forced the peoples settled there (Eastern Goths, Vandals, Avars, Alans) to migrate West. It was the time of Attila and the so-called ‘Barbarian invasions': gentes who abandoned the eastern plains and invaded Italy, southern Gaul, Iberia and northern Africa, where they established various autonomous kingdoms, later formally legitimised by an act of submission to the Emperor of Byzantium (in Pars Orientis), which recognised the title of Rex Gentium, Dux or Magister Militum to the heads of the various tribes and which allowed, in fact, their alternation in power to the detriment of the local elites. It thus happened that, in the provinces of the Imperium in Pars Occident, the senatorial-bureaucratic and clerical aristocracy of Roman or local origin moved to the countryside (giving rise to large, landed estates) to leave the class of Germanic warriors the political power in the cities, by Roman law and the imperial bureaucracy.

However, the operation of social integration of the 'newcomers' was not straightforward, and the establishment of the Roman-Barbarian kingdoms proved to be a long and complex process: the βάρβαρος were not granted Roman citizenship and were not allowed to legally join the Ρωμαΐος, since the prohibition of ethnic mixing (connubium) was still in force. Therefore, Roman military magistrates and imperial officials ruled the barbarian kingdoms maintained Roman public law and the Roman economic and social system. At the same time, the Ius loci were enriched with various barbarian codes that facilitated peaceful coexistence between Roman civil society and the barbarian military elite and between orthodox Christianity and Arianism⁴⁰.

The following is a historical summary of the main kingdoms that emerged between the 4th and 5th centuries A.D.⁴¹:

Regna Francorum [398 A.D.]: the Franks ('free'), an Isvetone tribe settled in Belgian Gaul and Germania Inferior (Flanders, Brabant, Lorraine), were led by the Merovingian dynasty (lineage of the Salii tribe) who welcomed the conversion to orthodox Christianity with Clovis I and consequently committed themselves to the fight against Arianism and paganism. By this promise, they merged peacefully with the pre-existing Gallo-Roman population and allied themselves with the bishops and the landed aristocracy, with whose help they were able to fight the pagan Goths and conquer the whole of Gaul (ex-Diocese), after having driven the Visigoths out of Aquitaine [507 AD] and annexed the lands of the Burgundians [534 AD]. They then obtained the recognition of sacralised kingship from the Roman Church (with the anointing and episcopal coronation) and the Eastern Emperor (with the concession of the title of Rex Francorum), necessary to build the foundation of a Roman-Gallo-Franco Christian society in which a mixed Roman-Gallic law was in force (Epitome Sancti Galli). The Frankish warrior elite coexisted with the Gallo-Roman aristocracy and people. The permanence of Salic law (Lex Salica, 511 AD. ) led to the continual division of the Regna into hereditary fiefdoms (Neustria, Austrasia, Burgundia and Aquitaine), ruled by the descendants of the Merovingian dynasty, which for centuries maintained political leadership over Gaul, Alemania and the Rhineland (populated by a mix of Ripuarians, Alemanni and Suebi Franks), constituting a highly integrated economic valuable area for the development of trade along with the courses of the Rhine and Rhone, and between the Mediterranean and North Seas;

Regna Burgundorum [407 AD]: the Burgundians, a Gothic tribe from the lands east of the Oder, occupied Viennese Gaul and the Alpine provinces (Provence, Burgundy, Savoy and western Switzerland), where they formed a kingdom around the entire course of the Rhone, which was annexed to the Frankish Kingdom in 534 AD. With the recognition of kingship by the emperor (title of Rex Burgundorum), a Christian community was formed, governed by a mixed Roman-Barbarian code of law (Lex Romana-burgundiorum, 501 AD) and the Burgundian military elite, flanked by the landed aristocracy and the local Gallo-Roman clerical class.;

Regna Visigotorum [418 AD]: the Visigoths, a Gothic tribe from Moesia (but whose origin must have been in Göthaland), after a rapid incursion into Italy (as far as Rome!) occupied central and eastern Iberia, Aquitaine, Narbonne Gaul and the Pyrenees region. They maintained maritime trade and political relations with Byzantium and the other Regna in Pars Occident, preserving Arianism and imitating the Byzantine royal cult. Pushed over the Pyrenees by the Franks [507 A.D.], they unified the Iberian Peninsula (ex-Dioecesis Hispania) with the annexation of the Kingdom of the Suebi [585 A.D.], who had long been established in the north-west (411 A.D.), Cantabria, Galicia, Asturias, Basque Country, where they had merged with the pre-existing Basque and Celtiberian populations, in a mix populi that was to form the basis of the future Kingdom of Asturias-León): The Visigoth elite then converted to Christianity with King Recaredo and began the reconciliation with the indigenous Celtiberian-Romans, obtaining recognition of sacred kingship from the Roman Church (with bishop's anointing) and the Byzantine Emperor (with the title of Rex Visigotorum). This step favoured the formation of a Christian Roman-Celtiberian-Visigoth community, in which a mixed Roman-Gothic code of laws (Lex Romana-visigothorum, 506 AD and Lex Visigothorum, 654 AD) was in force, led by the Goth military elite in peaceful coexistence with the Celtiberian-Roman aristocracy and clerical class.

Regna Vandaloricum [435 AD]: another tribe of Gothic descent, the Vandals invaded the coasts of North Africa after being expelled from Spain by the Visigoths and formed an independent kingdom from where they launched colonial expeditions to the islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Malta, for a long time. After a brief period of federation with the Imperium, this ephemeral kingdom that never adapted to Roman-Byzantine civilisation was annihilated by Emperor Justinian [535 AD];

Regna Ostrogotorum [493 A.D.]: the Ostrogoths, a Gothic tribe, settled in Dacia at the end of the 4th century A.D. (but of eastern origin), occupied the region. (but of Eastern origin), occupied the former Diocese of Italy⁴² on commission from Emperor Zeno to drive out the Heruli (who had put an end to the Imperium with Odoacer) and reconstitute the heart of the Pars in the West. Although faithful to Arianism, King Theodoric 'called the Great' was nevertheless awarded the title of Rex Romanorum by the Byzantine sovereign, who ordered the Senatus Romanum to recognise his legitimacy. However, despite their common Christian beliefs, the Ostrogoths and Romans never formed a diverse society, so that power remained entirely in the hands of the Goth military elite, who subjugated the Roman senatorial aristocracy and bishopric, wresting from them all possessions and civil power, despite the imperial issuing of a mixed Roman-Gothic code of law (Edictum Theodorici, 520 AD). This kingdom too was destroyed by Emperor Justinian [535 AD];

Regna Britannica [5th century A.D.]: at the time of the collapse of the Western Empire, the Britons reclaimed the lands within Hadrian's Wall (Dioecesis Britannia), led by the legendary Celtic chieftain Riothanus, who established a Regnum Britannoricum in Cornwall [409 AD]. In the rest of the British Isles, the Celtic kingdoms of Cambria (or so-called 'Pendragon', 450 AD) in Wales and Caledonia in Scotland [400 AD Ca]⁴³ and on the mainland (in the Brittany peninsula), where the Regnum Armorica was founded by Celtic tribes of Christian-Celtic cult with links to Dumnonia, which lasted until the Franks' conquest in the 9th century A.D.

Justinian restores order to the Imperium

This extraordinarily fragmented and variegated situation prompted Justinian I to embark on an extraordinary and impromptu undertaking: to reconquer the western lands of the Imperium in order to restore their political and legal integrity, under the aegis of the reunited Orthodox Church, shaken by the internal theological divisions produced by the followers of various movements condemned as 'heretics' (Arianism, Monophysitism, Gnosticism), which for centuries had been the cause of political struggles and military revolts in imperial-era Christendom. Byzantium promoted an alliance with the Franks in order to annihilate and drive out the Goths, Arians and pagans from the former Western imperial dioceses: thus, the Gothic War [535-553 AD] was fought in Italy, which led to the annihilation of the Ostrogoths and the restoration of direct Byzantine power in Ravenna (the last capital in Pars Occidens) and Rome (seat of the Church), with the Prammatica Sanctio (554 AD). On the other hand, the Franks succeeded in driving the Visigoths out over the Pyrenees and in defeating and subduing the Burgundians. At the same time, the imperial armies led by the generals Belisarius and Narses reconquered the Spanish and North African coasts, definitively exterminating the Vandal tribe.

The western political scene seemed to be stabilised, but Italy was again invaded by a Germanic tribe: the Lombards a few years later. Of Scandinavian origin, after a long pilgrimage beyond the limes, they settled in the Italian peninsula (except for the areas of Lido di Venezia and Romagna, Umbria, Latium, Apulia, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia, which remained under the yoke of the Byzantine Empire) to found the Regnum Longobardorum [568 AD], definitively suppressing the rest of the Roman aristocracy! This kingdom, governed entirely by the elite of the Lombard warriors, who managed the election of the Rex in the council of the Duces (Arimanni), sanctioned the precise social and political rift between the newcomers (Arians) and the Romans (Orthodox) that not even Byzantium was able to recompose: However, this did not prevent the Lombards from accepting the influence of classical Greco-Roman culture and a slow conversion to orthodoxy, thanks mainly to the work of the monks of Bobbio and Pope Gregory I 'known as the Great'. With the Edictum Rotari [643 AD], a new Roman-Longobard κοινή was achieved, the Christian community subject to Roman-Longobard law and the Longobard elite in cooperation with the Roman bishops, which was the guarantee of the final political legitimisation by Byzantium with the recognition of the title of Rex Longobardorum [680 AD], followed by papal coronation with the famous 'iron crown' of Theodolinda.

Generally speaking, the Roman-Barbarian kingdoms that existed between the 5th and 8th centuries AD were made up of a mix of peoples, languages and laws of a Germanic and Latin-Roman matrix, all subject to the sacralised power of the Rex, assisted by the warrior elite, who ruled by right of conquest and with the duty of defending their people, exploiting a public sphere that was by then reduced to only civil-administrative functions. This was the main reason why the traditional Roman Res Publica was slowly transformed into the direct property of the political-military head of the Regnum⁴⁴, who, in order to ensure the military protection of his Gens, began to assign, in a quick manner, Feudes publicus to the various Duces, guaranteeing them the relative rights to an income (this was the embryo of the feudal and military model that would become established later). In addition, the Roman-Barbarian kingdoms commonly applied the principle of the 'personality of the law', which made a clear legal distinction between invaders-dominators and Romans in the application of the law (Roman or the ancient Ius Gentium). Important was the juridical-political principle of a Germanic matrix that legitimised the sacred power of the Rex, chosen with the election of the nobleman considered 'the most moral' by the assembly of Arimanni, followed by the coronation with anointing by the Bishop (recovering the Jewish tradition of the anointing of David) and finally the attribution of the role of Pater Patriae on the population belonging to the territory placed under his rule (principle of Ius soli)⁴⁵. This was a reworking of Roman imperial law adapted to the Germanic culture and to the needs of the Roman Church to oversee the West⁴⁶.

The situation outside the Imperium

The lands beyond the Rhine and the Danube remained almost always outside the Imperium, inhabited by various Germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Thuringians, Bavarians) who were not politically organised and were pagan. Then, pressurised by the migrations of other peoples from the east (Slavs, Avars and Bulgarians), they too created autonomous kingdoms that were later 'Romanised':

Anglo-Saxon kingdoms [6th century AD. Anglo-Saxon kingdoms [6th century AD]: tribes of Angles, Jutes and Saxons, initially settled in northern Germany and Denmark, invaded the British Isles several times until they succeeded in establishing the new kingdoms of the 'Heptarchy' (Kent, Wessex, Essex, Sussex, Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia), subject to the cultural influence of Byzantium and the religious practice of the Christian Archbishopric of Canterbury: From there, in fact, it was possible to transmit the legacy of classicism and Roman civilisation to these tribes, to the point of establishing an autonomous Anglo-Saxon Church organised in dioceses on the model of the imperial one, which would become fundamental for the subsequent Christianisation of northern Europe. The Anglo-Saxon invasion was resisted by the Romano-British kingdoms of Cambria and the Celts in Ireland and Scotland, who maintained a permanent state of war against the invaders until the subsequent advent of the Dani and Normans [9th century AD];

Regnum Bavarum [6th century AD]: in the former imperial provinces of Noricum, Rhaetia, and Pannonia, an autonomous Ducatum [553 AD] was established, ruled by Bavarian dynasties. In the former imperial provinces of Noricum, Rhaetia and Pannonia, an autonomous Ducatum [553 AD] was established, governed by Bavarian dynasties in complete agreement with the Rhaetian-Roman episcopate, which over time built up solid political and diplomatic relations with the Lombard Reign (many Duces were of Bavarian origin) and with the Roman Papacy, which later proved to be preparatory to the complete conversion of the Bavarians to Christianity. Even in those regions, the Roman political and cultural continuity of the Christian religion was guaranteed, as well as the use of Roman law (Lex Bawariorum, 744 AD);

Germanic duchies [5th-6th century AD]: in the regions situated between the courses of the Rhine, Danube and Elbe rivers, populated by the Germanic tribes of the Alamanni, Saxons, Thuringians and Ripuari Franks, autonomous duchies were established, governed directly by the Merovingians or by other members of the Frankish aristocracy linked to them by dynastic ties. They had never been annexed to the Imperium, despite the numerous attempts of the Romans to conquer them (a wall of more than 500 km was finally built between Koblenz and Augsburg to establish a border with those Germanic populations, which did not resist the invasions of the 4th century AD): there was, therefore, no substantial influence of the Latin classical culture, nor of the Christian religion, especially in the northernmost area of Saxony, which remained independent from the Frankish dominion until the 9th century AD, and in the region of Thuringia, which became an independent Regnum [450 AD] until the final annexation by the Franks [540 AD]. When the Merovingian dynasty faltered, the Alamannan tribe achieved brief independence, evidenced by its codification of Romano-Germanic law (Lex Alamannorum, 725 A.D.);

Empire of the Avars [7th century A.D.]: the entire Carpathian region, located east of the river Danube, had been inhabited for centuries by various nomadic peoples before falling under the political rule of the Khagan of the Avars, an Asian people who invaded the area, subjugating the pre-existing peoples and forcing the already Romanised tribes (Albanians, Vlachs, Dacians) to flee and retreat to the mountain valleys of the Carpathians and the Balkans;

Empire of the Bulgarians [8th century A.D.]: the former Dioceses of Thrace and Moesia, situated beyond the lower reaches of the Danube, were invaded by the Turkoman Bulgarians, who established their kingdom there, recognised by Byzantium with Foedus in 681 AD, guaranteeing peaceful coexistence to the Greek-speaking peoples living in Illyria and Albania. Nevertheless, for a long time, it represented a constant threat to the Byzantine Empire. It was the source of constant conflicts and an attempt at imitatio Imperii repressed by Christian conversion [810 A.D.].

The Byzantine Empire: continuity of the Roman tradition

With the dissolution of the Pars in the West, the Roman Empire had historical continuity in the eastern half, which maintained control over the Dioceses of Illyria, Greece, Macedonia and Anatolia and the Exarchates of Apulia, Calabria, Sicily, Ravenna, Rome and Carthage (after the reconquest of Justinian I), guaranteeing leadership over the Christian world and the legacy of the Greco-Roman tradition (known as 'classical Hellenistic'). This meant giving continuity to the civilisation, law, administrative system and form of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire differed in the prevalence of the Greek language, Hellenistic culture and Christian orthodoxy. The βασιλεύς of Byzantium controlled the entire Ecclesiae through the appointment of Bishops and Patriarchs and the leadership of the various Ecumenical and Dogmatic Councils, protecting the Communitas christianorum inherent in the Imperial Dioceses (Defensor Ecclesiae).

The history of Constantinople (the new name for the Greek city of Byzantion) is very ancient: for thousands of years, the city dominated the communication route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea (Bosphorus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles Strait, Hellespont), acting as a trait d'union between Europe and Asia since the time of the Spartan colonisation (7th century B.C.), a real crossroads of trade towards the Asian steppes, the Russian plains and Asia Minor. It was a strategic position that made it necessary to know how to juggle the different peoples who traded in that area (Greeks, Phrygians, Lydians, Scythians, Hittites), thus favourable to developing the art of diplomacy and alliance politics. Indeed, during the Persian Wars, Byzantium became a city-state hostage to the continuous 'game of alliances', surrenders and agreements between the Greek and Persian powers. Then, allied to Rome [201 BC], which affiliated it to the Imperium as a 'free city', it was linked by sea to Brindisi by the Equatia road (via Chalcedon, Durrës and Thessaloniki) and soon became the nerve centre of the Pars Oriensis, taking advantage of its expansion eastwards towards Dacia and Asia Minor. Special state rights allowed it to own walls, towers, and villas, as well as the privilege of being ruled directly by the Imperator (from the 3rd century A.D.).

The particular geopolitical position of Byzantium also favoured the acceptance of Hellenistic civilisation (later called 'Byzantine'), the product of the fusion of Greek and Oriental cultures and the cult of Sol Invictus, introduced by Emperor Aurelian in 270 AD as a syncretism of divinities of all origins (Jupiter, Mithras, Hermes, Mazda,...) and associated with the Empire. With his Tetrarchic reform, Diocletian then definitively imposed Hellenistic culture on the Imperium, transforming it into a pagan theocracy (Dominus et Deus). When Constantine I, allied with the Church to reunite the Imperium [313 AD], merged Christianity with the imperial cult, he decided to move its capital to Byzantium and give it his name [330 AD]: this was the beginning of the so-called 'Christian Empire', inspired by the dream the Emperor had had before his decisive victory at the Milvian Bridge in Rome⁴⁷ and marked by the foundation of a new capital of mixed metaphysical, spiritual and pagan ideas. It was there that the myth of the 'new Rome', Constantinople, was born. Equated with the ancient Urbe, it was to house the new seats of the Senatus, the Imperial Palace, the 'Byzantine' Pantheon and the Orthodox Church. The Imperator, who had gathered to himself unlimited and absolute powers, also attributing to himself a sacralised image, the result of 'divinisation' (he now wore gold robes and wore a Persian diadem, living isolated in the Sacrum Cubiculum), rose to the divine role of High Priest and Last Judge, as Vicarius Dei delegated by the universal Father to govern the Earth (Dominus), in complete harmony with the orthodox vision of Christianity. Moreover, in the role of Pontifex Maximus, he achieved the fusion of the role of the political and religious head (so-called 'Caesaropapism'), the top point of conjunction between State and Church, the summit of the Platonic pyramid of Potestas from which emanated the hierarchical structure of the Byzantine Empire: from God-the-Father to Caesar, to lay/ecclesial dignitaries and, finally, to the People.

Despite the rediscovered idealistic and jurisdictional unity desired by the emperor, the religious and power struggles continued for centuries between the successors of Constantine I to maintain the unity of the Imperium and Ecclesiae perpetually divided between the followers of Arianism and the advocates of Catholicism. The former often included the βάρβαρος, who were always poorly tolerated by the orthodox Byzantines: many of them, although integrated and included in the imperial army, promoted numerous revolts and military coups, until Byzantium managed to convince the Goths to turn to the western half of the Empire (see the Visigoth, Vandal and Burgundian invasions mentioned above). Therefore, the barbarian chiefs, educated in Byzantine civilisation and placed in command of expeditions aimed at reconquering the Pars in the West, were always considered subordinates of the emperor. He granted them the titles of Consulum or Rex to subjugate them and ensure the control and unity of the Imperium from the Sacred Palace. For centuries, the Greek capital was considered the 'beacon of Christianity', the centre of trade and the symbol of the lifestyle and fashions of Christianity, as well as the site of the first known university in history [425 AD].

The situation became more complicated with the split after the First Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon [451 A.D.]. The former supported the 'monophysite' thesis (according to which Jesus was only divine, the son of God incarnates in the Φύσις), supported by the Emperor since the publication of the Codex of Theodosius II [438 A.D.]. In contrast, the latter supported the patristic thesis of the 'double human and divine nature of Christ'. The latter prevailed and put an end to the dispute, triggering a revolution that also changed the hierarchy of the Patriarchates, with Rome becoming the seat of the Primus Episcǒpus, followed in order by Constantinople, Alexandria, Ephesus, Antioch and the other Patriarchates organically linked to the Byzantine Empire.

After the victorious war against the Persians and the anti-Slavic campaigns conducted in the Balkans [610 AD], General Heraclius appointed himself Emperor and developed a new reform of the Byzantine Empire: from that moment on, the Imperator would no longer be semper Augustus, but only a βασιλεύς (Basileus); Greek became the official language of the Empire (instead of Latin); the Θέματος were established, imperial territories assigned and administered by the legions stationed there; the capital returned to its ancient Greek name. After resisting a new joint assault by Arabs, Slavs and Persians [626 AD], Byzantium was able to maintain its traditional centralist position in the Christian-European universe, primarily when the Arabs conquered Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Persia [7th century A.D.] 'in the name of Allah', resulting in a total political and religious challenge in which the Byzantine Empire reaffirmed its ancient role as Defensor fidei of Christianity. Arabs and Bulgarians brought continuous attacks on Byzantium, which was forced to retreat to the territories south of the Danube and adjacent to the Aegean Sea for a long time and lose Italy and Sicily for good. However, the Byzantine capital continued to represent the cultural and historical-political continuation of Rome (the so-called Ρωμαΐος). It was transformed into a monarchical state of Greek-orientalised matrix, of Roman origin, post-classical, which inspired and referred to all the kingdoms that arose in Western Europe (see above).

Leo III 'known as the Isaurian' [8th century A.D.], came the beginning of the bitter dispute over religious images (iconoclasm) and a deep rift with the Roman Church, which sought and found a new emperor in the Frankish Charles 'known as the Great'. He never accepted the absolute imperial title, nor did he accept to replace the Byzantine βασιλεύς. The same happened in the Roman-Barbarian kingdoms, which had always maintained the utmost respect and devotion for the 'heirs of Rome': the Byzantine emperor was considered an absolute sacred symbol, a figure both human and divine, but still the sole ruling authority of the world!⁴⁸ Under the threat of invasion by the Arabs, who surrounded both the Empire and the Western Kingdoms at the end of the 8th century A.D., the 'Christians' found in the βασιλεύς the political guide and promptly recomposed the diatribe between Byzantium and the Roman Church. The perennial power struggles within and between the various kingdoms, a symptom of latent anarchy to which not even the common religious faith or tribal affiliation had found a solution, were put aside to ally against the new external enemy. Like the Persians yesterday, so the 'Moors' represented the new βάρβαρος with their incomprehensible language and against whom it was necessary to unite in a new political-legal entity.

THE CHURCH OF ROME AND THE CAROLINGIAN EMPIRE

In the 'eternal city', now orphaned of the splendours of the Roman Emperors and fallen to the status of peripheral province in the renewed Byzantine Empire (Rome had long since lost its role as capital of the Imperium in Pars Occidens), isolated and surrounded by the Regnum Longobardorum, was the seat of the Primus Episcǒpus of the Christian Church, the continuer of the apostolic tradition of the disciples of Jesus, starting with St Peter. The legend has it was martyred and buried in Rome in 67 A.D. Unlike the Eastern Patriarchs, the Roman Papam refused to accept hierarchical and political subjugation to the βασιλεύς, particularly opposing the Caesaropapist model as an institutional evolution of the ancient Roman imperial system: the theological and political position of the Roman Church was first clearly expressed by Pope Gelasius I [494 A.D.] in the principle of 'separation of temporal and spiritual powers, which attributed absolute priority in the Ecclesiae Christiana to the Roman bishop, as a direct emanation of Jesus⁴⁹.

Taking advantage of the political confusion that followed the fall of the Western Empire, the Roman diocese, which had for some time been in the hands of the old city aristocracy and the new Roman noble families, had begun a progressive disengagement from Byzantium's control, to be able to exercise pastoral leadership together with political guidance over the Latin half of the Christian world, now firmly under the power of the Gothic-German βάρβαρος. The organisation of the imperial Church saw the Papam (Pater Ecclesiae) at the top of hierarchical order⁵⁰, to which were subordinated Episcopi (Επίσκοποι) appointed to lead the Dioecesis and the more significant and more important Civitas, where they exercised complete spiritual jurisdiction over the faithful, had the power to appoint and control Sacerdos, the ability to build churches and monasteries, as well as the various civil/administrative powers entrusted to them by the Imperator and the privilege of holding the episcopal office for life.

In the centuries of the Roman-Barbarian kingdoms [V-VIII A.D.], the Roman Church promoted various evangelical actions in lands in the hands of pagans or heretics, using from time to time its instruments of monasticism and the missio apostolica, to which the Pope entrusted the responsibility for the Christianisation and religious conversion of Europe. The instance of Pope Gregory I 'known as the Great' [6th century A.D.] applies to all: he sent Benedictine monks to evangelise Anglo-Saxon-Celtic Britain, appointing them bishops of the local dioceses, from where they could spread the message of Jesus with a Bible especially translated into Latin (Vulgate) and convert the Saxon Rexes, so that they would recognise themselves as the King-Patriarchs of the Jewish tradition and adopt the royal rite of David (laying on of hands of the priest and anointing): In this way, the Christian Rex took upon himself the evangelical missionary task, with the image of the King-Monk (Populus Dei)⁵¹. On the other hand, the beginning of pilgrimages to the tombs of the Disciples of Jesus (in Rome, Compostela, Avalon) and the spread of Christ's relics and Patristic texts throughout Christianised Europe gave Rome the role of caput mundi ab Aeternum (or caput Ecclesiae Universalis)⁵². Thus, the Pope forged strong ties of growing power with the ruling dynasties of Franks, Visigoths, Anglo-Saxons and Lombards. They converted one after another to Christianity and began to found monasteries and abbeys governed by kinship. So much so that from the fifth century A.D. onwards, the Episcǒpus of Rome was no longer chosen from among the members of the ancient aristocracy, but rather from among the Roman noble families or the ruling dynasties in the West. Among these, the most potent political link with the Roman Church was established with the Frankish lineage of the Carolingians.

The Longobard king Liutprand donated the fief of Sutri and founded the Patrimonium Petri [728 AD], an independent territory under Roman law. ), an autonomous region ordered by Roman law and governed by the Roman diocese, Pope Stephen II made an alliance with the Frankish king Pepin 'known as the Short': the agreement provided that, in compensation for his commitment to defending Christianity from the Arab invasion taking place in Western Europe, the Carolingian Rex would be granted sacred unction and inheritance of the succession to the throne; furthermore, in recognising Pepin with the title of Rex Francorum [from 754 AD], in place of the legitimate Merovingian monarchs (the Pope called them 'idlers'), the Franks were asked to go down to Italy to subdue the Lombards, who had always been enemies of the Church of Rome and who held possessions wrested from the Byzantines (Pentapolis, Exarchate of Ravenna, 'Umbrian corridor'). Of those lands, together with the city of Rome itself, the Pope asked for a feudal donation, exploiting the stratagem of the Donatio constantini, a false edict of Constantine (dated 325 AD, but written for the occasion by amanuensis of the time) which assigned to the diocese of Rome the ownership of some Roman basilicas (St Peter's, St Paul's and St John Lateran) and gave the Roman bishopric the role of effective custodian of the historical and political legacy of the Imperium Romanum in Pars Occidens, as well as protecting Christians (Romanoi) and proselytising to spread Christian civilisation and religion throughout the world, together with the task of preserving and implementing Roman law and administration in the Latin-Western sphere. A decidedly very premature vision for an Emperor who had just reunited the Imperium and subjected the entire Ecclesiae to his authority...

The new Imperium in Pars Occidens of the Carolingians

The Merovingian dynasty had always divided the Regna Francorum into parts considered private under the Salic law in force, thus determining the strengthening of the Gallic and Frankish landowning aristocracy, which emerged in the course of events the so-called 'Butlers of the Court'. These faced each other in a long period of power struggles, which finally saw the Carolingian dynasty, originally from Austrasia, prevail: Having defeated all rivals, it conquered all Frankish royal power and definitively reunified the Kingdom already with Charles 'called the Hammer', who had subdued tribes of Alamanni, Thuringians, Saxons and Bavarians settled east of the Rhine river and had elevated himself to the position of chief defender of western Christendom against the Arabs, especially after the victorious battle of Poitiers [732 A.D.], receiving honours for his actions. C.], receiving universal honours and recognition. It was then his son Pepin 'the short' who exploited this to overthrow the Merovingians and rebuild the unity of the Regnum Francorum [751 AD]. Having descended into Italy, in honour of his pact with the Pope, he took the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Pentapolis from the Lombards and ceded them to the Roman Church, and was crowned 'King of all the Franks' and consecrated together with his sons; he then received full legitimisation from Byzantium with the title of Patricious Romanorum [754 AD]⁵³. Finally, it was the turn of his son Charles 'called the Great' to complete the work and definitively defeat the Lombards [774 AD], whose Kingdom in northern Italy was transformed into Regnum Italiae, which Charles assigned to his son Pepin, with papal coronation and attribution of the Iron Crown and the title of Rex Romanorum. The Lombards were reduced to the dignity of feudal vassals in the south-central Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento. But this was only the beginning of a ten-year mission to Christianise the pagan peoples (Saxons, Avars and Moravians) and to combat the Arab advance in Europe, which occupied Charles for decades and led him to create the Spanish Marches (Barcelona, Aragon, Navarre, etc.) and the Eastern Marches on all the lands between the rivers Elbe and Oder. While expanding the episcopal network in the immense Regnum (the conquest and final annexation of Saxony, Thuringia, and Bavaria had taken the eastern border far beyond the traditional Franks' sphere of influence), Charles I also assigned political roles to the bishops of some important cities in Germany (Trier, Mainz, Cologne, Bamberg, Würzburg, Augsburg), which became the fulcrum of missions of conversion to Christianity aimed at the Germanic Saxon, Thuringian, Bavarian, Slavic and Scandinavian tribes. It was now clear that the Frankish kingdom was no longer limited to integrating the Frankish and Germanic tribes with the Celtic Italic and Iberian tribes into a single new political entity but was taking on even more universalistic ambitions of a religious and messianic nature.

Pope Leo III decided to elevate him to Imperator during the anointing and coronation ceremony in St Peter's Basilica [800 AD] to reward Charles I for his efforts. With this act, the Roman Church would have achieved a twofold objective: to set itself at the political-spiritual leadership of the Christian world in Pars Occidens, elevating to Emperor a 'faithful' subject to the authority of the Pope; to free itself from the dominion of the Byzantine βασιλεύς and to detach itself definitively from the Greek-Orthodox ecclesiastical system. It is said that Charles was never wildly convinced by the papal strategy and only accepted the appointment as Romanorum Gubernans Imperium [812 AD], a title granted and recognised to him by Byzantium that qualified him as Imperial Vicar over the Christian West, but always in a position subordinate to the βασιλεύς, who remained the only true Imperator Romanorum in office. What seemed to be a renovatio Imperii in Germanic sauce was traced back to the perennial attempt to recompose the ancient Imperium, now enlarged to central Europe but without Spain and Britain. Their leaders still maintained political, dynastic and religious contacts with traditional imperial Christianity⁵⁴.

Subsequently, his son Ludwig I 'called the pious' consolidated the Frankish Empire with the imperial acts Ordinatio Imperii [817 A.D.] and Constitutio Imperii [824 A.D.]: the Kingdom thus became indivisible and hereditary. At the same time, the Roman Pope elected by the bishops of all geographical origins was obliged to swear loyalty to the Christian Emperor. A total reversal of the theological-political conception devised and implemented by the Roman religious caste was thus envisaged! Now the Carolingian dominium concentrated, in a vast territory, a very heterogeneous set of peoples (Romans, Celts, Franks, Germans, Goths, Jews), included in a unitary and complex religious system defined Ecclesia Christiana, in turn, included in the complex universalist political-legal order inspired by the vision of Byzantium. Already during the reign of Charles, a 'policy of integration of the people of Christ' had been initiated, developed through ecclesiastical bulls and directives (regarding worship, language and sacred texts) and the Capitularia (imperial prescriptive rules erga omnes), in the application of the principle of the 'personality of the law' or the local customary rules in force in the various communities/tribes that made up the Empire (according to the Roman principle ex loci, ubi natus fuerit). The political and social system of the 'New Kingdom' was composed of the aristocratic lay and ecclesiastical elite, who governed the Populus in the communities of the cities and the countryside, within the so-called 'feudal system'. The 'feudal system': with the practice of 'seigniorial vassalage', the feudum granted to the feudatories in exchange for the promise of loyalty to the Rex-Signore (Dominus) became political institutions (Committees, Duchies and Marchionati) assigned to military dignitaries or aristocrats, together with the rights and fiscal and administrative powers over the lots of the Kingdom. The blood ties within the Frankish aristocracy guaranteed the unity of energy, which was responsible for the regency of the Great Feuds, and by the persistence of traditional Roman law. The entire complex bureaucratic-jurisdictional system of the Carolingian-Byzantine Empire was based. In addition, the practice of marriages between members of the various ruling dynasties and Germanic aristocrats was also functional, which ensured the preservation of power between Frankish, Saxon, Visigoth and Bavarian families for centuries⁵⁵.

The Carolingian era [9th century A.D] was fundamental in European history for several reasons: it interrupted the centrality of Franco-Gallic power, moving the capital of the New Kingdom to Aquisgrana (today's Aachen); it marked the beginning of the tradition of the Imperator Christianorum consecrated by the Roman Church (unlike in Byzantium); it combined the ownership of the Empire with the principle of possessio sedes Imperii (Rome, Milan, Ravenna, Arles, Trier); it defined the Imperator in Pars Occidens as Rex populi christiani and champion of Pax et Libertas in Romana Ecclesiae; it established the Regnum Italiae, with the respective coronation and acclamation by Roman clerics, in the wake of the oldest Roman imperial liturgical tradition. A new political entity was thus born, which inherited the ritualistic tradition and legal forms from the Roman and Christian past but organised itself according to a Germanic political model.

The Carolingian Empire was able to prosper in agreement with Byzantium in dividing up Europe: the West was placed under the aegis of the Franks, though still within the great 'family of Christian kings' (Familia Reges Christianorum) whose leader remained the Byzantine Imperator Romanorum; the Stämme Germanorum was promoted, a concept of affinity of language and origins of the Germanic gentes, organised into territorial entities governed by local Duces and Comes subject to the Emperor. It became the Germanic Christian aristocracy (which replaced the ancient Gallo-Roman caste in power), taking over the newly founded grand German Duchies (Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Thuringia, Bavaria). At this time, the ethnic and linguistic fusion of the Latin-Germanic world took place, with the invention of theodiscus, a newly created popular Germanic idiom to complement the ancient and traditional Latin.

On the death of Ludwig I, the Carolingian dominions was divided among his sons, respecting Germanic law but preserving the integrity of the Empire (Treaty of Verdun, 843 A.D.)⁵⁶: It established the Regnum Francorum Occidens, comprising the former Frankish kingdoms of Neustria and Aquitaine; the Regnum Francorum Oriens (or Regnum Germanorum), made up of the new Duchies and the eastern Marches (of Billung, North, Bohemia, Thuringia, Carinthia and Oriental); the Regnum Lotaringi, which united in a territorial continuum the Regnum Italiae with the fiefdoms of Burgundy and Provence, Lotharingia and Tyrol, and collected all the lands included between the rivers the Rhine, Meuse, Saone, Rhône and Danube-Sava, which were entitled to the ownership of the Empire (possessio sedes Imperii). These kingdoms, in turn, were divided into several Great Fiefs, assigned to dignitaries of the Franco-German ethnic elite (between the 9th and 10th centuries A.D.) related to the Carolingian dynasty, including the Duchies of Gascony, Aquitaine and Brittany, the Counties of Auvergne, Toulouse and Rouerge, the March of Anjou, the Counties of Flanders, Paris-Ile de France, Orléans and Vermandois, all within the Franks' sphere of influence; the German Duchies and Marquisates, interspersed with the Archbishoprics of Cologne, Mainz, Trier, Metz, Louvain, Toul, Würzburg, Constance, Augsburg, Regensburg, Salzburg, Trent, in the hands of Germanic dignitaries; the fiefdoms of Lombardy, Verona, Spoleto, Benevento, Burgundy, Provence and Friesland, and the Marquisates of Ivrea, Friuli and Tuscia, located in Italy and assigned to families of various Franco-Bavarian origins. Non-imperial duces survived in Capua, Naples and Salerno, with Roman-Longobard law and the Italic vernacular language. But the Carolingian dynasty proved to be unruly and did not last long, so that the Empire entered a crisis and offered the opportunity for the formal establishment of three great national kingdoms (Treaty of Meerssen, 870 AD. ): the Regnum Francorum, which had annexed western Lotharingia (Brabant, Hainaut), under the control of the Carolingians and the Frankish aristocracy, where the myth of the 'predestined nation' initiated by the Merovingians was recovered, as well as the application of the Lex salica and ancient Roman-Gallic law; the Regnum Germanorum, which included the Duchies of Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Bavaria and Carinthia, eastern Lotharingia (Lorraine, Alsace), the eastern Marches and the counties corresponding to the Archbishoprics mentioned above, governed by a close intermingling of power between the secular and episcopal Germanic aristocracy, strong in the tight ethnic, linguistic and political cohesion of the local tribes, also under the Carolingian dynasty, where the Germanic language and law prevailed (it was in fact the first federal state! ); the Regnum Lotaringi, including all the intermediate territories between the course of the