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Loans and credit relations are only very rarely subject of narrative sources from the early Middle Ages. Only Gregory of Tours mentions individuals taking out loans in the regnum Francorum. According to him, these loans were secured by the issuance of cautiones, promis­sory notes, which the creditor kept for safekeeping until the debt was repaid. Unfortunately, cautiones were only of interest until the loan was repaid and thus were not archived but destroyed. However, ten of these promissory notes have survived as formulae (anonymized documents that served as models of how to compose corresponding charters or letters) in West Frankish collections. These can be used to draw a colourful picture of early medieval credit relations. While the loans are always quantified in monetary terms, the pledges of collateral reveal a wide range of possibilities, ranging from personal services to the temporary transfer of land. The latter are closely intertwined with the payment of interest, for example, when the creditor is allowed to keep the crops of the land. At the same time, collateral pledges, such as the obligation to perform regular services, can also be used to draw conclusions on the social backgrounds of the debtors as well as the creditors, revealing the importance of the neighborhood for local credit relations. Keywords Loan; Promissory Note; Early Middle Ages; Credit Relations; Collateral, Das Mittelalter. Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung, Bd. 27 Nr. 2 (2022): Die Materialität von Kredit. Sachüberlieferungen mittelalterlicher Schuld- und Kreditbeziehungen

Paschasius Radbertus, Confronting Crisis in the Carolingian Empire. Paschasius Radbertus’ Funeral Oration for Wala of Corbie. Translated and annotated by Mayke de Jong and Justin Lake, Manchester (Manchester University Press) 2020, 264 p., 2 maps (Manchester Medieval Sources), ISBN 978-1-5261-3484-4, GBP 19,99., Francia-Recensio, 2021/2

Simon Groth, in regnum successit. ›Karolinger‹ und ›Ottonen‹ oder das ›Ostfränkische Reich‹?, Frankfurt a. M. (Vittorio Klostermann) 2017, XIV–696 S. (Studien zur europäischen Rechtsgeschichte. Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für europäische Rechtsgeschichte Frankfurt am Main, 304. Rechtsräume, 1), ISBN 978-3-465-04309-6, EUR 119,00., Francia-Recensio, 2018/1

The prevalent image of the late Carolingian age is one of decline and fall. Charles III the Simple’s (893/898−923) rule, which has hardly received any scholarly attention since the late 19th century, is perceived to have been the classic example of this development. Enthroned by rebels as well as cast down by a rebellion he is said to have been a weak ruler, powerless in the face of the ambitions of the nobles of the West Frankish realm. Yet, what do »weak« and »powerless« mean? In modern scholarship, early medieval rule is understood not as a question of command and obedience but as the result of cooperation between rulers and nobles. Thus, royal actions, such as the defence of the realm against the Northmen, interactions with other rulers or in regard to conflicts with or between the nobles, are reflections of the relations between the ruler and the circle of nobles around him. A ruler’s power therefore depended on his ability to integrate the most powerful nobles into his rule, to mediate between their interests and to create consensus over the course of action. Based on this view, a new assessment of Charles the Simple’s rule, the circle of nobles around him, the actions taken by him and thus his royal power is provided in this study, with the rules of his predecessors since the death of Charles the Bald in 877 serving as a basis for comparison.