2013/06/14 by Dorine van Espelo · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Historical and Religious Studies of Rome #Medieval Literature and History #Byzantine Studies and History
paper · doi:10.1111/emed.12018
openalex publication_date 2013/06/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/23
In the preface to the C arolingian collection of papal letters, known as the C odex epistolaris carolinus , the word imperium is used in the context of describing what is in the collection. In this article, I shall argue that a reinterpretation of the preface's statement about what imperium refers to will shed a different light on the CC as a collection in its entirety. What imperium refers to exactly can be debated, yet studying the C odex carolinus as a C arolingian product of its time, in combination with a reappraisal of its preface, may help to understand the source's historical context and its value to the C arolingian court. As I hope to demonstrate, the CC was an essentially purposeful collection, which underlined the shared history of the C arolingian family and the papacy in R ome.