We are proud that since 2014, when the Capitularia project came into existence, three of our colleagues have successfully completed their doctoral studies. Their dissertations, all of which cover questions of legal history and focus on the 8th and 9th century, have by now been published.
The first of those three dissertations is a study by our former scholarship holder Georg Friedrich Heinzle. It was published under the title “Flammen der Zwietracht. Deutungen des karolingischen Brüderkrieges im 9. Jahrhundert” and investigates the interpretation and reception of the Carolingian Brüderkrieg, which culminated in the Battle of Fontenoy in 843. The study covers a variety of different sources and offers a comprehensive analysis of the impact, which the conflict had on contemporaries. Georg Friedrich Heinzle now holds a position at the State Archive of Graubünden, Records Management.
The second study by our former staff member Patrick Breternitz was published under the title “Königtum und Recht nach dem Dynastiewechsel. Das Königskapitular Pippins des Jüngeren“. It takes a detailed look at the so-called Pippini regis capitulare (BK 13) and examines the capitulary’s role for Pippin’s kingship. The individual regulations of this capitulary are contextualized and analyzed in detail. Of particular interest for numismaticists will be its comprehensive discussion of coinage under Pippin. Patrick Breternitz now holds the position of research assistant at the chair of Karl Ubl, who is also head of the Capitularia project.
The third study we would like to present here was compiled by Dominik Trump, who is still a member of the Capitularia project. It was published under the title “Römisches Recht im Karolingerreich. Studien zur Überlieferungs- und Rezeptionsgeschichte der Epitome Aegidii” and provides the first in-depth analysis of the history, transmission and reception of the Epitome Aegidii, a Roman Law text that is an abridged version of the Lex Romana Visigothorum and was much read in the 9th century. The study describes all the manuscripts in detail and clarifies the stemmatological relations. The reception of the text is examined, both in regard to other legal sources and via annotations by users of the manuscripts.
In addition to these three dissertations, the proceedings of the conference “Pippin der Jüngere und die Erneuerung des Frankenreichs” were published in 2020. The conference was held in Cologne in September 2018 and its papers were edited by Karl Ubl and Patrick Breternitz. Amongst others the volume features articles by the two editors as well as a paper by our staff member Sören Kaschke on “Die Italienfeldzüge Pippins des Jüngeren im Geschichtsbild der ‘kleinen Annalen'”.