How did the Merovingians rule?
• The civitas ruled over by the comites served as the basis of rule in the Frankish kingdom. • Royal income came from royal estates, taxes, new lands, plunder, fines, and minting coins. • Kings traveled to check on their estates, but also relied on their duxs (dukes) to defend the land. • Capitularies–or laws–to regulate the kingdom • These related to property, robbery, arson, etc. • Capitularies were influenced by Roman law and the Roman idea of effective central rule. • The king also used and consulted his aristocracy in the form of a royal court. • The aristocratic Carolingian family emerged to replace the Merovingians. • Pippin I had been the head (mayor) of the royal palace. • Pippin II, Charles Martel, and Pippin III acquired great land and wealth, and defeated other contenders and outside tribal threats such as the Saxons and the Arabs. • The Carolingians acquired the support of the church by their support of missionary activity, including that of Boniface. • Pippin III’s acqu
