Frankish Church Reform In The Middle Of The 8^th Century

In the 740 s,Carloman and Pepin III,mayors of the palace,Franks initiated the church reform.This reform laid the political ideology and theoretical foundation of the Carolingian Dynasty,and its motivation,content and influence are worthy of in-depth discussion.In the early 8th century,the Duke of Bavaria made a pilgrimage to Rome and asked the Pope to help Bavaria establish an independent church.Forced by the growing authority of Bavarian Duke in ecclesiastical and secular affairs,the Frankish rulers pushed for church reform and turn to Rome.Therefore,emphasizing the supreme power of the Carolingian rulers in both spiritual and secular aspects,and following the Roman canon law tradition were the two major themes of the church reform,and meanwhile showed a political tendency to wrestle with Bavarian power.The core ideas of the reform include the recognition of the supreme authority of the Pope,the adoption of Roman canon law and sacramental rituals,and the establishment of the metropolitan system subordinate to the Roman Church.Constrained by the complex political and religious interests within the Frankish nobles,the church reform did not achieve institutional success.But the Reformation helped Pepin establish a direct connection with the Pope and introduced the concept of the Pope’s primacy into the Frankish church.By winning over the Pope and monopolizing the discourse of reform,Pepin achieved a“coup d’état”,and absorbed the church as an important part of the political governance of the kingdom.The church reforms in the 740 s laid the ideological and theoretical foundation for the alleged “Carolingian Reform” invented by Charlemagne and Louis the Pious and their efforts to build the Holy Empire.By the beginning of the 9th century,the regular Synod had become part of the assembly politics of the Carolingian dynasty.