Frameworks of Authority and Local Power: Bishops and Kings in the West Frankish Kingdom, c. 888-1060

01/01/2018 to 31/12/2018

The tenth and eleventh centuries were pivotal in the development of relations between churchmen and the laity, and their echoes reverberate down to the present, but one of the key figures in this transformation – the West Frankish bishop – remains imperfectly understood. This project proposes to study relations between bishops and kings in order to make an important contribution to the understanding of the interplay between wider frameworks of authority and local actions in a sphere where historians have yet to tread more than a few paces. The project will therefore provide both a significant contribution to knowledge in itself through its development of understanding concerning West Frankish bishops, some of the least understood but most important figures of the age; and it would also provide a solid grounding for future investigation in the field.