The ''(Pactum) Ludovicianum'' (also spelled ''Ludowicianum'' or ''Hludowicianum'') was an agreement reached in 817 between the Emperor

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...

(“Ludovicus Pius”) and

Pope Paschal I Pope Paschal I ( la, Paschalis I; died 824) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 25 January 817 to his death in 824. Paschal was a member of an aristocratic Roman family. Before his election to the papacy, he was abbot of St. ...

concerning the government of

central Italy Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency. Regions Central It ...

and the relation of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

to the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lom ...

. The text of the ''Ludovicianum'' is preserved mainly in eleventh- and twelfth-century manuscripts of

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

and has been reconstructed by modern editors. Certain sections of the ''Ludovicianum'' are thought to be confirmations of agreements made between Louis's father,

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

, and

Pope Hadrian I Pope Adrian I ( la, Hadrianus I; died 25 December 795) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 772 to his death. He was the son of Theodore, a Roman nobleman. Adrian and his predecessors had to contend with periodic ...

during the former's trips to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 781 and 787. The negotiations which resulted in the ''Ludovicianum'' began during the pontificate of Stephen IV, but the agreement was only concluded shortly after the election of his successor, Paschal I, in January 817. Stephen had anointed and crowned Louis and his wife, Irmingard, at Reims in October 816. In return Louis had granted the Pope everything he had requested, as recorded both in Stephen's biography in the ''

Liber Pontificalis The ''Liber Pontificalis'' (Latin for 'pontifical book' or ''Book of the Popes'') is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' stopped with Pope Adrian II (867� ...

'' and Louis's biography, the '' Vita Hludovici imperatoris''. Paschal, immediately after his election, sent an embassy to Louis requesting a confirmation of the ''pactum'' (agreement) that had been arranged with Stephen. The earliest text purporting to be a complete version of the ''Pactum'' made between emperor and pope in 817 is found in late eleventh-century canon law texts, but based on a collection compiled by Cardinal Deusdedit to serve as a preliminary to his ''Collectio Canonum'', finished in 1087. Both Anselm of Lucca and

Bonizo of Sutri Bonizo of Sutri or Bonitho was a Bishop of Sutri and then of Piacenza in Central Italy, in the last quarter of the 11th century. He was an adherent of Gregory VII and an advocate of the reforming principles of that pope. He wrote three works of p ...

copied the ''Ludovicianum'' into their collections of canon law. The text of the ''Ludovicianum'' closely resembles the later '' Pactum Ottonianum'' between Emperor

Otto the Great Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Henr ...

and

Pope John XII Pope John XII ( la, Ioannes XII; c. 930/93714 May 964), born Octavian, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 16 December 955 to his death in 964. He was related to the counts of Tusculum, a powerful Roman family which had do ...

(962). A manuscript fragment that also closely resembles the ''Ludovicianum'' and may in fact be a copy of it survives from the ninth or early tenth century, and was first published by Angelo Mercati in 1926. It was written in

Caroline minuscule Carolingian minuscule or Caroline minuscule is a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period so that the Latin alphabet of Jerome's Vulgate Bible could be easily recognized by the literate class from one r ...

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

, a writing material only regularly in use in the scriptoria of the Papacy at the time.Costambeys, 320. Mercati himself believed it was a copy of the "ruler privilege" granted by co-emperors Guy and Lambert in 892 to

Pope Formosus Pope Formosus (896) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 891 until his death on 4 April 896. His reign as pope was troubled, marked by interventions in power struggles over the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the ...

Notes

{{reflist, 2 Treaties of the Holy See (754–1870) Treaties of the Holy Roman Empire 9th-century treaties 817 9th century in the Papal States 9th-century Christianity