The Treaty of Coulaines, named after the western French locality of

Coulaines Coulaines () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the Pays de la Loire region in north-western France. Its sister city is Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States. Population See also * Communes of the Sarthe department * Treaty of Co ...

near

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

, was concluded in late 843 between

Charles the Bald Charles the Bald (french: Charles le Chauve; 13 June 823 – 6 October 877), also known as Charles II, was a 9th-century king of West Francia (843–877), king of Italy (875–877) and emperor of the Carolingian Empire (875–877). After a ser ...

, king of

West Francia In medieval history, West Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from about ...

, and his nobility and clergy. Since its validity was limited to West Francia, it has been interpreted as marking the start of a divergence between the respective legal orders of what would become the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

and the

Kingdom of Germany The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom ( la, regnum Teutonicorum "kingdom of the Germans", "German kingdom", "kingdom of Germany") was the mostly Germanic-speaking East Frankish kingdom, which was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, especi ...

, just a few months after the two realms had been defined by the

Treaty of Verdun The Treaty of Verdun (), agreed in , divided the Francia, Frankish Empire into three kingdoms among the surviving sons of the emperor Louis the Pious, Louis I, the son and successor of Charlemagne. The treaty was concluded following almost three ...

. The treaty restricted the powers of the king and guaranteed rights of the nobility and clergy. The treaty was concluded as Charles was coming back from an unsuccessful campaign against

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

, in the form of a

capitulary A capitulary (Medieval Latin ) was a series of legislative or administrative acts emanating from the Frankish court of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, especially that of Charlemagne, the first emperor of the Romans in the west since the ...

. In its chapters, the treaty delimits the spheres of power of the church, the nobility and the king, and places them in a legal reciprocal relationship. In particular, the defense of the church is attributed not only to the king, as had been the case previously, but jointly to the king and nobility. The treaty's second chapter defines royal power in terms of obedience from the king's vassals, in contrast to a notion of

divine right of kings In European Christianity, the divine right of kings, divine right, or God's mandation is a political and religious doctrine of political legitimacy of a monarchy. It stems from a specific metaphysical framework in which a monarch is, before b ...

. Some historians such as have interpreted it as an early kind of constitutional document.

Notes

References

* Classen, Peter: ''Die Verträge von Verdun und von Coulaines 843 als politische Grundlagen des westfränkischen Reiches''. In: Ausgewählte Aufsätze von Peter Classen, J. Fleckenstein (Hg.), Sigmaringen 1983, S. 249–277 uerst 1963 * Apsner, Burkhard: ''Vertrag und Konsens im früheren Mittelalter. Studien zu Gesellschaftsprogrammatik und Staatlichkeit im westfränkischen Reich'' (Trierer Historische Forschungen 58), Trier 2006. * Krah, Adelheid, Die Entstehung der "potestas regia" im Westfrankenreich während der ersten Regierungsjahre Kaiser Karls II. (840–877), Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-05-003565-X, Kapitel 3: Die konstitutionelle Basis: Die Verträge von Verdun und Coulaines als Ergebnisse der Bruderkriege S. 187–256. * Magnou-Nortier, Elisabeth: ''Foi et Fidélité. Recherches sur l’évolution des liens personnels chez les Francs du VIIe au IXe siècle'' (Publications de l’université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, Serie A, Bd. 28), Toulouse 1976. * Penndorf, Ursula: ''Das Problem der „Reichseinheitsidee“ nach der Teilung von Verdun (843). Untersuchungen zu den späten Karolingern'' (Münchener Beiträge zur Mediävistik und Renaissance-Forschung, Bd. 20), München 1974. * Schramm, Percy Ernst: ''Der König von Frankreich. Das Wesen der Monarchie vom 9. zum 16. Jh., Ein Kapitel aus der Geschichte des abendländischen Staates'', Bd. 1, Darmstadt 1960. * Zöllner, Erich: ''Die politische Stellung der Völker im Frankenreich'' (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung, L. Santifaller (Hg.), Bd.XIII ), Wien 1950. * Latin text i
Le Capitulaire de Coulaines

Carolingian dynasty Constitutions of France {{middleages-stub