ABSTRACT

Charles Martel’s defence of the land of the Franks was achieved by ruthlessness to rebels and those who were reluctant to contribute to the cost of campaigns. When Charles seized power in 719, he had to deal with a condition bordering on anarchy within Francia and the successful encroachment of enemies from without. The duchy of Aquitaine was only a military command, not an administrative unit, and in spite of Hunaud’s submission Charles had difficulty in asserting his authority over south-east Gaul. The administration of justice in the later Merovingian period adopted two dissimilar procedures, Roman and Germanic. The Merovingian kings used counts, however, both in the Roman south and the Germanic north, where the supervision of the whole canton or pagus by a ‘hundred elder’ soon lapsed; the count came to preside over the mallus in his stead.