ABSTRACT
When King Carloman granted fiscal immunities to the monks of Granfelden, he explained the reason for his grant was ‘that thereby we may merit pardon from the eternal giver o f rewards, and that it may please them to pray perpetually for the stability o f our kingdom and in every way to give faithful assistance to our governance’ .1 The same formula was used by his brother, Charlemagne, in a privilege he gave to Lorsch abbey in 772.2 The stereotyped language o f these royal diplomas indicates the complex attitudes - the mixture o f piety and policy - that moved the Carolingians, like other secular rulers, to promote monasticism in their realms.
