ABSTRACT
The massive area subject to Frankish rule and influence was in principle bound together by ties of obedience to the king. This point we have already touched upon several times. We looked in general terms at the king as a figure of mediation between centre and province, and saw that it was through submission to royal authority (however weak) that local rulers and local customs and laws were brought within the Frankish polity. By the same token, because it was built out of a mosaic of local arrangements, this polity was politically brittle. It was noted, however, that although the kingdom might disintegrate politically when consensus failed, there was nevertheless an underlying pull towards cultural integration which meant that the separ ate regions did not then develop into fully independent units.
