ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some ways in which the aristocracy learned to recognise the new dynasty as the centre of the contemporary political system. Modern scholarship's stress on co-operation between the new rulers and the aristocracy may obscure the fact that this lesson needed to be learned. One way of convincing the aristocracy of the special status of the Carolingians was by mobilising to act amidst the aristocracy those members of the house who were not to be rulers. Members of the aristocracy witnessed and participated in their actions. The Continuator of Fredegar, for example, emphasises the support of the aristocracy for Charles Martel's division of his regna between his sons. The military expeditions of 742 against Aquitaine would also have provided opportunities for the aristocracy to negotiate and discuss the new settlement. Grifo needs to be seen as an active element operating within a system that worked to make the aristocracy into a Carolingian aristocracy in a Carolingian landscape.
