ABSTRACT
This contextual chapter highlights the politico-economic development of the Frankish realm between the mid-eighth and mid-tenth centuries, a period during which the Carolingian dynasty variously asserted, apportioned, and abdicated its authority over these extensive territories. Paying particular heed to underlying mechanisms of elite power and patronage, the chapter characterises Frankish government as a complex intersocial network of political allegiance, through which kings and their entourages were able to delegate their responsibilities, generate moveable assets, introduce legislation, and build up their armed forces. It likewise scrutinises the regional proliferation of production and trade, which served to stimulate and strengthen economic bonds of supply and demand within and beyond the boundaries of the Frankish kingdoms. In this manner, the chapter presents an overall societal backdrop against which Franco–Scandinavian interaction was able to unfold.
