ABSTRACT
As is well known, the development of the imperial doctrine as Christian political theology in the late Roman Empire was the product of historical and legal argumentation based on the autocratic Roman tradition, occasionally reinforced by arguments from the Bible. The key role played by Carolingian rulers in the intellectual achievements of the so-called “Carolingian Renaissance” is one of the most telling examples of how the reception of the sapiential ideal changed the course of Western cultural history. With regard to Ottonian political ideology, ecclesiology, and Latin high culture, there is a strong case for Carolingian continuity. To begin with, Carolingian political theology had been deeply influenced by Anglo-Saxon texts and intellectuals and thus it is not easy to discern which ideas were directly transmitted to the Alfredian age in an insular context and which ones were imported from the continent.
