ABSTRACT
A survey of the evidence for the Merovingian state mainly in the times of Bishop Gregory of Tours (573–594), but also with some consideration of its subsequent form in the seventh century. There are brief discussions of the sources and the character of Merovingian kingship as well as the need for treating the evidence we encounter as Frankish (not ‘Germanic’). The palace and regional administration are discussed drawing – though not exclusively – on the unmatched detail which Gregory of Tours gives of these institutions in play. A final section on kings and their subjects looks at their relationship as mediated through modes of written communication and administrative practices, such as taxation, rendering justice, issuing privileges, and employing liturgies to organize security.
