ABSTRACT
In the year 613 the Merovingian king, Clothar II, united all of the Frankish lands under his rule. A year later he issued an edict, the so-called Edict of Paris, in which he stressed his authority over all parts of Francia, but also pledged to respect the privileges and customs of the ‘provinces’.1 At the same time he convened a church council, also held in Paris, in which he addressed the church in similar terms.2 Given that much of the Edict of Paris was concerned with the affairs of the clergy, there is considerable overlap between the texts of the Council and the Edict on matters such as the election of bishops, on disputes between clergy and bishops or on whether or not clergy should be judged in lay courts. Secular and ecclesiastical interests here converged on a single focus: the desire to uphold a divinely sanctioned social and religious order, with the intended result being that God would continue to ensure good fortune for Clothar’s kingdom.
