ABSTRACT
This chapter examines members of the aristocracy, broadly defined, as royal agents in the reign of Louis the Pious in terms of their experience in royal service as well as looking at questions of communication among and representation of such agents. It concerns the topics that have so often preoccupied historians such as the efficiency or selfishness of such men. The chapter analyses the activities of a group of royal followers and follow that with an examination of communication and representation in the correspondence of a royal agent. It concludes with reflections on the problems and advantages of such a study with its focus on Louis' reign and considers further, and broader, agendas for future research. For Fried, Walahfrid's text fails to distinguish the tasks of the aristocracy from those of the king and it peters out in Pauline ecclesiastical-organic metaphors in which functions alone dominate.
