ABSTRACT
This chapter considers what Thegan's text, and others like it, can tell us about power in the reign of Louis the Pious. Gerricus was a messenger for the power-brokers; he was not a power-broker himself. Gerricus and Dagolfus had a degree of access to the king and it was upon that that their usefulness depended. The chapter explores three aspects of royal service in the reign of Louis the Pious to see what we can learn about the concrete manifestations of royal power. Beside the great magnates, the natural companions of the king, such men were small figures. But their association with the court, with the person of the king, gave them importance and, crucially, identity. An identity gained almost exclusively through royal service, an identity gained through what one might call the bond of association with the king, meant that such figures shared something with the more exalted of the king's following.
