Making up for Bygone Rulers: Religious Reform as a Strategy towards Consolidating Carolingian Power, 742-751

Abstract

This thesis investigates the political function of the religious reform of the period between 742 and 751, in which Carolingian mayors of the palace organized a series of synods, with the aid of the Anglo-Saxon missionary bishop Boniface, which meant to reform the Frankish Church. It argues that through the reform of the Church, the Carolingians managed to consolidate their authority, allowing them to succeed the Merovingian dynasty as kings of the Franks.