| 目錄 |
| | List of maps, tables, and graphs | x |
| | Acknowledgments | xi |
| | Note on terminology | xv |
| | List of abbreviations | xvi |
| | Introduction | 1 |
| | Patterns of power | 3 |
| | The historiography of early medieval politics | 7 |
| | The history of the reign as context for the practice of empire | 23 |
| | Rethinking Charlemagne's political practice | 38 |
| pt. I | Strategic rulership | |
| pt. I | introduction: tools of control and coercion | 43 |
| 1. | Managing royal agents | 47 |
| | Charlemagne's justice: double delegation and overlapping office | 48 |
| | Justice in practice | 63 |
| | The advantages of overlapping | 77 |
| 2. | Disciplining royal agents | 90 |
| | The problem of royal agents | 90 |
| | The management of counts | 95 |
| | The possibilities of discipline | 99 |
| | Losing honors or correcting bad behavior? | 107 |
| | Royal service as ministerium | 118 |
| 3. | Fractured control: Charlemagne's response to dissent | 128 |
| | The limits of unity: a typology of dissent | 128 |
| | Opposition to particular policies | 131 |
| | Rebellion | 135 |
| | Hrodgaud | 136 |
| | Hardrad | 140 |
| | Pippin the Hunchback | 149 |
| | The lessons of revolt | 152 |
| | The threat of violence | 157 |
| pt. I | conclusion: control and its limits | 165 |
| pt. II | Center and region in Charlemagne's empire | |
| pt. II | introduction: unity and diversity in Charlemagne's empire | 169 |
| 4. | An empire of regions? | 175 |
| | Imperial and local consciousness in the so-called "minor annals" | 179 |
| | Classifying the annals: a new taxonomy | 180 |
| | Charlemagne's political world through the lens of the "minor annals" | 199 |
| | The special roles of Italian bishops | 206 |
| | Charlemagne's favorite Italian bishop: Paulinus of Aquileia | 207 |
| | Italian bishops and royal charters | 215 |
| | Charlemagne's impact on Italian bishops | 229 |
| 5. | The conquered regions as arenas for experimentation | 239 |
| Case study 1 | Regional reform councils in Bavaria | 243 |
| Case study 2 | community-based testimony and royal power | 259 |
| Case study 3 | Learning to use capitularies | 278 |
| | Experimentation as a pattern of rulership | 289 |
| 6. | The nature of the empire: centralization and communication | 293 |
| | The imperial system in action: a case study of communication | 294 |
| | The limits of standardization | 298 |
| | Literate administration | 303 |
| | The quest for information | 305 |
| | Literacy and governance | 311 |
| | Networks of communication | 317 |
| | Royal palaces | 322 |
| | The status of Aachen as a capital | 322 |
| | Aachen as a model palace? | 325 |
| | Aachen as political center | 333 |
| pt. II | conclusion: the imperial character of Charlemagne's realm | 337 |
| pt. III | An empire of practice | |
| pt. III | introduction: continuity, change, and the building of an empire | 343 |
| 7. | The chronology of the reign | 347 |
| | Ganshof's periodization of the reign | 347 |
| | Rex et imperator: rethinking chronology | 350 |
| | Governance at the end of the reign: Charlemagne in 813 | 364 |
| | The death of Charlemagne | 377 |
| 8. | Recta via: the dynamics of political change | 379 |
| | The making of Charles the Great: Charlemagne and his brother | 381 |
| | The consistency of royal goals | 396 |
| | Salvation | 397 |
| | Royal dominance | 399 |
| | Community | 401 |
| | Restructuring power networks | 402 |
| | Forces for change: the press of events, contingency, and failure | 403 |
| | Did Charlemagne have a plan? | 423 |
| pt. III | conclusion: an empire of practice | 429 |
| | Conclusion: Charlemagne's invention of medieval rulership | 431 |
| | Charlemagne's rulership | 431 |
| | Europae pater: the legacy of Charlemagne | 433 |
| | Bibliography | 437 |
| | Index | 522 |
