Provisional Drogereit pdf

(p. 395) (see C. S. 677). The word “barathrorum” later adorns the Sanction form of
Eadgar A.
Eadgar A produced the royal style by merging two older forms.
“…ego Eadgar, totius Brittanniae gubernator et rector…”
This royal style, in which once more there is no latinisation of the king’s name, has
the following model:
11. The signature of Aethelstan:
“Ego Aethelstanus rex totius Brittaniae…”
12. The royal style, which Eadmund C used:
“…ego Eadmundus. rex Anglorum ceterarumque gentium in circuitu
persistentium gubernator et rector.”
Particular attention should be paid here to the formulation of the royal title. Eadgar A
reverts to the imperial style of Aethelstan 138 .
138
The customary King’s title of the early Middle Ages is for Germany Rex Francorum and for the
Kaiser: “Romanorum imperator augustus”. The way had already been paved for this version by the
Merovingian-Carolingian King’s title: Rex Francorum or Charles’ title after coronation of the Emperor:
Imperator Romanum gubernans imperium, qui et per misericordium Dei rex Francorum et
Langobardorum.” (R. Schröder – E. Künßberg, Lehrbuch der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte 6 (Textbook
of German Legal History), Berlin-Leipzig 1922. pp. 510 and 119.) – For France: Rex Francorum (R.
Holtzmann, Französische Verfassungsgeschichte (French Constitutional History), in Below-Meinecke,
Handbuch der Mittelalterlichen und Neueren Geschichte (Handbook of the Middle Ages and Modern
History, Munich 1910, pp. 124 and 178). – For England: Rex Cantwariorum, Rex Saxonum or Rex
Anglorum (F. Liebermann, Gesetze (Laws) II 2 , Königstitel (King’s Title) p. 556; “Der Köning heißt nie
Landesherr” (The King is never land-ruler) and Königstitel, Art 4a).
Not until the reigns of the absolute rulers of the Plantagenet line was the country named in the title
instead of the people. Richard I for example was Rex Angliae (F. Liebermann, Gesetze (Laws) II 2 ,
Königstitel 5B), or as W. Stubbs formulated it in Constitutional History, p. 593: “John’s idea of his
own position was definitely that of an absolute prince; - curiously enough it is in John that the
territorial idea of royalty reaches its typical enunciation: all the kings before him had called
themselves on their great seals kings of the English. John is the first whose title appears on that solemn
and sovereign emblem as Rex Angliae.” In a similar fashion the Valois later called themselves King of
France (see Holtzmann loc sit, p. 310). We have the final superlative in the interpretation of this
territorial kingdom, which is so often quoted: “L’état est moi!”
For us, however, Aethelstan is at the beginning of this development, being the first – to our knowledge
– to replace the term German People’s Kingdom in his title or at least in his signature, with that of
Territorial Kingdom. This increased claim of power was based on the law of the empire which
developed from the conquest “across the whole island with all the different folklore and national
traditions of its inhabitants” (see Keutgen, Der deutsche Staat des Mittelalters (The German State of
the Middle Ages), p. 32 and Note 43 ibid., which, however, is incorrect in its statement that assumes
this is a territorial founding of a state in the era of migration of the peoples). This was indicated by the
royal style, which in the meantime had become common use: rex (basileos) Anglorum ceterarumque
gentium in circuitu persistentium (gubernator et rector). However, it is even less likely than with the
Plantagenets, that ownership of the whole land was meant here or a manorial system covering the
whole of Britannia, as Aethelstan did not even own the whole land like the Norman kings and their
successors i.e. every individual piece of land, as the Anglo-Saxons still had their own land (for the
difference see Keutgen, loc sit, p. 134 ff and 137: “Lord within the land, not on the land”).
This territorial rule in a region comprising several peoples was first applied on the Continent – to our
knowledge – by Alfons VII of Kastilien-Léon, by including the name of the land in the royal style:
“Ego Adefonsus … totius Hyspanie imperator” (see P. Rassow, Die Urkunden Kaiser Alfons’ VII von
395