Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

may have desired his reforms to take effect throughout Francia, his reach did not extend
far beyond the territories in which he was undertaking missionary activity. In addition,
Boniface’s implicit (and not so implicit) criticism of the existing episcopate doubtless
deepened their resistance both to self-reform and the reform of those they were
responsible for. 130 As Robert Markus has shown, Boniface could only interact with the
existing Frankish church as an outsider. 131 Moreover, it is easy to overestimate
Boniface’s importance by virtue of the survival of the large amounts of documentation
accompanying his mission: letters, councils, and of course his vita. Other figures – such
as Emmeram, Rupert, Corbinian – undertook similar missionary activity which was
recorded in vitae, but their actions were not reflected in conciliar activity. 132
Here also the political structure of the Frankish territories must come into play.
Although now a subject of some debate, the southern and western duchies of Francia –
Aquitaine, Burgundy, and Provence – were semi-autonomous and had made concerted
efforts to break away from the control of the Neustrian court. 133 Aquitaine had regained
its independence under duke Hunald, after the death of Charles Martel, the father of
Carloman and Pippin. The brothers invaded in 742, but achieved little, and a treaty of 745
acknowledged the re-emergence of the duchy. 134 Charles Martel had himself invaded
Burgundy in 736, taking Lyon by force, following resentment at his redistribution of
lands and offices to his own followers. 135 The following year, Charles and his brother
Childebrand continued down the valley of the Rhône into Provence, controlled by duke
Maurontus. Arab control of the region from the city of Narbonne may have provided a
pretext for military intervention in the region. Two years later, in 739, Charles attacked
duke Maurontus, sacking Avignon, and the duke fled. 136 Such a history of non-alignment
130 R. Collins, Early Medieval Europe 2 nd Ed. (Basingstoke, 1999), 259.
131 R.A. Markus ‘From Caesarius to Boniface’, 163.
132 R. Collins, Early Medieval Europe, 260. See Arbeo of Freising, Vita Emmerammus, AASS Sept VI,
474-84; for Rupert, see AASS Mart. III, 702-4; for Corbinian, see AASS Sept. III, 281-95.
133 R. Collins Early Medieval Europe, 269-274. See also idem, ‘Pippin I and the Kingdom of Aquitaine’ in
P. Godman and R. Collins (eds.) Charlemagne’s Heir: New Perspectives on the Reign of Louis the Pious
(Oxford, 1990), 363-390.
134 R. Collins Early Medieval Europe, 271-2. Described in the Continuations of the Chronicle of Fredegar,
cap. 28, ed. and tr. J.M. Wallace-Hadrill (London, 1960).
135 Continuations of the Chronicle of Fredegar, caps. 14 and 18.
136 Continuations of the Chronicle of Fredegar, caps. 20 and 21.
205