Codex Epistolaris Carolinus : Letters from the popes to the Frankish rulers, 739-791 Hardback

The Codex epistolarisCarolinus preserves ninety-nine letters, dated between 739  and 791 and sent by the popes to the Frankishking Charlemagne and his predecessors.

The compilation was commissioned byCharlemagne in 791, but the sole surviving medieval manuscript of the letterswas made at Cologne in the later ninth century and is now in Vienna(Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod. 449). The headings or lemmata provided for each letter by theFrankish compilers in 791 and faithfully preserved in the codex, add adistinctive Frankish commentary on events in Rome and Italy in the second halfof the eighth century.

This book not only provides the first full Englishtranslation of the letters and lemmatain the Codex epistolaris Carolinusbut also re-creates the original Carolingian order of presentation of theletters according to the manuscript.

A substantial introduction discusses thehistorical significance of the collection, the compilation and contexts of theVienna manuscript, especially the significance of the lemmata, the peculiarities of the Latin of the papal letters andthe biblical citations, and the historical context of the letters themselves. The lemmata and letter translationsare augmented with introductions to each letter and a comprehensive historicalcommentary and glossary.