wording of the creed. Finally, and most striking, there is the
antithesis between the two aspects of his power, the monarchical and the
imperial.

The Franks left to Europe the legacy of two political conceptions. They
perfected the system of barbarian royalty; they outlined the ideal of a
power which should transcend royalty and embrace in one commonwealth all
the Catholic kingdoms of the West. On the one hand they supplied a model
to be imitated by an Egbert, a Henry the Fowler, a Hugh Capet. On the
other hand they inspired the wider aims of the Ottos and the
Hohenstauffen. It is therefore worth our while to understand what a
Carolingian king was, and what a Carolingian Emperor hoped to be.

The king's power was based upon three supports: the general allegiance
of his subjects, the more personal obligations of the vassals who were
in his _mund_, the services and customs of the tenants on the royal
demesne. It is from these last that he derives his most substantial
revenue. He is the greatest landowner of his realm, until in the ninth
century he dissipates his patrimony by grants of hereditary
_beneficia_. The farming of the demesnes is an important branch of
the public service; they are managed by bailiffs, who work under rules
minutely elaborated by the king in the form of edicts, and who render
their accounts to a minister of state, the Seneschal or steward of the
household. The king is further the fountain of justice, the guardian of
public order, the protector of peaceful industry and commerce.
Accordingly he derives large profits from the fines of the law-courts,
the forfeitures of criminals, the tolls of highways and markets, the
customs levied at seaports and at frontier towns. In the exercise and
exploitation of his prerogatives he is assisted by functionaries of whom
most are household officers: the Chamberlain who keeps the royal hoard;