TheCouncil of Frankfurt, traditionally also theCouncil of Frankfort,[2][3] in 794 was called byCharlemagne, as a meeting of the important churchmen of theFrankish realm. Bishops and priests fromFrancia,Aquitaine,Italy, andProvence gathered inFranconofurd (now known asFrankfurt am Main). Thesynod, held in June 794, allowed the discussion and resolution of many central religious and political questions.
The chief concerns of the council were the Frankish response to theAdoptionist movement in Spain and theSecond Council of Nicaea (787), which had been held by theByzantine EmpressIrene of Athens and had dealt withiconoclasm and with which Charlemagne took issue because no Frankish churchmen had been invited. Ultimately, the council condemned theAdoptionist heresy and revoked the Nicene Council's decrees regarding holyicons, condemning bothiconodulism (veneration of icons) andiconoclasm (destruction of icons), "allowing that images could be useful educational devices, but denying that they were worthy of veneration."[4]
The topics and items of discussion at the Council of Frankfurt were gathered together in 56 chapters, covering a number of points of varying theological, political and legal significance. The first five points of this agenda have been granted the greatest historical significance in historical research:[7]
Discussion of theChristological teachings of theAdoptionists which had arisen in Spain. This position was notably supported at that time byElipando, theArchbishop of Toledo andPrimate of Spain (717 – c. 800),[8] and byFelix, theBishop of Urgell,[7][9] and was condemned asheresy by the council. Both Elipando and Felix had already been censured for this position when it was classed as a false doctrine at theCouncil of Regensburg (792), but had continued to teach it.[8] In its decision, the Council of 794 made reference to the rulings of previous councils, especially of theCouncil of Chalcedon (451), which had laid down "the pure teaching of theconsubstantiality of the savior" in thepatristic tradition.[5] In the course of its condemnation of Adoptianism, the council also touched on the addition ofFilioque to theNicene creed.[10]
Discussion about theByzantine Iconoclasm.[7] The rulings of the Council of Nicaea had brought an end to the iconoclastic controversy between the Popes and the Byzantine emperors. The Council of Frankfurt rejected the rulings of the Council of Nicaea. The rejection derived from the loss of prestige Charlemagne had suffered at not being represented at the Council of Nicaea, which led him to consider the councilunecumenical. The Council of Frankfurt possessed amemorandum abouticonodulism, which had been produced previously by Frankish theologians on the order of Charlemagne concerning the Byzantine iconoclastic controversy: theLibri Carolini.
Because the Pope had to take account of Byzantium as well as the Franks in his decisions, he had allowed the rulings of Nicaea to be accepted but only with reservations. In thecapitulary summarising the conclusions of the Council of Frankfurt, the rejection of image worship was formulated as "complete" and "unanimous".[9]
The final deposition ofTassilo III, the lastAgilolfingDuke of Bavaria. The Duke had refused to aid the Frankish kingPippin the Younger in his campaign inAquitaine in 763 and had thereby broken his allegiance. In 787 he did not attend Charlemagne'sHoftag inWorms. At the following Hoftag inIngelheim am Rhein in 788, Tassilo was sentenced to death for these crimes – later commuted to withdrawal to a monastery. He was required to come out of sequestration in the FrenchJumièges Abbey and attend the Council of 794 in order to perform atonement once more.[11] The deposed duke asked Charlemagne for forgiveness for his earlier resistance to him and for his pacts with theLombards. Tassilo renounced all right to rule and all his property and was sent back to the monastery, where he died in 796.[7] His humiliation at the council of 794 sealed Carolingian control of thestem duchy ofBavaria.
Establishment of fixed prices for grain and bread in the Frankish realm to prevent overcharging. This chapter especially stressed the responsibility of all liege lords to ensure that their vassals not suffer from famine.[7][9]
Edict on theCarolingian monetary reform introduced a short time before, declaring this system binding. In the report of the Council of Frankfurt (cf. MGH, Cap. I, p. 74,Synodus Franconofurtensis) it appears that new silver pennies bearing the monogram of Charlemagne were to be minted throughout the realm. Therefore the Carolingian monetary reform and the creation of theCarolingian pound can be dated to the years 793 and 794.
Obverse and reverse of one of thepennies minted by Charlemagne from 793 with Charlemagne's monogram in the centre (right)
The fifty one chapters following these first five dealt, among other things, with synodal decrees for several Spanishbishops on various topics, with a ban on collecting money for entrance to monasteries and other decisions pertaining to ecclesiastical law, as well as with minutiae of tax regulations relating to the collection of thetithe.[7][12]
The rulings of the Council of 794 were compiled by hand and published in the form of acapitulary written inMedieval Latin. ThisCapitulary of the Council (also known as theFrankfurt Capitulary) does not survive in the original manuscript, but handwritten copies from the late ninth century as well as the tenth and eleventh centuries are preserved to this day. Two of these are kept in theBibliothèque Nationale inParis. They are written inCarolingian minuscule, the script which was developed at the end of the eighth century and in use in the time of Charlemagne.[13] Whether the original manuscript of theCapitulary was also written in this script is not certain; on the basis of the historical development of this script and its use in the Frankish realm, its use in theCapitulary seems likely.
The council took place in a seventh century building on what was later known asDomhügel (Cathedral hill). This building was a predecessor of theRoyal Palace of Frankfurt, which has often been attributed to Charlemagne in the past but was only built by his sonLudwig the Pious around 822. This visit of Charlemagne toFrancofurd is the occasion of the first documentary evidence of the city – in a royal charter of the council of the 22nd of February 794[14] forSt. Emmeram's Abbey inRegensburg. In this document, written in Latin, it saysactum super fluvium Moin in loco nuncupante Franconofurd ("Done by the riverMain in the place named Franconofurd").
Charlemagne stayed at Frankfurt for about seven months. He used his stay for jurisprudence and the production of theological opinions and papers, and also celebrated Easter there.[15]
During his stay in Frankfurt, on 10 August 794, Charlemagne's fourth wifeFastrada died. She was buried inSt Alban's Abbey inMagontia (later known asMainz).[16]
Émile Amann:L’Epoche carolingienne, in: Fliche-Martin:L’Histoire de l’Eglise. Standardwerk zur Kirchengeschichte, Bd. 6, Paris 1941.
Johannes Fried, Rainer Koch, Lieselotte E. Saurma-Jelsch, Andreas Tiegel (Hrsg.):794 – Karl der Große in Frankfurt am Main: ein König bei der Arbeit. Publikation zur Ausstellung der Stadt Frankfurt am Main »794 – Karl der Große in Frankfurt«. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1994.ISBN3-7995-1204-7
Kurt Krusenberg (Hrsg.), Wolfgang Braunfels:Karl der Große. Erschienen in der ReiheRowohlts Monographien, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, rm 187, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1972.ISBN3-4995-0187-2
Hans Wolter:Frankfurt am Main als Ort christlich-abendländischer Begegnung. Frankfurt am Main, im Verlag von Waldemar Kramer. Ohne Jahresangabe.
^Lines 3–6 of a medieval manuscript, written inhalf uncial (upper two paragraphs) andCarolingian minuscule (lower paragraph):...in suburbanis Moguntiae metropolitane civitatis regione Germanie in loco caelebri qui di(citu)r Franconofurd. (in a subsidiary community of the Metropolitanate of Mainz in the land of Germany in a well-known place, which is called Franconofurd)
