Courtney M. Booker . Past Convictions: The Penance of Louis the Pious and the Decline of the Carolingians . (The Middle Ages Series.) Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press . 2009 . Pp. viii, 420. $75.00. Mayke de Jong . The Penitential State: Authority and Atonement in the Age of Louis the Pious, 814–840 . New York : Cambridge University Press . 2009 . Pp. xv, 317. $99.00.
John J. Contreni
In October 833, Emperor Louis the Pious (reigned 814–840), in a solemn ceremony, adopted raiment of penitent and confessed to his many personal failings. He then removed sword belt, symbol power authority, and, effect, resigned as emperor Carolingian Empire. Within five months, he regained throne ruled effectively for remainder life. The confession 833 became cause célèbre ninth century, leaving an unusually ample complicated documentary trail generations scholars contemplate. Courtney M. Booker Mayke de Jong present us with two meticulously researched books on that fateful year European history first time subject all ninth-century memories highly sensitive perceptive readings. Generations have mined evidence serve teleological purposes, substantiate inherent weakness the...
The American Historical Review