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The Carolingian Empire

Administration

Charles knew that his system was inefficient. More importantly, he knew that there was a constant tendency for his dukes and counts to act independently of him, to do as they wished and for Charles' own decrees to be ignored or circumvented. To counter this tendency, Charles invented new court officers.

These were called audio gifmissi dominici, or servants of the lord. Their purpose was to act as inspectors general, investigating the behavior of royal officials and reporting back to the court. As direct emissaries of the king, they carried all the prestige of Charlemagne and the implied threat of his power.

They were appointed in pairs, with one being drawn from the Church and one from the laity, so that neither one side nor the other should have its interests predominate. They were always posted to places outside their native lands so they should have no local ties or loyalties. And lest they develop such, the king shifted them about, neither leaving them long in one place nor posting them to the same place consecutively. They were to serve Charles, not local interests.

The system worked quite well under Charles. The missi were able to keep Charles informed as to what was going on in all his scattered lands and among all his vassals. More importantly, their mere presence and frequent visits served to remind an ambitious lord that there was a limit to his ambition, so long as Charles and his mighty army was around.

And that, of course, was the system's great weakness, and a weakness shared by all medieval monarchs. It worked only on the prestige and accomplishments of the king himself. So long as he was strong, the system was strong. But let a weak king come along, or a child king, or no king at all, and the system could evaporate almost over night.