The Carolingian local ecclesia as a 'temple society'?

Abstract

This article assesses the question to what extent the model of a ‘temple society’ can be fruitfully employed as a tool of analysis for the Carolingian ecclesia, by which we mean not only the rich, well-endowed churches, but also the small, local ones. An investigation of the many different forms of ecclesiastical land-holding, and of the various functions a church and its ministers did (and did not) fulfil for early medieval Christians, shows the shape of the Carolingian ‘ecclesia-society’ as it took shape in the course of the ninth century.