How the Carolingians Organized Military Service in the Ninth Century - Medievalists.net

"Famously, Timothy Reuter argued that the provisions in the Carolingian capitularies in the early ninth century, which commanded poorer men to club together to send one of their number to the army, referred to the obligation for local defense. Reuter asserted that the material well-being of the small landowners in the regnum Francorum had been shattered by the numerous wars undertaken by Charlemagne (768-814) and that only a remnant had the wherewithal to defend the realm against foreign attack."

"Less famously, but with much greater insight, Walter Goffart argued that the early ninth-century capitularies showed nothing of the sort. He argued that the sophisticated administrative apparatus of the Frankish realm was capable of sorting men according to their wealth down to the lowest economic levels of society. The clubbing together of men with limited economic means was, for Charlemagne, a mechanism of assuring that all men capable of doing so did their duty to the res publica, and ultimately to God."

Carolingian rulers organized ninth-century military service by tying obligations to wealth and social status to defend against Vikings, Muslims, and rival lords. Up through the later eighth century, rulers could summon broad sections of the population for offensive and defensive operations, but the survival of militia service into the ninth century and beyond is disputed. One interpretation holds that early ninth-century capitularies commanded poorer men to club together and send one man to the army, reflecting shattered material well-being among small landowners after Charlemagne’s wars. An alternative interpretation holds that a sophisticated administrative apparatus sorted men by wealth so all capable fulfilled duties without distinction between offensive and defensive service.

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