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Primary sourceDocumentc. 771-800

Capitulare de villis

c. 771-800

A detailed decree attributed to Charlemagne's reign setting out how the royal estates should be managed, down to crops, animals and record-keeping.

Issued during his reign, this decree reveals how Charlemagne's government organised and managed his royal estates in minute detail.

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Scanned page of a medieval manuscript in brown ink on yellowed parchment, with a red-ink heading at top and three columns of Latin words listed line by line, likely the chapter 70 list of plants of the Capitulare de villis.
Capitulare de villis, chapter 70 (list of plants). Herzog August Library.

About this source

What it is

The Capitulare de villis is a text from the late 8th or early 9th century, possibly from the later years of Charlemagne's reign, laying out rules for managing the king's estates. It is one of only a small group of surviving administrative documents from his reign, held today at the Herzog August Library in Germany.

Why it matters

The document covers crops, animals, justice and record-keeping across the royal estates in extraordinary detail, showing the ambition of Carolingian government to organise and supply the court from a distance. Comparison with actual estate audits shows it was partly an aspirational document, not always matched by reality, which is itself a lesson about the gap between royal orders and daily life.

Look closer

  • What does the amount of detail in this document suggest about how Charlemagne's government worked?
  • Why might the actual running of an estate not match what this document demands?
  • What topics get the most space, and what might that tell us about royal priorities?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Charlemagne on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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