The Codex epistolaris Carolinus preserves ninety-nine letters, dated between 739  and 791 and sent by the popes to the Frankish king Charlemagne and his predecessors. The compilation was commissioned by Charlemagne in 791, but the sole surviving medieval manuscript of the letters was made at Cologne in the later ninth century and is now in Vienna (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod. 449). The headings or lemmata provided for each letter by the Frankish compilers in 791 and faithfully preserved in the codex, add a distinctive Frankish commentary on events in Rome and Italy in the second half of the eighth century. This book not only provides the first full English translation of the letters and lemmata in the Codex epistolaris Carolinus but also re-creates the original Carolingian order of presentation of the letters according to the manuscript. A substantial introduction discusses the historical significance of the collection, the compilation and contexts of the Vienna manuscript, especially the significance of the lemmata, the peculiarities of the Latin of the papal letters and the biblical citations, and the historical context of the letters themselves. The lemmata and letter translations are augmented with introductions to each letter and a comprehensive historical commentary and glossary.

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION I The Codex epistolaris Carolinus Rosamond McKitterick, and Dorine van Espelo     II The Codex epistolaris Carolinus: compilation and contexts Dorine van Espelo  1. The late eighth-century context of the compilation  2. Letters and letter collections  3. The Preface  4. The mechanics of sending and receiving letters: the papal legates  5. The manuscript: Codex Vindobonensis 449: dating, provenance, codicological and palaeographical features  6. The 791 exemplar and the Cologne copy  7. The lemmata  8. The allusions and comparisons with Old Testament model III The Latin of the papal letters Richard Matthew Pollard and Richard Price 1. The language and style of the Codex epistolaris Carolinus, and their affinities with other papal documents Richard Matthew Pollard 2. The biblical citations Richard Matthew Pollard 3. Latin grammar in the Codex epistolaris Carolinus Richard Price IV The Franks, Italy and the popes, 739-791 Rosamond McKitterick 1. Introduction 2. Competing political interests in Italy, 739-791 3. The Codex Carolinus and the Liber Pontificalis Note on the dating of the letters CODEX EPISTOLARIS CAROLINUS Translated by Richard Matthew Pollard (Preface and letters 1-11) and Richard Price (letters 12-99) Commentary and historical notes by Rosamond McKitterick Appendix. People mentioned in the letters Concordance: The Codex epistolaris Carolinus in ÖNB 449 and the MGH edition of Gundlach Glossary of technical terms in the translation BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX