The Council of Frankfurt, traditionally also the Council of Frankfort, in 794 was called by

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

, as a meeting of the important churchmen of the

Frankish realm The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle A ...

. Bishops and priests from

Francia The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest History of the Roman Empire, post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks, Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Merovingi ...

Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

gathered in ''Franconofurd'' (now known as

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

). The

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

, held in June 794, allowed the discussion and resolution of many central religious and political questions. The chief concerns of the council were the Frankish response to the

Adoptionist Adoptionism, also called dynamic monarchianism, is an early Christian nontrinitarian theological doctrine, subsequently revived in various forms, which holds that Jesus was adopted as the Son of God at his baptism, his resurrection, or his asc ...

movement in Spain and the

Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics and others. ...

(787), which had been held by the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Empress

Irene of Athens Irene of Athens (, ; 750/756 – 9 August 803), surname Sarantapechaena (, ), was Byzantine empress consort to Emperor Leo IV from 775 to 780, regent during the childhood of their son Constantine VI from 780 until 790, co-ruler from 792 unti ...

and had dealt with

iconoclasm Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...

and with which Charlemagne took issue because no Frankish churchmen had been invited. Ultimately, the council condemned the

heresy and revoked the Nicene Council's decrees regarding holy

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

s, condemning both

iconodulism Iconodulism (also iconoduly or iconodulia) designates the religious service to icons (kissing and honourable veneration, incense, and candlelight). The term comes from Neoclassical Greek εἰκονόδουλος (''eikonodoulos'') (from – ''i ...

(veneration of icons) and

(destruction of icons), "allowing that images could be useful educational devices, but denying that they were worthy of veneration."

Participants

The participants in the Frankfurt synod included, among others, Paulinus II the

Patriarch of Aquileia This is a list of bishops and patriarchs of Aquileia in northeastern Italy. For the ecclesiastical history of the diocese, see Patriarchate of Aquileia. From 553 until 698 the archbishops renounced Papal authority as part of the Schism of the T ...

, Peter,

Archbishop of Milan The Archdiocese of Milan (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy which covers the areas of Milan, Monza, Lecco and Varese. It has long maintained its own Latin liturgical rite usage, the Amb ...

, the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

Abbot

Benedict of Aniane Benedict of Aniane (; ; 747 – 12 February 821 AD), born Witiza and called the Second Benedict, was a Benedictine monk and monastic reformer who had a substantial impact on the religious practice of the Carolingian Empire. His feast day is ...

, the Abbot

Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel OSB ( 770 – c. 840) was a Benedictine monk of Saint-Mihiel Abbey near Verdun. He was a significant writer of homilies and commentaries. Life Of Visigothic heritage, Smaragdus was born in Spain around 770. He had mov ...

, as well as many bishops of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

, the

Spanish March The Spanish March or Hispanic March was a march or military buffer zone established c. 795 by Charlemagne in the eastern Pyrenees and nearby areas, to protect the new territories of the Christian Carolingian Empire—the Duchy of Gascony, the D ...

, the

County of Roussillon The County of Roussillon (, , ) was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both north and south of the Pyrenees. The historic cou ...

, and the lower

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

. Theophylactus and Stephen of Rome took part as representatives of

Pope Hadrian I Pope Adrian I (; 700 – 25 December 795) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 772 until his death on 25 December 795. Descended from a family of the military aristocracy of Rome known as ''domini de via Lata'', h ...

and bearers of his ''epistula dogmatica''.Wolter, ''Frankfurt am Main als Ort christlich-abendländischer Begegnung,'' p. 14 f. The French church historian

Émile Amann Émile Amann (4 June 1880, Pont-à-Mousson – 11 January 1948, Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in ...

counts the Council of Frankfurt among the "''crucial'' synods of the whole church"

Topics and outcomes of the Council

The topics and items of discussion at the Council of Frankfurt were gathered together in 56 chapters, covering a number of points of varying theological, political and legal significance. The first five points of this agenda have been granted the greatest historical significance in historical research:''794 – Karl der Große in Frankfurt'', p. 46–48: Chapter ''Zur Bedeutung des Frankfurter Kapitulars'' # Discussion of the

Christological In Christianity, Christology is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would be in the freeing of ...

teachings of the

s which had arisen in Spain. This position was notably supported at that time by

Elipando Elipandus (717–805) was a Spanish Christian theology, theologian and the archbishop of Toledo from 782. He was condemned by the Catholic Church as an Spanish Adoptionism, Adoptionist. Six letters written by Elipandus survive, including one to ...

, the

Archbishop of Toledo The Archdiocese of Toledo () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Spain.

and

Primate of Spain The Primacy of the Spains (; , ) is the primacy of the Iberian Peninsula, historically known as Hispania or in the plural as the Spains. The Archbishop of Braga, in Portugal, has claimed this primacy over the whole Iberian Peninsula since the ...

(717 – c. 800),Wolfgang Braunfels, ''Karl der Große,'' p. 76 and by Felix, the

Bishop of Urgell The Diocese of Urgell (; ) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Catalonia (Spain) and the Principality of Andorra in the historical County of Urgell,''794 – Karl der Große in Frankfurt'', / pp. 19 ff.: ''Das Frankfurter Kapitular'' and was condemned as

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

by the council. Both Elipando and Felix had already been censured for this position when it was classed as a false doctrine at the Council of Regensburg (792), but had continued to teach it. In its decision, the Council of 794 made reference to the rulings of previous councils, especially of the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...

(451), which had laid down "the pure teaching of the

consubstantiality Consubstantiality, a term derived from , denotes identity of substance or essence in spite of difference in aspect. It appears most commonly in its adjectival form, "consubstantial", from Latin ''consubstantialis'', and its best-known use is i ...

of the savior" in the

patristic Patristics, also known as Patrology, is a branch of theological studies focused on the writings and teachings of the Church Fathers, between the 1st to 8th centuries CE. Scholars analyze texts from both orthodox and heretical authors. Patristics em ...

tradition. In the course of its condemnation of Adoptianism, the council also touched on the addition of

Filioque ( ; ), a Latin term meaning "and from the Son", was added to the original Nicene Creed, and has been the subject of great controversy between Eastern and Western Christianity. The term refers to the Son, Jesus Christ, with the Father, as th ...

to the

Nicene creed The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of N ...

. # Discussion about the

Byzantine Iconoclasm The Byzantine Iconoclasm () are two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial authorities within the Ecumenical Patriarchate (at the time still comprising the ...

. The rulings of the Council of Nicaea had brought an end to the iconoclastic controversy between the Popes and the Byzantine emperors. The Council of Frankfurt rejected the rulings of the Council of Nicaea. The rejection derived from the loss of prestige Charlemagne had suffered at not being represented at the Council of Nicaea, which led him to consider the council unecumenical. The Council of Frankfurt possessed a

memorandum A memorandum (: memorandums or memoranda; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered"), also known as a briefing note, is a Writing, written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviation, ...

about

, which had been produced previously by Frankish theologians on the order of Charlemagne concerning the Byzantine iconoclastic controversy: the ''

Libri Carolini The ''Libri Carolini'' ("Charles' books"), more correctly ''Opus Caroli regis contra synodum'' ("The work of King Charles against the Synod"), is a work in four books composed on the command of Charlemagne in the mid 790s to refute the conclusion ...

''. Because the Pope had to take account of Byzantium as well as the Franks in his decisions, he had allowed the rulings of Nicaea to be accepted but only with reservations. In the

capitulary A capitulary (medieval Latin ) was a series of legislative or Public administration, administrative acts emanating from the Franks, Frankish court of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties, especially that of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Em ...

summarising the conclusions of the Council of Frankfurt, the rejection of image worship was formulated as "complete" and "unanimous". # The final deposition of

Tassilo III Tassilo – also spelled Thassilo – is a male name of West Germanic The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic languages, Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic langua ...

, the last

Agilolfing The Agilolfings were a noble family that ruled the Duchy of Bavaria on behalf of their Merovingian suzerains from about 550 until 788. A cadet branch of the Agilolfings also ruled the Kingdom of the Lombards intermittently from 616 to 712. They ...

Duke of Bavaria The following is a list of monarchs during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1918, Bavaria has been under a republican form of government, and from 19 ...

. The Duke had refused to aid the Frankish king

Pippin the Younger the Short (; ; ; – 24 September 768), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian to become king. was the son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude. Pepin's upbringing was disti ...

in his campaign in

in 763 and had thereby broken his allegiance. In 787 he did not attend Charlemagne's

Hoftag A ''Hoftag'' (, pl. ''Hoftage'') was the name given to an informal and irregular assembly convened by the King of the Romans, the Holy Roman Emperor or one of the Princes of the Empire, with selected chief princes within the empire. Early schola ...

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

. At the following Hoftag in

Ingelheim am Rhein Ingelheim (), officially Ingelheim am Rhein (), is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. The town sprawls along the Rhine's left bank. It has been Mainz-Bingen's district seat since 1996. From the la ...

in 788, Tassilo was sentenced to death for these crimes – later commuted to withdrawal to a monastery. He was required to come out of sequestration in the French

Jumièges Abbey Jumièges Abbey (), formally the Abbey of St Peter at Jumièges (), was a Benedictine monastery. Its ruins are situated in the commune of Jumièges in the Seine-Maritime Departement of Normandy, France. History Around 654 the abbey was founde ...

and attend the Council of 794 in order to perform atonement once more.Wolfgang Braunfels: ''Karl der Große,'' pp. 49 ff.: chapter ''Tassilos Unterwerfung'' The deposed duke asked Charlemagne for forgiveness for his earlier resistance to him and for his pacts with the

Lombards The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...

. Tassilo renounced all right to rule and all his property and was sent back to the monastery, where he died in 796. His humiliation at the council of 794 sealed Carolingian control of the

stem duchy A stem duchy (, from '':wikt:Stamm, Stamm'', meaning "tribe", in reference to the Franks, Saxons, Baiuvarii, Bavarians and Alemanni, Swabians) was a constituent duchy of the Kingdom of Germany at the time of the extinction of the Carolingian dyna ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. # Establishment of fixed prices for grain and bread in the Frankish realm to prevent overcharging. This chapter especially stressed the responsibility of all liege lords to ensure that their vassals not suffer from famine. #

Edict An edict is a decree or announcement of a law, often associated with monarchies, but it can be under any official authority. Synonyms include "dictum" and "pronouncement". ''Edict'' derives from the Latin edictum. Notable edicts * Telepinu ...

on the Carolingian monetary reform introduced a short time before, declaring this system binding. In the report of the Council of Frankfurt (cf. MGH, Cap. I, p. 74, ''Synodus Franconofurtensis'') it appears that new silver pennies bearing the monogram of Charlemagne were to be minted throughout the realm. Therefore the Carolingian monetary reform and the creation of the

Carolingian pound The Carolingian pound (, ), also called Charlemagne's pound or the Charlemagne pound, was a unit of weight that emerged during the reign of Charlemagne. It served both as a trading weight and a coinage weight. It had a mass of about 408 g and was ...

can be dated to the years 793 and 794. Charlemagne denier 78001907

The fifty one chapters following these first five dealt, among other things, with synodal decrees for several Spanish

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s on various topics, with a ban on collecting money for entrance to monasteries and other decisions pertaining to ecclesiastical law, as well as with minutiae of tax regulations relating to the collection of the

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...

. The rulings of the Council of 794 were compiled by hand and published in the form of a

written in

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

. This ''Capitulary of the Council'' (also known as the ''Frankfurt Capitulary'') does not survive in the original manuscript, but handwritten copies from the late ninth century as well as the tenth and eleventh centuries are preserved to this day. Two of these are kept in the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. They are written in

Carolingian minuscule Carolingian minuscule or Caroline minuscule is a script which developed as a calligraphic standard in the medieval European period so that the Latin alphabet of Jerome's Vulgate Bible could be easily recognized by the literate class from one ...

, the script which was developed at the end of the eighth century and in use in the time of Charlemagne. Whether the original manuscript of the ''Capitulary'' was also written in this script is not certain; on the basis of the historical development of this script and its use in the Frankish realm, its use in the ''Capitulary'' seems likely.

Miscellaneous

* The council took place in a seventh century building on what was later known as ''Domhügel'' (Cathedral hill). This building was a predecessor of the Royal Palace of Frankfurt, which has often been attributed to Charlemagne in the past but was only built by his son Ludwig the Pious around 822. This visit of Charlemagne to ''Francofurd'' is the occasion of the first documentary evidence of the city – in a royal charter of the council of the 22nd of February 794 for

St. Emmeram's Abbey Saint Emmeram's Abbey ( or ''Reichsabtei Sankt Emmeram'') was a Benedictine monastery founded around 739 at Regensburg in Bavaria (modern-day southeastern Germany) at the grave of the itinerant Frankish bishop Saint Emmeram. The original abbe ...

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

. In this document, written in Latin, it says ''actum super fluvium Moin in loco nuncupante Franconofurd'' ("Done by the river

Main Main may refer to: Geography *Main River (disambiguation), multiple rivers with the same name *Ma'in, an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *Spanish Main, the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territ ...

in the place named Franconofurd"). * Charlemagne stayed at Frankfurt for about seven months. He used his stay for jurisprudence and the production of theological opinions and papers, and also celebrated Easter there. *During his stay in Frankfurt, on 10 August 794, Charlemagne's fourth wife

Fastrada Fastrada ( – 10 August 794) was queen consort of East Francia by marriage to Charlemagne, as his third (or, in some sources, fourth) wife. Life Fastrada was born ''circa'' 765 at Ingelheim, the daughter of the powerful East Frankish Count Rudo ...

died. She was buried in

St Alban's Abbey St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, also known as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Norman times. It ceased to be an abbey follo ...

in ''Magontia'' (later known as

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

).''794 – Karl der Große in Frankfurt'', p. 37

Bibliography

: ''L’Epoche carolingienne,'' in: Fliche-Martin: ''L’Histoire de l’Eglise.'' Standardwerk zur Kirchengeschichte, Bd. 6, Paris 1941. *Johannes Fried, Rainer Koch, Lieselotte E. Saurma-Jelsch, Andreas Tiegel (Hrsg.): ''794 – Karl der Große in Frankfurt am Main: ein König bei der Arbeit''. Publikation zur Ausstellung der Stadt Frankfurt am Main »794 – Karl der Große in Frankfurt«. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1994. *Kurt Krusenberg (Hrsg.), Wolfgang Braunfels: ''Karl der Große.'' Erschienen in der Reihe ''Rowohlts Monographien,'' Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, rm 187, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1972. *Hans Wolter: ''Frankfurt am Main als Ort christlich-abendländischer Begegnung''. Frankfurt am Main, im Verlag von Waldemar Kramer. Ohne Jahresangabe.

References

{{Authority control Charlemagne

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

History of Frankfurt Filioque 794 8th century in Francia 8th century in Germany Christianity in Francia