Carolingian Ecological Sovereignty

During the early Middle Ages, the ecological was political—as it is today. For the Carolingians, the governance of nature was integral to the making of empire, which for more than a century (ca. 772–888) stretched across much of western Europe.

This book shows how correctio, the project of forming a properly Christian society, extended beyond doctrine and discipline to encompass the natural world itself. Carolingian rulers and writers treated landscapes, animals, and human communities alike as subjects of reform, imagining empire as a space where creation could be ordered, corrected, and directed toward salvation.

Noah Blan is Teaching Professor of History and Senior Coordinator for Transfer Student Success at Lake Forest College. He was awarded The Medieval Academy of America’s 2021 Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize, as well as Early Medieval Europe’s annual prize for Best First Article in a Peer-Reviewed Journal.