A Merovingian Royal Diploma for Saint-Denis, 693
A privilege issued in 693 confirming Saint-Denis in a rent on the revenues of Marseille and an exemption from toll — both granted originally by Dagobert. The document is in the Archives nationales, and the king who signs it is doing little more than repeating what his great-grandfather gave.
Dagobert I was the last Merovingian who governed rather than reigned. He held the kingdoms together, issued law, patronised Saint-Denis on a scale that made it the dynasty's mausoleum, and left an administration his successors could not run. What came after is visible in charters like this one: kings confirming earlier grants, with the real business increasingly conducted by the mayors of the palace who countersigned them. See Dagobert I and the twilight of Merovingian power.
Public domain — source (Wikimedia Commons). Free to reuse under the stated licence.
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