Kaiser Ludwig der Fromme (814–840)

The critical edition of the documents of Louis the Pious for the „Monumenta Germaniae Historica“ have shown once more the different situation for the documents issued by this Emperor regarding their availability in print: While the pieces preserved in Switzerland, France, and Italy are nearly all published as images, this is not the case for those kept in Germany. The present volume therefore aims to provide a complete overview of the documents of Louis the Pious in German archives, in the best possible quality as proven in the volumes before. For this reason, the pieces already reproduced in older publications were also included. In addition, several documents, which were missing in the major series so far, are published here, too.
Furthermore, the range of external features should be shown to full advantage – thus format and layout, signa, seals and scribes – at least since the latter or their identification and the conclusions to be drawn from those new insights must be widely reconsidered with appearance of the mentioned edition.
Finally, the selection of the pieces being reproduced here was not least influenced by their status of authenticity. Predominantly the products of the „Chancellery“ are documented, but also – as a sample – how descendants imagined a deed of Louis, especially as the spuria are usually ignored or disregarded in relevant volumes of plates.