A King Praises Himself: The Letters of Charles the Bald to Pope Hadrian II.

The article focuses on the analysis of two letters sent by West Frankish king Charles the Bald to Pope Hadrian II in 871–2, arguing that Charles himself was the primary author and that the letters emphasize the importance of deferential tone and royal praise in asserting kingship. Contrary to previous attributions to Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims, the letters reveal Charles’s view of royal authority as both institutional and a status demanding honor and laudation, influenced notably by the Irish poet Sedulius Scottus. The correspondence reflects a negotiation over proper forms of address amid political tensions, with Charles rejecting papal censure as undermining his legitimacy and insisting on praise as essential to his royal dignity. Ultimately, the letters illustrate Charles’s efforts to secure papal recognition of his exalted, quasi-imperial status through carefully crafted self-representation and scriptural allusions, highlighting the role of epistolary tone in medieval concepts of sovereignty.