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Influence of the bishops
Surrounded as the monarchy was by so many disobedient vassals, it was precisely the existence of these powerful prelates which enabled it to resist. The whole history of the tenth century is filled with the struggles which the kings were forced to wage against the counts and dukes, and with the plots which they had to defeat. But everywhere and always, it was the support, both moral and material, supplied by the Church which enabled them to maintain themselves. The Archbishop of Rheims, from the end of the ninth century, is the real arbiter of their destiny; as long as he supported the Carolingians they were able, in spite of everything, to resist all attacks; on the day when he abandoned them the Carolingian cause was irretrievably lost.
