重建“神圣的罗马帝国”:中古早期欧洲的政治发展道路

Restoration of the Roman Empire:The Political Development of Early Medieval Europe

长期以来学术界在考察“神圣罗马帝国”这一术语的词源时,往往聚焦于“sacrum Romanorum imperium”,而忽略了中古早期流行的“sacra respublica”。后一种形式源自古代罗马帝国,而为拜占庭帝国所沿用。从东西部欧洲的统一性来考察可以发现,不仅拜占庭帝国是神圣的罗马帝国,而且西部欧洲是查理曼统治时期对东部神圣的罗马帝国的自觉模仿,其中罗马教宗发挥了辅助作用。从这个角度看,中古早期欧洲的政治发展道路就成为从古代的罗马帝国向中古神圣的罗马帝国演化的过程。东西部欧洲在独立发展和彼此互动中体现出中古早期欧洲政治神圣化的共同发展趋势。

The investigation of the etymology of the term“Holy Roman Empire”,has long and often focused on“sacrum Romanorum imperium”but ignored the“sacra respublica”popular during the early Middle Ages.The latter term originated in the ancient Rome and still prevailed among the Byzantine emperors,who consciously identifi ed their empire as the Holy Roman Empire.In 800,Charlemagne restored the Roman Empire by updating his title from‘patricius Romanorum’to‘imperator Romanorum’.From the perspective of the relationship between Eastern and Western Europe,the restoration was a conscious imitation of the eastern Holy Roman Empire,while the popes functioned as a medium of transformation.To some extent,the political history of the early medieval Europe may be considered as the evolution of the ancient Roman Empire into the Holy Roman Empire.More importantly,Eastern and Western Europe,developing independently but interacting with each other,had a shared and growing tendency towards the sacralization of politics in the Early Middle Ages.