the importance of the monasteries
The monastaries acted as intellectual think tanks for the Empire. The monks acted as a civil service.
The Catholic monks at that time were just about the only ones who knew how to read and write, in several languages, so they acted as the civil service to the Carolingian Empire.
If a manuscript, deed, or treaty had to be scripted, and multiple copies made and distributed, then the Catholic monks did all the copying and writing. The monks travelled throughout the kingdom and made announcements and read out loud the manuscripts and royal proclamations in villages where all the peasants did not know how to read.
Monks sometimes acted as advocates (lawyers) for the people, again because most of the people were illiterate and grossly undereducated.
In a time when Church and State were not separated, the Catholic church slowly began to gain power and influence within kingdoms by their role as a civil service.
The Catholic monks at that time were just about the only ones who knew how to read and write, in several languages, so they acted as the civil service to the Carolingian Empire.
If a manuscript, deed, or treaty had to be scripted, and multiple copies made and distributed, then the Catholic monks did all the copying and writing. The monks travelled throughout the kingdom and made announcements and read out loud the manuscripts and royal proclamations in villages where all the peasants did not know how to read.
Monks sometimes acted as advocates (lawyers) for the people, again because most of the people were illiterate and grossly undereducated.
In a time when Church and State were not separated, the Catholic church slowly began to gain power and influence within kingdoms by their role as a civil service.