Criterii de reevaluare a spiritualităţii româneşti în secolul al IX-lea
Re-evaluating Romanian Spirituality during the Ninth Century

Summary/Abstract: The 9th century has, in the history of the Romanian nation, a greater importance than it is often considered, not only if we analyze the structure of the Romanian vocabulary, but also, as a natural consequence, if we study Romanians’ spirituality. In 797, Charles the Great, emperor of the Frankish Kingdom, destroyed the mighty Avar Khaganate, which had its centre in Pannonia and included the present territory of Romania, at least up to the Carpathians. As succesors to the Avars, the Franks imposed their own rule, calling that area ‘Pannonian’ or ‘Avar March’. In the Carolingian Empire, a ’march’ represented a system of organizing the newly-conquered domains and had the purpose of ‘frankizing’ them both formally and structurally speaking, in order to assert their imperial power and their own Church, which was Missionary-Apostolic. Thus, the Carolingian Empire (797-896) meant for the then Romanians a revival of their Latinity, as they perceived an unspoiled pattern in the missionaries’ language, unlike the one of their previous Barbarian conquerors. This reaffirmed the Romanians’ mother tongue, since the Carolingian Empire itself used it, as previously stated, and through it, confirmed their Latin origins – both of which were handicaps in the Barbarians’ view. Their Christian faith was also strengthened, a fact that brought about the oppression or, at lest, the contempt of their former subduers.

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