A presentation of the fundamental constitution that preceded dynastic feudalism, with source materials pertaining to ninth-century France, and a consideration of the methods best suited for achieving significant insight, in particular in the reconstruction of aristocratic genealogical relationships. This study finds that the essential office of count invariably was inherited, ideally according to proximity and primogeniture, with the king and the aristocracy acting as a corporation to admit specific and well-understood variations to basic hereditary principles in a sophisticated juristic environment.

The rise of dynamic categories of Greco-Roman personal names is presented primarily in reference to France. Part I introduces the Frankish system of Germanic names and illustrates composite derivation through the examples of Mauger and Mathilde in the Norman ducal family. Part II describes the various Greco-Roman sub-catgories that formed before the onset of dynamic categories, with particular attention to traditions in the high aristocracy. Part III is devoted to the rise of the “oblique” category of Greco-Roman names, the smaller of the two dynamic categories. The “oblique” category includes the male names Peter, Thomas and Nicholas, and a host of female names, including Agnes and Sibylle and attributives such as Yolande and Clementia.

The problem of extension in Latin relationship terminology is considered from these three directions: (I) the scope of systematic extension is illustrated with available German examples; (II) French examples provide a test case indicating the use of systematic extension in the ninth century; (III) a twelfth-century application demonstrates the value of the systematic principle. The example presented here is that of King Robert II’s filius Amaury I of Montfort as described in the Historia Francorum continuation by Aimoin. A wide array of material confirms the appropriate reading to the effect that Amaury was the king’s son-in-law. Many other inferable royal relatives are presented drawing especially on the resource of Greco-Roman onomastics.