In the decrees of the Carolingian rulers ("capitularies"), the language moves in a zone of indifference between law, morality, religion and administration. In this way, the Carolingians created a flexible instrument for communicating with their officials, which, precisely because of its lack of rules, was particularly suitable for pragmatic government action. For the first time, the anthology takes a look at the use of words, the semantic fields and the relationships to other text types of the 9th century and thus sheds new light on the conditions for the success of Carolingian rule.