Charlemagne's Interview Guide from the Year 811 by Thomas Peterson

Art. 1. Firstly, we shall separate the bishops, abbots, and counts and address them individually.

2. Why is it that one man is unwilling to help another, be it in the borderlands or the army, where he must do his part to help defend his homeland?

3. What gives rise to the very numerous disputes in which whoever sees that his compatriot owns [something] then tries to acquire the object from that same person?

4. That every man offer shelter to anyone from [a foreign land] who flees to him.

5. They are to be asked in what matters or in which places the clergy are hindering the laymen in the performance of their duties or, vice versa, the laymen are hindering the clergy in the performance of theirs. The degree to which a bishop or an abbot may interfere in worldly affairs or the degree to which a count or other layman may interfere in church matters is also to be discussed at this point and action is to be taken. Here, we must also ask, in a pointed way, what it means when the apostle says: "No man who serves God is to concern himself with worldly affairs," or also, to whom this sermon was directed.

6. What is it that every single Christian vows to do on being christened and what temptations does he disavow?

7. That it is through observing or neglecting these things that one invalidates one's own vow and also one's disavowal.

8. That we can rightly say that he who believes he can disregard the laws of God without punishment or who ignores the threat of divine punishment as something that will not come to pass, does not believe in God.

9. What is contemptible about us namely, whether we are real Christians. This we can very easily recognize by deliberating on our life or our habits if we are willing to examine our conduct carefully and publicly.

10. On the lives and habits of our shepherds, in other words, the bishops, who must set a good example for the people of God not only through their teachings but also through their lives; it is them, or so we believe, whom the apostle was referring to when he said, "Follow me and observe those who live as if they were a reflection of his will."

11. On the life of those who are known as canons, and how it is to be constituted.

12 On the conduct of the monks, and on whether any man can be a monk aside from those who follow the rules of Saint Benedict. Also, whether there were any monks in Gaul before the rules of saint Benedict reached the parishes.

13. You may prepare this as you see fit; I have faith in you, you thoroughly pious priests, and have no qualms about how much I can find out by sending you forth or writing to you. May the Lord be with you.