<P> Under Charlemagne's surviving legitimate son, Louis the Pious (ruling 813--840), the process of disintegration was hastened . Once the king associated the choice of missi with the assembly of nobles, the nobles interfered in the appointment of the missi . The missi were later selected from the district in which their duties lay, which led to their association with local hereditary filiations and in general a focus upon their own interests rather than that of the king. The 825 list of missi reveals that the circuits of the missatica now corresponded with provinces, strengthening local powers . The duties of missi, who gradually increased in number, became merged in the ordinary work of the bishops and counts, and under the emperor Charles the Bald (ruling 843--877), who was repeatedly pressured by bishops to send out missi, they took control of associations for the preservation of the peace . Louis the German (ruling 843--876) is not known to have sent out missi . About the end of the ninth century, with the implosion of Carolingian power, the missi disappeared from France and during the 10th century from Italy . </P> <P> The missi were the last attempt to preserve centralised control in the Holy Roman Empire . In the course of the ninth century, the forces which were making for feudalism tended to produce inherited fiefdoms as the only way to ensure stability, especially in the face of renewed external aggression in the form of Viking attacks, to which the impaired central power was demonstrated to be impotent . </P>

The missi dominici were officials that charlemagne used to