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The Story of the

Charlemagne’s Renaissance The Age of the Carolingians

THE END OF THE MEROVINGIANS – BONIFACE - THE OAK OF JUPITER – THE ARCHITECT OF MEDIEVAL REBIRTH - CHARLEMAGNE – ADELCHIS – A DESCRIPTION OF CHARLEMAGNE - CHANGES – DAY, 800 – HOLY - INSPIRER OF TALES - BECOMES A – A FLOURISHING OF LETTERS - CAROLINGIAN VS. MEROVINGIAN SCRIPT - THE BEST MAN ON EARTH - CHARLEMAGNE'S LIFE DRAWS TO A CLOSE - - LETTER TO HIGBALD - THE MYTH OF JOAN – THE BOOK OF KELLS

H. A. Guerber: “The End of the Merovingians” From The Story of Old (AD 1910)

Charles Martel, having conquered such dreaded enemies as the , was the most powerful man in the country, and he exercised the royal power unhindered until his death in 741. He made at will, but the Merovingian princes were so weak and useless that for five years he actually left the vacant and ruled alone. When he died, the realm was divided between his two sons; but they were allies, and before long one of [66] them entered a monastery to do penance for his sins, leaving the other—whose name was , like his famous grandfather—to rule alone. This Pippin, son of the Hammer, was so small of stature that he is known in history as Pippin the Short (le Bref), but he was nevertheless very strong, brave, and ambitious. It seemed to him so ridiculous to set one idiotic Merovingian prince after another upon the throne that he decided it would be better to become himself. ... Pippin, therefore, wishing to make sure that none of the clergy would oppose him, sent two men to the Pope to ask who should be king, the man who wore the crown or the man who ruled the people? The Pope sent back word, "That it were better that he should be king who really exercised the royal power."

Pippin was sure now of the approval of the priests and monks, and he had secured the good will of the nobles also by his wise and able government. But we are told that the Austrasians—who admired nothing so much as strength and courage—were rather inclined to look down upon him simply because he was so small. One day, it is said, when he and many of his followers were at the circus, watching a fierce fight between a lion and a wild bull, he suddenly asked who would dare to spring down into the pit, and go and rescue the bull, which was getting the worst in the fray. None of the warriors present stirred, so Pippin boldly jumped down in the arena, drew his , and with one strong, swift blow struck off the head of the raging lion. Then turning to the spectators, [67] who were applauding him madly, he exclaimed, "There, am I not worthy to be your king?" The people evidently thought he was, for soon after, when assembled at , they raised him on a shield, thus proclaiming him king over all the . This was in 752. The hair of the last "do-nothing king" was cut off, and the rule of the Merocingians ended, after having family, descended from the Pippins, was to be known as the Carolingians (or Carlovingians), because its greatest men were Charles the Hammer and Charles the Great, and the name for Charles is Carolus. Pippin was so anxious that everyone should consider him a lawful king, that he was actually crowned twice, the second ceremony being performed at Rheims, by the Pope himself. This Pope had come to France to ask Pippin to fight the in , with whom he had quarreled. Pippin, who had already won many victories over the , and compelled them to pay tribute and to receive the missionaries kindly, now led a large army southward. He defeated the Lombards and made them give up a tract of land in Italy near . This land was bestowed upon the ,—as the bishopric of is called,—so for the next thousand years the Pope was head of a state, as well as head of the Church. He is therefore said to have had temporal as well as spiritual power. Not satisfied with all these triumphs, Pippin next conquered southern France, and before he died his kingdom included nearly all the space between the and the , the ocean and the . Pippin was a good ruler as well as a brave general, and every year he carefully presided over the assembly, which was now held in May. It was different from the old Field of , because the clergy were present as well as the warriors, and while the latter still decided all matters of war, the former gave the king good advice concerning the government of the country.

Judith M. Bennet and C. Warren Hollister: “Boniface” From Medieval : A Short History (AD 2006)

While and were solidifying the Carolingian , another sort of consolidation was happening outside the borders of : the expansion of Western through missionary activity. Anglo-Saxon monasteries, enriched by the dual traditions of Ireland and Rome, were then the most vibrant in the West, and they produced monks – and sometimes nuns – who became the evangelists of the seventh and eighth centuries.... The key figure in this effort was the Anglo-Saxon monk, St. Boniface. Reared in the monasteries of southern Britain, Boniface left his native Wessex in 716 to evangelize among the . From then until his death in 754, he devoted himself above all to Christianizing the pagans of , , Hesse, and . Well over six feet tall (a giant of a man by contemporary standards), he became famous among pagans for chopping down one of their sacred oaks.

Judith M. Bennet and C. Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, McGraw Hill, Boston, 2006, pp. 102-103.

Willibald: “The Oak of Jupiter” From The Life of Boniface (Mid-Eighth Century AD)

Now many of the Hessians who at that time had acknowledged the... faith were confirmed by the grace of the Holy Spirit and received the laying-on of hands. But others, not yet strong in the spirit, refused to accept the pure teachings of the church in their entirety. Moreover, some continued secretly, others openly, to offer sacrifices to trees and springs, to inspect the entrails of victims; some practiced divination, legerdemain, and incantations; some turned their attention to auguries, auspices, and other sacrificial rites; while others, of a more reasonable character, forsook all the profane practices of the Gentiles [i.e., pagans] and committed none of these crimes. With the counsel and advice of the latter persons, Boniface in their presence attempted to cut down, at a place called Gaesmere, a certain oak of extraordinary size called in the old tongue of the pagans the Oak of Jupiter. Taking his courage in his hands (for a great crowd of pagans stood by watching and bitterly cursing in their hearts the enemy of the gods), he cut the first notch. But when he had made a superficial cut, suddenly, the oak's vast bulk, shaken by a mighty blast of wind from above crashed to the ground shivering its topmost branches into fragments in its fall. As if by the express will of God (for the brethren present had done nothing to cause it) the oak burst asunder into four parts, each part having a trunk of equal length. At the sight of this extraordinary spectacle the heathens who had been cursing ceased to revile and began, on the contrary, to believe and bless the Lord. Thereupon the holy bishop took counsel with the brethren, built an oratory from the timber of the oak and dedicated it to the Apostle.

Judith M. Bennet and C. Warren Hollister: “The Architect of Medieval Rebirth” From Medieval Europe: A Short History (AD 2006)

After Charles Martel's death in 741, Boniface was able to turn his energy to Francia itself... The Frankish Church itself stood in urgent need of reform. Many areas had no priests at all; the beliefs of some peasants veered close to paganism at times; and priests themselves were even reported to have hedged their bets by sacrificing animals to pagan deities. With encouragement from Carloman and Pepin the Short, Boniface called a series of to reform the Frankish Church. Working closely with the papacy, [he saw to many of the Church's greatest needs, spiritual, administrative, and educational.] ... In doing so, he also served as the chief architect of the Carolingian cultural revival.

Judith M. Bennet and C. Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, McGraw Hill, Boston, 2006, pp. 103.

H. E. Marshall: “Charlemagne” From The Story of Europe (AD 1920)

Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, became King of the Franks when his father Pippin died. He was the greatest ruler of his time; and for hundreds of years after his death his influence continued to be felt in . If Columbus had never been born, America would have been discovered just the same; and if Luther had never lived there would nevertheless have been a in the church. But if Charlemagne had never been King of the Franks, and made himself Emperor of the Holy ,—as we shall see that he did,—the whole history of the Middle Ages would have been very different from what it actually was. At first Charlemagne's brother ruled with him as King; but within three years the brother died, and then Charlemagne ruled as sole King of the Franks. He owed the power which he had largely to his father, and to his grandfather, Charles Martel; but Charlemagne used his power wisely and well, and greatly increased it. He put down the rebellions of the peoples who rose against the rule of the Franks; he defended the land against the Mohammedans of Spain and the heathen of the North; he conquered [83] new lands and new peoples. In addition he set up an improved system of government; and he did all that he could to encourage learning an make his people more civilized than they had been before. When we read of all the things that Charlemagne did, we wonder that he was able to do so much. In the forty-six years that he was King he sent out more than fifty expeditions against different enemies; and in more than half of these he took the command himself. Charlemagne's wars, however, were not simply for plunder, or for more land, as so many of the earlier wars of the Franks had been. They were fought either to keep down the peoples whom the Franks had already conquered; or else to keep out new peoples who were seeking to conquer the Franks. In both these objects Charlemagne was successful. The net result of his wars was that almost all those lands which had formerly been under the Emperors of the West, were now brought under the rule of the King of the Franks; and the peoples who lived in these lands, both the old inhabitants and the German newcomers, were allowed peaceably to live together and work out their own destiny. The most stubborn enemy that Charlemagne had to fight was the Saxons. A portion of this people had settled in the island of Britain about three hundred years before; but many Saxon tribes still dwelt in the northern part of . In Charlemagne's time they still worshipped Woden and Thor, and lived in much the same way that the Germans had done before the great migrations. It was part of Charlemagne's plan to make himself ruler of all the German nations; [84] besides, there were constant quarrels along the border between the Saxons and the Franks. The result was that war was declared, and Charlemagne started out to conquer, to Christianize, and to civilize these heathen kinsmen. But it was a hard task; and the war lasted many years before it was ended. Again and again the Franks would march into the Saxon lands in summer and conquer the Saxon villages; but as soon as they withdrew for the winter the young warriors of the Saxons would come out from the swamps and to which they had retreated, and next year the work would have to be done over again. After this had occurred several times, Charlemagne determined to make a terrible example. Forty-five hundred of the Saxon warriors who had rebelled and been captured were put to death by his orders, all in one day. This dreadful massacre was the worst thing that Charlemagne ever did; and it did not even succeed in terrifying the Saxons. Instead, it led to the hardest and bloodiest war of all, in which a chief named led on his countrymen to take vengeance for their murdered relatives and friends. But in the end Charlemagne and his Franks proved too strong for the Saxons. Widukind, at last, was obliged to surrender and be baptized, with all his followers. After that the resistance of the Saxons died away; and Charlemagne's treatment of the land was so wise that it became one of the strongest and most important parts of the kingdom.

H. E Marshall: “Adelchis” From The Story of Germany(AD 1913)

...All the north of Italy yielded to the conqueror [Charlemagne.] The King, his wife, and daughter were taken prisoner and sent to end their days in Frankish convents. Only Adelchis [also known as ], the [35] King's son, would not yield; he held out to the last, and when at length no hope remained he fled in disguise. Adelchis was very strong. In battle, instead of a sword, he used an iron staff, with which he felled his enemies to the ground. He could a hop-pole as easily as one might break a twig. And now it is told of him that as he wandered homeless and alone he came one day to the of , which had once been his father's, and where now Charlemagne held high state. There, as the custom was, he sat down to table as any might, none saying him nay. As the feast went on, Charlemagne was astonished to see him break up the bones of stags and oxen as if they were matchwood. He marvelled much who this stranger might be, who was so strong and had such a valiant air. But ere the end of the feast Adelchis quietly slipped away. There were those, however, among the company who, even in disguise, well knew the Prince. So it was told to Charlemagne that the noble stranger was Adelchis, the son of the conquered King. When he heard that, Charlemagne was right sorry that he had allowed his enemy to escape. Therefore, said a knight, "Sire, if you will give me the bracelet which is upon your arm, I swear to bring him back to you alive or dead." So, as Charlemagne would most willingly have Adelchis a prisoner, he took the golden bracelet from his arm, and, giving it to the knight, bade him go and fetch back the Prince. The knight sped away, and soon he came upon Adelchis as he sailed in a boat upon the river Ticino. "Hold, sir knight," he cried. "Why did you leave [36] the feast so secretly? The King sends to you his golden bracelet as a gift." When Adelchis heard the knight call, he turned his boat and came towards the bank. But as he came near he saw that the knight held out the bracelet to him on the end of a spear. Then said he to himself, "There is treachery here." Quickly then he buckled on his armour, and, standing in his boat a little way from the bank, he called out, "What you offer me at the spear's point I will receive at the spear's point. Even if your master sends me this gift falsely, so that you may compass my death, I will not be outdone. I too will send him a gift." Thereupon he took off his bracelet, and, putting it on the end of his spear, held it out to the knight. The knight took it, but by no means could he persuade Adelchis to come nearer or leave his boat and follow him to Charlemagne. So in great sorrow for the oath which he had sworn, that he would bring Adelchis back with him either dead or alive, the knight was fain to return alone. And when the knight came to Charlemagne he gave him the bracelet, and told him how he had fared. Then Charlemagne slipped the bracelet over his hand, but it was so large that it passed all the way up his arm to his shoulder. Then was Charlemagne greatly astonished. "It is no wonder," he cried, "that a man with such huge arms should have the strength of a giant." And so it is said Charlemagne feared Adelchis greatly, and would very willingly have compassed his death. But Adelchis fled away to . There the Emperor received him kindly, and gave him the rank [37] of Patrician. There he lived quietly until he died at a good old age. Meanwhile, with solemn ceremony, Charlemagne was crowned King of the Lombards. All the nobles of the land came to do him homage. He was girt with a sword of gold, a robe was placed upon his shoulders, and the iron crown of the Lombards was set upon his head. Henceforth he called himself King of the Franks and of the Lombards, and Patrician of Rome.

Einhard: “A Description of Charlemagne” From The Life of Charlemagne (AD 817-836)

...The most extensive account of [Charlemagne's] life is by his friend and courtier, . Although Einhard modeled his life on the genre of biography exemplified by the Roman writer Suetonius, there is no reason to believe that much of the detail is inaccurate....

[All extracts from Book III. Section numbers used in various translations]

#22. [Charles' Appearance.] Charles was large and strong, and of lofty stature, though not disproportionately tall (his height is well known to have been seven times the length of his ); the upper part of his head was round, his eyes very large and animated, nose a little long, hair fair, and face laughing and merry. Thus his appearance was always stately and dignified, whether he was standing or sitting; although his neck was thick and somewhat short, and his belly rather prominent; but the symmetry of the rest of his body concealed these defects. His gait was firm, his whole carriage manly, and his voice clear, but not so strong as his size led one to expect. His health was excellent, except during the four years preceding his death, when he was subject to frequent fevers; at the last he even limped a little with one foot. Even in those years he consulted rather his own inclinations than the advice of , who were almost hateful to him, because they wanted him to give up roasts, to which he was accustomed, and to eat boiled meat instead. In accordance with the national custom, he took frequent exercise on horseback and in the chase, accomplishments in which scarcely any people in the world can equal the Franks. He enjoyed the exhalations from natural warm springs, and often practised swimming, in which he was such an adept that none could surpass him; and hence it was that he built his palace at Aixla-Chapelle, and lived there constantly during his latter years until his death. He used not only to invite his sons to his bath, but his nobles and friends, and now and then a troop of his retinue or body guard, so that a hundred or more persons sometimes bathed with him.

#23. [Charles' Clothing] He used to wear the national, that is to say, the Frank, dress-next his skin a linen shirt and linen breeches, and above these a tunic fringed with silk; while hose fastened by bands covered his lower limbs, and shoes his feet, and he protected his shoulders and chest in winter by a close-fitting coat of otter or marten skins. Over all he flung a blue cloak, and he always had a sword girt about him, usually one with a gold or hilt and belt; he sometimes carried a jewelled sword, but only on great feast-days or at the reception of ambassadors from foreign nations. He despised foreign costumes, however handsome, and never allowed himself to be robed in them, except twice in Rome, when he donned the Roman tunic, chlamys, and shoes; the first time at the request of Pope Hadrian, the second to gratify Leo, Hadrian's successor. On great feast-days he made use of embroidered clothes, and shoes bedecked with precious stones; his cloak was fastened by a golden buckle, and he appeared crowned with a of gold and gems: but on other days his dress varied little from the common dress of the people.

#24. [Charle's Manner] Charles was temperate in eating, and particularly so in drinking, for he abominated drunkenness in anybody, much more in himself and those of his household; but he could not easily abstain from food, and often complained that fasts injured his health. He very rarely gave entertainments, only on great feast-days, and then to large numbers of people. His meals ordinarily consisted of four courses, not counting the roast, which his huntsmen used to bring in on the spit; he was more fond of this than of any other dish. While at table, he listened to reading or . The subjects of the readings were the stories and deeds of olden time: he was fond, too, of St. Augustine's books, and especially of the one entitled "."

He was so moderate in the use of wine and all sorts of drink that he rarely allowed himself more than three cups in the course of a meal. In summer after the midday meal, he would eat some fruit, drain a single cup, put off his clothes and shoes, just as he did for the night, and rest for two or three hours. He was in the habit of awaking and rising from bed four or five times during the night. While he was dressing and putting on his shoes, he not only gave audience to his friends, but if the Count of the Palace told him of any suit in which his judgment was necessary, he had the parties brought before him forthwith, took cognizance of the case, and gave his decision, just as if he were sitting on the Judgment-seat. This was not the only business that he transacted at this time, but he performed any duty of the day whatever, whether he had to attend to the matter himself, or to give commands concerning it to his officers.

#25 [Charles' Education] Charles had the gift of ready and fluent speech, and could express whatever he had to say with the utmost clearness. He was not satisfied with command of his native language merely, but gave attention to the study of foreign ones, and in particular was such a master of Latin that he could speak it as well as his native tongue; but he could understand Greek better than he could speak it. He was so eloquent, indeed, that he might have passed for a teacher of eloquence. He most zealously cultivated the liberal arts, held those who taught them in great esteem, and conferred great honours upon them. He took lessons in grammar of the deacon Peter of , at that time an aged man. Another deacon, Albin of Britain, surnamed , a man of Saxon extraction, who was the greatest scholar of the day, was his teacher in other branches of learning. The King spent much time and labour with him studying rhetoric, dialectics, and especially astronomy; he learned to reckon, and used to investigate the motions of the heavenly bodies most curiously, with an intelligent scrutiny. He also tried to write, and used to keep tablets and blanks in bed under his pillow, that at leisure hours he might accustom his hand to form the letters; however, as he did not begin his efforts in due season, but late in life, they met with ill success.

#19 [Charles and the Education of His Children] The plan that he adopted for his children's education was, first of all, to have both boys and girls instructed in the liberal arts, to which he also turned his own attention. As soon as their years admitted, in accordance with the custom of the Franks, the boys had to learn horsemanship, and to practise war and the chase, and the girls to familiarize themselves with cloth-making, and to handle distaff and spindle, that they might not grow indolent through idleness, and he fostered in them every virtuous sentiment. He only lost three of all his children before his death, two sons and one daughter, Charles, who was the eldest, Pepin, whom he had made , and Hruodrud, his oldest daughter....

He was so careful of the training of his sons and daughters that he never took his meals without them when he was at home, and never made a journey without them; his sons would ride at his side, and his daughters follow him, while a number of his body-guard, detailed for their protection, brought up the rear. Strange to say, although they were very handsome women, and he loved them very dearly, he was never willing to marry any of them to a man of their own nation or to a foreigner, but kept them all at home until his death, saying that he could not dispense with their society. Hence, though other-wise happy, he experienced the malignity of fortune as far as they were concerned; yet he concealed his knowledge of the rumours current in regard to them, and of the suspicions entertained of their honour.

#27[Charles and the Roman Church] ... He cherished the Church of St. Peter the Apostle at Rome above all other holy and sacred places, and heaped its treasury with a vast wealth of gold, silver, and precious stones. He sent great and countless gifts to the ; and throughout his whole reign the wish that he had nearest at heart was to re-establish the ancient authority of the city of Rome under his care and by his influence, and to defend and protect the Church of St. Peter, and to beautify and enrich it out of his own store above all other churches. Although he held it in such veneration, he only repaired to Rome to pay his vows and make his supplications four times during the whole forty-seven years that he reigned.

Anne W. Carroll: “Changes” From Christ the King, Lord of History (AD 1976)

Next Charles turned toward Spain to counter the Moslem threat. His invasion was not well enough prepared and he was unsuccessful in a series of minor battles. Finally he decided to return to his own lands. He appointed the nobleman Roland to command the rear guard and to signal for help with his horn if he were attacked. Roland was a proud man with too great a confidence in his own abilities. He neglected to take proper scouting precautions and was attacked at , but his pride kept him from blowing his horn until it was too late. His men fought and died to the last man. The episode is immortalized in the epic poem, Chanson de Roland (Song of Roland.)

The incident at Roncesvalles sobered Charles, and he turned his attention to peaceful pursuits, becoming a patron of the arts... Because his lands were at peace, protecting from external and internal disorders, a Golden Age flourished in France during the last quarter of the Eighth Century... Painters, silversmiths, goldsmiths, ivory carvers, manuscript illuminators, sculptors, and scholars all received Charles' support. The most famous scholar was the monk Alcuin, who was Charles' minister of education... who encouraged Charles to take a more lenient attitude toward the Saxons, converting them by persuasion rather than force. Charles built good roads, the first since Roman days.... In 794 Charles established a permanent capital at . A great wooden bridge was erected over the Rhine; he built a magnificent palace and an octagonal chapel, which still stands today.... When Pope Hadrian died in 795, Charles wept. The new Pope was Leo III. Vatican intriguers who wanted one of their party as Pope kidnapped Leo, pulled him from his horse and beat him, held him prisoner, and even attempted to blind him. He was eventually rescued by being lowered down a wall. Concerned for the Pope, Charles invited him to a conference. When the Pope returned to Rome, Charles sent his own troops with him for protection.

Anne W. Carroll, Christ the King, Lord of History, TAN: Rockford, 1976, pp 139-140.

Charles Morris: “Christmas Day, 800” From Historical Tales: French (AD 1893)

Meanwhile, Leo had called a of the Church to consider whether the title of emperor should not be conferred on Charles the Great. At present, he said, the Roman world had no sovereign. The throne of Constantinople was occupied by a woman, the Empress Irene, who had usurped the title and made it her own by murder. It was intolerable that Charles should be looked on as a mere patrician, an implied subordinate to this unworthy sovereign of the Eastern Empire. He was the master of Italy, , and Germany, said Leo. Who was there besides him to act as Defender of the Faith? On whom besides could the Church rest, in its great conflict with paganism and unbelief? The synod agreed with him. It was fitting that the great king should be crowned emperor, and restore in his person the ancient glory of the realm. A petition was sent to Charles. He answered that, however unworthy the honor, he could not resist the desire of that august body. And thus was formally completed what probably had been the secret understanding of the pope and the king months before. Charles, king of the Franks, was to be given the title and dignity of Charles, Emperor of the West. The season of the Feast of the Nativity, Christmas-day of the year 800, duly came. It was destined to be a great day in the annals of the Roman city. The chimes of bells which announced the dawning of that holy day fell on the ears of great multitudes assembled in the streets of Rome, [61] all full of the grand event that day to be consummated, and rumors of which had spread far and wide. The great basilica of St. Peter was to be the scene of the imposing ceremony, and at the hour fixed its aisles were crowded with the greatest and the most devoted and enthusiastic assemblage it had ever held, all eager to behold and to lend their support to the glorious act of , as they deemed it, fixed for that day, an act which, as they hoped, would restore Rome to the imperial position which that great city had so many centuries held. It was a noble pile, that great of the early church. It had been recently enriched by costly gifts set aside by Charles from the spoils of the , and converted into the most beautiful of ornaments consecrated to the worship of Christ. Before the altar stood the golden censers, containing seventeen pounds weight of solid gold. Above gleamed three grand coronas of solid silver, of three hundred and seven pounds in weight, ablaze with a glory of wax-lights, whose beams softly illuminated the whole great edifice. The shrine of St. Peter dazzled the eyes by its glittering "rufas," made of forty-nine pounds of the purest gold, and enriched by brilliant jewels till they sparkled like single great gems. There also hung superb curtains of white silk, embroidered with roses, and with rich and intricate borders, while in the centre was a splendid cross worked in gold and purple. Suspended from the keystone of the hung the most attractive of the many fine pictures [62] which adorned the church, a peerless painting of the Saviour, whose beauty drew all eyes and aroused in all souls fervent aspirations of devoted faith. Never had Christian church presented a grander spectacle; never had one held so immense and enthusiastic an audience; for one of the greatest ceremonies the Christian world had known was that day to be performed. Through the wide doors of the filed a procession of bronzed veterans of the Frankish army; the nobility and the leading people of Rome; the nobles, generals, and courtiers who had followed Charlemagne thither; warriors from all parts of the empire, with their corslets and winged helmets of steel and their uniforms of divers colors; civic functionaries in their gorgeous robes of office; dignitaries of the church in their rich vestments; a long array of priests in their white dalmatics, until all Christendom seemed present in its noblest and most showy representatives. Heathendom may have been represented also, for it may be that messengers from the great caliph of Bagdad, the renowned Haroun al Raschid, the hero of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments," were present in the church. Many members of the royal family of Charlemagne were present to lend dignity to the scene, and towering above them all was the great Charles himself, probably clad in Roman costume, his garb as a patrician of the imperial city, which dignity had been conferred upon him. Loud plaudits welcomed him as he rose into view. There were [63] many present who had seen him at the head of his army, driving before him hosts of flying Saracens, Saxons, Lombards, and Avars, and to them he was the embodiment of earthly power, the mighty patron of the church, and the scourge of pagans and infidels; and as they gazed on his noble form and dignified face it seemed to some of them as if they looked with human eyes on the face and form of a representative of the Deity. A solemn was sung, with all the impressive ceremony suitable to the occasion. As the king rose to his feet, or while he still kneeled before the altar and the "confession,"—the tomb of St. Peter,—the pope, as if moved by a sudden impulse, took up a splendid crown which lay upon the altar, and placed it on his brow, saying, in a loud voice,— "Long life and victory to Charles, the most pious , crowned by God the great and pacific Emperor of the Romans!"

At once, as if this were a signal for the breaking of the constrained silence, a mighty shout rose from the whole vast assembly. Again and again it was repeated, and then broke out the solemn chant of the litany, sung by hundreds of voices, while Charlemagne stood in dignified and patient silence. Whether or not this act of the pope was a surprise to him we have no assurance. Einhard tells us that he declared that he would not have entered the church that day if he had foreseen the pope's intentions; yet it is not easy to believe that he was ignorant of or non-consenting to the coming event. At [64] the close of the chant Leo prostrated himself at the feet of Charlemagne, and paid him adoration, as had been the custom in the days of the old emperors. He then anointed him with holy oil. And from that day forward Charles, "giving up the title of patrician, bore that of emperor and Augustus."

Anne W. Carroll: “” From Christ the King, Lord of History (AD 1976) The idea of a Holy Roman Emperor was very important.... First, it gave the Church a special protector. The Pope and the Church would not be at the mercy of whatever... tribe might attack it. It would have a temporal power to fight its battles and preserve its independence.... Secondly, all Christian peoples were united by spiritual bonds and looked to one spiritual head, the Pope, and the temporal head, the Emperor. This union did not mean the local differences were wiped out, but that men realized there was something bigger and more important than any local differences. They regarded Christianity as more important than anything in their lives. This unity was a further development of the idea of Christendom. Just as Constantine may be called the founder of Christendom, so Charlemagne may be called the builder of Christendom....

Anne W. Carroll, Christ the King, Lord of History, TAN: Rockford, 1976, pp 141-142.

Charles Morris: “Inspirer of Tales” From Historical Tales: French (AD 1893)

The ceremonies ended in the presentation from the emperor to the church of a great silver table, and, in conjunction with his son Charles and his daughters, of golden vessels belonging to the table of five hundred pounds' weight. This great gift was followed, on the Feast of the Circumcision, with a superb golden corona to be suspended over the altar. It was ornamented with gems, and contained fifty pounds of gold. On the Feast of the Epiphany he added three golden chalices, weighing forty-two pounds, and a golden paten of twenty-two pounds' weight. To the other churches also, and to the pope, he made magnificent gifts, and added three thousand pounds of silver to be distributed among the poor. Thus, after more than three centuries, the title of Augustus was restored to the . It was destined to be held many centuries thereafter by the descendants of Charlemagne. After the division of his empire into France and Germany, the imperial title was preserved in the latter realm, the fiction—for it was little more—that an emperor of the west existed being maintained down to the present century. As to the influence exerted by the power and [65] dominion of Charlemagne on the minds of his contemporaries and successors, many interesting stories might be told. Fable surrounded him, legend attached to his deeds, and at a later date he shared the honor given to the legendary of England, of being made a hero of romance, a leading character in many of those interminable romances of which formed the favorite reading of the mediæval age. But we need not go beyond his own century to find him a hero of romance. The monk of the of St. Gall, in , whose story of the defences of the land of the Avars we have already quoted, has left us a chronicle full of surprising tales of the life and doings of Charles the Great. One of these may be of , as an example of the kind of history with which our ancestors of a thousand years ago were satisfied. Charlemagne was approaching with his army Pavia, the capital of the Lombards. Didier, the king, was greatly disquieted at his approach. With him was (Ogger the monk calls him), one of the most famous captains of Charlemagne, and a prominent hero of romance. He had quarrelled with the king and had taken refuge with the king of the Lombards. Thus goes on the chronicler of St. Gall: "When Didier and Ogger heard that the dread monarch was coming, they ascended a tower of vast height, where they could watch his arrival from afar off and from every quarter. They saw, first of all, [66] engines of war such as must have been necessary for the armies of Darius or Julius Cæsar. "'Is not Charles,' asked Didier of Ogger, 'with this great army?' "But the other answered, 'No.' The Lombard, seeing afterwards an immense body of soldiery gathered from all quarters of the vast empire, said to Ogger, 'Certainly, Charles advances in triumph in the midst of this throng.' "'No, not yet; he will not appear so soon,' was the answer. "'What should we do, then,' rejoined Didier, who began to be perturbed, 'should he come accompanied by a larger band of warriors?' "'You will see what he is when he comes,' replied Ogger; 'but as to what will become of us I know nothing.' "As they were thus parleying, appeared the body of guards that knew no repose; and at this sight the Lombard, overcome with dread, cried, 'This time it is surely Charles.' "'No," answered Ogger, 'not yet.' "In their wake came the bishops, the , the ordinaries of the chapels royal, and the counts; and then Didier, no longer able to bear the light of day or to face death, cried out with groans, 'Let us descend and hide ourselves in the bowels of the earth, far from the face and the fury of so terrible a foe.' "Trembling the while, Ogger, who knew by experience what were the power and might of Charles, [67] and who had learned the lesson by long consuetude in better days, then said, 'When you shall behold the crops shaking for fear in the fields, and the gloomy Po and the Ticino overflowing the walls of the city with their waves blackened with steel, then may you think that Charles is coming.' "He had not ended these words when there began to be seen in the west, as it were a black cloud raised by the north-west wind or by Boreas, which turned the brightest day into awful shadows. But as the emperor drew nearer and nearer, the gleam of arms caused to shine on the people shut up within the city a day more gloomy than any kind of night. And then appeared Charles himself, that man of steel, with his head encased in a helmet of steel, his hands garnished with gauntlets of steel, his heart of steel and his shoulders of marble protected by a cuirass of steel, and his left hand armed with a of steel which he held aloft in the air, for as to his right hand, he kept that continually on the hilt of his invincible sword. The outside of his thighs, which the rest, for their greater ease in mounting on horseback, were wont to leave unshackled even by straps, he wore encircled by plates of steel. What shall I say concerning his boots? All the army were wont to have them invariably of steel; on his buckler there was naught to be seen but steel; his horse was of the color and the strength of steel. "All those who went before the monarch, all those who marched by his side, all those who followed [68] after, even the whole mass of the army, had armor of the like sort, so far as the means of each permitted. The fields and the highways were covered with steel; the points of steel reflected the rays of the sun; and this steel, so hard, was borne by people with hearts still harder. The flash of steel spread terror throughout the streets of the city. 'What steel! alack, what steel!' Such were the bewildered cries the citizens raised. The firmness of manhood and of youth gave way at sight of the steel; and the steel paralyzed the wisdom of graybeards. That which I, poor tale-teller, mumbling and toothless, have attempted to depict in a long description, Ogger perceived at one rapid glance, and said to Didier, 'Here is what you so anxiously sought,' and whilst uttering these words he fell down almost lifeless." If our sober chronicler of the ninth century could thus let his imagination wander in speaking of the great king, what wonder that the romancers of a later age took Charlemagne and his as fruitful subjects for their wildly fanciful themes!

Lawton B. Evans: “Roland Becomes a Knight” From Old-Time Tales (AD 1922)

[The following is an example of one of the fictitious legends that sprang up about the emperor.]

CHARLEMAGNE had a sister named Bertha, who was very much in love with a young knight, Milon by name. Charlemagne knew that Milon was poor and obscure, and said to his sister, "Why do you desire so unworthy a match? Your suitor is poor and unknown, and you would be laughed at in this court where all the have many possessions and are well known for their bravery and many deeds of adventure." [90] To this Bertha had but one answer and that was enough for her and the poor knight, Milon. "My lord and king, my heart chooses Milon. I shall wed no other." The king stormed at his sister and drove her from his court. "If you will choose Milon, then you choose between him and me, and this court. Go live with him in his poverty and if you find consolation in his love, you are welcome to it. I shall have none of you or him henceforth." And the angry king sent his sister away, but she went gladly, for Milon was waiting outside. For a number of years Bertha and her knight were very happy. Of course, they were poor and long since forgotten by her brother, the king, and those who waited on him. But Bertha cared very little, for was not Roland, her young son, the image of his father, and was not his father a brave and gentle knight, even if he did not have the favor of the king? Milon would say to his son, "Roland, you will some day be a knight, for you are nephew to King Charlemagne; you must never forget your mother, who is a gentle lady, nor must you do anything unworthy of a knight." The boy looked very solemn, and promised his father to do as he said. Now Milon was at one time engaged in rescuing some persons from a dreadful flood. The waters [91] were coming in vast waves and many lives were in danger. The brave Milon spurred his horse into the angry waters, but was overcome in the rush of the flood and was carried beneath. He perished in the knightly act of serving others, and poor Bertha and the young Roland were left alone in the world. Bertha was at last reduced to great extremity of want and hunger. She had no food, while Charlemagne was feasting with his lords not far away. Roland looked angrily into his mother's wasted face, and thought bitterly of the king's abundance, and of his cruelty toward his sister, the boy's mother.

"I shall go to the king, my uncle, and tell him my mother needs food. I shall not be afraid, for she is a gentle lady, and since my father is gone, I am the only knight she has to defend her." So saying, Roland marched off to the castle, into the banquet hall, and up to the table where the king was feasting. Without saying a word the boy took a dish of meat from the table and started away with it. The servants started to stop the lad, but the king, somewhat amused, called out, "Let the lad alone. Such assurance as that betokens courage, and perhaps he needs the meat more than these here, who, by my sword, have eaten enough." [92] Soon Roland returned, and this time he marched boldly up to where the king was seated and took his cup full of rich wine. This was a little more than Charlemagne had counted on, and so he challenged the lad, saying, "What means this, my son, that you take the king's meat and then the king's wine? Do you not know that this is the royal table?" Roland, not a bit abashed, replied, "This meat and wine are for my mother, a gentle lady in distress. I am her cupbearer, her page, and her knight. She is in need, and I am out for her succor. Not having anything at home, I came to find it here." "And who is your mother?" asked the king. "My mother is the Lady Bertha, your sister, my lord. My father was the brave knight, Milon, now dead. I am your nephew, Roland, who hopes some day to be a knight in your service." And Roland bowed low with the reverence which his father had taught him was due the king. The king was greatly moved. He had forgotten his sister entirely. Turning to the young Roland, he ordered him to go to his mother and bring her at once to court. It was not long before Bertha appeared. She and her son knelt before the king, who took her by the hand and raised her from her knees. [93] "My sister and my nephew," said the king, "my heart reproaches me for the wrongs I have done you both. Bertha shall live in peace and plenty hereafter and Roland shall be a page in my service." And thus Roland came to the court of Charlemagne. Another version of the story is that Milon was not really drowned, but that he became reconciled to Charlemagne, and came with Bertha to live at the king's' castle and followed him as a knight, and that Roland was the squire of his own father. Either version makes a good story, and one may take his choice. If we accept the latter story we find Milon and Bertha with Roland, now grown into a fine young squire of fifteen or sixteen years of age, following his father in all his adventures. Charlemagne heard that the robber knight of the of had a priceless jewel which was set in his shield. The king called his own knights together, and ordered them to go forth separately, each with his own squire, or page, and find the robber knight. Having overcome the robber in battle, the knight must bring the jewel to the king himself. A day was set for the return of the knights whether [94] they were successful or not, and the king promised to give each one a patient hearing. The knights set forth, Milon among them, accompanied by Roland, his squire and armor bearer. The forest of Ardennes was searched high and low, each knight hoping to meet the robber knight and win the jewel. Milon spent many days in a vain search for the knight, when one day, exhausted by a long ride, he dismounted from his horse, removed his heavy armor, and lay down under a tree. Soon he was fast asleep with Roland keeping watch by his side. It came into Roland's mind that he might win renown himself, if he could ever meet the robber knight alone. Carefully he put on his father's armor, seized his sword, sprang on his horse, and rode into the forest in search of adventures. He had not gone very far when he saw a gigantic horseman approaching, and by the glittering stone set in his shield he recognized the robber of which all the knights were in quest. Up to this time the robber had been invincible. Roland called out to him, "Halt, Sir Knight, and yield thee to my arms, or else prepare to meet my charge." The robber knight laughed in scorn, lowered his visor, and placed his lance at rest. Roland prepared for the charge, and put spurs to his horse. Both [95] steeds sprang forward and the men came together in the forest with a great noise. For the first time in his life the robber knight was unhorsed and fell to the ground. In a great rage the knight sprang up and drew his sword. Roland quickly dismounted and met his advance. For a long hour they fought, blows resounding on the armor, until both combatants were nearly exhausted. By a gallant stroke the sword of Roland pierced the joints of the robber's armor and the keen blade entered his bosom. In a short while the robber was dead, and Roland, wrenching the jewel from the shield, concealed it in his breast. Riding back to his father, who was still asleep, Roland took off his armor, and removed all dust, and blood, and other signs of conflict. When the knight awoke he had no idea his son had been engaged in a deadly combat. Resuming the quest Milon soon came upon the dead body of the knight. "Ah! someone has been ahead of me, and slain the robber, and taken his jewel. I shall now have to report to the king that while I slept another was fighting his enemies," said he. Sadly Milon rode back to the court, and waited for the other knights to return, wondering which one had brought back the shining jewel. One by [96] one they came in, but judging by their downcast looks none of them was victorious. The day came for Charlemagne to receive them. Seated on his throne he bade the knights enter and relate their adventures. One after another approached him, and all told him of how they had scoured the forest, and had at last found the robber knight slain and the jewel gone, but no one knew who the victorious knight was. Milon came last of all. His brow was lowered, and he hesitated in his step. Behind him came Roland, bearing a shield in the center of which shone the radiant jewel. Milon knew nothing of this, for Roland had kept his secret. Milon began his story, saying that he had also found the dead giant, and the jewel gone, but had no idea who the knight was that had slain the robber. The king laughed and said, "Sir Milon, look behind you and behold the jewel for which you have been seeking." Looking around, to his astonishment he saw Roland bearing his shield, and the blazing stone in the center. Roland now told his story, at which all were amazed, and some envious. The king, however, was delighted, praised his nephew for his skill and [97] bravery, and made him a knight. Roland became one of the most famous of the paladins that were attached to the service of Charlemagne.

Judith M. Bennet and Warren C. Hollister: “A Flourishing of Letters” From Medieval Europe: A Short History (AD 2006)

As part of his effort to raise the intellectual standards of his realm, Charlemagne assembled scholars at Aachen from all over Europe. From eastern Francia came the emperor's biographer, Einhard. From came the poet-, Paul the Deacon (c. 720-799), who compiled a book of sermons so that busy priests could know what to preach on which holy day. From Iberia [Spain] came Theodulf (c. 768-821), later bishop of Orleans and of Fleury, a poet of considerable talent. And from in England came the greatest of all, Alcuin (732-804). Like Boniface before him, Alcuin brought from Britain ideas and skills that directly stimulated the intellectual development of Carolingian Francia. These scholars and others worked, under Charlemagne's energetic guidance, to build a revitalized Christian society. They began at the most basic level, by providing basic education for as many children – girls as well as boys – as possible. Alcuin introduced Boethius's notion of the seven liberal arts, divided into those related to effective communication (the trivium) and those related to the study of the natural world (the quadrivium.) Because Francia had no professional teachers, either lay or clerical, the only hope for educational reform lay with the Church, the only institution where literacy – then defined as the ability to read Latin – was at all common. So Charlemagne ordered the and monasteries of his realm to operate schools. His of 789 commands, “Let schools be established in which children may learn to read,” and then further stipulates that these schools schools have accurate copies of the Psalms, calendars, grammars, and other useful books. It went without saying that Latin was the language of literacy in these schools, for although children grew up speaking languages from which would eventually grow French, German, and Italian, they learned in school to read and write in Latin. These schools provided training for external students who would not pursue Church careers, as well as priests, monks, and nuns. Many Carolingian monasteries and cathedrals fell short of the modest standards ordered by Charlemagne, but most did vastly improve the quantity and quality of the schooling they offered. It was above all in monastic schools that learning flourished.... The students they trained pursued careers as teachers or administrators. The schools of Reichenau and , for example, produced Walafrid Srabo, a writer of saints' lives, a poet, a diplomat for Francia, and tutor to a future king.... The book of advice that the noblewoman Dhuoda (fl. c. 810-850) wrote for her sixteen-year-old son provides another example. Although she was an aristocratic wife and he was a young man destined for a career at court, both valued their Latin literacy for the Christian faith it nurtured. As Dhuoda succinctly put it, “God is learned about through books.” More than likely, Dhuoda learned her Latin at a monastic school and then passed the skill along to her son, as his first teacher. Only a tiny fraction of Charlemagne's subjects acquired literacy, but they used their knowledge well.

In addition to improving basic education, Alcuin and other scholars sought to preserve and build on the great works of the Classical-Christian cultural tradition. To this end, they produced accurate copies of important past texts; Alcuin himself for example, prepared a precise new edition of the Latin Bible, a text that had been much corrupted – thanks to the inevitable errors of copyists – since the days of [who had first translated the Bible from Greek into the common tongue of Latin in the days immediately prior to Benedict.] In his capacity as chief scholar in Charlemagne's court school, Alcuin sought as much to preserve and honor past scholars as to create new scholarship. “There is nothing better for us,” he wrote, “than to follow the teachings of the Apostles and the . We must follow these precepts instead of inventing new ones or propounding new doctrine or vainly seeking to increase our own fame....” ... we should be grateful to Alcuin and his colleagues: more than ninety percent of the Roman poems, epics, essays, and other writings that we can still read today have survived in their earliest form in manuscripts copied during Carolingian times. Carolingian scholars also developed a clearer form of handwriting, a form so clear that it is the basis of the font you are reading right now.... This “Caroline script [or Carolingian miniscule]” as it came to be called, derived in part from earlier Irish scripts and in part from Frankish monasteries, particularly, as it seems, female monasteries, such as the famous convent at Chelles whose manuscripts clearly show the change. Caroline script involved several improvements that aided reading: more punctuation, spaces between words (a positive innovation on the old practice of runningwordstogether), clear separation of each letter from those beside it; and the use of both capital and lowercase letters. As a result, books and documents were much more legible, and more students could learn to read more easily. Because Carolingian monks and nuns copied manuscripts on an unprecedented scale, this new script quickly spread. Alcuin and Charlemagne also sought to continue Boniface's reform of the Frankish Church. They turned some of their attention to . In their view, the clergy were the “soldiers of the Church” who had to “lead the people of God to the pasture of eternal life.” To help priests in this task, they regularized the liturgy, provided ready-made sermons for harried priests, urged both men and women to avoid hard work on Sundays, created handbooks for clergy, and distributed copies of the revised Vulgate. Monastic reform was another important part of the agenda, and to that end, an accurate copy of the Benedictine Rule was obtained from Monte Cassino and urged on all monastic houses. These efforts were not everywhere successful, but they helped improve pastoral care and standardize monastic life. ... By one estimate, 50,000 books were produced by monks and nuns, working in scriptoria, during the ninth century.

Judith M. Bennet and C. Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, McGraw Hill, Boston, 2006.

Merovingian vs. Carolingian Scripts

[Here you can find examples of a typical Merovingian script: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian_script and compare it with the Carolingian script: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_minuscule

Noble, Strauss, et al.: “” From Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries (AD 2009)

Versatility was a hallmark of Carolingian learning. Various scholars excelled at poetry, history, and biography. Biblical studies and theology attracted a lot of attention.... Carolingian art is the crowning glory of the age. Several distinct currents inspired and informed Carolingian art. Most prominent were the animal and geometric decorative motifs of Irish and Anglo-Saxon art; the elegance, formality, and sense of composition of classical art; basic elements of style from Byzantine painting; actual scenes from papal Rome; and the mysteries of Christian theology. Every element was borrowed, but the finished product was new.... Architecture shows the same trends. Charlemagne's palace complex at Aachen has parallels in imperial Constantinople, papal Rome, and Ostrogothic Ravenna.

Thomas Noble et al., Western Civilization: Beyond Boundaries, Fifth Edition, Dolphin Edition, Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt: Boston, 2009.

[The study of nature also flourished during this time. The encyclopaedia written by the scholar bishop, Isidore of Seville, was much in demand as a basis of study. Astronomy and other sciences were popular. Christian philosophers studied the writings of the pre-Christian thinkers, and used what was true in them as starting points for their own philosophies. The work of the philosopher Plato, who wrote the dialogues of Socrates, was considered the highest in Pagan learning, since it offered enormous insight in the good life and political ideas. Aristotle's writings were much coveted but most of his works were believed to have been lost, so readers to content themselves with a handful of them. Plato, on the other hand, was available in near-entirety. His popularity sparked the Neoplatonist movement, a philosophical movement that embraced all that was compatible with the faith in Plato's works, and combined it with what was known by revelation to come to new understandings of God and His creation. The movement was spearheaded by Brother John Scottus Eriugena, an Irish religious (Irishmen in those days were often called Scots) known for his with as well as wisdom. Once he sat at dinner facing King , and the rather intoxicated king decided to mock Brother John. He asked him whether there was anything that separated a Scot from a sot (drunkard.) “Only a table,” answered Brother John. It seems that he did not always empty his wit, however, for he was reputed to have been stabbed to death by his students with quill pens after delivering too many boring lectures.

Marion Lansing: “The Best Man on Earth” From Barbarian and Noble (AD 1911)

There had been indeed no united Christendom since the death of Theodoric two hundred years before. The union of Christian nations, into which the barbarian Clovis had been the last king to be admitted, had fallen to pieces at Theodoric's death, and no man had been strong enough to unite the warring tribes and nations of the Teutonic and Roman races until there succeeded to the throne of Clovis the Frankish Charles, known in history as Charlemagne, or Charles the Great. Charlemagne was the hero of Europe for all the Middle Ages. Even the Saxons, who had every reason to hate him as their conqueror, wrote on the pages of history, "The best man on earth and the bravest was Charles: truth and good faith he established and kept." In the hour when they trembled before his "fierce fury" the barbarian nations admired the Frankish king. But how they feared him!

Einhard: “Charlemagne's Life Draws to a Close” From The Life of Charlemagne (c. AD 817-833)

29. Reforms

It was after he had received the imperial name that, finding the laws of his people very defective (the Franks have two sets of laws, very different in many particulars), he determined to add what was wanting, to reconcile the discrepancies, and to correct what was vicious and wrongly cited in them. However, he went no further in this matter than to supplement the laws by a few , and those imperfect ones; but he caused the unwritten laws of all the tribes that came under his rule to be compiled and reduced to writing . He also had the old rude songs that celeate the deeds and wars of the ancient kings written out for transmission to posterity. He began a grammar of his native language. He gave the months names in his own tongue, in place of the Latin and barbarous names by which they were formerly known among the Franks. He likewise designated the winds by twelve appropriate names; there were hardly more than four distinctive ones in use before. He called , Wintarmanoth; , Hornung; March, Lentzinmanoth; April, Ostarmanoth; May, Winnemanoth; June, Brachmanoth; July, Heuvimanoth; August, Aranmanoth; , Witumanoth; October, Windumemanoth; Novemher, Herbistmanoth; December, Heilagmanoth. He styled the winds as follows; Subsolanus, Ostroniwint; Eurus, Ostsundroni-, Euroauster, Sundostroni; Auster, Sundroni; Austro-Africus, Sundwestroni; Africus, Westsundroni; Zephyrus, Westroni; Caurus, Westnordroni; Circius, Nordwestroni; Septentrio, Nordroni; Aquilo, Nordostroni; Vulturnus, Ostnordroni.

30. Coronation of Louis - Charlemagne's Death

Toward the close of his life [813], when he was broken by ill-health and old age, he summoned Louis, Kigi of Aquitania, his onlv surviving son by Hildegard, and gathered together all the chief men of the whole kingdom of the Franks in a solemn assembly. He appointed Louis, with their unanimous consent, to rule with himself over the whole kingdom and constituted him heir to the imperial name; then, placing the diadem upon his son's head, he bade him be proclaimed Emperor and is step was hailed by all present favor, for it really seemed as if God had prompted him to it for the kingdom's good; it increased the King's dignity, and struck no little terror into foreign nations. After sending his son son back to Aquitania, although weak from age he set out to hunt, as usual, near his palace at Aix-la- Chapelle, and passed the rest of the autumn in the chase, returning thither about the first of November [813]. While wintering there, he was seized, in the month of January, with a high fever Jan 22 814], and took to his bed. As soon as he was taken sick, he prescribed for himself abstinence from food, as he always used to do in case of fever, thinking that the disease could be driven off , or at least mitigated, by fasting. Besides the fever, he suffered from a pain in the side, which the call pleurisy; but he still persisted in fasting, and in keeping up his strength only by draughts taken at very long intervals. He died January twenty-eighth, the seventh day from the time that he took to his bed, at nine o' in the morning, after partaking of the holy communion, in the seventy-second year of his age and the forty-seventh of his reign [Jan 28, 814].

31. Burial

His body was washed and cared for in the usual manner, and was then carried to the church, and interred amid the greatest lamentations of all the people. There was some question at first where to lay him, because in his lifetime he had given no directions as to his burial; but at length all agreed that he could nowhere be more honorably entombed than in the very basilica that he had built in the town at his own expense, for love of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and in honor of the Holy and Eternal Virgin, His Mother. He was buried there the same day that he died, and a gilded arch was erected above his tomb with his image and an inscription. The words of the inscription were as follows: "In this tomb lies the body of Charles, the Great and Orthodox Emperor, who gloriously extended the kingdom of the Franks, and reigned prosperously for forty-seven years. He died at the age of seventy, in the year of our Lord 814, the 7th Indiction, on the 28th day of January."

32. Omens of Death

Very many omens had portended his approaching end, a fact that he had recognized as well as others. Eclipses both of the sun and moon were very frequent during the last three years of his life, and a black spot was visible on the sun for the space of seven days. The gallery between the basilica and the palace, which he had built at great pains and labor, fell in sudden ruin to the ground on the day of the Ascension of our Lord. The wooden bridge over the Rhine at Mayence, which he had caused to be constructed with admirable skill, at the cost of ten years' hard work, so that it seemed as if it might last forever, was so completely consumed in three hours by an accidental fire that not a single splinter of it was left, except what was under water. Moreover, one day in his last campaign into against Godfred, King of the Danes, Charles himself saw a ball of fire fall suddenly from the heavens with a great light, just as he was leaving camp before sunrise to set out on the march. It rushed across the clear sky from right to left, and everybody was wondering what was the meaning of the sign, when the horse which he was riding gave a sudden plunge, head foremost, and fell, and threw him to the ground so heavily that his cloak buckle was broken and his sword belt shattered; and after his servants had hastened to him and relieved him of his arms, he could not rise without their assistance. He happened to have a javelin in his hand when he was thrown, and this was struck from his grasp with such force that it was found lying at a distance of twenty feet or more from the spot. Again, the palace at Aix-la- Chapelle frequently trembled, the roofs of whatever buildings he tarried in kept up a continual crackling noise, the basilica in which he was afterwards buried was struck by lightning, and the gilded ball that adorned the pinnacle of the roof was shattered by the thunderbolt and hurled upon the bishop's house adjoining. In this same basilica, on the margin of the cornice that ran around the interior, between the upper and lower tiers of arches, a legend was inscribed in red letters, stating who was the builder of the temple, the last words of which were Karolus Princeps. The year that he died it was remarked by some, a few months before his decease, that the letters of the word Princeps were so effaced as to be no longer decipherable. But Charles despised, or affected to despise, all these omens, as having no reference whatever to him.

33. Will

It had been his intention to make a will, that he might give some share in the inheritance to his daughters and the children of his concubines; but it was begun too late and could not be finished. Three years before his death, however, he made a division of his treasures, money, clothes, and other movable goods in the presence of his friends and servants, and called them to witness it, that their voices might insure the ratification of the disposition thus made. He had a summary drawn up of his wishes regarding this distribution o his property, the terms and text of which are as follows:

"In the name of the Lord God, the Almighty Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This is the inventory and division dictated by the most glorious and most pious Lord Charles, Emperor Augustus, in the 811th year of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the 43d year of his reign in France and 37th in Italy, the 11th of his empire, and the 4th Indiction, which considerations of piety and prudence have determined him, and the favor of God enabled him, to make of his treasures and money ascertained this day to be in his treasure chamber. In this division he is especially desirous to provide not only that the largess of alms which Christians usually make of their possessions shall be made for himself in due course and order out of his wealth, but also that his heirs shall be free from all doubt, and know clearly what belongs to them, and be able to share their property by suitable partition without litigation or strife. With this intention and to this end he has first divided all his substance and movable goods ascertained to be in his treasure chamber on the day aforesaid in gold, silver, precious stones, and royal ornaments into three lots and has subdivided and set off two of the said lots into twenty-one parts, keeping the third entire. The first two lots have been thus subdivided into twenty one parts because there are in his kingdom twenty-one" recognized metropolitan cities, and in order that each archbishopric may receive by way of alms, at the hands of his heirs and friends, one of the said parts, and that the archbishop who shall then administer its affairs shall take the part given to it, and share the same with his suffragans in such manner that one third shall go to the Church, and the remaining two thirds be divided among the suffragans. The twenty-one parts into which the first two lots are to be distributed, according to the number of recognized metropolitan cities, have been set apart one from another, and each has been put aside by itself in a box labeled with the name of the city for which it is destined. The names of the cities to which this alms or largess is to be sent are as follows: Rome, Ravenna, , , Grado, , Mayence, Salzburg, Treves, Sens, Besançon, Lyons, Rouen, Rheims, Arles, Vienne, Moutiers-en-Tarantaise, Embrun, , , and Bourges. The third lot, which he wishes to be kept entire, is to be bestowed as follows: While the first two lots are to be divided into the parts aforesaid, and set aside under seal, the third lot shall be employed for the owner's daily needs, as property which he shall be under no obligation to part with in order to the fulfillment of any vow, and this as long as he shall be in the flesh, or consider it necessary for his use. But upon his death, or voluntary-renunciation of the affairs of this world, this said lot shall be divided into four parts, and one thereof shall be added to the aforesaid twenty-one parts; the second shall be assigned to his sons and daughters, and to the sons and daughters of his sons, to be distributed among them in just and equal partition; the third, in accordance with the custom common among Christians, shall be devoted to the poor; and the fourth shall go to the support of the men servants and maid servants on duty in the palace. It is his wish that to this said third lot of the whole amount, which consists, as well as the rest, of gold and silver shall be added all the vessels and utensils of brass iron and other metals together with the arms, clothing, and other movable goods, costly and cheap, adapted to divers uses, as hangings, coverlets, carpets, woolen stuffs leathern articles, pack-saddles, and whatsoever shall be found in his treasure chamber and wardrobe at that time, in order that thus the parts of the said lot may be augmented, and the alms distributed reach more persons. He ordains that his chapel-that is to say, its church property, as well that which he has provided and collected as that which came to him by inheritance from his father shall remain entire, and not be dissevered by any partition whatever. If, however, any vessels, books or other articles be found therein which are certainly known not to have been given by him to the said chapel, whoever wants them shall have them on paying their value at a fair estimation. He likewise commands that the books which he has collected in his library in great numbers shall be sold for fair prices to such as want them, and the money received therefrom given to the poor. it is well known that among his other property and treasures are three silver tables, and one very large and massive golden one. He directs and commands that the square silver table, upon which there is a representation of the city of Constantinople, shall be sent to the Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle at Rome, with the other gifts destined therefor; that the round one, adorned with a delineation of the city of Rome, shall be given to the Episcopal Church at Ravenna; that the third, which far surpasses the other two in weight and in beauty of workmanship, and is made in three circles, showing the plan of the whole universe, drawn with skill and delicacy, shall go, together with the golden table, fourthly above mentioned, to increase that lot which is to be devoted to his heirs and to alms.

This deed, and the dispositions thereof, he has made and appointed in the presence of the bishops, abbots, and counts able to be present, whose names are hereto subscribed: Bishops - Hildebald, Ricolf, Arno, Wolfar, Bernoin, Laidrad, John, Theodulf, Jesse, Heito, Waltgaud. Abbots - Fredugis, Adalung, , Irmino. Counts Walacho, Meginher, Otulf, Stephen, Unruoch Burchard Meginhard, Hatto, Rihwin, Edo, Ercangar, Gerold, Bero, Hildiger, Rocculf."

Charles' son Louis who by the grace of God succeeded him, after examining this summary, took pains to fulfill all its conditions most religiously as soon as possible after his father's death.

Various Sources: “Lindisfarne” (AD 789)

[The Carolingian Renaissance was able to come about because of the peace that came with unity, and it was well for Europe that at last so many stood together – because a new threat borne by dragon-ships was about to rear its head from the direction of the north. Follow the link below and read the page about Lindisfarne.] http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo- saxon/lindisfarne/lindisfarne.html

Alcuin: “Letter to Higbald” (AD 793)

Alcuin sent the letter below to the Bishop Higbald and the monastic community at Lindisfarne in 793, after the famous monastery of St. Cuthbert had been sacked by .

To Bishop Higbald and the whole community of the church of Lindisfarne, good sons in Christ of a most blessed father, the holy Bishop Cuthbert, Alcuin, a deacon, sends greeting and blessing in Christ.

When I was with you your loving friendship gave me great joy. Now that I am away your tragic sufferings daily bring me sorrow, since the pagans have desecrated God's sanctuary, shed the blood of saints around the altar, laid waste the house of our hope and trampled the bodies of the saints like dung in the street. I can only cry from my heart before Christ's altar: "O Lord, spare thy people and do not give the Gentiles thine inheritance, lest the heathen say, 'Where is the God of the Christians?'"

What assurance can the churches of Britain have, if Saint Cuthbert and so great a company of saints do not defend their own? Is this the beginning of the great suffering, or the outcome of the sins of those who live there? It has not happened by chance, but is the sign of some great guilt.

You who survive, stand like men, fight bravely and defend the camp of God. Remember how Judas Maccabaeus cleansed the Temple and freed the people from a foreign yoke. If anything needs correction in your way of gentleness, correct it quickly. Recall your patrons who left you for a season. It was not that they lacked influence with God, but they were silent, we know not why.

Do not glory in the vanity of dress; that is cause for shame, not boasting, in priests and servants of God. Do not blur the words of your prayers by drunkenness. Do not go out after the indulgences of the flesh and the greed of the world, but stand firm in the service of God and the discipline of the monastic life, that the holy fathers whose sons you are may not cease to protect you. May you remain safe through their prayers, as you walk in their footsteps. Do not be degenerate sons, having such fathers. They will not cease protecting you, if they see you following their example.

Do not be dismayed by this disaster. God chastises every son whom he accepts, so perhaps he has chastised you more because he loves you more. , a city loved by God was destroyed, with the Temple of God, in Babylonian flames. Rome, surrounded by its company of holy apostles and countless martyrs, was devastated by the heathen, but quickly recovered through the goodness of God. Almost the whole of Europe has been denuded with fire and sword by Goths and , but now by God's mercy is as bright with churches as the sky with stars and in them the offices of the Christian religion grow and flourish. Encourage each other, saying, "Let us return to the Lord our God, for he is very forgiving and never deserts those who hope in him."

... It is better to dress your immortal soul in good ways than to deck with fine clothes the body that soon rots in dust. Clothe and feed Christ in the poor, that so doing you may reign with Christ. Redemption is a man's true riches. If we loved gold we should send it to heaven to be kept there for us. We have what we love: let us love the eternal which will not perish. Let us love the true, not the transitory, riches. Let us win praise with God, not man. Let us do as the! saints whom we praise. Let us follow in their footsteps on earth, to be worthy to share their glory in heaven. May divine goodness keep you from all adversity and bring you, dear brothers, to the glory of the heavenly kingdom with your fathers. When our lord King Charles returns from defeating his enemies, by God's mercy, I plan to go to him, and if I can then do anything for you about the boys who have been carried off by the pagans as prisoners or about any other of your needs, I shall make every effort to see that it is done.

Fare well, beloved in Christ, and be ever strengthened in well-doing.

Source: Alcuin of York, Letter to Higbald, trans. by S. Allott, Alcuin of York (York, 1974). Reprinted in Paul Edward Dutton, Carolingian Civilization: A Reader (Ontario, 1993). Scanned and proofread by Eric C. Knibbs, 2006. This text is part of Viking Source in Translation. © 2006 Anders Winroth, [email protected]

Judith M. Bennett: “The Myth of Pope Joan” From Medieval Europe: A Short History (AD 2006)

A few years ago, I picked up a novel... [that] told the dramatic tale of a young medieval girl whose thirst for learning led her to dress as a boy, become a monk, and eventually even be elected pope.... At the end of the book, the novelist tried to make her tale into history, claiming that her heroine was a real pope of the ninth century. This myth of a medieval Pope Joan has a long history, but not one that goes back as far as the . The story was first concocted some four hundred years later, around 1250. Although my twentieth century novel depicted Pope Joan as a... sort of feminist heroine, the thirteenth century story made Pope Joan into a figure of... abomination [who behaved with no regard for honesty, and led an immoral double life.]... By 1300, the tale of Pope Joan was widely believed, and after 1500, it took on new life as a form of anti-Catholic propaganda. But Pope Joan was never more than a story, one that horrified medieval people....

Judith M. Bennett and C. Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe: A Short History, McGraw Hill, Boston, 2006, p. 129. BBC: “The Book of Kells”

[Please follow the link below to read about this astonishing work by Irish monks.] http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160425-the-book-of-kells-medieval-europes-greatest-treasure