Charlemagne: Dream of a Unified Chrisendom

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CharlemagneDream of a Unified Chrisendom

• a thoughtful endeavor by Emily Ehrlich

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.of German blood and speech

• Charlemagne is the name given to Charles, Son of
  Pepin, by later generations who would admire him.
  Charles was born in 742 (the location is still
  disputed), and was, as biographer Will Durant put
  it, of German blood and speech. He spoke
  Teutonic, although his book reading was limited
  and he could not write.
• His father was Pepin the Short, who in 751 ended
  the Merovingian lineage of Kings and was declared
  king of the Franks.

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The Donation of Constantine

• In 754, Pepin came to the aid of the Christian
  Church in Rome by defending them against the
  imposing Lombards, and by donating land to the
  papal states. In return, Pope Stephen II
  bestowed translatio imperii upon Pepin, by decree
  of a false document the churched forged.
• The Donation of Constantine proclaimed that
  whoever was the recipient of the Donation would
  be King of the Christian Empire, and more
  importantly, would be responsible for the
  protection and expansion of the Christian World.
  
• The Donation was a step towards the
  Christianization of the Barbarian peoples of
  Western and Northern Europe. With this new
  responsibility disguised as a Papal honor, Pepin
  now believed it his duty to organize and expand
  the Christian Empire which he now ruled.
• When Pepin died in 768, Charles (who would later
  be named Charlemagne) and his brother inherited
  the Kingdom. When his brother died soon there
  after, Charlemagne accepted his fathers role of
  protector of the Church, and felt that it was a
  decree from God that he create a unified empire
  in His name.

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Pepins Acceptance of the Donation of Constantine
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The First Stages of Expansion

• Charlemagnes first campaign for expansion was in
  Italy, where he immediately defeated Desiderius,
  King of the Lombards, and was crowned by Rome the
  new Lombardian King. Not only did this secure
  the independence of the papal states, it also
  brought new wealth and new people to
  Charlemagnes ever-growing Christian kingdom.
• More of a threat than the Lombards were the
  Saxons, who continually struggled against and
  resisted Christianization. After 32 years of
  battle, Francia finally annexed Saxony on its
  northeastern fronteir.
• Whilst subduing the Saxons to the north,
  Charlemagne also campaigned in Spain in 778.
  This campaigne is particularly remembered for the
  Basque ambush on Charlemagnes guards after a
  victory March), commemorated in the epic poem,
  The Song of Roland (Count Roland being the Breton
  leader of the March). The location of the ambush
  would later be called the Spanish March,
  representing a buffer zone between Muslim Spain
  and Frkanish Gaul.

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European Map Displaying Saxony, the Kingdom of
the Lombards, and The Spanish March
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the Drang nach Osten (Push to the East)

• The Slavic Kingdom of the Avars (Huns), an
  Asiatic tribe along the upper Danube, had always
  been a a terrifying and powerful threat to
  Charlemagnes growing Kingdom. The two were
  ultimately polarized one was an assimilated
  collection of tribes under a standardized
  religion that rejected tribal customs and
  heritage, the other reveled in just that, and
  its nomadic barbaric people were Chrisendoms
  antithesis. Charlemagne finally defeated the
  imposing power of the Avars, and over the period
  of 791 to 795 converted their Kingdom into a
  tributary state.
• The victory over the Avars opened up the Danubian
  Plain to Christian (and, more importantly,
  German) culture and colonization. This marked
  the beginning of Christianitys eastern
  expansion, known as the Drang nach Osten, or the
  Push to the East.
• Another eastern victory occurred when Charlemagne
  defeated Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, the duchy of
  Bavaria now joined Chrisendom. Another protected
  march (border-zone)was formed, this one called
  the Ost Mark, also known as Austria.

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Map of Bavaria and Danube River
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Unified West, Estranged East The Birth of the
Holy Roman Empire

• In 800, what had once been unified territory of
  the Roman Empire was once again under a central
  authority, that of Charlemagne (with the
  exception of the British isles, which Charlemagne
  never reached). His Kingdom extended from the
  Elbe River to the Pyrenees, from the North Sea to
  southern Italy. Charlemagne ruled and protected
  the Christian Kingdom, and since the Church was
  in Rome, it could be said that he had the utmost
  authority in Rome, surpassing that of the papacy.
• When religious differences in Christianity
  between Irene, Empress of Byzantium and the Roman
  Church (primarily over the issue of iconoclasm,
  or image worship) came to a head, the Church
  relied on Charlemagne for protection and
  leadership. On Christmas Day, 800, he was
  crowned as the first Holy Roman Emperor, naming
  him the divinely appointed leader of the earthly
  Christian world (as far as Latin Christianity was
  concerned).
• Hail to Charles the Augustus, crowned by God the
  great and peace-bringing Emperor of the Romans!
  His head was annointed with holy oil, the Pope
  renamed Charlemagne (again) as Emperor and
  Augustus.

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Charles the Augustus, Holy Roman Emperor
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Aachen in the Holy Roman Empire

• Charlemagne decided to create a capitol for the
  Holy Roman Empire, much like Constantinple wasfor
  Byzantium. Ironically, he chose Aachen
  (Aix-la-Chapelle), not Rome, where he constructed
  the Palace Chapel, obviously mimicking the
  Byzantium style and architecture.

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Administration of a Vast Kingdom

• Charlemagnes kingdom stretched between the
  Vistula and the Atlantic, between the Baltic and
  the Pyrenees, including almost all of Italy and
  the Balkans. Its seems almost incomprehensible
  that one man could rule such a vast empire, but
  Charlemagnes administration was the most
  enlightened government in Europe since Theodoric
  the Goth.
• Charlemagne created a centralized state ruled by
  royal authority. However, he employed a system
  of vassals in a court to maintain order in the
  Kingdom. Each district was under the watch of a
  count who became the primary link between the
  local and central governments.
• To prevent a count from gaining too much power,
  Charlemagne created the missi dominici, a group
  of envoys who inquired into the abuses of power
  throughout the Empire. They worked in
  conjunction with an elite group of guards called
  the vassi dominici,
• Perhaps most essential to the government were the
  sixty-five Capitularii, written legislature that
  imposed law.

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Capitularii and the Assimilation of Barbaric Codes

• The Capitularii were not necessarily an organized
  system, but rather a reinvention of and extension
  of old barbarian codes to fit the new Christian
  Kingdom.
• Included were the old wergild, ordeals, trial by
  combat, and punishment by mutilation. Relapse
  into paganism was punishable by death. So was
  eating meat during Lent.
• Some Capitularii were moral counsels, or answers
  to questions that had been addressed. For
  example, one stated, It is necessary that every
  man should seek to the best of his stregnth and
  ability to serve God and walk in the way of His
  precepts for the Lord Emperor cannot watch over
  every man in personal discipline.
• Capitularii also governed sexual and marital
  relations
• In essence, the Capitularii were meant to convert
  Barbarianism to a more docile, easily controlable
  Christian civilization.
• Interesting Fact Charlemagne was against slavery
  and serfdom, for it was a Barbarian practice that
  resulted from the battles between pagan tribes.
  He worked for the cause of free peasantry and
  against the spread of serfdom, because he
  believed it to be a relapse into uncivilized
  Barbarianism.

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Internal Improvements and Education

• For public lands, Charlemagne issued a Capitulare
  de villis, a ridiculously detailed plan for all
  state income. It explained how forests,
  wastelands, ports, and propery of the state
  should be maintained. It also encouraged and
  protected commerce by standardizing weights and
  measures and prices. Roads and bridges were
  maintained or repaired.
• To improve literacy and overall education,
  Charlemagne imported scholars from Ireland,
  Britain and Italy. From these schools would
  spring the future universities of Europe. It is
  important to note, however, that while literacy
  improved, there was no renaissance in literature,
  and no great works from this time period were
  produced, with the exception of Einhards Vita
  Carogli Magni, a biography of Charlemagne.

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The Carolingian Legacy of Charlemagne

• Literacy is a major part of Carolngian culture,
  because of the impact it played on sustaining
  Charlemanges centralized Christian Empire.
• An educated(literate) clergy could undertake many
  of the administrative tasks of government,
  thereby sealing the bond between government and
  religion.
• An educated clergy also ensured the acceptance of
  orthodox doctrine as a uniform liturgy.
• The uniform script, known as the Caroline
  minuscule, achieves the publication of a uniform
  Mass book, book of lessons, and overall study of
  the liturgy and gospel.
• Barbaric tribes lacked a written language for the
  most part. Literacy unified them under a common
  language.
• Besides the strategic reasons above, a literate
  culture raised the prestige and authority of
  Charlemagne, who painted himself as the defender
  of the Church, of orthodoxy, education, and
  western civilization

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Bibliography
Charlemagne. Encyclopedia of World Biography,
2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.
Reproduced in Biography Resource Center,
Farmington Hills, Mich. The Gale Group. 2004.
http//www.galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Ch
arlemagne. Historic World Leaders. Gale
Research, 1994. Reproduced in Biography Resource
Center, Farmington Hills, Mich. The Gale Group.
2004. http//www.galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/Bio
RC Durant, Will. King Charlemagne, History of
Civilization Vol III, The Age of Faith.
http//www.chronique.com/Library/MedHistory.charle
magne.htm Einhard the Life of Charlemagne,
translated by Samuel Epes Turner, (New York
Harper Brothers, 1880). Translation reprinted
by University of Michigan Press in 1960. Fanning,
Steven. Donation of Constantine, The Catholic
Encyclopedia, Volume V. http//www.newadvent.org/
cathen/05118a.htm Tinkler, Michael C.
Charlemagne, The Catholic Encyclopedia Volume
III. http//www.newadvent.org/cathen/03610c.htm