Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire

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Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire

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From last time..

• The Roman Empire East and West (395)
• Eastern Roman Empire Roman and Christian
  identities
• We saw the progressive destruction of the Western
  Roman Empire (476), and the progressive
  strengthening of the Christian Church
• Social and Political void filled by the Church

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The Barbarians and the Pope

• Remember the example of Gregory the Great and his
  letter to the Queen!
• A very important example of alliance between the
  Barbarians and the Papacy is the French one

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The Frankish Kingdom
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Pippin Zachary

• Pippin and the Merovingian Dynasty
• 751 The Pope backs him up
• Why did Pippin need the Pope?
• What did the Pope gain?

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Charlemagne the most important of Pippins
successors
Harvard Memorial Hall,1888 Charlemagne as a
symbol of sovereignty and political wisdom
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Why was Charlemagne so important? Lets see from
Einhards Chronicle(ca.830)

• Roman and Frank a merged allegiance
• Moderation a Christian virtue
• What was he reading? What does that mean?
• What was his relationship with the Pope?
• The city of Rome and the Church of Saint Peter
  the reference points of a HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR
  (although this term started to be used later in
  the sources)

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Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor he was
crowned by Pope Leo III on Christmas night of
the year 800
Illustration from a 14th c. manuscript,
Bibliothèque Nationale
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Why is this important?

• The concept of Translatio Imperii Rome is not
  dead!
• Once again, the role of the Pope in that
  remember Constantine
• Europe has a new strong political authority, but
  this time tied to religion

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Rome is alive Moscow and the third Rome myth
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Rome is alive Mussolini and the third Rome myth
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The Carolingian reformation the Church

• Before talking about this, let us firm up some
  points.

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What is the difference between regular and
secular clergy?

• Regular Clergy those who follow a religious
  Rule, i.e. monks
• Secular Clergy those who are in the saeculum
  (Latin for world-time), and who have cura
  animarum (Latin for care for the souls)

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The Carolingian Reformation the Church

• Reform of the Regular Clergy Rule of St.Benedict
  applied throughout
• Reform of the Secular Clergy Charlemagne starts
  appointing Bishops and enforces moral and
  doctrinal discipline

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The Carolingian Reformation the Schools

• Cathedral, Monastic and Court Schools
• Reform of the Curriculum the Seven Liberal Arts
  (grammar, rhetoric, logic geometry, arithmetic,
  astronomy, music)
• Liberal Arts as a preparation for theology
• Latin
• Handwriting

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Preserving Manuscripts one of the most important
legacies of the Carolingian Era
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The Collapse of the Carolingian World in 851 the
Empire splits
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After 851

• Western Frankish Kingdom (France) looses its
  imperial character

• Eastern Frankish Kingdom (Germany) retains the
  title of Holy Roman Empire

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Partial conclusions

• Holy Roman Empire Rome is alive once again, and
  Church and State united
• Carolingian Reform a deep re-organization of
  Western Europes intellectual, social and
  religious life
• Open question what is the future of Europe in
  851? How does the post-Carolingian world look
  like?

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Islam a new kid on the block

• Ca 570 Muhammad is born in Mecca
• 622 Muhammad goes to Medina -a leader is born
• 624 the battle of Badr
• 630 Muhammad wins in Mecca a new religion and a
  new society is born

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The Muslim empire expands

• First picture the Islamic empire at the time of
  the death of Muhammad (632)
• Second picture the Islamic empire around 750

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One important issue Sunni and Shiite- can you
tell the difference?

• No major theological difference
• Split occurred in 661 at the death of Ali -the
  Shiites believe that only Ali, the fourth caliph
  and his heirs are the legitimate successors of
  Muhammad

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Who is Sunni? Who is Shiite?

• What is Osama Bin Laden?
• Sunni
• How about Iran?
• Shiite
• How about Hezbollah?
• Shiite
• Sunni is 90 of the Muslim world
• Shiites are concentrated in Iran, Iraq and
  Lebanon

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The Muslim world after 750 from unity to
fragmentation

• After 750 the dissolution of the caliphate
• 790-1050 the Islamic renaissance, which produced
  a series of important intellectual and cultural
  innovations and developments, including..

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I mean

• The number 0 is an Arab (fantastic) invention,
  that allows you to count the way you do!
• Roman numerals, with no 0, were much more
  complicated and they worked through addition
  (e.g. X10, I1, V5 that is 16 XVI, XVI)

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A lot of Aristotle!

• Islamic religion puts a lot of emphasis on
  reason,
• In fact, many Arab intellectuals commented and
  studied Aristotle, and it is thanks to them that
  some of his works survived!
• The best known of those commentators of Aristotle
  is Abn-Ali Al Hosain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina,
  called in Latin AVICENNA (980-1037)

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In conclusion

• Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire an
  extraordinary political and religious entity,
  Rome is born again!
• Again, Christian Church fundamental in this
• The Muslim world is starting to divide itself,
  but maintains a vivacious intellectual activity
• Looking ahead what happens in the Byzantine
  empire? And how does the post-Charlemagne world
  look like?

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The End

• See you on Thursday