Charlemagne

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(French forCarolus Magnus, orCarlus Magnus ("Charles the Great"); GermanKarl der Grosse).

The name given by later generations to Charles, King of theFranks, first sovereign of theChristian Empire of the West; born 2 April, 742; died atAachen, 28 January, 814. Note, however, that the place of his birth (whetherAachen orLiège) has never been fully ascertained, while the traditional date has been set one or more years later by recent writers; ifAlcuin is to be interpreted literally the year should be 745. At the time of Charles' birth, hisfather,Pepin the Short, Mayor of the Palace, of the line of Arnulf, was, theoretically, only the first subject of Childeric III, the last Merovingian King of theFranks; but this modest title implied that real power, military, civil, and evenecclesiastical, of which Childeric's crown was only the symbol. It is not certain that Bertrada (orBertha), the mother of Charlemagne, a daughter of Charibert, Count of Laon, was legally married toPepin until some years later than either 742 or 745.

Charlemagne's career led to his acknowledgment by theHoly See as its chief protector and coadjutor in temporals, by Constantinople as at leastBasileus of the West. This reign, which involved to a greater degree than that of any other historical personage the organic development, and still more, the consolidation ofChristianEurope, will be sketched in this article in the successive periods into which it naturally divides. The period of Charlemagne was also an epoch of reform for theChurch inGaul, and of foundation for theChurch inGermany, marked, moreover, by an efflorescence of learning which fructified in the greatChristianschools of the twelfth and later centuries.

To the fall of Pavia (742-774)

In 752, when Charles was a child of not more than ten years,Pepin the Short had appealed toPope Zachary to recognize his actual rule with the kingly title and dignity. The practical effect of this appeal to theHoly See was the journey ofStephen III across the Alps two years later, for the purpose of anointing with the oil of kingship not onlyPepin, but also his son Charles and a younger son, Carloman. Thepope then laid upon theChristianFranks a precept, under the gravest spiritual penalties, never "to choose their kings from any otherfamily". Primogeniture did not hold in theFrankish law of succession; the monarchy was elective, though eligibility was limited to the male members of the one privilegedfamily. Thus, then, at St. Denis on the Seine, in the Kingdom of Neustria, on the 28th of July, 754, the house of Arnulf was, by a solemn act of thesupreme pontiff established upon the throne until then nominally occupied by the house of Merowig (Merovingians).

Charles, anointed to the kingly office while yet a mere child, learned the rudiments ofwar while still many years short of manhood, accompanying hisfather in several campaigns. This early experience is worth noting chiefly because it developed in the boy those military virtues which, joined with his extraordinary physical strength and intense nationalism, made him a popular hero of theFranks long before he became their rightful ruler. At length, in September, 768,Pepin the Short, foreseeing his end, made a partition of his dominions between his two sons. Not many days later the old king passed away.

To better comprehend the effect of the act of partition under which Charles and Carloman inherited their father's dominions, as well as the whole subsequent history of Charles' reign, it is to be observed that those dominions comprised:

Of these two divisions, the former extended, roughly speaking, from the boundaries ofThuringia, on the east, to what is now theBelgian and Norman coastline, on the west; it bordered to the north on Saxony, and included both banks of the Rhine from Cologne (the ancientColonia Agrippina) to the North Sea; its southern neighbours were the Bavarians, the Alemanni, and theBurgundians. The dependent states were: the fundamentally Gaulish Neustria (including within its bordersParis), which was, nevertheless, well leavened with a dominantFrankish element; to the southwest of Neustria, Brittany, formerly Armorica, with a British and Gallo-Roman population; to the south of Neustria the Duchy of Aquitaine, lying, for the most part, between the Loire and the Garonne, with a decidedly Gallo-Roman population; and east of Aquitaine, along the valley of the Rhone, theBurgundians, a people of much the same mixed origin as those of Aquitaine, though with a large infusion of Teutonic blood. These States, with perhaps the exception of Brittany, recognized the Theodosian Code as their law. The German dependencies of theFrankish kingdom were Thuringia, in the valley of the Main,Bavaria, and Alemannia (corresponding to what was later known as Swabia). These last, at the time ofPepin's death, had but recently been won toChristianity, mainly through the preaching ofSt. Boniface. The share which fell to Charles consisted of all Austrasia (the originalFrankland), most of Neustria, and all of Aquitaine except the southeast corner. In this way the possessions of the elder brother surrounded the younger on two sides, but on the other hand the distribution of races under their respective rules was such as to preclude any risk of discord arising out of the national sentiments of their various subjects.

In spite of this provident arrangement, Carloman contrived to quarrel with his brother. Hunald, formerly Duke of Aquitaine, vanquished byPepin the Short, broke from thecloister, where he had lived as amonk for twenty years, and stirred up a revolt in the western part of the duchy. ByFrankish custom Carloman should have aided Charles; the younger brother himself held part of Aquitaine; but he pretended that, as his dominion were unaffected by this revolt, it was no business of his. Hunald, however, was vanquished by Charles single-handed; he was betrayed by a nephew with whom he had sought refuge, was sent toRome to answer for the violation of hismonasticvows, and at last, after once more breakingcloister, was stoned to death by the Lombards of Pavia. For Charles thetrue importance of this Aquitanian episode was in its manifestation his brother's unkindly feeling in his regard, and against this danger he lost no time in taking precautions, chiefly by winning over to himself the friends whom he judged likely to be most valuable; first and foremost of these was his mother,Bertha, who had striven both earnestly and prudently to make peace between her sons, but who, when it becamenecessary to take sides with one or the other could not hesitate in her devotion to the elder. Charles was an affectionate son; it also appears that, in general, he was helped to power by his extraordinary gift of personal attractiveness.

Carloman died soon after this (4 December, 771), and a certain letter from "the Monk Cathwulph", quoted by Bouquet (Recueil. hist., V, 634), in enumerating the specialblessings for which the king was induty bound to be grateful, says,

Third . . .God has preserved you from the wiles of your brother . . . . Fifth, and not the least, thatGod has removed your brother from this earthly kingdom.

Carloman may not have been quite so malignant as the enthusiastic partisans of Charles made him out, but the division ofPepin's dominions was in itself an impediment to the growth of a strongFrankish realm such as Charles needed for the unification of theChristian Continent. Although Carloman had left two sons by his wife, Gerberga, theFrankish law of inheritance gave no preference to sons as against brother; left to their own choice, theFrankish lieges, whether fromlove of Charles or for the fear which his name already inspired, gladly accepted him for their king. Gerberga and her children fled to the Lombard court of Pavia. In the mean while complications had arisen in Charles' foreign policy which made his newly established supremacy at home doubly opportune.

From hisfather Charles had inherited the title "Patricius Romanus" which carried with it a specialobligation to protect the temporalrights of theHoly See. The nearest and most menacing neighbour ofSt. Peter's Patrimony was Desidarius (Didier), King of the Lombards, and it was with this potentate that the dowagerBertha had arranged a matrimonial alliance for her elder son. Thepope had solid temporal reasons for objecting to this arrangement. Moreover, Charles was already,in foro conscientiae, if not inFrankish law, wedded to Himiltrude. In defiance of thepope's protest (PL 98:250), Charles married Desiderata, daughter of Desiderius (770), three years later he repudiated her and married Hildegarde, the beautiful Swabian. Naturally, Desiderius was furious at this insult, and the dominions of theHoly See bore the first brunt of his wrath.

But Charles had to defend his own borders against theheathen as well as to protectRome against the Lombard. To the north of Austrasia lay Frisia, which seems to have been in some equivocal way a dependency, and to the east of Frisia, from the left bank of the Ems (about the presentHolland-Westphalia frontier), across the valley of the Weser and Aller, and still eastward to the left bank of the Elbe, extended the country of the Saxons, who in no fashion whatever acknowledged any allegiance to theFrankish kings. In 772 these Saxons were a horde of aggressivepagans offering toChristian missionaries no hope but that ofmartyrdom; bound together, normally, by no political organization, and constantly engaged in predatory incursions into the lands of theFranks. Their language seems to have been very like that spoken by the Egberts and Ethelreds of Britain, but the work of theirChristian cousin,St. Boniface, had not affected them as yet; they worshipped the gods of Walhalla, united in solemn sacrifice — sometimes human — to Irminsul (Igdrasail), the sacred tree which stood at Eresburg, and were still slayingChristian missionaries when their kinsmen in Britain were holding churchsynods and buildingcathedrals. Charles could brook neither their predatory habits nor theirheathenish intolerance; it was impossible, moreover, to make permanent peace with them while they followed the old Teutonic life of free village communities. He made his first expedition into their country in July, 772, took Eresburg by storm, and burned Irminsul. It was in January of this same year thatPope Stephen III died, andAdrian I, an opponent of Desiderius, was elected. The newpope was almost immediately assailed by the Lombard king, who seized three minor cities of thePatrimony of St. Peter, threatenedRavenna itself, and set about organizing a plot within theCuria. Paul Afiarta, thepapal chamberlain, detected acting as the Lombard's secret agent, was seized andput to death. The Lombard army advanced againstRome, but quailed before the spiritual weapons of theChurch, while Adrian sent alegate into Gaul to claim the aid of the Patrician.

Thus it was that Charles, resting at Thionville after his Saxon campaign, was urgently reminded of the rough work that awaited his hand south of the Alps. Desiderius' embassy reached him soon after Adrian's. He did not take it for granted that the right was all upon Adrian's side; besides, he may have seen here an opportunity make some amends for his repudiation of the Lombard princess. Before taking up arms for theHoly See, therefore, he sent commissioners intoItaly to make enquiries and when Desiderius pretended that the seizure of thepapal cities was in effect only the legal foreclosure of a mortgage, Charles promptly offered to redeem them by a money payment. But Desiderius refused the money, and as Charles' commissioners reported in favour of Adrian, the only course left waswar.

In the spring of 773 Charles summoned the whole military strength of theFranks for a great invasion ofLombardy. He was slow to strike, but he meant to strike hard. Data for any approximate estimate of his numerical strength are lacking, but it iscertain that the army, in order to make the descent more swiftly, crossed the Alps by two passes: Mont Cenis and the Great St. Bernard.Einhard, who accompanied the king over Mont Cenis (the St. Bernard column was led by Duke Bernhard), speaks feelingly of the marvels and perils of the passage. The invaders found Desiderius waiting for them, entrenched atSusa; they turned his flank and put the Lombard army to utter rout. Leaving all the cities of the plains to their fate, Desiderius rallied part of his forces inPavia, his walled capital, while his son Adalghis, with the rest, occupiedVerona. Charles, having been joined by Duke Bernhard, took the forsaken cities on his way and then completely invested Pavia (September, 773), whence Otger, the faithful attendant of Gerberga, could look with trembling upon the array of his countrymen. Soon afterChristmas Charles withdrew from the siege a portion of the army which he employed in the capture ofVerona. Here he found Gerberga and her children; as to what became of them, history is silent; they probably entered thecloister.

What history does record with vivid eloquence is the first visit of Charles to theEternal City. There everything was done to give his entry as much as possible the air of a triumph in ancientRome. The judges met him thirty miles from the city; the militia laid at the feet of their great patrician the banner ofRome and hailed him as theirimperator. Charles himself forgotpaganRome and prostrated himself tokiss the threshold of the Apostles, and then spent seven days in conference with thesuccessor of Peter. It was then that he undoubtedly formed many great designs for the glory ofGod and the exaltation of Holy Church, which, in spite of human weaknesses and, still more,ignorance, he afterwards did his best to realize. Hiscoronation as the successor of Constantine did not take place until twenty-six years later, but hisconsecration as first champion of theCatholicChurch took place atEaster, 774. Soon after this (June, 774) Pavia fell, Desiderius was banished, Adalghis became a fugitive at theByzantine court, and Charles, assuming the crown ofLombardy, renewed to Adrian the donation of territory made byPepin the Short after his defeat ofAistulph. (This donation is now generally admitted, as well as the original gift ofPepin at Kiersy in 752. The so-called "Privilegium Hadriani pro Carolo" granting him full right to nominate thepope and to invest allbishops is aforgery.)

To the baptism of Wittekind (774-785)

The next twenty years of Charles' life may be considered as one longwarfare. They are filled with an astounding series of rapid marches from end to end of a continent intersected by mountains, morasses, and forests, and scantily provided with roads. It would seem that the key to his long series of victories, won almost as much by moral ascendancy as by physical ormental superiority, is to be found in the inspiration communicated to hisFrankish champion byPope Adrian I. Weiss (Weltgesch., 11, 549) enumerates fifty-three distinct campaigns of Charlemagne; of these it is possible to point to only twelve or fourteen which were not undertaken principally or entirely in execution of his mission as the soldier and protector of theChurch. In his eighteen campaigns against the Saxons Charles was more or less actuated by the desire to extinguish what he and his people regarded as a form ofdevil-worship, no less odious to them than thefetishism of Central Africa is to us.

While he was still inItaly the Saxons, irritated but not subdued by the fate of Eresburg and of Irminsul had risen in arms, harried the country of theHessianFranks, and burned manychurches; that ofSt. Boniface at Fritzlar, being of stone, had defeated their efforts. Returning to the north, Charles sent a preliminary column of cavalry into the enemy's country while he held a council of the realm at Kiersy (Quercy) in September, 774, at which it was decided that the Saxons (Westfali, Ostfali, and Angrarii) must be presented with the alternative ofbaptism or death. The northeastern campaigns of the next seven years had for their object a conquest so decisive as to make the execution of this policy feasible. The year 775 saw the first of a series ofFrankish military colonies, on the ancient Roman plan established at Sigeburg among the Westfali. Charles next subdued, temporarily at least, the Ostali, whose chieftain, Hessi, having acceptedbaptism, ended his life in themonastery ofFulda (seeSAINT BONIFACE;FULDA). Then, aFrankish camp at Lübbecke on the Weser having been surprised by the Saxons, and its garrison slaughtered, Charles turned again westward, once more routed the Westfali, and received theiroaths of submission.

At this stage (776) the affairs ofLombardy interrupted the Saxon crusade. Areghis ofBeneventum, son-in-law of the vanquished Desiderius, had formed a plan with his brother-in-law Adalghis (Adelchis), then an exile at Constantinople, by which the latter was to make a descent uponItaly, backed by the Eastern emperor; Adrian was at the same time involved in a quarrel with the three Lombard dukes, Reginald of Clusium, Rotgaud of Friuli, and Hildebrand ofSpoleto. TheArchbishop ofRavenna, who called himself "primate" and "exarch ofItaly", was also attempting to found an independent principality at the expense of thepapal state but was finally subdued in 776, and his successor compelled to be content with the title of "Vicar" or representative of thepope. The junction of the aforesaid powers, all inimical to thepope and theFranks, while Charles was occupied inWestphalia, was only prevented by the death of Constantine Copronymus in September, 775 (seeBYZANTINE EMPIRE). After winning over Hildebrand and Reginald by diplomacy, Charles descended intoLombardy by the Brenner Pass (spring of 776), defeated Rotgaud, and leaving garrisons and governors, or counts (comites), as they were termed, in the reconquered cities of the Duchy of Friuli, hastened back to Saxony. There theFrankish garrison had been forced to evacuate Eresburg, while the siege of Sigeburg was so unexpectedly broken up as to give occasion later to a legend ofangelic intervention in favour of theChristians. As usual, the almost incredible suddenness of the king's reappearance and the moral effect of his presence quieted the ragings of theheathen. Charles then divided the Saxon territory into Missionary districts. At the great spring hosting (champ de Mai) ofPaderborn, in 777, many Saxon converts werebaptized; Wittekind (Widukind), however, already the leader and afterwards the popular hero of the Saxons, had fled to his brother-in-law, Sigfrid the Dane.

The episode of the invasion ofSpain comes next in chronological order. The condition of the venerable Iberian Church, still suffering underMoslem domination, appealed strongly to the king's sympathy. In 777 there came toPaderborn threeMoorish emirs, enemies of the Ommeyad Abderrahman, theMoorish King ofCordova. These emirs did homage to Charles and proposed to him an invasion of NorthernSpain; one of the, Ibn-el-Arabi, promised to bring to the invaders' assistance a force of Berber auxiliaries fromAfrica; the other two promised to exert their powerful influence at Barcelona and elsewhere north of the Ebro. Accordingly, in the spring of 778, Charles, with a host of crusaders, speaking many tongues, and which numbered among its constituents even a quota ofLombards, moved towards the Pyrenees. His trusted lieutenant, Duke Bernhard, with one division, enteredSpain by the coast. Charles himself marched through the mountain passes straight to Pampelona. But Ibn-el-Arabi, who had prematurely brought on his army of Berbers, was assassinated by the emissary of Abderrahman, and though Pampelona was razed, and Barcelona and other cities fell, Saragossa held out. Apart from the moral effect of this campaign upon theMoslem rulers ofSpain, its result was insignificant, though the famous ambuscade in which perished Roland, the great Paladin, at the Pass of Roncesvalles, furnished to themedieval world the material for its most glorious and influential epic, the "Chanson de Roland".

Much more important to posterity were the next succeeding events which continued and decided the long struggle inSaxony. During the Spanish crusade Wittekind had returned from his exile, bringing with himDanish allies, and was now ravagingHesse; the Rhine valley from Deutz to Andenach was a prey to the Saxon"devil-worshipers"; theChristian missionaries were scattered or in hiding. Charles gathered his hosts at Düren, in June, 779, and stormed Wittekind's entrenched camp at Bocholt, after which campaign he seems to have considered Saxony a fairly subdued country. At any rate, the "Saxon Capitulary" (see CAPITULARIES) of 781obliged all Saxons not only to acceptbaptism (and this on the pain of death) but also to paytithes, as theFranks did for the support of theChurch; moreover it confiscated a large amount ofproperty for the benefit of the missions. This was Wittekind's last opportunity to restore the national independence andpaganism; his people, exasperated against theFranks and theirGod, eagerly rushed to arms. At Suntal on the Weser, Charles being absent, they defeated aFrankish army killing two royallegates and five Counts. But Wittekind committed theerror of enlisting as allies the non-Teutonic Sorbs from beyond the Saale; race-antagonism soon weakened his forces, and the Saxon hosts melted away. Of the so-called "Massacre of Verdun" (783) it is fair to say that the 4500 Saxons who perished were notprisoners ofwar; legally, they were ringleaders in a rebellion, selected as such from a number of their fellow rebels. Wittekind himself escaped beyond the Elbe. It was not until after another defeat of the Saxons at Detmold, and again atOsnabrück, on the "Hill of Slaughter", that Wittekind acknowledged theGod of Charles the stronger than Odin. In 785 Wittekind receivedbaptism at Attigny, and Charles stood godfather.

Last steps to the imperial throne (785-800)

The summer of 783 began a new period in the life of Charles, in which signs begin to appear of his less amiable traits. It was in this year, signalized, according to the chroniclers, by unexampled heat and a pestilence, that the two queens died,Bertha, the king's mother, and Hildegarde, his second (or his third) wife. Both of thesewomen, the former in particular, had exercised over him a strong influence for good. Within a few months the king married Fastrada, daughter of an Austrasian count. The succeeding years were, comparatively speaking, years of harvest after the stupendous period of ploughing and sowing that had gone before; and Charles' nature was of a type that appears to best advantage in storm and stress. What was to be the Western Empire of theMiddle Ages was already hewn out in the rough when Wittekind receivedbaptism. From thatdate until thecoronation of Charles atRome, in 800, his military work was chiefly in suppressing risings of the newly conquered or quelling the discontents of jealous subject princes. Thrice in these fifteen years did the Saxons rise, only to be defeated. Tassilo, Duke ofBavaria, had been a more or less rebellious vassal ever since the beginning of his reign, and Charles now made use of thepope's influence, exercised through the powerfulbishops of Freising,Salzburg, andRegensburg (Ratisbon), to bring him to terms. In 786 aThuringian revolt was quelled by the timely death, blinding, and banishment of its leaders. Next year the Lombard prince, Areghis, having fortified himself atSalerno, had actually beencrowned King of the Lombards when Charles descended upon him atBeneventum, received his submission, and took his son Grimwald as a hostage, after which, finding that Tassilo had been secretly associated with the conspiracy of the Lombards, he invadedBavaria from three sides with three armies drawn from at least five nationalities. Once more the influence of theHoly See settled theBavarian question in Charles' favour; Adrian threatened Tassilo withexcommunication if he persisted in rebellion, and as the Duke's own subjects refused to follow him to the field, he personally made submission, did homage, and in return received from Charles a new lease of his duchy (October, 787).

During this period the national discontent with Fastrada culminated in a plot in which Pepin the Hunchback, Charles' son by Himiltrude, was implicated, and though his life was spared through hisfather's intercession, Pepin spent what remained of his days in amonastery. Another son of Charles (Carloman, afterwards called Pepin, andcrowned King ofLombardy atRome in 781, on the occasion of anEaster visit by the king, at which time also his brother Louis wascrowned King of Aquitaine) served hisfather in dealing with the Avars, apagan danger on the frontier, compared with which the invasion of Septimania by theSaracens (793) was but an insignificant incident of borderwarfare. These Avars, probably of Turanian blood, occupied the territories north of the Save and west of the Theiss. Tassilo had invited their assistance against his overlord; and after the Duke's final submission Charles invaded their country and conquered it as far as the Raab (791). By the capture of the famous "Ring" of the Avars, with its nine concentric circles, Charles came into possession of vast quantities of gold and silver, parts of the plunder which these barbarians had been accumulating for two centuries. In this campaign King Pepin ofLombardy cooperated with hisfather, with forces drawn fromItaly; the later stages of thiswar (which may be considered the last of Charles' greatwars) were left in the hands of the younger king.

The last stages by which the story of Charles' career is brought to its climax touch upon the exclusive spiritual domain of theChurch. He had never ceased to interest himself in the deliberations ofsynods, and this interest extended (an example that wrought fatal results in after ages) to the discussion of questions which would now be regarded as purely dogmatic. Charles interfered in the dispute about theAdoptionist heresy (seeADOPTIONISM;ALCUIN;COUNCIL OF FRANKFORT). His interference was less pleasing to Adrian in the matter ofIconoclasm, aheresy with which the Empress-mother Irene and Tarasius,Patriarch of Constantinople, had dealt in the second Council of Nicaea. TheSynod of Frankfort, wrongly informed, but inspired by Charles, took upon itself to condemn the aforesaid Council, although the latter had the sanction of theHoly See (seeCAROLINE BOOKS). In the year 797 the Eastern Emperor Constantine VI, with whom his mother Irene had for some time been at variance, was by her dethroned,imprisoned, and blinded. It is significant of Charles' position asde facto Emperor of the West that Irene sent envoys toAachen to lay before Charles her side of this horrible story. It is also to be noted that the popular impression that Constantine had beenput to death, and the aversion to committing the imperial sceptre to awoman's hand, also bore upon what followed. Lastly, it was to Charles alone that theChristians of theEast were now crying out for succour against the threatening advance of theMoslem Caliph Haroun al Raschid. In 795Adrian I died (25 Dec.), deeply regretted by Charles, who held thispope in great esteem and caused a Latin metrical epitaph to be prepared for thepapaltomb. In 787 Charles had visitedRome for the third time in the interest of thepope and his secure possession of thePatrimony of Peter.

Leo III, the immediate successor ofAdrian I, notified Charles of his election (26 December, 795) to theHoly See. The king sent in return rich presents byAbbot Angilbert, whom he commissioned to deal with thepope in all manners pertaining to the royal office of Roman Patrician. While this letter is respectful and even affectionate, it also exhibits Charles' concept of the coordination of the spiritual and temporal powers, nor does he hesitate to remind thepope of his grave spiritualobligations. The newpope, a Roman, had bitter enemies in theEternal City, who spread the most damaging reports of his previous life. At length (25 April, 799) he was waylaid, and left unconscious. After escaping to St. Peter's he was rescued by two of the king'smissi, who came with a considerable force. The Duke ofSpoleto sheltered the fugitivepope, who went later toPaderborn, where the king's camp then was. Charles received the Vicar of Christ with all due reverence.Leo was sent back toRome escorted by royalmissi; the insurgents, thoroughly frightened and unable to convince Charles of thepope's iniquity, surrendered, and themissi sent Paschalis and Campulus, nephews ofAdrian I and ringleaders againstPope Leo, to the king, to be dealt with at the royal pleasure.

Charles was in no hurry to take final action in this matter. He settled various affairs connected with the frontier beyond the Elbe, with the protection of the Balearic Isles against theSaracens, and of Northern Gaul againstScandinavian sea-rovers, spent most of the winter atAachen, and was at St. Riquier forEaster. About this time, too, he was occupied at the deathbed of Liutgarde, the queen whom he had married on the death of Fastrada (794). At Tours he conferred withAlcuin, then summoned the host of theFranks to meet atMainz and announced to them his intention of again proceeding toRome. EnteringItaly by the Brenner Pass, he travelled by way ofAncona andPerugia to Nomentum, wherePope Leo met him and the two enteredRome together. A synod was held and the charges againstLeo pronouncedfalse. On this occasion theFrankishbishops declared themselves unauthorized to pass judgment on theApostolic See. Of his ownfree willLeo, underoath, declared publicly in St. Peter's that he was innocent of the charges brought against him.Leo requested that his accusers, now themselves condemned todeath, should be punished only with banishment.

After his coronation in Rome (800-814)

Two days later (Christmas Day, 800) took place the principal event in the life of Charles. During thepontifical Mass celebrated by thepope, as the kingknelt inprayer before thehigh altar beneath which lay the bodies of Sts.Peter andPaul, thepope approached him, placed upon his head the imperial crown, did him formal reverence after the ancient manner, saluted him as Emperor and Augustus and anointed him, while the Romans present burst out with the acclamation, thrice repeated: "To Carolus Augustuscrowned byGod, mighty and pacific emperor, be life and victory" (Carolo, piisimo Augusto a Deo coronato, magno et pacificio Imperatori, vita et victoria). These details are gathered from contemporary accounts (Life of Leo III in "lib. Pont."; "Annales Laurissense majores";Einhard'sVita Caroli;Theophanes). Though not all are found in any one narrative, there is no good reason for doubting their general accuracy.Einhard's statement (Vita Caroli 28) that Charles had no suspicion of what was about to happen, and if pre-informed would not have accepted the imperial crown, is much discussed, some seeing in it an unwillingness to imperial authority on anecclesiastical basis, others more justly a natural hesitation before a momentous step overcome by the positive action of friends and admirers, and culminating; in the scene just described. On the other hand, there seems no reason todoubt that for some time previous the elevation of Charles had been discussed, both at home and atRome, especially in view of two facts: thescandalous condition of the imperial government at Constantinople, and the acknowledged grandeur and solidity of the Carolingian house. He owed his elevation not to the conquest ofRome, nor to any act of the Roman Senate (then a mere municipal body), much less to the local citizenship ofRome, but to thepope, who exercised in a supreme juncture the moral supremacy inWestern Christendom which the age widely recognized in him, and to which, indeed, Charles even then owed the title that thepopes had transferred to hisfatherPepin. It iscertain that Charles constantly attributed his imperial dignity to an act ofGod, made known of course through the agency of the Vicar of Christ (divino nutu coronatus, a Deo coronatus, in "Capitularia", ed.Baluze, I, 247, 341, 345); also that after theceremony he made very rich gifts to theBasilica of St. Peter, and that on the same day thepope anointed (as King of theFranks) the younger Charles, son of the emperor and at that time probably destined to succeed in the imperial dignity. The Roman Empire (Imperium Romanum), since 476 practically extinguished in the West, save for a brief interval in the sixth century, was restored by thispapal act, which became the historical basis of the future relations between thepopes and the successors of Charlemagne (throughout theMiddle Ages no Western Emperor was considered legitimate unless he had beencrowned and anointed atRome by thesuccessor of St. Peter). Despite the earlier goodwill and help of thepapacy, the Emperor of Constantinople, legitimate heir of the imperial title (he still called himself Roman Emperor, and his capital was officially New Rome) had longproved incapable of preserving his authority in the Italian peninsula. Palace revolutions andheresy, not to speak of fiscal oppression, racial antipathy, and impotent but vicious intrigues, made him odious to the Romans andItalians generally. In any case, since the Donation of Pepin (752) thepope was formally sovereign of the duchy ofRome and the Exarchate; hence, apart from its effect on his shadowy claim to the sovereignty of allItaly, theByzantine ruler had nothing to lose by the elevation of Charles. However, the event ofChristmas Day, 800, was long resented at Constantinople, where eventually the successor of Charles was occasionally called "Emperor", or "Emperor of the Franks", but never "Roman Emperor". Suffice it to add here that while the imperialconsecration made him in theory, what he was already in fact, the principal ruler of the West, and impropriated, as it were, in the Carolingian line the majesty of ancientRome, it also lifted Charles at once to the dignity of supreme temporal protector ofWestern Christendom and in particular of its head, theRoman Church. Nor did this mean only the local welfare of thepapacy, the good order and peace of thePatrimony of Peter. It meant also, in face of the yet vastpagan world (barbarae nationes) of the North and the Southeast, a religious responsibility, encouragement and protection of missions, advancement ofChristian culture, organization ofdioceses, enforcement of aChristian discipline of life, improvement of theclergy, in a word, all the forms of governmental cooperation with theChurch that we meet with in the life and the legislation of Charles. Long before this eventPope Adrian I had conferred (774) on Charles hisfather's dignity ofPatricius Romanus, which implied primarily the protection of theRoman Church in all itsrights and privileges, above all in the temporal authority which it had gradually acquired (notably in the formerByzantine Duchy ofRome and the Exarchate ofRavenna) by just titles in the course of the two preceding centuries. Charles, it istrue, after his imperialconsecration exercised practically atRome his authority asPatricius, or protector of theRoman Church. But he did this with all due recognition of thepapal sovereignty and principally to prevent the quasi-anarchy which local intrigues and passions,family interests and ambitions, and adverseByzantine agencies were promoting. It would be unhistorical to maintain that as emperor he ignored at once the civil sovereignty of thepope in thePatrimony of Peter. This (the Duchy ofRome and the Exarchate) he significantly omitted from the partition of theFrankish State made at the Diet of Thionville, in 806. It is to be noted that in this public division of his estate he made no provision for the imperial title, also that he committed to all three sons "the defence and protection of theRoman Church". In 817 Louis the Pious, by a famous charter whose substantial authenticity there is no good reason todoubt, confirmed toPope Paschal and his successors forever, "the city of Rome with its duchy and dependencies, as the same have been held to this day by your predecessors, under their authority and jurisdiction", adding that he did not pretend to anyjurisdiction in said territory, except when solicited thereto by thepope. It may be noted here that the chroniclers of the ninth century treat as "restitution" to St. Peter the various cessions and grants of cities and territory made at this period by the Carolingian rulers within the limits of thePatrimony of Peter. The Charter of Louis the Pious was afterwards confirmed byEmperor Otto I in 962 and Henry II in 1020. These imperial documents make it clear that the acts of authority exercised by the new emperor in thePatrimony of Peter were only such as were called for by his office of Defender of theRoman Church. Kleinclausz (l'Empire Carolingien, etc., Paris, 1902, 441 sqq.) denies the authenticity of the famous letter (871) of Emperor Louis II to the Greek Emperor Basil (in which the former recognizes fully thepapal origin of his own imperial dignity), and attributes it to Anastasius Bibliotheca in 879. His arguments are weak; the authenticity is admitted by Gregorovius and O. Harnack. Anti-papal writers have undertaken to prove that Charles' dignity ofPatricius Romanorum was equivalent to immediate and sole sovereign authority atRome, and in law and in fact excluded anypapal sovereignty. In reality this Roman patriciate, both underPepin and Charles, was no more than a high protectorship of the civil sovereignty of thepope, whose local independence, both before and after thecoronation of Charles, is historically certain, even apart from the aforesaid imperial charters.

The personal devotion of Charles to theApostolic See is well known. While in the preface to his Capitularies he calls himself the "devoted defender and humble helper of Holy Church", he was especially fond of thebasilica of St. Peter atRome.Einhard relates (Vita, c. xxvii) that he enriched it beyond all other churches and that he was particularly anxious that theCity of Rome should in his reign obtain again its ancient authority. Hepromulgated a speciallaw on the respect due this See of Peter (Capitulare de honoranda sede Apostolica, ed.Baluze I, 255). The letters of thepopes to himself, hisfather, andgrandfather, were collected by his order in the famous "Codex Carolinus".Gregory VII tells us (Regest., VII, 23) that he placed a part of the conquered Saxon territory under the protection of St. Peter, and sent toRome a tribute from the same. He received from Pope Adrian the Roman canon law in the shape of the "Collectio Dionysia-Hadriana", and also (784-91) the "Gregorian Sacramentary" orliturgical use of Rome, for the guidance of theFrankish Church. He furthered also in theFrankish churches the introduction of theGregorian chant. It is of interest to note that just before hiscoronation atRome Charles received three messengers from thePatriarch ofJerusalem, bearing to the King of theFranks the keys of theHoly Sepulchre and the banner ofJerusalem, "a recognition that the holiest place inChristendom was under the protection of the great monarch of the West" (Hodgkin). Shortly after this event, the Caliph Haroun al Raschid sent an embassy to Charles, who continued to take a deep interest in the Holy Sepulchre, and built Latinmonasteries atJerusalem, also ahospital forpilgrims. To the same period belongs the foundation of theSchola Francorum nearSt. Peter's Basilica, a refuge andhospital (with cemetery attached) forFrankishpilgrims toRome, now represented by theCampo Santo de' Tedeschi near the Vatican.

The main work of Charlemagne in the development ofWestern Christendom might have been considered accomplished had he now passed away. Of all that he added during the remaining thirteen years of his life nothing increased perceptibly the stability of the structure. His military power and hisinstinct for organization had been successfully applied to the formation of a material power pledged to the support of thepapacy, and on the other hand at least onepope (Adrian) had lent all the spiritual strength of theHoly See to help build up the new Western Empire, which his immediate successor (Leo) was to solemnlyconsecrate. Indeed, the remaining thirteen years of Charles' earthly career seem to illustrate rather the drawbacks of an intimate connection betweenChurch and State than its advantages.

In those years nothing like the military activity of the emperor's earlier life appears; there were much fewer enemies to conquer. Charles' sons led here and there an expedition, as when Louis captured Barcelona (801) or the younger Charles invaded the territory of the Sorbs. But their father had somewhat larger business on his hands at this time; above all, he had to either conciliate or neutralize the jealousy of theByzantine Empire which still had the prestige of old tradition. AtRome Charles had been hailed in due form as "Augustus" by the Roman people, but he could not help realizing that many centuries before, the right of conferring this title had virtually passed from Old to New Rome. New Rome, i.e. Constantinople, affected to regardLeo's act as one ofschism. Nicephorus, the successor of Irene (803) entered into diplomatic relations with Charles, it istrue, but would not recognize his imperial character. According to one account (Theophanes) Charles had sought Irene in marriage, but his plan was defeated. TheFrankish emperor then took up the cause of rebellious Venetia andDalmatia. Thewar was carried on by sea, under King Pepin, and in 812, after the death of Nicephorus, aByzantine embassy atAachen actually addressed Charles asBasileus. About this time Charles again trenched upon the teaching prerogative of theChurch, in the matter of theFilioque although in this instance also theHoly See admitted the soundness of hisdoctrine, while condemning his usurpation of its functions.

The other source of discord which appeared in the new Western Empire, and from its very beginning, was that of the succession. Charles made no pretence either of right of primogeniture for his eldest son or to name a successor for himself. As Pepin the Short had divided theFrankish realm, so did Charles divide the empire among his sons, naming none of them emperor. By the will which he made in 806 the greater part of what was later calledFrance went to Louis the Pious;Frankland proper, Frisia,Saxony,Hesse, and Franconia were to be the heritage of Charles the Young; Pepin receivedLombardy and its Italian dependencies,Bavaria, and Southern Alemannia. But Pepin and Charles pre-deceased the emperor, and in 813 the magnates of the empire did homage atAachen to Louis the Pious as King of theFranks, and future sole ruler of the great imperial state. Thus is was that the Carolingian Empire, as a dynastic institution, ended with the death of Charles the Fat (888), while the Holy Roman Empire, continued by Otto the Great (968-973), lacked all that is nowFrance. But theidea of aEurope welded together out of various races under the spiritual influence of oneCatholicFaith and one Vicar of Christ had been exhibited in the concrete.

It remains to say something of the achievements of Charlemagne at home. His life was so full of movement, so made up of long journeys, that home in his case signifies little more than the personal environment of his court, wherever it might happen to be on any given day. There was, it istrue, a general preference for Austrasia, orFrankland (afterAachen, Worms, Nymwegen, and Ingleheim were favourite residences). He took a deep and intelligent interest in the agricultural development of the realm, and in the growth of trade, both domestic and foreign. The civil legislative work of Charles consisted principally in organizing and codifying the principles ofFrankish law handed down from antiquity; thus in 802 thelaws of the Frisians,Thuringians, and Saxons were reduced to writing. Among these principles, it is important to note, was one by which no free man could be deprived of life or liberty without the judgment of his equals in the state. The spirit of hislegislation was above all religious; he recognized as a basis and norm theecclesiastical canons, was wont to submit his projects of law to thebishops, or to givecivil authority to the decrees ofsynods. More than once he madelaws at the suggestion ofpopes orbishops. For administrative purposes the State was divided into counties and hundreds, for the government of which counts and hundred-men were responsible. Side by side with the counts in the great national parliament (Reichstag, Diet) which normally met in the spring, sat thebishops, and the spiritual constituency was so closely intertwined with the temporal that in reading of a "council" under Charles, it is not always easy to ascertain whether the particular proceedings are supposed to be those of a parliament or of a synod. Nevertheless this parliament or diet was essentially bicameral (civil andecclesiastical), and the foregoing descriptions applies to the mutual discussion ofres mixtae or subjects pertaining to both orders.

The oneFrankish administrative institution to which Charles gave an entirely new character was themissi dominici, representatives (civil andecclesiastical) of the royal authority, who from being royal messengers assumed under him functions much like those ofpapal legates, i.e. they were partly royal commissioners, partly itinerant governors. There were usually two for each province (an ecclesiastic and a lay lord), and they were bound to visit their territory (missatica) four times each year. Between thesemissi and the local governors or counts the power of the former great crown-vassals (dukes,Herzöge) was parcelled out. Localjustice was administered by the aforesaid count (comes, Graf) in his court, held three times each year (placitum generale), with the aid of seven assessors (scabini, rachimburgi), but there was a graduated appeal ending in theperson of the emperor.

While enough has been said above to show how ready he was to interfere in theChurch's domain, it does not appear that this propensity arose from motives discreditable to hisreligiouscharacter. It would be absurd to pretend that Charlemagne was a consistent lifelonghypocrite; if he was not, then his keen practical interest in all that pertained to the services of theChurch, his participation even in the chanting of the choir (though, as his biographer says, "in a subdued voice") his fastidious attention to questions of rites and ceremonies (Monachus Sangallensis), go to show, like many other traits related of him, that his strong rough nature was really impregnated withzeal, however mistaken at times, for the earthly glory ofGod. He sought to elevate and perfect theclergy, both monastic and secular, the latter through the enforcement of theVita Canonica or common life.Tithes were strictly enforced for the support of theclergy and the dignity of public worship. Ecclesiasticalimmunities were recognized and protected, thebishops held to frequent visitation of theirdioceses, a regular religious instruction of the people provided for, and in the vernacular tongue. ThroughAlcuin he caused corrected copies of the Scripture to be placed in the churches, and earned great credit for his improvement of the much depraved text of theLatin Vulgate. Education, for aspirants to thepriesthood at least, was furthered by the royal order of 787 to allbishops andabbots to keep open in theircathedrals andmonasteriesschools for the study of the seven liberal arts and the interpretation of Scriptures. He did much also to improveecclesiastical music, and foundedschools ofchurch-song atMetz,Soissons, and St. Gall. For the contemporary development ofChristian civilization throughAlcuin,Einhard, and other scholars, Italian andIrish, and for the king's personal attainments in literature, seeCAROLINGIAN SCHOOLS;ALCUIN;EINHARD. He spoke Latin well, and loved to listen to the reading ofSt. Augustine, especially "The City of God". He understood Greek, but was especially devoted to hisFrankish (Old-German) mother tongue; its terms for the months and the various winds are owing to him. He attempted also to produce a German grammar, andEinhard tells us that he caused the ancient folksongs and hero-tales (barbara atque antiquissima carmina) to be collected; unfortunately this collection ceased to be appreciated and was lost at a later date.

From boyhood Charles had evinced strong domestic affections. Judged, perhaps, by the more perfectly developedChristian standards of a later day, his matrimonial relations were far from blameless; but it would be unfair to criticize by any suchethical rules the obscurely transmitted accounts of his domestic life which have come down to us. What is certain (and more pleasant to contemplate) is the picture, which his contemporaries have left us, of the delight he found in being with his children, joining in their sports, particularly in his own favourite recreation of swimming, and finding his relaxation in thesociety of his sons and daughters; the latter he refused to give in marriage, unfortunately for their moral character. He died in his seventy-second year, after forty-seven years of reign, and was buried in the octagonal Byzantine-Romanesque church atAachen, built by him and decorated with marble columns fromRome andRavenna. In the year 1000Otto III opened the imperialtomb and found (it is said) the great emperor as he had been buried, sitting on a marble throne, robed andcrowned as in life, the book of the Gospels open on his knees. In some parts of the empire popular affection placed him among thesaints. For political purposes and to pleaseFrederick Barbarossa he wascanonized (1165) by theantipopePaschal III, but this act was never ratified by insertion of his feast in theRoman Breviary or by the Universal Church; hiscultus, however, was permitted atAachen [Acta SS., 28 Jan., 3d ed., II, 490-93, 303-7, 769; his office is inCanisius, "Antiq. Lect.", III (2)]. According to his friend and biographer,Einhard, Charles was of imposing stature, to which his bright eyes and long, flowing hair added more dignity. His neck was rather short, and his belly prominent, but the symmetry of his other members concealed these defects. His clear voice was not so sonorous as his gigantic frame would suggest. Except on his visits toRome he wore the national dress of hisFrankish people, linen shirt and drawers, a tunic held by a silken cord, and leggings; his thighs were wound round with thongs of leather; his feet were covered with laced shoes. He had good health to his sixty-eighth year, when fevers set in, and he began to limp with one foot. He was his own physician, we are told, and much disliked his medical advisers who wished him to eat boiled meat instead of roast. No contemporary portrait of him has been preserved. A statuette in the Musée Carnavalet atParis is said to be very ancient.

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