Charlemagne
• King of the Franks
• Defender of the Faith
• Savior of Europe and Christendom
• Controversial
Charlemagne – The beginnings
• Charles “The Hammer”
Martel (Son of Pepin I) was
his Grandfather—he defeated
the Moors at Tours Spain and
established a tight and
beneficial alliance with the
Catholic Church.
• Pepin, III “The Short” was his
father. He was mayor of the
Palace—use this position to
become King of the
Franks.(side note: Tithing to church started by
Pepin)
Charlemagne – The beginnings
• It is true Clovis (496 AD)
began the
Church/Frankish
relationship;
• Martel used the
relationship to grow in
power;
• Pope Zacharias placed its
authority behind Pepin.
Childeric, III; last of
Merovingian kings.
Kingdom of the Franks
• By Charlemagne’s 19th
Birthday, he was a fierce
warrior, Leader of men, and an
apt bureaucrat. He was 6’ 3”
tall, had big strong legs and
wore a size 14 or 15 shoe—big
boy!
• Pepin the Short had
consolidated the Frankish
Empire; Charlemagne would
make it a true Empire and
dynastic Kingdom.
• The Hapsburg Dynasty –
Austria-Hungary; or what
would become the Holy
Roman Empire
Charlemagne
• Recall that Byzantium is still rather formidable as
Charlemagne accedes to power.
• In 660 AD Constantine, II visits Rome. He
essentially robs the treasury and the economy.
• Constantinople is engaged with the Muslim Wars.
• Pepin “The Short” still shows deference to
Constantinople – Charlemagne, however, will not
share power or deference.
Frankish Empire
• Note to self: Since Clovis, though the
Merovingian Kings were allied with the Church
and embraced Christianity—they essentially
remained Pagans (in practice) and passed
authority through the ancient bloodline.
• Pepin, backed by the Church, owed his Crown to
the ‘Grace of God!” Pepin had been chosen by the
“Vicar of God” – The Pope as the true legitimate
King of the Franks.
Frankish Kingdom
• Old traditions die hard; Byzantium, though only in
illusion, remained the empress of the
Mediterranean and the seat of Augustus.
• The illusion was that Byzantium was superior to
Frankland;
• Charlemagne would change this psuedo-belief.
Changes in European Power
• Recall the Frankish bureaucracy of allowing autonomous
government on the local level;
• Charlemagne continued this trend, but he made sure that
the Dukes, Mayors of Palace, and the Counts were
staunch allies or he instilled royalty very loyal to him—
simply he placed limits on this autonomy.
• He fostered a land owning aristocracy beholding to
him—looked to a central gov’t to maintain their own
power base.
5 Important Steps
• Created an aristocratic base dependent upon the King—
basis for army and leaders. Limits local autonomy.
• Created a Carolingian “Civil Service.”
• Issued capitularies to disseminate orders and established
the Missi Dominici (inspection teams to ensure all orders
and edicts were be obeyed.
• Established common currency and matched it to the value
of the Muslim coinage to encourage trade and economic
uniformity.
• Professionalized the Army; made it a standing army;
conquered lands and then made the Army garrison and
defend new lands.
Imperial Aura
• Established Frankish Capital at
Aachen on the Rhine River
(Clovis was at Paris on the Seine).
• Built essentially a Roman palace and
a Chapel (model of San Vitale in
Ravenna).
• Named his Chapel St. Martin. A
Roman Cavalry officer who became
a Christian (many at the time were
Mithras).
• Gave his very expensive and
symbolic cloak of power to a cold
hungry beggar. A very poignant
statement.
Imperial Aura
• People believed that objects or
clothing worn by saints had
magical powers;
• Custom was to place one of
these Relics as they were
called on the altar of the local
church to give in credibility
and favor with God;
• Of course the more valuable
the Relic the more favored was
the church.
To Establish a Legacy
• Charlemagne promoted literacy and the copying
of old manuscripts – much of what we know due
to this practice.
• Established a Palace school headed by renown
scholar Alcuin.
• Began a literary revival; developed a unique script
called Carolingian miniscule—in fact the lower
case letters you are reading were developed by
these scholars.
To Establish a Legacy
• Established Latin as the official language of the
Church; along with Pope uniformed the liturgical
dissemination of biblical doctrine; and established
the Pope or Bishop of Rome as the true “Vicar of
God” and descendant of St. Peter.
• This diminished the influence of the Byzantium
Pope– Charlemagne also wanted out of his
marriage from the betrothed Princess of
Byzantium—he wanted something uniquely
Frank—but most something uniquely
Charlemagne.
To Establish a Legacy
• When Pepin died he left as was the custom an equally
divided empire between Charles and Carloman -mystery, but Carloman died.
• Charles also wanted out of the marriages arranged by
Pepin.
• 1) The Princess of Byzantium (Himiltrude) bore him a
hunched back son – He had this marriage annulled.
Mostly because she had the deformed son placed in the
dungeon, his eyes put out with red-hot pokers, then
proclaimed herself empress and equal ruler.
To Establish a Legacy
• 2nd wife was a Lombard Princess—Pepin had
hoped this would create an alliance and resolve the
traditional enemy attitude between the two nations
and secure peaceful co-existence between the
Lombards and the Church.
• Desideria unfortunately was as arrogant and
ambitious as her father the King of the
Lombards—she was intellectual, independent, and
considered herself above Charlemagne.
To Establish a Legacy
• His third wife was Hildegarde—He chose her himself.
• She was 13 or 15; he was 28 or 30. She was a good mate and he
truly loved her.
• She was strong willed, independent but loved Charlemagne and
truly enjoyed being a wife and mother.
• She had red flowing hair, a quiet countenance, a warm smile and
was as passionate about the hunt as was Charlemagne. She gave
him 5 daughters and 4 sons.
• There was an incident on one hunt where a wild Bull gored
Charlemagne's horse—Hildegarde rode in and skewered the bull
with her spear—saving Charlemagne.
To Establish a Legacy
• After the Saxon wars – more
to come later,
• Charlemagne had
consolidated a great empire –
• Historians dispute how the
actual event took place,
whether it was contrived by
Charlemagne or just
spontaneously happened; but.
On Christmas day 800 AD,
the Pope unexpectedly placed
the Crowned Tiara on
Charlemagne’s head crowning
him the Holy Roman Emperor
To Establish a Legacy
• In the 18th century, French Philosopher Voltaire
stated—concerning Charlemagne– that the realm
was neither holy, nor Roman, nor empire, but
somehow managed to last for a thousand years –
only dying in 1914 with the dismantling of the
Hapsburg dynasty (some will say it died with the
Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic wars).
Charlemagne’s Legacy
• Though Charlemagne desired to establish a
Frankish Romanesque empire in the west – he
was never able to fully succeed.
• The Coronation ended the Byzantium power over
the West; Western rulers could now legitimately
claim their rule of lineage back to Augustus
Caesar; Popes of Rome now free of the eastern
influence and meddling; western church denied
validity of the Caesaropapism—Lineage of Peter
not Augustus to head the church.
Charlemagne’s European Legacy
• Now west and east completely isolated;
• Unfortunately could not over come the inherent
weaknesses of the western economy; infrastructure still
rural and agrarian;
• Mostly succeeded because rivals were engaged elsewhere
(Byzantium vs. Ottoman empire);
• Charlemagne and Pepin had reigned for seventy years
without controversy– this eliminates civil wars and strife;
• Though eventually corrupted, the royal aristocracy was a
stabilizing base for the Kingdom.