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Marco Durán Restrepo
Heather Bennett
English 7´1
March 11th 2013
Charlemagne and the Christian Church
Charlemagne, also known as Charles “The Great,” was a medieval emperor who ruled
much of Western Europe from 768 to 814. Charlemagne son of Pepin II divided the
Frankish empire with his younger brother, Carloman. In 771, after his brother’s death
Charlemagne became absolute king of the franks, a Germanic tribe that was conformed
by present day France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Western Germany. Since
Charlemagne was very devoted to the Christian church his main goal was to unify all
Germanic kingdoms and change its religion to Christianity, Thanks to Charlemagne’s
devotion, and because he spread the Christian teachings throughout his empire he
made a great contribution in the strengthening of the Christian church (Holt, Rinehart
and Winston).
"Charlemagne's exact birth place is unknown, although historians have
suggested liege in present-day Belgium and Aachen in modern day Germany as
possible locations." (History Chanel) Charlemagne Son of Pepin the II and Bertrada of
Laon, was born around 742. Charlemagne was not well educated himself, however as
an adult he demonstrated talent for languages such as Greek and Latin among others.
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PepinII, father of Charlemagne made an agreement with the Christian church he would
support the Christian church with military forces and the church would give him and his
family moral and spiritual support, that means Charlemagne had contact with the
Christian church since he was a kid, so eventually he would develop a very strong
devotion towards Christianity.
Charlemagne was proclaimed as the first holy emperor; therefore he supported
the church, monasteries, cathedrals, and the pope itself. According to The History
Chanel "Charlemagne gave money and land to the Christian church and protected the
popes. As a way to acknowledge Charlemagne's power and reinforce his relationship
with the church, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor of the Romans."
By the year 778 a letter addressed to Charlemagne by pope Leo III stated that
the pope wanted some Italian territories as the church’s’ these territories included:
Spoleto, Laic, Corsage and Benedetto among others. In the year 799 a rebellion
occurred against Pope Leo III, after the rebellion there was an attempt to kill pope Leo,
as a way to protect the pope Charlemagne took him to Paderborn, Saxony. Few days
after, Charlemagne accused the aggressors and sentenced them to death.
Because Charlemagne was an emperor he always gained new land, and
because his mission was to unite and convert all Western Europe to Christianity when
he gained new land he converted the new people into Christians. Charlemagne
invaded the Lombards which kingdom was located in northern Italy, when he did this he
stated a law that made every person worships the Christian church and had to be
baptized.
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In 772 he started a series of lethal wars against the Saxons in northern Germany, his
goal was to convert all pagan people into devout Christians.In 791 Charlemagne went to
the Danube River, in which the location of a tribe named the Avars took place. In 796
Charlemagne had taken control all over the Avars and later on would place his capital
city in a place named Aachen. Once Charlemagne would start gaining land the church
would convert all pagan people into Christians.
With the accomplishments made in battle, Charlemagne now had an empire that
was comforted by: France, Germany, Italy, Northern Spain and central Europe. What
Charlemagne did to keep his empire united was that he didn't centralized the political
ideas, instead he proclaimed Christianity as official religion in his empire. Charlemagne
let each individual country had their own political ideas but they needed to respect
certain laws Charlemagne made; the religion was a different thing, each person had to
follow the Christian teachings and worship the Christian church. There could be no
pagan or Muslim people in the empire, they hade to be all Christians or they were killed.
Charlemagne's way to rule the empire was very effective because since each country
had their own political ideals they were not in a constant fight or misunderstanding.
The monasteries played a crucial part on the growth of Christianity because they
proclaimed the teachings of the Christian church. In that time some monasteries grew
economically because they where held by kings and nobles to pray for their past-away
relatives. When a king or noble went monastery they supported they would go and
worship god and ask for their loved ones, once there the monks would teach the nobles
the Christian life style. Some times the number of monks in a monastery could vary,
there could be from a hand full to hundreds and in rare occasions more than a
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thousand. Thanks to the education monks gave "the revitalization of the monasticism
left an indelible mark of Christianity in Western Europe but there is a dark underside to
this story. The rulers of Charlemagne’s dynasty believed that a king's rights included
control of the church and it's possessions." (Kay) Some monasteries were under the
authority of a king or a wealthy landowner; some people in charge of monasteries
exploited the monasteries economic resources for their own benefit.
Like monasteries, cathedrals were very important in that time because towns
were developing around a cathedral. Like some present-day towns, the people started
settling around the cathedral because the church in that time the church had priority
over politics. Because religion had priority in that time priest had some power over the
people, the population saw the priests as spiritual leaders, and because of this the
priests had a major influence towards society. The priests were some of the contact
church had with people this means they spread the Christian teachings to all social
classes, including nobles, knights, regular towns people and many others. Without
cathedrals, the church would loose some ideals and power because this means that
people would not be learning god's teachings.
Pope Leo III acknowledged the contribution Charlemagne made to Christianism
by crowning him in consideration because Charlemagne achieved to unify Western
Europe with the same religion. (Historia General)Like Charlemagne, his successor
Louis the pious was very devoted to Christianity. During Louis reign there was a very
Close relationship between the church and his empire, he even supported some
reforms that benefited more the church than his own empire. (Biblioteca tercer milenio)
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In 817 Louis stated a law that would mark all his reign, this law said that everybody
owed devotion to the Christian church.
In conclusion Charlemagne strengthened the Christian church in many ways,
with the unification of the empire, the construction of cathedrals and monasteries, and
by stating Christianity as official religion. Because Charlemagne united the empire and
because he stated Christianity as the official religion, Europe accepted Christianity even
after the fall of the Frankish empire. Without Charlemagne the church would not be so
strong in that time period and in the present day because Charlemagne was the one
who gave power to the pope and the church. Charlemagne spent much of his time in
military campaigns to conquer new land and to convert those new people in his empire
to Christians. With the agreement Charlemagne’s father had with the church also
helped in the expansion of Christianity, because Charlemagne also made the same
agreement with the church this helped even more, because he got new land and put an
end to One of the major religions in that time the church got much more power.
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References
Biblioteca Tercer Milenio. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013.
Historia General. N.p., 11 June 2010. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.
History Chanel. "Charlemagne." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 03
Feb. 2013.
Kay, Thomas O. "Illuminating Europe." Christian History & Biography, n.d. Web.
Rinehart, and Winston. "The Rise of the Franks." World History the Human Journey. By
Holt. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 289-90. Print.