Chapter 9
Charlemagne and the Rise of Medieval Culture
9.1 Charlemagne as Ruler and Diplomat
Goals
Identify the significant events in the life of Charlemagne.
Discuss the development of monasticism.
Discuss the development of Gregorian Chant.
Discuss the development of the ordinary of the mass.
Discuss the implications of Charlemagne’s role as Holy Roman Emperor.
This chapter shifts attention from Byzantium to the West and, more specifically, to the
rise of the kingdom of the Franks under Charlemagne. The so-called Carolingian
Renaissance rekindled the life of culture after the dark period following the fall of the last
Roman emperor in the West in the late 5th Century and the rise of the so-called barbarian
tribes.
Charlemagne’s reign saw the standardization of monasticism, worship, music, and
education in the church. Those reforms would give general shape to western Catholicism
that, in some ways, endured into the modern period. Equally important was
Charlemagne’s assumption of the title of Holy Roman Emperor,. That act would establish
a political office that would exist in Europe until the end of World War I in the 20th
Century. It also became a cause for friction between Rome and Constantinople because
the Byzantine emperors, saw Charlemagne’s act as an intrusion on their legitimate claim
to be the successors of the old Roman Empire.
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9.2 Carolingian Society and Medieval Culture
Goals
Identify the characteristics of medieval feudal society.
Discuss the role of the monastery in medieval society.
The Carolingian world was essentially rural and feudal [link to glossary]. Society was
based on a rather rigid hierarchy with the emperor at the top, the nobles and higher clergy
below him, and the vast sea of peasants bound to the land at the bottom of the pyramid.
There was little in the way of city life on any scale. The outpost of rural Europe was the
miniature town known as the monastery, or the stronghold of the nobles. The rise of the
city and increased social mobility would eventually destroy the largely agricultural and
feudal society as the High Middle Ages emerged in the 11th Century.
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9.3 The Legend of Charlemagne
Goals
Identify the characteristics of medieval feudal society.
Discuss the role of The Song of Roland in preserving the memory of Charlemagne.
Discuss the role of the Holy Roman Empire in medieval society and beyond.
Ultimately, Charlemagne emerged as a mythic figure who eventually would be
memorialized in The Song of Roland. The growth of such myths generally occurs to
satisfy some deep cultural desires. In the case of Charlemagne, the desire was to describe
the ideal warrior who could perform two very fundamental tasks for Europe. The first
goal was to vanquish the Islamic powers that threatened Christian Europe, the second, to
provide a model for a unified empire (the Holy Roman Empire) that would be both a
perfect feudal society [link to glossary] and one strong enough to accomplish the first
task of destroying Islam. Not without reason was The Song of Roland, a central poem for
the first crusaders who turned their faces to the East.
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