Charles the Bald receives his croum from the hand of God, which reaches doumfrom the heavens. He is flanked by, but superior to, the two bishops standing on either side of him. To indicate that their power came from God and that they were heirs to the Roman emperors, the Carolingians took care to represent themselves below God and in Roman dress.
In 510, on the night that Clovis, king of the Franks, converted to Christianity, legend says that his wife Clotilda dreamed first of a lion, then a wolf, and finally a jackal. When she awoke, she told Clovis about her dream and prophesied that his royal line would follow the same sequence. The first rulers, including Clovis, would be Hons among kings, but after a few generations they would become wolves, and in time his line would turn into jackals, or mere dogs. The prophesy was probably made much later and with hindsight, because the Merovingian dynasty Clovis established did follow that pattern. The last of the Merovingians were so inactive that their subjects saw them only when they appeared, riding in ox carts, on their estates.
As the Merovingians increasingly became figureheads, the real power passed to another family, who became known as Carolingians after their famous leader, Charlemagne (742— 814), also known as Charles the Great or Carolus Magnus. The Carolingians descended from a line of bishops from the northeastern frontier of the Frankish kingdom. They rose to prominence through their military and administrative abilities and eventually conquered and ruled much of the Frankish territory in the east. Their early leaders held the position of mayor of the palace under the Merovingians, the equivalent of a prime minister. However, they never forgot their religious origins and were great supporters of monasteries and missionaries.
The era of colorful medieval nicknames began with the Carolingians. Charles Martel (meaning Charles the Hammer, bom 688) embarked on a policy of fighting those who would not recognize Merovingian rale. By the beginning of the eighth century, he had brought most of the territory that Clovis had ruled into the Frankish kingdom. But Charles Martel was stiU not king, only mayor of the palace.
While Charles was unifying the Frankish territory, a new threat crossed the Pyrenees in the south—the Arabs. The Arabs swept into southwestern France just as they had earlier entered the Byzantine Empire, North Africa, and Spain. Charles marched to the region between Poitiers and Tours with an army partly composed of a heavily armed cavalry—the forerunner of the medieval knights—and defeated the Arabs in 732. He
Pepin the Short issued a silver coin for his realm with his name PIPI on one side. The new coinage marked his deposition of the ruling Merovingians and the assumption of the Frankish throne for himself and his heirs.
Was then declared the “Hammer of Christendom. ” The pope perceived him as the savior of all Christians from the threat of Islam and invited him to come to Rome to deliver Italy from the threat of the resurgent Lombards. Charles refused to take on this fight.
Pepin the Short (reigned 751-768), his son, was not content to govern for the Merovingians. He wanted to be king in his own right. His accession to mayor of the palace coincided with the Lomhards’ success in taking Ravenna, the last Byzantine stronghold in Italy. Pope Stephen, worried about the survival of Rome, called on the powerful Christian leader of the north to save the city rather than turning to the Byzantine emperor. Pepin sent an embassy to the pope asking if it would be proper for him to assume the kingship. The pope quickly replied that “the man who had the actual power was more deserving of the crown than the one who was only a figurehead,” by whom he meant the current weak Merovingian king. Pepin then called an assembly of Frankish nobles, warriors, and clergy and had himself elected their king. The last of the Merovingian kings was sent to a monastery where his hair, worn long as befitting a king, was cut in the fashion of a monk.
To legitimize Pepin’s coup, the pope crowned him in a coronation ceremony modeled on the anointing of David as described in the Bible. This ceremony became the standard for all coronations in western Europe. Pepin made good on his side of the bargain; He twice invaded Italy and defeated the Lombards. After securing the land around Rome from Lombard attack, he gave it to the pope in what became known as the “Donation ofPepin. ” This territory, which extended across the Italian peninsula from Rome to Ravenna, was referred to as the Papal States by the late Middle Ages.
Following the Frankish custom ofdivid-ing an inheritance equally among aU a deceased’s heirs, Pepin was succeeded by two sons. The early death of one left an able king, Charlemagne, in power. Much is known about Charlemagne because he had two contemporary biographers. Several statues of him have also survived.
Einhard, the more colorful biographer, wrote that Charlemagne had been his friend since childhood and that later he had lived close to the king at his court. He described Charlemagne as “large and strong, and of lofty stature, although not disproportionately tail (his height is well known to have been seven times the length of his foot); the upper part of his head was round, his eyes very large and animated, nose a little long, hair fair, and face laughing and merry. Thus his appearance was always stately and dignified, whether he was standing or sitting; although his neck was thick and somewhat short, and his belly rather prominent; but the symmetry of the rest of his body concealed these defects.” (In the late 19th century Charlemagne’s skeleton was measured; he was 6 feet 3 inches.) Einhard also explained that the king had a firm walk and a clear voice, although softer than one would have expected in such a large man. For recreation Charlemagne enj oy ed horseback riding, hunting, and swimming. He swam in the hot springs at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), often joined by his sons and nobles. He sometimes invited a troop ofhis bodyguards to swim with him as well.
According to Einhard, Charlemagne drank and ate moderately, preferring roast meats to the boiled ones that his physicians recommended when his health was failing in old age. In dress, he favored Frankish clothing over Roman garb. (Only on two visits to Rome did he dress like a Roman.) Next to his skin he wore a “linen shirt and linen breeches, and above these a tunic fringed with oriental silk, while hose fastened by bands covered his lower limbs, and shoes his feet.” He always carried a sword with a gold or silver hilt. Over everything he wore a blue cloak.
Both Christianity and learning were dear to Charlemagne. While he ate, he liked to have Augustine of Hippo’s books read to him, particularly The City of God. But he also enjoyed recitations of the old Frankish stories similar to Beowulf He could, Einhard tells us, speak Latin as well as Frankish, but he could not write: “He used to keep tablets and blanks in bed under his pillow, that at leisure hours he might accustom his hand to form the letters; however, as he did not begin his efforts in due season, but late in life, they met with ill success.”
Charlemagne saw that both his sons and daughters were educated. He also encouraged the education of the clergy by starting schools in the cathedrals. To keep himself informed of intellectual matters, he surrounded himself with scholars from the monasteries of northern England and other parts of Europe. Notable among them was Alcuin, a scholar from England who brought to the continent the learning preserved by English and Irish monks. He and other
This silver reliquary holds the bones of Charlemagne, who was regarded as the ideal Christian emperor. The crown and the scepter in his hand indicate his role as ruler, the small replica of a church in the other hand represents his role as protector of the Church, and the halo behind his head shows him to be a religious figure.
Scholars studied astronomy, grammar, and rhetoric. Perhaps their most lasting contribution was the development of Carolingian minuscule, a form of handwriting with capitals and small letters that influenced modern writing and typography.
It is remarkable that Charlemagne ever had time to sit and listen to books being read or to pause for a swim. He spent most ofhis reign in military campaigns or supervising his vast kingdom. He pushed the boundaries of the Frankish lands north into the modern Netherlands, east ofthe Rhine into Saxony, and into other areas that even the Romans had not conquered. Using monks as missionaries, Charlemagne encouraged the peoples of these newly conquered territories to convert to Christianity. The monks used extreme measures, such as cutting down the oak trees that the local people worshipped and using the timber to build
Charlemagne’s exploits as a warrior are commemorated on a panel of the reliquary above. The emperor sits in his tent dressing for battle. His fully armed knights, clad in chain mail, are either sleeping or already on horseback. Charlemagne spent almost every year of his life in warfare.
World History
