The New International Encyclopædia/Charles the Great

​CHARLES THE GREAT, or CHARLEMAGNE (from Lat. Carolus Magnus, Charles the Great) (742–814). King of the Franks after 768, and Roman Emperor from 800 to 814. He was the son of Pepin the Short, the first Carolingian King, and of Bertha, a daughter of Charibert, Count of Laon, and was born probably on April 2, 742. His birthplace is unknown; but from the fondness which he displayed throughout his life for the cities of Aix-la-Chapelle and Ingelheim, it has been conjectured that he was born in one of these places. Of his early youth and education nothing is known, even by Einhard, his contemporary biographer. He was brought up at the Court of his father, and received the thorough military training which constituted the education of the time. He took part in his father’s expeditions against Aquitaine in 761 and 762. On Pepin’s death, in 768, the Frankish kingdom was divided between his two sons, Charles receiving the eastern part or Austrasia, which was predominantly Germanic, together with a part of Aquitaine, while his brother Carloman received Neustria, the Romance part of the Frankish domains. Carloman died in 771, and Charles, with the consent of the Frankish nobles, took possession of the entire kingdom, to the exclusion of the young sons of his brother. Their mother fled to Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and the ensuing complications led to the first great war of Charles’s reign. Charles had, ere this, in 770, offended Desiderius by repudiating his second wife, Desiderata, who was that monarch’s daughter. The latter, therefore, received Carloman’s widow hospitably, and urged Pope Adrian I. to crown the sons of Carloman. Upon the Pope’s refusal, he invaded the Papal territory. The Pope thereupon summoned the Frankish King to his aid. Charles endeavored to avert the war; but upon the refusal of Desiderius to restore the Papal cities of the Pentapolis, he crossed the Alps, with two armies, from Geneva by the Great Saint Bernard and Mont Cenis, in 773, and besieged Desiderius in Pavia, forcing him, after a ten months’ siege, to surrender and retire to a monastery. In 777 he proclaimed himself King of the Lombards, and was acknowledged as such by the Lombard dukes. He secured the Pope’s favor by confirming the donation of lands made to the Holy See by Pepin. In the winter of 776 he again crossed the Alps and crushed a Lombard revolt, henceforth ruling over northern and central Italy as far south as Spoleto. In 780 he went to Italy, where the Pope crowned his second son, Pepin, King of Italy, and his third son, Louis, an infant, three years old, King of Aquitaine. In 787 he completed the conquest of the Lombards by the subjugation of the Duke of Beneventum.

The severest war undertaken by Charles was his contest with the Saxons. The struggle was of long standing, having been waged by his father and grandfather, and contemplated the incorporation of the Saxons into the Frankish kingdom and their conversion to Christianity. The obstinate resistance of the Saxons has ​scarcely been equaled in history. In 772 Charles advanced as far as the Weser, and destroyed the famous ‘Irminsul’—according to heathen belief, the column supporting the earth. There were incessant revolts, but in 775 Charles carried his arms as far as the Elbe. In 777 he could even hold the Frankish National Assembly on Saxon soil, at Paderborn. But in 778, on news of Charles’s absence in Spain, the Saxons again arose, and advanced almost to Cologne; but Charles again drove them back to the Elbe. They destroyed a Frankish army in the Süntel Highlands in 782; and Charles, after a new victory, avenged this disaster by the massacre, at Verden, of 4500 prisoners in one day. This caused a general rising of the Saxons; but, in 783–85, the Frankish monarch at last succeeded in reducing them to subjection. Their great leader, Widukind, submitted to baptism, and their principal chiefs became Charles’s vassals. The Saxons north of the Elbe submitted in 804, and 10,000 of them were led into the interior of Germany as hostages. Charles proceeded to extend his arms beyond the boundaries of Saxony. The neighboring Slavs were either his allies or else were made tributary, and even the Bohemians were in part subdued. The Danes were confined to the north of the Eider, which became the northern boundary of Charles’s kingdom.

Charles was equally successful in the southeast. His marriage, in 771, with Hildegarde, daughter of Duke Godfrey of Suabia, secured his influence in that duchy. In Bavaria his cousin, Tassilo, ruled practically as an independent sovereign. He had been allied with the Lombards, but in 781 he took the oath of allegiance to Charles. In 787 he rebelled, but was forced to surrender, and was deposed in 788. Tassilo had also been allied with the Avars, a fierce nomadic tribe which occupied the great plain of the middle Danube. The wars which Charles undertook against them in 791–96 resulted in the entire destruction of the nation, the Raab becoming the southeastern boundary of the Frankish kingdom. In 778, at the invitation of the Emir of Saragossa, who was in revolt against his suzerain, the Caliph of Cordova, Charles invaded northeastern Spain. This campaign against the infidel figures very prominently in mediæval legends, but in reality it was without direct result. Charles was summoned home by the news of a Saxon revolt, and in his return over the Pyrenees, the rear-guard of his army was assailed and annihilated, probably in the Pass of Roncesvalles, by the Basques. In this battle Roland (q.v.), afterwards the hero of a vast legendary literature, fell. In 779 Charles sent his son Louis to Spain, and after the fall of Barcelona he established the Spanish ‘mark,’ extending from the Pyrenees to the Ebro. It was the policy of Charles to establish such ‘marks’ on the borders of his dominions as bulwarks against the uncivilized nations by which they were surrounded. Against the Danes he established the Danish ‘mark’ south of the Eider; against the Sorabians the Thuringian ‘mark’; against the Bohemians the Frankish ‘mark;’ and against the Southern Slavs the ‘marks’ of Carinthia and Friuli. The land in these districts was parceled out among Frankish vassals, and the margraves who ruled over them had far greater power than the ordinary counts. Charles also made use of the Church to secure his conquests. In the Saxon wars the Saxons were baptized by the thousands, and the bishoprics of Halberstadt, Paderborn, Minden, Verden, Bremen, Münster, and Osnabrück were erected. He also founded great monasteries, like Corvey and Herford, which were in fact fortresses in the enemy’s country.

By the conquest, organization, and rule of such extensive dominions and of peoples so different in race and political tradition, Charles had virtually established an empire. His assumption of the imperial title and the revival of the Western Roman Empire were but the logical consummation of his great work. This event took place on the occasion of an expedition to Italy, the object of which was to support Pope Leo III. against the rebellious Romans. While Charles was worshiping in Saint Peter’s on Christmas Day, 800, the Pope, unexpectedly, as it appeared, set a crown upon his head, and amid the acclamations of the people, saluted him as ‘Carolus Augustus, Emperor of the Romans.’ Whether or not the Emperor was aware of the intention of the Pope is a matter of conjecture only. In his familiar conversations he was wont to protest his ignorance of the projected coronation. In itself it added nothing directly to Charles’s power, yet it greatly confirmed and increased the respect entertained for him, such was the lustre of a title with which were associated recollections of all the greatness of the Roman Empire. There is said to have been a scheme for the union of the newly revived Western Empire with the Empire of the East, by Charles’s marriage with Irene (q.v.), the Byzantine Empress. If so, it failed by reason of Irene’s overthrow. Besides the moral weight of Roman tradition, the imperial title added to Charles’s office of King the powerful temporal guardianship of the Church. This was strongly emphasized in the new oath of allegiance to him, as Emperor, which Charles caused all his subjects to swear soon after his coronation. He proceeded to organize the empire with a view to strengthening the imperial power. The old national dukedoms having been abolished, Charles governed his dominions through counts, whom he himself appointed. Each count presided over an ancient canton (Gau), a subdivision of the dukedom. Three times a year the count held a regular court, which all freemen were bound to attend, and in times of war he assembled the military levy of the Gau. To watch over the counts Charles sent his ‘Missi Dominici,’ usually a count and a bishop, to the extreme ends of the empire. Their functions were to look after the administration of the Church, to collect the Emperor’s revenues, and hold the superior court. Charles did not attempt to interfere with local Germanic institutions, but caused the ancient laws to be codified and reduced to writing. Although his rule was in fact absolute, he retained the ancient national assemblies, which every freeman might attend. They met twice a year, in spring (Maifeld; see Champ de Mai) and in autumn, and decided upon matters of State, particularly on peace and war. Here the ‘Missi Dominici’ made their reports, and the Church councils were held. Besides the ‘Missi’ and his counselors, there were the two chief court officials—the Apocrisiarius, who stood at the head of Church affairs, and the Count Palatine (Comes Palatinus), who presided over the secular administration. The income from the ​royal domains, which Charles skillfully managed, together with the revenues from the administration of justice and free-will offerings, provided for the expenses of the State.

Charles promoted to the fullest extent the interests of the Church. He recognized in it a powerful ally, both in increasing and ruling his dominions. His wars were religious as well as political; he introduced Christianity into the countries which he conquered. He made the system of tithes compulsory throughout the empire, and richly endowed bishoprics and monasteries. His zealous coöperation with the bishops in bringing about disciplinary reform, his always active interest in doctrinal matters and solicitous participation in the national synods, contributed wonderfully to increase the power and influence of the Church. No sovereign in the history of Christendom contributed more actively and efficaciously than Charles to the propagation and strengthening of religion and the upbuilding of the Church, though the revival of the Western Empire in his person led eventually to the memorable conflict, which filled subsequent centuries, between Papacy and the Empire. He also effected a closer Church organization, by subordinating more strictly the bishoprics to the archbishoprics and by strengthening the hold of the bishop over the churches of his diocese.

No less glorious than his political achievements was the revival of science, literature, and art which Charles brought about—a renaissance all the brighter for the gloom by which it was preceded and followed. He summoned to his Court the greatest scholars of the age: Alcuin, the Englishman, who became the head of the Palace School; Paulus Diaconus, the Lombard, who wrote a history of his people; Peter of Pisa, the grammarian; Angilbert, and Theodulf, the greatest poets of the day, who wrote in imitation of the ancient authors; finally Einhard, Charles’s secretary and friend. In this circle of scholars Charles moved as a comrade and friend, much as did Lorenzo de’ Medici in the Platonic Academy of Florence. He himself possessed an amount of learning unusual in his age, in spite of the fact that he could not write, having begun to learn too late in life. He was very fond of his native tongue—the Frankish—and himself drew up a grammar of the language. He invented Frankish names for the months of the year and for the winds, and even caused a collection of old German poems and legends, then current, to be made, which his pious son Louis destroyed, because of its heathenism. In his Palace School, his own sons and those of the nobility received a liberal education; but he also commanded that each cathedral and monastery should have a school to which laymen, as well as clergy, should be admitted. The school which Alcuin established at Tours, under his patronage, was famous for centuries. He also established public schools for all freemen in connection with the monasteries and parishes. He was no less liberal in his patronage of the fine arts. He built sumptuous palaces, particularly at his favorite residences, Aix-la-Chapelle and Ingelheim—for he had no fixed capital—and many churches, chief among which was the Minster of Aix. He endeavored zealously to promote agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. He projected great national works, one of which was a canal to connect the Rhine and the Danube; but he deemed nothing beneath his attention which concerned the interests of his empire or of his people. He required his subjects to plant certain kinds of fruit-trees, the cultivation of which was thus extended northward in Europe. His own domains were an example of superior cultivation.

Charles the Great was one of the most imposing figures, not only of the Middle Ages, but of all history. His personality impressed itself upon the imagination of the people of the Middle Ages as that of no other man has done. Romances and legends grew up around his name, and those of his nobles, or paladins. According to contemporary accounts, he was above the ordinary stature and of a noble and commanding presence. He was fond of manly exercises, particularly of hunting, and his strength was prodigious. His mode of life was simple. In eating and drinking, he was very moderate. He wore the simple, ancient costume of his people, except on great state occasions, when he used Byzantine robes and ceremonial. His death took place on January 28, 814. He was buried in the Minster of Aix, and was succeeded by his son Louis, known as the Pious.

Bibliography. Besides his capitularies (q.v.), there are extant letters and Latin poems ascribed to Charles the Great. Consult Dümmler, Poetæ Latini Eri Carolini (Leipzig, 1881–84). The chief source for his history is the biography, by his secretary, Einhard, Vita Caroli Magni, edited by Pertz, in the Monumenta Germania Historica, and separately (Hanover, 1863); Engl. trans. by Glaister (London, 1877). Other sources are the letters and poems of Alcuin, Paulus Diaconus, and Angilbert, and the contemporary annals, for a description and editions of which consult Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittelalter, Vol. I. (Berlin, 1893). The most detailed modern account of his reign is Abel and Von Simson, Jahrbücher des fränkischen Reiches unter Karl dem Grossen (Leipzig, 1883, 1888). Consult, also: Vétault, Charlemagne (Tours, 1876); Döllinger, Das Kaisertum Karls des Grossen und seiner Nachfolger (Munich, 1864); Haureau, Charlemagne et son cour (Paris, 1888). The best English works on Charles are: Mombert, History of Charles the Great (New York, 1888); Hodgkin, Charles the Great (London, 1897); Davis, Charlemagne, in “Heroes of the Nations Series” (New York, 1900); Mullinger, Schools of Charles the Great (London, 1877); consult, also: Clemen, Die Porträtdarstellungen Karls des Grossen (Aachen, 1890).