THE HISTORY OF CHARLEMAGNE

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In , he invaded northern Spain, then controlled by the Moors. Between and , Charlemagne added Bohemia to his empire and subdued the Avars in the middle Danube basin to form a buffer state for the eastern border of his empire.

Military Campaigns

Charlemagne went to his aid in Rome and defeated the rebellion. As a token of thanks, Leo crowned Charlemagne on Christmas Day that year, declaring him emperor of the Romans. Although this did not give Charlemagne any new powers, it legitimised his rule over his Italian territories and attempted to revive the imperial tradition of the western Roman emperor. The immense territories which Charlemagne controlled became known as the Carolingian empire.

Charlemagne introduced administrative reforms throughout the lands he controlled, establishing key representatives in each region and holding a general assembly each year at his court at Aachen.

He standardised weights, measures and customs dues, which helped improve commerce and initiated important legal reforms. He also attempted to consolidate Christianity throughout his vast empire.

Early years

He persuaded many eminent scholars to come to his court and established a new library of Christian and classical works. Charlemagne died in His successors lacked his vision and authority, and his empire did not long outlive him. Paradoxically, in the heroic fantasy of the Chanson de Roland , this minor failure becomes the most famous moment in the whole Charlemagne legend. In , for the third time in half a century, a pope is in need of help from the Frankish king.

Charlemagne

After being physically attacked by his enemies in the streets of Rome their stated intention is to blind him and cut out his tongue, to make him incapable of office , Leo III makes his way through the Alps to visit Charlemagne at Paderborn. It is not known what is agreed, but Charlemagne travels to Rome in to support the pope.

But unexpectedly it is maintained , as Charlemagne rises from prayer, the pope places a crown on his head and acclaims him emperor. Charlemagne expresses displeasure but accepts the honour.

The displeasure is probably diplomatic, for the legal emperor is undoubtedly the one in Constantinople. Nevertheless this public alliance between the pope and the ruler of a confederation of Germanic tribes now reflects the reality of political power in the west.

And it launches the concept of the new Holy Roman Empire which will play an important role throughout the Middle Ages. The Holy Roman Empire only becomes formally established in the next century. But it is implicit in the title adopted by Charlemagne in But this time it is in Germany. He is consecrating Charlemagne's spectacular new church in Aachen, begun just nine years previously in The French name of Aachen, Aix-la-Chapelle, specifically features this famous building - a small but richly decorated octagonal chapel which Charlemagne has consciously modelled on another famous imperial church, Justinian's San Vitale in Ravenna.

Much is significant about the choice of Aachen as Charlemagne's seat of power. It is in the north of his empire, at the opposite extreme from Rome.

The pope's journey north in makes it plain that Rome cannot assume precedence in this new Christian partnership; and when Charlemagne decides to crown his only surviving son, Louis, as co-emperor in , the ceremony takes place in the imperial chapel at Aachen without the pope. The site of Aachen is also ideal in terms of Charlemagne's united Frankish empire.

It lies exactly between the west and east Frankish kingdoms, a fact reflected in its modern position at the intersection between the borders of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. A centre of Christian learning: While extending his territories, Charlemagne needs to improve the administration of the empire.

Charlemagne: One of the Most Important Figures of Early Medieval Europe

Christian clerics the only literate group in the barbarian north are enlisted as his civil servants at Aachen, where the emperor also establishes a programme of education and cultural revival. Alcuin, a distinguished teacher from York, is invited in to found a school in the palace at Aachen Charlemagne and his family sometimes join the lessons ; and the copying of manuscripts is carried out in a beautiful script which later becomes the basis of Roman type.

Though still primitive by the standards of classical culture, the renewal of intellectual and artistic life under Charlemagne has justly been described as the Carolingian Renaissance. Charlemagne intends, in the tradition of the Franks, to divide his territory equally between his sons.

But the two eldest die, in and , leaving only Louis - who succeeds as sole emperor in His subsequent name, Louis the Pious, reveals a character different from his father's; he is more interested in asserting authority through the medium of church and monastery than on the battlefield. Charlemagne's great empire remains precariously intact for this one reign after his death.

Its fragmentation begins when Louis dies, in But the name of Charlemagne in legend and literature remains vigorously alive.

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