A member of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. With his brother Carloman I, he became king of the Franks in 768 following Pepins's death, and became sole ruler in 771. As king, he continued his father's policy towards the protection of the papacy and became its chief defender, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy in 774. Charlemagne's reign saw a period of expansion that led to conquests of Bavaria, Saxony, and northern Spain, as well as other campaigns that led Charles to extend his rule over a vast area of Europe. He spread Christianity to his new conquests, often by force, as seen at the Massacre of Verden against the Saxons.
In 800, Charlemagne was crowned as emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III. While historians debate about the exact significance of the coronation, the title represented the height of prestige and authority he had achieved. Charlemagne's position as the first emperor in the West in over 300 years brought him into conflict with the contemporary Eastern Roman Empire based in Constantinople. As king and emperor, Charlemagne engaged in a series of reforms in administration, law, education, military organization, and religion which shaped Europe for centuries. The stability of his reign saw the beginning of a period of significant cultural activity known as the Carolingian Renaissance.
Charlemagne died in 814, and was laid to rest in the Aachen Cathedral, in his imperial capital city of Aachen. He was succeeded by his only surviving son Louis the Pious. After Louis, the Frankish kingdom would be divided, eventually coalescing into West and East Francia, which would respectively become France and the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne's profound impact on the Middle Ages, and the influence on the vast territory he ruled has led him to be called the "Father of Europe". He is seen as a founding figure by multiple European states, and many historical royal houses of Europe trace their lineage back to him. Charlemagne has been the subject of artwork, monuments, and literature since the medieval period, and has received veneration in the Catholic Church.
Name
Various languages were spoken in Charlemagne's world, and he would have been known to contemporaries as: Karlus in the Germanic dialect he spoke; Karlo to Romance speakers; or Carolus (or an alternative form, Karolus)[2] in Latin, the formal language of writing and diplomacy.[3] Charles is the modern English form of these names. He was named for his grandfather Charles Martel,[4] and the name is previously unattested before his grandfather.[5]
The name Charlemagne, by which the emperor is normally known in English, comes from the French Charles-le-magne, meaning "Charles the Great".[1] In modern German, he is known as Karl der Große. The nickname magnus (great) may have been associated with him already in his lifetime, but this is not certain. The contemporary Latin Royal Frankish Annals routinely call him Carolus magnus rex, "Charles the great king".[6] As a nickname, it is certainly attested in the works of the Poeta Saxo around 900 and it only became standard in all the lands of his former empire around 1000.[7]
By the 6th century, the western Germanic tribe of the Franks had been Christianised, due in considerable measure to the Catholic conversion of Clovis I.[10]Francia, ruled by the Merovingians, was the most powerful of the kingdoms that succeeded the Western Roman Empire,[11] encompassing nearly all of modern France and Switzerland, along with parts of modern Germany and the Low Countries.[12] Francia was often divided in several sub-kingdoms under different Merovingian kings, due to ill-defined succession laws.[13] The late 7th century saw a period of war and instability following the murder of King Childeric II, which led to factional struggles among the Frankish aristocrats.[14]
In 687, Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of the Frankish sub-kingdom Austrasia, ended the strife between various kings and their mayors with his victory at Tertry.[15] Pepin was the grandson of two important figures of the Austrasian Kingdom: Saint Arnulf of Metz and Pepin of Landen.[16] Pepin's position as mayor of the palace allowed him gain power as the Mergovian kings' own waned.[14] Pepin was eventually succeeded by his son Charles, later known as Charles Martel.[17] Charles did not support a Merovingian successor upon the death of King Theuderic IV in 737, leaving the throne vacant.[18] Charles was able to pass on power and be succeeded in 741 by his sons Carloman and Pepin the Short, the father of Charlemagne.[19] The brothers placed the Merovingian Childeric III on the throne in 743.[20] Carloman abdicated his position in 747 to travel to Rome and entered a monastery, and his son Drogo took his place.[21]
Birth
Charlemagne's birth date is uncertain, but was most likely born in 748.[22][23][24][25] An older tradition, taking after 9th century biographer Einhard's report of Charlemagne being 72 at death, gives a birth year of 742.[26] Einhard admittedly did not know much of Charlemagne's early life, and, not knowing the emperor's true age, still presented an exact date in keeping with the Roman imperial biographies of Suetonius which he used as a model.[27][28] German scholar Karl Werner challenged the acceptance of Einhard's date and cited a near-contemporary additions to annals which recorded Charlemagne's birth in 747.[29]Lorsch Abbey commemorated Charlemagne's date of birth as 2 April since the mid-9th century, and this date is likely genuine.[30][31] As the annalists recorded the start of the year from Easter rather than 1 January, Matthais Becher built off of Werner's work and showed that 2 April in the year recorded would have actually been in 748.[22] 2 April 748 has therefore become the accepted date among scholars.[32][22][23] The date of 742 had led to the belief that Charlemagne may have been an illegitimate child, as Pepin and Bertrada did not marry until 744.[31][33] Charlemagne's place of birth is also unknown but may have been at Frankish palaces in Vaires-sur-Marne or Quierzy.[34]
Language and education
Sketch thought to be of Charlemagne c. 800
Einhard speaks of Charlemagne's patrius sermo, "father" or "native toungue".[34] Most scholars have identified this as a form of Old High German, probably a Rhenish Franconian dialect.[35][36][37] Einhard wrote from his experiences in Charlemagne's court in the 790s onward. Due to the prevalence in Francia of the "rustic Roman" language that was rapidly developing into Old French, he was probably functionally bilingual in both Germanic and Romance dialects from a young age.[34] Charlemagne also spoke Latin, and according to Einhard could understand and perhaps speak some Greek.[38]
Charlemagne's father was educated at the abbey of Saint-Denis, though the extent of Charlemagne's formal education is unknown.[39] He almost certainly was trained in military matters at Pepin's court as a youth.[40] Charlemagne also asserted his own education in the liberal arts when encouraging their study by his children and others, though it is unknown whether his study was as a child or at court during his later life.[40] The question of Charlemagne's literacy is subject to debate, and there is little direct evidence from contemporary sources. He normally had texts read aloud to him and dictated responses and decrees, though this is not abnormal even for a literate ruler at the time.[41] Johannes Fried considers it likely that Charlemagne would have been able to read,[42] though Paul Dutton writes that "the evidence for his ability to read is circumstantial and inferential at best,"[43] and concludes it likely that he never properly mastered the skill.[44] Einhard makes no direct mention of Charlemagne reading, but recorded that he only attempted to learn to write later in life.[45]
Accession and joint reign with Carloman
Charlemagne appears only sparsely in the Frankish annals before death of his father.[46] By 751 or 752, Pepin moved to depose Childeric and replace him as king.[20][47] Early Carolingian-influenced sources claim that Pepin's seizure of the throne was sanctioned by Pope Stephen II,[48] but modern historians dispute this.[49][20] It is possible papal approval only came when Stephen traveled to Francia in 754, apparently to request Pepin's aid against the Lombards, and on this trip anointed Pepin as king, legitimizing his rule.[47][49] This papal visit is the earliest appearance of Charlemagne in the historical record, as he was sent to greet and escort the Pope, and he and his brother Carloman were anointed along with their father.[50] Around the same time, Pepin moved to sideline Drogo, sending him and his brother to a monastery.[51]
20th Century painting of Charlemagne's coronation at Noyon in 768.
Charlemagne began issuing charters in his own name in 760, and is recorded as joining his father on campaign in 761.[52] During Pepin's reign, Aquitaine was constantly in rebellion against his rule.[53] Pepin fell ill on campaign in Aquitaine and died on 24 September 768, and Charlemagne and Carloman succeeded their father.[54] They had separate coronations, Charlemagne at Noyon and Carloman at Soissons, each on 9 October.[55] The brothers maintained separate palaces and maintained separate spheres of influence, though they were considered joint rulers of a single Frankish kingdom.[56] The immediate concern of the brothers was the ongoing uprising in Aquitane.[57] While they marched into Aquitaine together, Carloman abandoned the campaign and Charlemagne completed it on his own.[57] Charlemagne's capture of Duke Hunald marked the end of ten years of war in the attempt to bring Aquitaine in line.[57]
Carloman's refusal to participate in the war against Aquitaine led to a rift between the two kings.[57][58] It is uncertain why Carloman did not join Charlemagne. It is possible that the brothers disagreed over control over the territory,[57][59] or that Carloman was focusing on securing his rule in the north of Francia.[59] The brothers reported to the pope that their relations had returned to normal, though it is unclear if this was true.[60] Regardless of potential strife between the kings, they still maintained a joint rule out of practicality.[61] Both Charlemagne and Carloman worked to secure the support of the clergy and local elites to secure their positions.[62]
The political affairs of Italy became a focus of Charlemagne's. The Papacy had sought the protection of the Franks from the aggression of the Lombards since the time of Charles Martel, as the ability of the Byzantine Empire to control Central Italy was fading.[63]Pope Stephen III was elected in 768, but was briefly deposed by an antipope before being restored to Rome.[64] With factional struggle still occurring, Stephen sought the support of the Frankish kings.[65] Both brothers sent troops to Rome, each hoping to exert their own influence.[66] The Lombard king Desiderius also had interests in the affairs in Rome, and Charlemagne moved to gain him as an ally.[67] Desiderius already had alliances with Bavaria and Benevento through the marriages of his daughters to their dukes,[68] and an alliance with Charlemagne would add to his influence.[67] Charlemagne's mother Betrada went on his behalf to Lombardy in 770, where she brokered the marriage alliance before returning to Francia with Charlemagne's new bride.[69] Desiderius's daughter is traditionally named Desiderata, though she may have been named Gerperga.[70][57] Pope Stephen was anxious at the prospect of the alliance, fearing the power it would give Desiderius. He sent a letter to both Frankish Kings decrying the marriage, while also separately seeking closer ties with Carloman.[71]
Charlemagne had already had a relationship with Himiltrude, and they had a son in 769 they named Pepin.[55] It is possible that the union of Charlemagne and Himiltrude was a Germanic form of marriage with fewer obligations than the sacramental marriage of the Church—what some medievalists have called Friedelehe—although the concept is controversial.[72]Paul the Deacon wrote in his 784 Gesta Episcoporum Mettensium that Pepin was born "before legal marriage", but his precise meaning is unclear: he does not specify as to whether Charles and Himiltrude were not fully, legally married by the church, or if they simply got married after Pepin was born.[72] Pope Stephen's letter described the relationship as a legitimate marriage, but he had a vested interest in preventing Charlemagne from marrying Desiderius's daughter.[73]
Carloman died suddenly on 4 December 771, leaving Charlemagne as sole King of the Franks.[74] Carloman's wife Gerberga and their children fled to the court of Desiderius[74] as Charlemagne moved immediately to secure his hold on his brother's territory.[75][76] In response, Charlemagne ended his marriage to Desiderius's daughter and married Hildegard.[76] This was both a reaction to Desiderius's sheltering of Carloman's family[77] as well as a move to secure the support of Hildegard's father Gerold, a powerful magnate of Carloman's kingdom.[78][79]
King of the Franks and the Lombards
Annexation of the Lombard kingdom
Political map of Europe in 771, showing the Franks and their neighbors.
Charlemagne's first campaigning season as sole king of the Franks was spent on the eastern frontier, in his first campaign against the Saxons. Saxons had engaged in border raiding against the Frankish kingdom, and Charlemagne responded with a destructive campaign in which he destroyed the Saxon irminsul at Eresburg and seized the Saxon's gold and silver.[80] The successful war helped secure Charlemagne's reputation among his brother's former vassals as well as providing funds for future campaigns.[81] This campaign was the beginning of over thirty years of near continuous warfare against the Saxons by Charlemagne.[82]
Pope Adrian I succeeded Stephen III in 772, and sought the return of papal control of cities captured by Desiderius.[83] Unable to get results directly by dealing with the Lombard king, Adrian sent emissaries to Charlemagne to gain his support in regaining papal territory. Charlemagne, motivated by this appeal and the dynastic threat posed by the presence of Carloman's sons in the Lombard court, gathered his forces and moved to intervene.[84] First seeking diplomatic solutions, he offered gold to Desiderius in exchange for the return of the papal territories and his nephews.[85] These overtures were rejected, and Charlemagne's army (with command divided between himself and his uncle Bernard) crossed the Alps to besiege the Lombard capital Pavia in late 773.[86]
Charlemagne's second son, also named Charles had been born in 772, and Charlemagne brought the child and his wife to the camp at Pavia. Hildegard was pregnant, and gave birth to a daughter named Adelhaid. The baby was sent back to Francia, but died on the way.[86] Charlemagne left Bernard to maintain the siege at Pavia while he took a force to capture Verona, where Desiderius's son Adalgis had taken Carloman's sons.[87] Charlemagne captured the city, and no further record exists of his nephews or of Carloman's wife, and their fates are unknown.[88][89] Historian Janet Nelson likens them to the "princes in the tower" of the Wars of the Roses.[90] Johannes Fried puts forth the possibilities that the boys were forced into a monastery (a common solution for dynastic issues) or that "an act of murder smooth[ed] Charlemagne’s ascent to power."[91] Adagis was not captured by Charlemagne and fled to Constantinople.[92]
Charlemagne left the siege in April 774 to make his first visit to Rome in time for Easter.[93] Pope Adrian arranged for a formal welcome of the Frankish king, and the two made oaths to each other over the relics of St. Peter.[94] Adrian presented a copy of the agreement between Pepin and Stephen III outlining the papal lands and rights Pepin had agreed to protect and restore.[95] What exact lands and rights the agreement pertained to is unclear, and would remain a point of dispute for centuries.[96] Charlemagne deposited a copy of the agreement in St. Peter's tomb as a symbol of his commitment, then left Rome to continue the siege.[97]
Shortly after his return to Pavia, disease struck the besiege Lombards and they surrendered the city by June.[98] Charlemagne deposed Desiderius and took the title king of the Lombards for himself.[99] The complete takeover of one kingdom by another was "extraordinary"[100] and "without parallel".[89] Charlemagne was able to secure the support of the Lombard nobles and Italian urban elites to seize power in a mostly peaceful annexation.[100][101] Charlemagne shortly returned to Francia with the Lombard royal treasury and with Desiderius and his family, who would be confined to a monastery for the rest of their days.[102]
Saxons had taken advantage of Charlemagne's absence in Italy to raid the Frankish borderlands, leading a counter-raid in the Autumn of 774 and a campaign of reprisal in 775.[103] Charlemagne was soon drawn back to Italy, as Duke Hrodgaud of Friuli rebelled against him.[104] Charlemagne quickly crushed the rebellion and distributed Hrogaud's lands to Franks to better consolidate his rule in Lombardy.[105] He wintered in Italy, and further consolidated his power through issuing charters and legislation as well as taking Lombard hostages.[106] In the midst of the 775 Saxon and Fruilian campaigns, his daughter Rotrude was born in Francia.[107]
Returning north, Charlemagne waged another brief but destructive campaign against the Saxons in 776. This short war led to the submission of many Saxons, who turned over captives and lands as well as submitting to baptism as Christians.[108] In 777, Charlemagne held an assembly at Paderborn with both Frankish and Saxon men, and many more Saxons came under his rule. The Saxon magnate Widukind led the Saxons who would resist Charlemagne's rule, and fled to Denmark.[109] His third son Carloman was also born this year.[110]
Also present at the Paderborn assembly were representatives of dissident factions from al-Andalus. The son and son-in-law of Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, who had been ousted from rule in Cordoba by Abd al-Rahman I in 756, sought Charlemagne's support in the restoration, as well as rulers from northern Spain who wished to leave al-Fihri's rule.[111] Charlemagne, seeing an opportunity to strengthen the security of the Spanish March and further extend his influence, agreed to intervene.[112] Crossing the Pyrenees, his army found little resistance until an ambush by Basque forces in 778 at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass ended in defeat and the Franks withdrew from the campaign, though with most of the army intact.[113]
Building the dynasty
Adrian crowning Louis as Charlemagne looks on.
Charlemagne returned to Francia to greet his new twin sons Louis and Lothair, who had been born while he was in Spain.[114] Lothair would die in infancy.[115] Again, Saxons had seized on the king's absence to raid. Charlemagne sent an army into Saxony in 779,[116] while he took time to hold assemblies, legislate, and address an ongoing famine in Francia.[117] Hildegard gave birth to another daughter, Bertha.[115] Charlemagne himself returned to Saxony in 780 to receive more submissions at oversee more baptisms.[118]
In the spring of 781, Charlemagne and Hildegard traveled with their four younger children to Rome (leaving Pepin and Charles at Worms), making a journey requested by Adrian since 775.[115] Adrian baptized the children, and in the process Carloman was renamed Pepin, now sharing a name with his half-brother.[119] The newly renamed Pepin and Louis were also then anointed and crowned, Pepin appointed king of the Lombards and Louis king of Aquitaine.[120] This was not merely nominal, as the young kings were sent to reside in their kingdoms under the care of regents and advisors.[121] A delegation from the Byzantine regent Empress Irene came meet Charlemagne during his stay in Rome, and he agreed to betroth his daughter Rotrude to her son Constantine VI.[122]
Hildegard also gave birth to her eighth child, Gisela during this trip to Italy.[115] After the royal family's return to Francia, she had her final pregnancy, and died from resulting complications on 30 April 783. The child, named for her, died shortly thereafter.[123] Charlemagne commissioned epitaphs for both his wife and daughter, and arranged for daily mass said and other honors given to Hildegard's tomb.[123] Charlemagne's mother Betrada died shortly after Hildegard, on 12 July 783.[124] By the end of the year, Charlemagne remarried, and Fastrada became queen.[125]
In summer 782, Widukind returned from Denmark to attack the Frankish positions in Saxony and lead other Saxons in revolt.[126] Widukind defeated a Frankish army, possibly due to rivalry among the Frankish counts leading it.[127] Charlemagne was made aware of this defeat and came himself to Verden and gathered an assembly of Saxon magnates, Widikund fleeing before his arrival.[128] In response to what he saw as treachery against his rule, Charlemagne compelled the Saxons to turn over prisoners to him. The annals record that Charlemagne beheaded 4,500 Saxon prisoners, in what is called the Massacre of Verden.[129]
Fried writes that "although this figure may be exaggerated, the basic truth of the event is not in doubt."[130]Alessandro Barbero regards it as "perhaps the greatest stain on his reputation."[131] Likely in the immediate aftermath, or as a prescursor for the massacre, Charlemagne issued the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae.[132] The capitulatio featured a harsh set of laws that included the death penalty for pagan practices that "constituted a program for the forced conversion of the Saxons"[133] and "aimed...at suppressing Saxon identity."[134]
Charlemagne's focus for the next several years would be to attempt to complete the subjugation of the Saxons. Concentrating first in Westphalia in 783, he pushed into Thuringia in 784 as Charles the Younger continued operations in the West. At each stage of the campaigns, the Frankish armies seized wealth and carried Saxon captives into slavery.[135] Unusually, Charlemagne remained campaigning through the winter rather than resting his army.[136] By 785, Charlemagne had cowed the Saxon resistance and commanded complete control of Westphalia. That summer, he was able to meet Widikund and convince him to end his resistance. Widukind agreed to submit and be baptized with Charlemagne as his godfather, ending this phase of the Saxon Wars.[137]
Benevento, Bavaria, and Pepin's revolt
Charlemagne traveled to Italy in 786, arriving by Christmas. Aiming to extend his influence further into southern Italy, he marched into the Duchy of Benevento.[138]Duke Arechis fled to a fortified position at Salerno, before offering Charlemagne his submission. Charlemagne accepted the submission along with hostages, who included Arechis's son Grimoald.[139] While in Italy, Charlemagne also met with envoys from Constantinople. Empress Irene had called the 787 Second Council of Nicaea, but did not inform Charlemagne nor invite any Frankish bishops. Charlemagne, likely in reaction to the perceived slight of this exclusion, broke his daughter Rotrude's betrothal to Constantine VI.[140]
After Charlemagne left Italy, Arechis sent envoys to Irene to offer an alliance. He suggested she send a Byzantine army along with Adalgis, the exiled son of Desiderus, to remove the Franks form power in Lombardy.[141] Before plans could by finalized, both Aldechis and his elder son Romuald died of illness within weeks of each other.[142] Charlemagne sent Grimoald back to Benevento to serve as duke and return it to Frankish suzerainty.[143] The Byzantine army did invade but were repulsed by the Frankish and Lombard forces.[144]
Charlemagne (left) and Pepin the Hunchback (10th-century copy of 9th-century original)
As affairs were being settled in Italy, Charlemagne turned his attention to Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by Duke Tassilo, Charlemagne's first cousin who had been installed by Pepin the Short in 748.[145] Tassilo's sons were also grandsons of Desiderius, and therefore a potential threat to Charlemagne's rule in Lombardy.[146] The two neighboring rulers had a growing rivalry throughout their reigns, but had sworn oaths of peace to each other in 781.[147] In 784, Charlemagne's viceroy in Italy had accused Tassilo of conspiring with Widukind in Saxony, and unsuccessfully attacked the Bavarian city of Bolzano.[148] Charlemagne gathered his forces to prepare an invasion of Bavaria in 787. Dividing the army, the Franks launched a three-pronged attack. Quickly realizing the poor position he was in, Tassilo agreed to surrender and become Charlemagne's vassal.[149] The next year, Tassilo was accused of plotting with the Avars to attack Charlemagne. Tassilo was deposed and sent to a monastery, and Charlemagne absorbed Bavaria into his kingdom.[150] Charlemagne spent the next several years based in Regensburg, largely focused on consolidating his rule Bavaria and warring against the Avars.[151] Successful campaigns against the Avars were launched from Bavaria and Italy in 788,[152] and Charlemagne led campaigns in 791 and 792.[153]
In 789, Charlemagne gave his son Charles the Younger rule over Maine in Neustria, leaving Pepin the Hunchback as his only son without lands.[154] Charlemagne's relationship with Himiltrude was by this point apparently seen definitively illegitimate at Charlemagne's court, and Pepin by result was being sidelined in the succession.[155] In 772, as his father and brothers were all gathered at Regensburg, Pepin conspired with Bavarian nobles to assassinate them and install himself as king. The plot was discovered and revealed to Charlemagne before it could go ahead. Pepin was sent to a monastery and many of his co-conspirators were executed.[156]
The early 790s saw a marked focus on ecclesiastical affairs by Charlemagne. He summoned a council at Regensburg in 792 to address the Adoptionist heresy in the Spanish church, as well as formulate a response to the Second Council of Nicea.[157] The council led to the production of the Libri Carolini, a detailed argument against Nicea's canons.[158] In 794, Charlemagne called another council at Frankfurt.[159] The council confirmed Regensburg's positions on Adoptionism and Nicea, formalised the deposition of Tassilo, set grain prices, and endorsed prayer in vernacular languages, among many other religious, political, and economic measures.[160] Soon after the close of the council, Fastrada fell ill and died.[161] Charlemagne married Luitgard shortly after.[162]
Continued wars with the Saxons and Avars
With Saxon resistance continuing, Charlemagne launched a campaign after the close of the council of Frankfurt. This was the beginning of a series of annual campaigns that would last through 799.[163] The campaigns in the 790s were even more destructive than those of earlier decades, with the annal writers frequently referring to Charlemagne "burning", "ravaging", "devastating", and "laying waste" to the Saxon lands.[164] Charlemagne forcibly removed a large number of Saxons to Francia, installing Frankish elites and soldiers in their place.[165] In the south, Pepin of Italy and his Lombard vassals engaged in further campaigns against the Avars which led to the collapse of their kingdom and the expansion of Frankish rule east.[166]
In April 799, Pope Leo III, who had faced difficulties since his accession in 795, was attacked in Rome and accused of various crimes by political enemies.[167] Leo escaped and fled north to seek Charlemagne's help,[168] thus continuing a pattern of his predecessors.[169] Charlemagne continued his campaign against the Saxons before breaking off to meet Leo at Paderborn in September.[170][171] Charlemagne, hearing evidence from both the Pope and his enemies, sent Leo back to Rome along with royal legates, who had instructions to reinstate the Pope and investigate the matter further.[172] It was not until August of the next year that Charlemagne himself made plans to go to Rome, after an extensive tour of his lands in Neustria.[172][173] Charlemagne met Leo in November near Mentana, at the twelfth milestone outside Rome, the traditional location where Roman emperors began their formal entry to the city.[173] In Rome, Leo stood trial before the king and swore his innocence of all charges made against him.[170] On 25 December 800, at mass on Christmas Day, Leo acclaimed Charlemagne as emperor and crowned him. In doing so, Charlemagne became the first reigning emperor in the west since the deposition of Romulus Augustulus in 476.[174] His son Charles the Younger was anointed as king by Leo at the same time.[175]
Historians differ as to intentions behind the imperial coronation, the extent to which Charlemagne was aware of it or participated in its planning, and the significance of the events to those present and to Charlemagne's reign.[170] Contemporary Frankish and papal sources differ in their emphasis and representation of events.[176] Charlemagne's 9th century biographer Einhard insists that he would not have entered the church had he known of the Pope's plan has variously been taken as truthful or as a "literary device" used as a sign of Charlemagne's humility.[177]Roger Collins argues that the actions surrounding the coronation indicate that it was planned by Charlemagne as early as his meeting with Leo in 799,[178] and Johannes Fried argues Charlemagne planned to adopt the title of emperor by 798 "at the latest."[179] In the years before the coronation, Charlemagne's courtier Alcuin had referred to Charlemagne's realm as an Imperium Christianum ("Christian Empire"), wherein, "just as the inhabitants of the Roman Empire had been united by a common Roman citizenship", presumably this new empire would be united by a common Christian faith.[180] This is the view of Henri Pirenne when he says "Charles was the Emperor of the ecclesia as the Pope conceived it, of the Roman Church, regarded as the universal Church".[181]
Pope Leo III, crowning Charlemagne from Chroniques de France ou de Saint Denis, vol. 1; France, second quarter of 14th century.
For both Leo and Charlemagne, the Roman Empire remained a significant contemporary power in European politics, especially in Italy. The Byzantines continued to hold a substantial portion of Italy, with borders not far south of Rome. In sitting in judgment of the Pope, Charlemagne could have been seen as usurping the prerogatives of the emperor in Constantinople.[182][c] One of the earliest narrative sources, the Annals of Lorsch present the position of Empress Irene, a woman, on the throne indicated an absence in the imperial title that Leo and Charlemagne could therefore fill.[185] Pirenne disputes this, saying that the coronation "was not in any sense explained by the fact that at this moment a woman was reigning in Constantinople."[186] Leo's main motivations may have been the desire to increase his own standing after his political difficulties, showing himself as a king-maker and securing Charlemagne as his powerful ally and protector.[187] The Byzantine Empire's lack of ability to influence events in Italy and support the papacy were also important in Leo's position.[187] The act of Leo crowning Charlemagne can also be viewed as showing the Pope's spiritual power over Charlemagne as a temporal ruler.[188] The Royal Frankish Annals, on the other hand, records Leo prostrating himself before Charlemagne after crowning him, an act of submission standard in Roman coronation rituals from the time of Diocletian. This account represents Leo, rather being the superior of Charlemagne, merely acting as an agent of the Roman people in recognizing their acclimation of Charlemagne as emperor.[189]
Henry Mayr-Harting argues that assumption of the imperial title by Charlemagne was an effort to incorporate the Saxons into the Frankish realm, as they did not have a native tradition of kingship.[190] However, Costambeys et al. note in The Carolingian World that "since Saxony had not been in the Roman empire it is hard to see on what basis an emperor would have been any more welcomed."[187] These authors argue that the decision to take the title of emperor was more aimed at furthering Charlemagne's influence in Italy, as an appeal to traditional authority recognized by Italian elites both within and especially outside his current control.[187]
Collins concurs that becoming emperor gave Charlemagne "the right to try to impose his rule over the whole of [Italy]", and regards this as a motivator for the coronation.[191] He also notes the "element of political and military risk"[191] inherent in the affair, due to the opposition of the Byzantine Empire as well as potential opposition from the Frankish elite as the imperial title could draw him further into Mediterranean politics.[192] Collins sees several actions of Charlemagne as attempts to ensure his new title was cast in a distinctly Frankish context.[193]
Charlemagne's coronation led to a centuries-long ideological conflict between his successors and Constantinople, termed the problem of two emperors,[d] as it could be seen as a repudiation of the Byzantine singular claim to imperial title as preeminent among Christian rulers.[194] Charlemagne may have had a more limited view of his role, seeing the title simply representing dominion over the lands he already ruled.[195] Still, the title of emperor gave Charlemagne enhanced prestige and ideological authority.[196][197] He immediately incorporated his new title into documents issued, adopting the formula Charles, most serene Augustus, crowned by God, great peaceful emperor governing the Roman empire, and who is by the mercy of God king of the Franks and the Lombards[e] as opposed to the earlier form Charles, by the grace of God king of the Franks and Lombards and patrician of the Romans.[f][2] The avoidance of the specific claim of being a "Roman emperor" as an opposed to the more neutral "emperor governing the Roman empire" may have been to improve relations with the Byzantines.[198] This phrasing, alongside the continuation of his earlier royal titles, may also represent a view of his role as emperor as merely being the ruler of the people of the city of Rome, just as he was of the Franks and the Lombards.[198][199]
Charlemagne left Italy in the summer of 801 after judging several ecclesiastical disputes in Rome and further stops in Ravenna, Pavia, and Bologna.[200] He would not return to Rome again.[196] Although the trends of his later realm began in the 790s,[201] period of Charlemagne's reign from 801 onward marks a "distinct phase"[202] characterised by a more stationary rule from the Palace of Aachen.[196] Expansion of the realm largely ended, marked by the establishment of marches to defend the empire's frontiers.[203] While there continued to be conflict until the end of Charlemagne's reign, the relative peace of the imperial period saw an increased focus on internal governance through the issuing of laws and capitularies.
Charlemagne did not campaign in either 802 or 803.[206] The Capitulare missorum generale issued in 802, called the "programmatic capitulary", was an expansive piece of legislation, with provisions governing the conduct of royal officials and requiring a loyalty oath to the emperor to be taken by all free men under his rule.[207][208] The capitulary reformed the institution of the missi dominici, officials who would now be assigned in pairs (a cleric and a lay aristocrat) to administer justice and oversee governance in defined territories.[209] The emperor also ordered revisions of the Lombard and Frankish law codes.[210]
In addition to the missi, Charlemagne also ruled the empire through his sons as sub-kings. Pepin and Louis had been appointed kings of the Italy and Aquitaine respectively in 781, though both were children at the time and were ruled by regents in their minority.[211] Though both had some devolved authority as kings in adulthood, Charlemagne still had ultimate authority and intervened in matters directly.[212] Charles, their elder brother, had been given rule over lands in Neustria in 789 or 790, and had been made a king in 800.[213]
The 806 charter Divisio Regnorum ("division of the realm"), set the terms of succession of the empire in the event of Charlemagne's death.[214] Charles, as his eldest son in good favour, was given the largest share of the inheritance, with rule of Francia proper along with Saxony, Nordgau, and parts of Alemannia. The two younger sons were confirmed in their kingdoms and gained additional territories, with most of Bavaria and Alemmannia given to Pepin and Provence, Septimania, and parts of Burgundy to Louis.[215] Charlemagne did not address the inheritance of the imperial title.[213] The Divisio also addressed the death of any of the brothers, and urged peace between them and between any of their nephews who might inherit.[216]
Conflict and diplomacy with the east
15th-century woodcut of Charlemagne and Irene.
Following his coronation, Charlemagne sought recognition of his imperial title from Constantinople.[217] Several delegations were exchanged between Charlemagne and Irene in 802 and 803. A Byzantine chronicler claims that Charlemagne made an offer of marriage to Irene, which she was close to accepting.[218] Irene, however, was deposed and replaced by Nikephoros I, who was unwilling to recognize Charlemagne as emperor.[218] The two empires would come into conflict over control of the Adriatic Sea (especially Istria and Veneto) several times during Nikephoros' reign, before peace negotiations commenced in 810.[219] Charlemagne's envoys would make peace with emperor Michael I, who had succeeded his father-in-law Nikephoros. As part of the peace, Michael recognized Charlemagne as emperor and basileus.[220] It was only following this recognition that Charlemagne would issue coins including the imperial title, though coins minted by the pope in Rome had used the titles as early as 800.[221]
Charlemagne began diplomatic contact with the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 790s, due to their mutual interest in affairs in Spain.[222] As an early sign of friendship, Charlemagne requested an elephant as a gift from Harun. Harun obliged and the elephant, named Abul-Abbas arrived in Aachen in 802.[223] Cordial relations were retained with the Abbasids during the first decade of imperial rule. Harun, himself at war with the Byzantines during this period, sought to ensure Charlemagne's relations with Nikephoros remained poor.[224] As part of his outreach, Harun gave Charlemagne nominal rule of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as well as other gifts.[224] Harun died in 809, leading to competing claimants over succession to the caliphate. Under Harun's successors, conditions for Christians and Jews under the caliphate worsened, and churches and synagogues were destroyed.[225] Unable to intervene directly, Charlemagne sent aid in the form of specially minted coins (which also served as propaganda for the emperor in the form of inscriptions and portraiture) and arms to Christians under the caliphate in order to restore and defend churches and monasteries.[226] The souring of relations with Baghdad after Harun's death may have been the impetus for the renewed negotiations with Constantinople that would lead to Charlemagne's peace with Michael in 811.[227]
As emperor, Charlemagne became involved in a religious dispute between eastern and western Christians over the recitation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, the fundamental statement of orthodox Christian belief. The original text of the creed adopted at the Council of Constantinople professed that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father. However, a tradition developed in Western Europe that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father "and the Son", inserting the Latin term filioque.[228] This difference in tradition did not cause significant conflict until 807, when Frankish monks in Bethlehem were denounced as heretics by a Greek monk for their insertion of filioque.[228] The monks appealed the dispute to Rome, where Pope Leo affirmed the text of the creed omitting the phrase and also passed the report on to Charlemagne.[229] Charlemagne summoned a council at Aachen in 809, which defended the used of filioque, and sent this decision to Rome. Leo consented that the Franks could maintain their tradition, but asserted that the canonical creed did not include filioque.[230] Leo went so far as to commission two silver shields with the creed in Latin and Greek which he hung in St. Peter's Basilica.[228][231]
Danish attacks
Europe at the death of the Charlemagne in 814
After the conquest of Nordalbingia, the Frankish frontier was brought into contact with Scandinavia. The pagan Danes, "a race almost unknown to his ancestors, but destined to be only too well known to his sons"[232] as Charles Oman described them, inhabiting the Jutland peninsula, had heard many stories from Widukind and his allies who had taken refuge with them about the dangers of the Franks and the fury which their Christian king could direct against pagan neighbours.
In 808, the king of the Danes, Godfred, expanded the vast Danevirke across the isthmus of Schleswig. This defence, last employed in the Danish-Prussian War of 1864, was at its beginning a 30 km (19 mi) long earthenwork rampart. The Danevirke protected Danish land and gave Godfred the opportunity to harass Frisia and Flanders with pirate raids. He also subdued the Frank-allied Veleti and fought the Abotrites.
Godfred invaded Frisia, joked of visiting Aachen, but was murdered before he could do any more, either by a Frankish assassin or by one of his own men. Godfred was succeeded by his nephew Hemming, who concluded the Treaty of Heiligen with Charlemagne in late 811.
Final years and death
A portion of the 814 death shroud of Charlemagne. It represents a quadriga and was manufactured in Constantinople.
The Carolingian dynasty had multiple losses in 810, as Charlemagne's sister Gisela, his daughter Rotrude, and his son Pepin of Italy died.[233] His eldest sons Pepin the Hunchback and Charles the Younger both died the next year.[234] The deaths of Charles and Pepin of Italy left Charlemagne's earlier plans for succession in disarray. In the wake of these deaths, he declared Pepin's son Bernard ruler of Italy, and his own only surviving son Louis as heir to the rest of the empire.[235] He also completed a new will detailing the disposition of his property, with bequests to the Church as well as all of his children and grandchildren.[236] Einhard (possibly relying on tropes from Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars) recounts that Charlemagne viewed the deaths of his family members, astronomical phenomena, and other misfortunes in his last years as signs of his own impending death.[237] In his final year, Charlemagne continued to govern the empire and church with energy, ordering bishops to assemble in five ecclesiastical councils.[238] These culminated in a large assembly at Aachen, where Charlemagne formally crowned Louis as his co-emperor and Bernard as king in a ceremony on 11 September 813.[239]
Charlemagne became ill in the autumn of 813 and spent his last months praying, fasting, and studying the Gospels.[237] He developed pleurisy, and became completely bedridden for seven days before dying on the morning of 28 January 814.[240]Thegan, a biographer of Louis, records the emperor's last words as "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit", quoting from Luke 23:46.[241] Charlemagne's body was prepared and buried in the chapel at Aachen by his daughters and palace officials the same day.[242] Louis arrived at Aachen thirty days after his father's death, making a formal adventus, taking charge of the palace and the empire.[243] Charlemagne's remains were exhumed by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1165, and reinterred in a new casket by Frederick II in 1215.[244]
The Karlsschrein, in which Frederick II reinterred Charlemagne in 1215.
Legacy
Charlemagne is remembered through his patronage of the literary arts. Scriptors such as Alcuin of York and Einhard of Fulda left many first-hand accounts of his life and impact, for example Vita Karoli Magni and the Royal Frankish Annals.
Political legacy
Partition of the Empire after the Treaty of Verdun 843.
The stability and peace of Charlemagne's reign would not long outlast him. Louis' reign was marked by strife, including multiple rebellions of his own sons. Following Louis' death, the empire was divided between West, East, and Middle Francia.[245] Middle Francia saw several more divisions over subsequent generations.[246] Carolingians would rule with some interruptions in East Francia until 911[174] and in West Francia (which would become France) until 987.[247] After 887, the imperial title was held sporadically by a series of non-dynastic Italian rulers[248] before lapsing in 924.[249] East Francian King Otto the Great conquered Italy and was crowned emperor in 962.[250] The Holy Roman Empire founded by Otto would last until its dissolution in 1806.[251]
Charlemagne served as a model for medieval rulership "at least until the final end of empire in the West in the early nineteenth century."[252] Charlemagne is often given the epithet "the father of Europe" because of the influence of his reign, and the legacy he left across the large area of the continent he ruled.[253] The political structures Charlemagne established remained in place through his Carolingian successors, and continued to have influence into the eleventh century.[254] During his reign, groundwork was laid for the process of concentration of power in military aristocrats that would characterize the later Middle Ages.[255]
Despite the end of ruling Carolingian lines, Charlemagne is considered a direct ancestor of European ruling houses, including the Capetian dynasty,[g] the Ottonian dynasty,[h] the House of Luxembourg,[i] the House of Ivrea[j] and the House of Habsburg.[k] The Ottonians and Capetians, direct successors of the Carolingans, drew on the legacy of Charlemagne to bolster their legitimacy and prestige. Ottonians and future emperors would continue to hold their German coronations at Aachen through the Middle Ages.[262] The marriage of Philip II of France to Isabella of Hainault, a direct descendant of Charlemagne was seen as a sign of increased legitimacy for their son Louis VIII, and association with Charlemagne by French kings continue until the monarchy's end.[263] In fact, Charlemagne's sword Joyeuse survives in the Louvre along with the other royal regalia of France.
The city of Aachen has, since 1949, awarded an international prize (called the Karlspreis der Stadt Aachen) in honour of Charlemagne. It is awarded annually to those who have promoted the idea of European unity.[265] Winners of the prize include Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, the founder of the pan-European movement, Alcide De Gasperi, and Winston Churchill.[267]
Charlemagne was a frequent subject of and inspiration for medieval writers after his death. Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni "can be said to have revived the defunct literary genre of the secular biography."[268] Einhard drew on classical sources such as Suetonius' De vita Caesarum, the orations of Cicero, and Tacitus' Agricola to frame the structure and style of his work.[269] The Carolingian period also saw an revival in the genre of mirrors for princes genre.[270] The author of the Visio Karoli Magni written around 865 uses facts gathered apparently from Einhard and his own observations on the decline of Charlemagne's family after the dissensions war (840–43) as the basis for a visionary tale of Charles' meeting with a prophetic spectre in a dream.[271]Notker's Gesta Karoli Magni, written for Charlemagne's great-grandson Charles the Fat, presents moral anecdotes to highlight the emperor's qualities as a ruler.[272][273]
Charlemagne was depicted as one of the Nine Worthies, becoming a fixture in medieval literature and art as an exemplar of a Christian king.[274] Charlemagne is the main figure of the medieval literary cycle known as Matter of France. Works of this cycle, which originated during the period of the Crusades centre depictions of the emperor as a leader of Christian knights in wars against Muslims. The cycle includes chansons de geste (epic poems) such as the Roland, and chronicles such as the Historia Caroli Magni.[275]Geoffrey of Monmouth's legends of King Arthur and his knights may have drawn on the legendary depiction of Charlemagne and his knights as a source and archetype.[276]
Emperor Otto III attempted to have Charlemagne canonized as a saint in 1000.[278] In 1165, Frederick Barbossa convinced the Antipope Paschal III to elevate him to sainthood.[278] As Paschal's acts were not considered valid, Charlemagne was not recognized as a saint by the Holy See in Rome.[279] He is not enumerated among the 28 saints named "Charles" in the Roman Martyrology.[280] Despite this lack of recognition, Charlemagne's cult became observed in Aachen, Reims, Frankfurt am Main, Zurich, and Regensburg, and he has been venerated in France since the reign of Charles V.[281]Pope Benedict XIV recognized his cult, beatifying him, in the eighteenth century.[282] Benedict also quoted Charlemagne's capitularies in his apostolic constitution 'Providas' against freemasonry: "For in no way are we able to understand how they can be faithful to us, who have shown themselves unfaithful to God and disobedient to their Priests".[283]
Charles was determined to have his children educated, including his daughters, as his parents had instilled the importance of learning in him at an early age.[288] His children were also taught skills in accord with their aristocratic status, which included training in riding and weaponry for his sons, and embroidery, spinning and weaving for his daughters.[289]
Charlemagne kept his daughters at home with him and refused to allow them to contract sacramental marriages (though he originally condoned an engagement between his eldest daughter Rotrude and Constantine VI of Byzantium, this engagement was annulled when Rotrude was 11).[290] Charlemagne's opposition to his daughters' marriages may possibly have intended to prevent the creation of cadet branches of the family to challenge the main line, as had been the case with Tassilo of Bavaria. However, he tolerated their extramarital relationships, even rewarding their common-law husbands and treasuring the illegitimate grandchildren they produced for him. He also refused to believe stories of their wild behaviour. After his death the surviving daughters were banished from the court by their brother Louis to take up residence in the convents they had been bequeathed by their father. At least one of them, Bertha, had a recognised relationship, if not a marriage, with Angilbert, a member of Charlemagne's court circle.[291][292]
The Carolingian king exercised the bannum, the right to rule and command. Under the Franks, it was a royal prerogative but could be delegated.[293] He had supreme jurisdiction in judicial matters, made legislation, led the army, and protected both the Church and the poor.[citation needed] His administration was an attempt to organise the kingdom, church and nobility around him. As an administrator, Charlemagne stands out for his many reforms: monetary, governmental, military, cultural and ecclesiastical. He is the main protagonist of the "Carolingian Renaissance".
Military
Charlemagne's success rested primarily on novel siege technologies and excellent logistics[294] rather than the long-claimed "cavalry revolution" led by Charles Martel in 730s. However, the stirrup, which made the "shock cavalry" lance charge possible, was not introduced to the Frankish kingdom until the late eighth century.[295]
Horses were used extensively by the Frankish military because they provided a quick, long-distance method of transporting troops, which was critical to building and maintaining the large empire.[295]
Monogram of Charlemagne, including signum manus, from the subscription of a royal diploma: Signum (monogr.: KAROLVS) Karoli gloriosissimi regis
Charlemagne had an important role in determining Europe's economic future. Pursuing his father's reforms, Charlemagne abolished the monetary system based on the gold sou - a gold standard. Instead, he and the Anglo-Saxon KingOffa of Mercia took up Pepin's system for pragmatic reasons, notably a gold shortage.[296] The shortage was a consequence of the conclusion of peace with Byzantium, which resulted in ceding Venice and Sicily to the East, and losing trade routes to Africa. The resulting standardisation economically harmonised, and unified, the array of currencies in use at the start of his reign, thus simplifying trade and commerce.[296]
Denier from the era of Charlemagne, Tours, 793–812
Charlemagne popularised a new standard, the livre carolinienne (from the Latin libra, the modern pound), which was based upon a pound of silver—a unit of both money and weight—worth 20 sous (from the Latin solidus, the modern shilling) or 240 deniers (from the Latin denarius, the modern penny).[296] During this period, the livre and the sou were counting units; only the denier was a coin of the realm.[citation needed]
Charlemagne instituted principles for accounting practice by means of the Capitulare de villis of 802, which laid down rules for the way in which incomes and expenses were to be recorded.[citation needed]
Charlemagne applied this system to much of the European continent, and Offa's standard was voluntarily adopted by much of England. After Charlemagne's death, continental coinage degraded, and most of Europe resorted to using the continued high-quality English coin until about 1100.[citation needed]
Jews in Charlemagne's realm
Early in Charlemagne's rule he tacitly allowed Jews to monopolise money lending.[297] He invited Italian Jews to immigrate, as royal clients independent of the feudal landowners, and form trading communities in the agricultural regions of Provence and the Rhineland. Their trading activities augmented the otherwise almost exclusively agricultural economies of these regions.[298] His personal physician was Jewish,[299] and he employed a Jew named Isaac as his personal representative to the Muslim caliphate of Baghdad.[300]
Part of Charlemagne's success as a warrior, an administrator and ruler can be traced to his admiration for learning and education. His reign is often referred to as the Carolingian Renaissance because of the flowering of scholarship, literature, art and architecture that characterise it. Charlemagne came into contact with the culture and learning of other countries (especially Moorish Spain, Anglo-Saxon England,[301] and Lombard Italy) due to his vast conquests. He greatly increased the provision of monastic schools and scriptoria (centres for book-copying) in Francia.
Charlemagne was a lover of books, sometimes having them read to him during meals. He was thought to enjoy the works of Augustine of Hippo.[302] His court played a key role in producing books that taught elementary Latin and different aspects of the church. It played a part in creating a royal library that contained in-depth works on language and Christian faith.[303]
Charlemagne encouraged clerics to translate Christian creeds and prayers into their respective vernaculars as well to teach grammar and music. Due to the increased interest of intellectual pursuits and the urging of their king, the monks accomplished so much copying that almost every manuscript from that time was preserved. At the same time, at the urging of their king, scholars were producing more secular books on many subjects, including history, poetry, art, music, law, theology, etc. Due to the increased number of titles, private libraries flourished. These were mainly supported by aristocrats and churchmen who could afford to sustain them. At Charlemagne's court, a library was founded and a number of copies of books were produced, to be distributed by Charlemagne.[304][8] Book production was completed slowly by hand and took place mainly in large monastic libraries. Books were so in demand during Charlemagne's time that these libraries lent out some books, but only if that borrower offered valuable collateral in return.[8]
The privileges of Charlemagne at the Modena Cathedral (containing the monogram of Charlemagne), dated 782
Most of the surviving works of classical Latin were copied and preserved by Carolingian scholars. Indeed, the earliest manuscripts available for many ancient texts are Carolingian. It is almost certain that a text which survived to the Carolingian age survives still.
Charlemagne promoted the liberal arts at court, ordering that his children and grandchildren be well-educated, and even studying himself (in a time when even leaders who promoted education did not take time to learn themselves) under the tutelage of Peter of Pisa, from whom he learned grammar; Alcuin, with whom he studied rhetoric, dialectic (logic), and astronomy (he was particularly interested in the movements of the stars); and Einhard, who tutored him in arithmetic.[305]
His great scholarly failure, as Einhard relates, was his inability to write: when in his old age he attempted to learn—practising the formation of letters in his bed during his free time on books and wax tablets he hid under his pillow—"his effort came too late in life and achieved little success", and his ability to read—which Einhard is silent about, and which no contemporary source supports—has also been called into question.[305]
In 800, Charlemagne enlarged the hostel at the Muristan in Jerusalem and added a library to it. He certainly had not been personally in Jerusalem.[306][307]
Writing reforms
During Charles' reign, the Roman half uncial script and its cursive version, which had given rise to various continental minuscule scripts, were combined with features from the insular scripts in use in Irish and English monasteries. Carolingian minuscule was created partly under the patronage of Charlemagne.[308]Alcuin, who ran the palace school and scriptorium at Aachen, was probably a chief influence.[309]
The revolutionary character of the Carolingian reform, however, can be overemphasised; efforts at taming Merovingian and Germanic influence had been underway before Alcuin arrived at Aachen. The new minuscule was disseminated first from Aachen and later from the influential scriptorium at Tours, where Alcuin retired as an abbot.
Einhard gives a first-hand description of Charlemagne's appearance later in life:[310]
He was heavily built, sturdy, and of considerable stature, although not exceptionally so, since his height was seven times the length of his own foot. He had a round head, large and lively eyes, a slightly larger nose than usual, white but still attractive hair, a bright and cheerful expression, a short and fat neck, and he enjoyed good health, except for the fevers that affected him in the last few years of his life.
In 1861, Charlemagne's tomb was opened by scientists who reconstructed his skeleton and estimated it to be measured 1.95 metres (6 ft 5 in).[311] A 2010 estimate of his height from an X-ray and CT scan of his tibia was 1.84 metres (6 ft 0 in). This puts him in the 99th percentile of height for his period, given that average male height of his time was 1.69 metres (5 ft 7 in). The width of the bone suggested he was slim in build.[312]
Charlemagne wore his hair short, in an abandonment begun by his father of the Merovingian tradition of long-haired monarchs.[313] He had a mustache, possibly in imitation of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great, and contrasted with the bearded Merovingian kings.[314] Future Carolingian monarchs would adopt this style.[315] Paul Dutton notes the ubiquitous presence of a crown in portraits of Charlemagne and other Carolingian rulers replacing the earlier Merovingian royal symbol of long hair.[316] A ninth-century statuette depicts either Charlemagne or his grandson Charles the Bald[m] and shows the subject as mustachioed and with short hair,[318] and this appearance is also shown on contemporary coinage.[321]
By the twelfth century, Charlemagne was described as bearded rather than mustachioed in literary sources such as the Song of Roland and the Pseduo-Turpin Chronicle, as well as other sources in Latin, French, and German.[322] The Pseudo-Turpin uniquely claims that his hair was brown.[323] Later art and iconography of Charlemagne would follow suit, generally depicting him in a later medieval style as bearded and with longer hair.[324]
Notes
^ abAlternative birth years for Charlemagne include 742 and 747. There has been scholarly debate over this topic, see Birth and early life. For full treatment of the debate, see Nelson 2019, pp. 28–29. See further Karl Ferdinand Werner, Das Geburtsdatum Karls des Großen, in Francia 1, 1973, pp. 115–57 (onlineArchived 17 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine); Matthias Becher: Neue Überlegungen zum Geburtsdatum Karls des Großen, in: Francia 19/1, 1992, pp. 37–60 (onlineArchived 17 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine)
^Monk and early chronicler Notker asserts that Leo only turned to Charlemagne after an appeal to Contantinople, which was refused.[183] Notker, however records the emperor's name as Micheal despite Irene reigning at the time (three Micheals reigned later in the 9th century). This may cast doubt on whether an appeal to Constantinople actually occurred. Paul Halsall remarks that Notker "handles events of the most general notoriety in a spirit completely independent of historical accuracy."[184]
^Latin: Karolus serenissimus augustus a deo coronatus magnus pacificus imperator Romanum gubernans imperium, qui et per misercordiam dei rex francorum atque langobardorum
^Latin: Carolus gratia dei rex francorum et langobardorum ac patricius Romanorum
^The nature of Himiltrude's relationship to Charlemagne is a matter of dispute. Charlemagne's biographer Einhard calls her a "concubine"[284] and Paulus Diaconus speaks of Pippin's birth "before legal marriage",[citation needed] A letter by Pope Stephen III seemingly referring to Charlemagne and his brother Carloman as being already married (to Himiltrude and Gerberga), and advising them not to dismiss their wives has led many historians to believe that Himiltrude and Charlemagne were legally married.[citation needed] However, the words employed by the pope could also mean that there had only been a promise of marriage. The acts of Saint Adalard of Corbie supports this hypothesis, for the monastic vocation of that Saint is described as due to the scruple he had regarding Charlemagne's dismissal of Princess Desiderata of the Lombards which occurred before any consummation of the marriage and possibly before any religious ceremony. (It is unclear whether the marriage ever took place or if Desiderata only received the homage of the nobility in accordance with her planned future position of Queen of the Franks.) If Saint Adalard was scandalised by this dismissal, it is highly unlikely he would have been unfazed about Himiltrude's dismissal, had she truly been married to Charlemagne.[285] Historians have interpreted the information in different ways. Some, such as Pierre Riché, follow Einhard in describing Himiltrude as a concubine.[286] Others, Dieter Hägemann for example, consider Himiltrude a wife in the full sense.[citation needed] Still others subscribe to the idea that the relationship between the two was "something more than concubinage, less than marriage" and describe it as a Friedelehe, a supposed form of marriage unrecognized by the Church and easily dissolvable. This form of relationship is often seen in a conflict between Christian marriage and more flexible Germanic concepts.[citation needed]
^Janet Nelson considers it a depiction of Charlemagne,[317] Paul Dutton writes that it was "long thought to depict Charlemagne and now attributed by most to Charles the Bald,"[318] and Johannes Fried presents both as possibilities,[319] but considers it "highly contentious."[320]
^Anderson, P.M. (1967). "The etymology of 'king' in Soviet Turkic languages". Canadian Journal of Linguistics. 13 (1): 34–36. doi:10.1017/S0008413100023185. S2CID149378271.
^Nelson, Janet L. (2007). Courts, elites, and gendered power in the early Middle Ages Charlemagne and others. Ashgate. ISBN9780754659334. OCLC1039829293.
^Notker. Halsall, Paul (ed.). "The Monk of Saint Gall: The Life of Charlemagne". Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Internet History Sourcebooks Project. Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
^"By bestowing the Imperial crown upon Charlemagne, the Pope arrogated to himself "the right to appoint ... the Emperor of the Romans, ... establishing the imperial crown as his own personal gift but simultaneously granting himself implicit superiority over the Emperor whom he had created."(Norwich 2011, p. 55)
^Henry Mayr-Harting (1996). "Charlemagne, the Saxons, and the Imperial Coronation of 800". The English Historical Review. 111 (444 November): 1113–1133.
^Ohnsorge, Werner (1947). Das Zweikaiserproblem im früheren Mittelalter. Die Bedeutung des byzantinischen Reiches für die Entwicklung der Staatsidee in Europa (in German). Hildesheim: A. Lax. OCLC302172.
^Pierre Riché, The Carolingians; A Family Who Forged Europe, trans. Michael Idomir Allen (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983), p. 278
^Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafeln 10, 11
^Andrew W. Lewis, 'Dynastic Structures and Capetian Throne-Right: the Views of Giles of Paris', Traditio, Vol. 33 (1977), pp. 246-47 n.94
^Tanner, Heather J. (1992). Chibnall, Marjorie (ed.). "The Expansion of the Power and Influence of the Counts of Boulogne under Eustace II". Anglo-Norman Studies - XIV.Proceeding of the Battle Conference 1991. The Boydell Press: 251–286.
^Geary, Patrick J. (1987). "Germanic Tradition and Royal Ideology in the Ninth Century: The Visio Karoli Magni". Frühmittelalterliche Studien. 21: 274–294. doi:10.1515/9783110242195.274. S2CID165699647.
^Hardman, Philipa; Ailes, Marianne (24 January 2024). The Legend of Charlemagne in Medieval England. Cambridge: DS Brewer. pp. 1–9. ISBN978-1-84384-472-3.
^Shahan, Thomas; Macpherson, Ewan (1908). "Charlemagne". The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 1 January 2013 – via New Advent. In some parts of the empire popular affection placed him among the saints. For political purposes and to please Frederick Barbarossa he was canonised (1165) by the antipope Paschal III, but this act was never ratified by insertion of his feast in the Roman Breviary or by the Universal Church; his cultus, however, was permitted at Aachen [Acta SS., 28 Jan., 3d ed., II, 303–07, 490–93, 769; his office is in Canisius, "Antiq. Lect.", III (2)]
^Hoche, Dominique T (2012). "Charlemagne". In Lister M. Matheson (ed.). Icons of the Middle Ages: Rulers, Writers, Rebels, and Saints. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood. pp. 143–74 [172]. ISBN978-0-313-34080-2. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
^Thorpe, Lewis. Two Lives of Charlemagne. p. 185. By [Hildigard] Charlemagne had four sons and four daughters, according to Paul the Deacon: one son, the twin of Lewis, called Lothar, died as a baby and is not mentioned by Einhard; two daughters, Hildigard and Adelhaid, died as babies, so that Einhard appears to err in one of his names, unless there were really five daughters.
^Theodore Evergates, "Ban, Banalité", in Joseph R. Strayer (ed.), Dictionary of the Middle Ages (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1983), vol. 2, p. 69.
^ abcRickards, James (8 April 2014). The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System. Penguin Publishing Group. p. 114. ISBN9781101637241.
^Ruhli, F.J.; Blumich, B.; Henneberg, M. (2010). "Charlemagne was very tall, but not robust". Economics and Human Biology. 8 (2): 289–90. doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2009.12.005. PMID20153271.
Einhard (1880) [n.d.]. Einhard: The Life of Charlemagne. Translated by Samuel Epes Turner. New York: Harper & Brothers. Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2006 – via Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University.
Frassetto, Michael (2003). Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe: Society in Transformation. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. ISBN978-1-57607-263-9.
Fried, Johannes (2016). Charlemagne. trans. Peter Lewis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN978-0674737396.
Heather, Peter (2009). Empires and Barbarians:The Fall of Rome and the birth of Europe. New York: Oxford University Press.
Waldman, Carl; Mason, Catherine (2006). Encyclopedia of European Peoples. New York: Facts on File. ISBN978-0816049646.
Further Reading
Primary Sources in English translation
Alcuin (1941). The Rhetoric of Alcuin and Charlemagne: A Translation, with an Introduction, the Latin Text, and Notes. Translated by Howell, Wilbur Samuel. Princton.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Alcuin (1974). Alcott, Stephen (ed.). Alcuin of York, c. AD 732 to 804: His life and letters. Translated by Alcott, Stephen. York: Princeton University Press.
Bachrach, Bernard S., ed. (1973). Liber Historiae Francorum. Translated by Bachrach, Bernard S. Lawrence, KS: Coronodo Press. ISBN978-0872910584.
Davis, Raymond, ed. (1992). The Lives of the Eighth-Century Popes. Translated by Davis, Raymond. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN9780853230182.
Einhard (1998). Dutton, Paul (ed.). Charlemagne's Courtier: The Complete Einhard. Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures. Translated by Dutton, Paul. Petersborough, ON: Broadview Press. ISBN1-55111-134-9.
Goodman, Peter, ed. (1985). Poetry of the Carolingian Renaissance. Translated by Goodman, Peter. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN978-0806119397.
McKitterick, Rosamond; van Espelo, Dorine; Pollard, Richard; Price, Richard, eds. (2021). Codex Epistolaris Carolinus: Letters from the popes to the Frankish rulers, 739-791. Translated by McKitterick, Rosamond; van Espelo, Dorine; Pollard, Richard; Price, Richard. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN978-1-80034-871-4.
Lyon, H.R.; Percival, John, eds. (1975). The Reign of Charlemagne: Documents on Carolingian Government and Administration. Documents of Medieval History. Translated by Lyon, H.R.; Percival, John. London. ISBN9780713158137.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Scholz, Bernhard Walter; Rogers, Barbara, eds. (1970). Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories. Translated by Scholz, Bernhard Walter; Rogers, Barbara. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN978-0-472-08790-7.
Collins, Roger (2004). Visigothic Spain, 409–711. History of Spain. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Pub.
Fouracre, Paul (2005). "The Long Shadow of the Merovingians". In Joanna Story (ed.). Charlemagne: Empire and Society. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN978-0-71907-089-1.
James, David; Ibn al-Qūṭiyya, Muḥammad b ʻUmar (2009). Early Islamic Spain: The History of Ibn al-Qūṭiyya: a study of the unique Arabic manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, with a translation, notes and comments. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN978-0-41547-552-5.
Lewers Langston, Aileen; Buck, J. Orton Jr., eds. (1974). Pedigrees of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co.
McKitterick, Rosamond (1983). The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751-987. London: Logman. ISBN9780582490055.
McKitterick, Rosamond, ed. (1995). The New Cambridge Medieval History Volume II:c.700-900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN9781139055710.
Riché, Pierre (1978). Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne. Middle Ages Series. Translated by McNamara, Jo Ann. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN978-0-8122-1342-3.
Riché, Pierre (1993). The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe. Middle Ages Series. Translated by Allen, Michael Idomir. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN978-0812210965.
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