Charlemagne Essay Research Paper Maple McBrideHONR 1114120999By

Charlemagne Essay, Research Paper

Maple/ McBride

HONR- 1114

12-09-99

By the Cross and the Sword : Charlemagne’s Impact on the West.

“He who ordains the fate of kingdoms in the march of the centuries, the all-powerful Disposer of events, having destroyed one extraordinary image, that of the Romans, which had, it was true, feet of iron, or even feet of clay, then raised up, among the Franks, the golden head of a second image, equally remarkable, in the person of the illustrious Charlemagne.

Notker the Stammerer, the monk of St. Gall, wrote these words in AD 844 to describe the reign of the most influential Frankish king Charlemagne ( Lectures 1). Charlemagne, son of Pepin the Short, ruled the Franks for 47 years (Koeller 1). The Carolingian Dynasty, of which Charlemagne was a member, was established in AD 751 when Pepin dethroned the last Merovingian king. The Carolingians ruled a land that “spoke several different tongues, had different cultural and historical traditions, and different institutions.”(Nelson 2). The great variation found in the people of the Frankish kingdom produced for Charlemagne great obstacles. Dr. Skip Knox, Professor at Boise State University argues that the “monarchy among the Franks was not equipped to deal with this situation…” (Knox 11). Attempting to establish control in his empire, Charlemagne implemented a series of programs that would produce a new form of government and would engage his court in an intellectual renaissance.

Charlemagne was forced to entirely reinvent the Merovingian system of government, and to do so he “either created new offices, or adapted old ones to new purposes…” (Knox 11). He appointed dukes and counts, and appointed in the German regions of the land margraves, an office that would remain long after the time of Charlemagne. Thus, Charlemagne created a political hierarchy in which the counts would report to the dukes, and the dukes to Charlemagne himself.

Charlemagne gained the loyalty and respect of his barons by leading them on numerous successful military campaigns (Knox 10). He also insisted that his nobles be educated, and formed at his palace a school under the direction of the scholar Alcuin (Nelson 3). With Alcuin as the “minister of education”, the place school began what is known as the “Carolingian Renaissance”. This characterization is supported by the desire of the emperor to rebuild the Roman Empire and rule in the same manner as the roman emperors.

It is this renaissance that impacts the Western world today, more than any of Charlemagne’s military conquests. In Charlemagne’s palace school at Aachen, one finds the ideals and aims of the Carolingian renaissance most definitively.

Palace schools were not unheard of in the Frankish kingdom. The Merovingians established a school to train young nobles to fight, and how to conduct themselves at court. At the time, however, no academic knowledge was being imparted. The only schools that taught academics were at monasteries and cathedrals. Charlemagne altered the palace school into a center of learning and knowledge (Carolingian Schools 1). He hired scholars to teach, and appointed Alcuin to oversee the school. Charlemagne required Alcuin himself to instruct the royal family in reading and writing.

In addition to the palace school, Charlemagne made many decrees concerning the education of his people (1). His “Charter of Modern Thought” required that the monasteries be concerned with “the study of letters” (2). In yet another decree Charlemagne ordered that teachers “who are both willing and able to learn” be hired and “let them apply themselves to this work with a zeal equal to the earnestness with which we recommend it to them” (2). Knox argues again on this point saying “Charles’ court at Aix-la- Chapelle was a beacon for men of learning, and the king funded their activities. It was from these, and others, there originated a burst of activity that would have a strong influence on medieval intellectual life” (Knox 14). Charlemagne provided not only for the sons of the nobles, but of the commoners as well, and issued a decree that they could not be turned away from studying, saying “if any of the faithful wish to entrust their children to them to learn letters, that they [the priests] refuse not to accept them but with all charity teach them…” (Carolingian Schools 2).

Much of what was done at Aachen was the work of Charlemagne’s advisor, Alcuin. Alcuin studied at York, and represented the ideas found in that school of learning. Each of the decrees Charlemagne made was at the advice of Alcuin. It is said that “the voice is the voice of Charles, but the hand is the hand of Alcuin…” (Alcuin 4). Alcuin was appalled that monks and scribes on one side of the empire were unable to read the hand of the monks and scribes on the far side of the kingdom. Alcuin proceeded to universalize the writing, creating what is known as the “Carolingian miniscule” (Snell 1). This handwriting became the basis of the lowercase alphabet used today in modern English. Alcuin encouraged scholars to translate and preserve ancient texts, to ensure that future scholars would have them available for study. He also created the curriculum that would be followed for years to come, requiring study of the seven liberal arts (Encyclopedia Dot Com 1). Because of the work done by Alcuin, There is a continuit