Chapter I: The Carlovingian Empire to the Death of Charlemagne

(A.D. 814).

PIPIN THE SHORT.--The great event of the eighth century was the organization and spread of the dominion of the _Franks_, and the transfer to them of the Roman Empire of the West. Three Frank princes--_Charles Martel_, _Pipin the Short_, and _Charlemagne_, or _Karl the Great_--were the main instruments in bringing in this new epoch in European history. They followed a similar course, as regards the wars which they undertook, and their general policy. _Charles Martel_, the conqueror of the Saracens at _Poitiers_, rendered great services to the Church; but he provoked the lasting displeasure of the ecclesiastics by his seizures of church property. He rewarded his soldiers with archbishoprics. _Pipin_, however, was earnestly supported by the clergy. He had the confidence and favor of the Franks, and in 751, with the concurrence of Pope _Zacharias_, deposed _Childeric III._, and assumed the title of king. The long hair of _Childeric_, the badge of the Frank kings, was shorn, and he was placed in a monastery. In 752 _Pipin_ was anointed and crowned at _Soissons_ by _Boniface_, the bishop of _Mentz_, who exerted himself to restore order and discipline in the Frank Church, which had fallen into disorder in the times of Charles Martel.

PIPIN IN ITALY.--The controversy with the Greeks about the use of images had alienated the popes from the Eastern Empire. The encroachments of the Lombards threatened Rome itself, and were a constant menace to the independence of its bishops. Pope _Stephen III_. resorted to _Pipin_ for help against these aggressive neighbors; and, in 754, _Stephen_ solemnly repeated, in the cathedral of St. Denis, the ceremony of his coronation. The Carlovingian usurpation was thus hallowed in the eyes of the people by the sanction of the Church. The alliance between the Papacy and the Franks, so essential to both, was cemented. Pipin crossed the Alps in 754, and humbled _Aistulf_, the Lombard king; but, as Aistulf still kept up his hostility to the Pope, Pipin once more led his forces into Italy, and compelled him to become tributary to the Frank kingdom, and to cede to him the territory which he had won from the Greek Empire,--the exarchate of _Ravenna_ and the _Pentapolis_, or the lands and cities between the Apennines and the Adriatic, from _Ferrara_ to _Ancona_. This territory the Frank king formally presented to St. Peter. Thus there was founded the temporal kingdom of the popes in Italy. _Pipin_ was called _Patricius_ of Rome, which made him its virtual sovereign, although the office and title implied the continued supremacy of the Eastern Empire. He united under him all the conquests which had been made by _Clovis_ and his successors. His sway extended over _Aquitaine_ and as far as the Pyrenees. It was the rule of the _Teutonic_ North over the more _Latin_ South, which had no liking for the Frank sovereignty.

CHARLEMAGNE: THE SAXONS AND SARACENS.--_Pipin_ died in 768. By the death of his younger son, Carloman, his older son, _Charles_, in 771 became the sole king of the Franks. Charlemagne is more properly designated _Karl the Great_, for he was a German in blood and speech, and in all his ways. He stands in the foremost rank of conquerors and rulers. His prodigious energy and activity as a warrior may be judged by the number of his campaigns, in which he was uniformly successful. The eastern frontier of his dominions was threatened by the _Saxons_, the _Danes_, the _Slaves_, the _Bavarians_, the _Avars_. He made eighteen expeditions against the Saxons, three against the Danes, one against the Bavarians, four against the Slaves, four against the Avars. Adding to these his campaigns against the Saracens, Lombards, and other peoples, the number of his military expeditions is not less than fifty-three. In all but two of his marches against the Saxons, however, he accomplished his purpose without a battle. That he was ambitious of conquest and of fame, is evident. That he had the rough ways of his German ancestors, and was unsparing in war, is equally certain. Yet he was not less eminent in wisdom than in vigor; and his reign, on the whole, was righteous as well as glorious. The two most formidable enemies of Charlemagne were the _Saxons_ and the _Saracens_. The Saxon war "was checkered by grave disasters, and pursued with undismayed and unrelenting determination, in which he spared neither himself nor others. It lasted continuously--with its stubborn and ever-recurring resistance, its cruel devastations, its winter campaigns, its merciless acts of vengeance--as the effort which called forth all Charles's energy for thirty-two years" (772-804). The Saxons were heathen. The conquest of them was the more difficult because it involved the forced introduction of Christianity in the room of their old religion. More than once, when they seemed to be subdued, they broke out in passionate and united revolt. Their fiercest leader in insurrection was _Witikind_. A last and terrible uprising, in consequence of the slaughter of forty-five hundred Saxons on the _Aller_ as a punishment for breach of treaty, was put down in 785, when _Witikind_ submitted, and consented to receive Christian baptism. During the progress of the Saxon war, at the call of the Arab governor of _Saragossa_ for aid against the caliph _Abderrahman_, Charles marched into Spain, and conquered Saragossa and the whole land as far as the _Ebro_. On his return, in the valley of _Ronceveaux_, the Frank rear guard was surprised and destroyed by the _Basques_. There fell the Frank hero _Roland_, whose gallant deeds were a favorite subject of mediæval romances. The duchy of _Bavaria_ was abolished after a second revolt of its duke, _Tassilo_ (788). One of the most brilliant of Charlemagne's wars was that against the Hunnic _Avars_ (791). Their land between the _Ems_ and _Raab_ he annexed to his empire. Bavarian colonists were planted in it. Enormous treasures which they had gathered, in their incursions, from all Europe, were captured, with their "Ring," or palace-camp. The Slavonic tribes were kept in awe. _Brittany_ was subjugated in 811. In the closing years of Charles's reign, the _Danes_ became more and more aggressive and formidable. He visited the northern coasts, made _Boulogne_ and _Ghent_ his harbors and arsenals, and built fleets for defense against the audacious invaders.

CHARLEMAGNE IN ITALY.--Some of the most memorable incidents in Charlemagne's career are connected with Italy. While he was busy in the Saxon war, he had been summoned to protect Pope _Hadrian I_. (772-795) from the attack of the Lombards. To please his mother, _Charles_ had married, but he had afterwards divorced, the daughter of the Lombard king _Desiderius_. She was the first in the series of Charlemagne's wives, who, it is said, were nine in number. By the divorce he incurred the resentment of Desiderius, who required the Pope to anoint the sons of _Carloman_ as kings of the Franks. In 772 Charlemagne crossed the Alps by the Mont Cenis and the St. Bernard, captured _Pavia_, and shut up Desiderius in a Frank monastery. The king of the Franks became king of the _Lombards_, and lord of all Italy, except the _Venetian Islands_ and the southern extremity of _Calabria_, which remained subject to the Greeks. The German king and the Pope were now, in point of fact, dominant in the West. A woman, _Irene_, who had put out the eyes of her son that she herself might reign, sat on the throne at Constantinople. This was a fair pretext for throwing off the Byzantine rule, which afforded no protection to Italians. Once more _Charles_ visited Italy, to restore to the papal chair _Leo III._, who had been expelled by an adverse party, and, at Charles's camp at _Paderborn_, had implored his assistance. On Christmas Day in the year 800, during the celebration of mass in the old Basilica of St. Peter, _Leo III._ advanced to _Charlemagne_, and placed a crown on his head, saluting him, amid the acclamations of the people, as Roman emperor.

MEANING OF CHARLES'S CORONATION.--The coronation of Charlemagne made him the successor of Augustus and of Constantine. It was not imagined that the empire had ever ceased to be. The Byzantine emperors had been acknowledged in form as the rulers of the West: not even now was it conceived that the empire was divided. In the imagination and feeling of men, the creation of the Caesars remained an indivisible unity. The new emperor in the West could therefore only be regarded as a rival and usurper by the Byzantine rulers; but Charlemagne professed a friendly feeling, and addressed them as his brothers,--as if they and he were exercising a joint sovereignty. In point of fact, there had come to be a new center of wide-spread dominion in Western Europe. The diversity in beliefs and rites between Roman Christianity and that of the Greeks had been growing. The popes and Charlemagne were united by mutual sympathy and common interests. The assumption by him of the imperial title at their instance, and by the call of the Roman people, was the natural issue of all the circumstances.

CHARLES'S SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.--Charlemagne showed himself a statesman bent on organization and social improvement. There was a system of local officers. The border districts of the kingdom were made into _Marks_, under _Margraves_ or _Marquesses_, for defense against the outlying tribes. One of them, to the east of Bavaria, was afterwards called _Austria_. _Dukes_ governed provinces, some of which afterwards became kingdoms. Their power the emperor tried to reduce. The empire was divided into districts, in each of which a _Count_ (_Graf_) ruled, with inferior officers, either territorial or in cities. _Bishops_ had large domains, and great privileges and immunities. The officers held their places at the king's pleasure: they became possessed of landed estates, and the tendency was, for the offices to become hereditary.

The old German word _Graf_ is of uncertain derivation, but means the same as _count_ (from the Latin _comes_). _Mark_ is a word found in all the Teutonic languages. From the signification of _boundary_, it came to be applied, like its synonym _march_, to a frontier district. A _margrave_ (_Mark-Graf_) was a _mark-count_, or an officer ruling for the king in such a district. A _viscount_ (_vicecomes_) was an officer subordinate to a _count_. _Pfalz_, meaning originally _palace_ (from the Latin _palatium_), was the term for any one of the king's estates. The _palsgrave_ (_Pfalz-Graf_) was first his representative in charge of one of these domains. The _stallgrave_ (_Stall-Graf_) corresponded to the _constable_ (_comes stabuli_) in English and French. It signifies the officer in charge of the king's _stables_, the groom. He had a military command. A later designation of the same office is _marshal_ (from two old German words, one of which means a _horse_, as seen in our word _mare_, having the same etymology, and the other means a _servant_).

Imperial deputies, or _missi_, lay and ecclesiastical together, visited all parts of the kingdom to examine and report as to their condition, to hold courts, and to redress wrongs. There were appeals from them to the imperial tribunal, over which the _Palsgrave_ presided. Twice in the year great _Assemblies_ were held of the chiefs and people, to give advice as to the framing of laws. The enactments of these assemblies are collected in the _Capitularies_ of the Frank kings. In the Church, Charlemagne tried to secure order, which had sadly fallen away, and had given place to confusion and worldliness. He himself exercised high ecclesiastical prerogatives, especially after he became emperor.

LEARNING AND CULTURE.--One of the chief distinctions of Charlemagne is the encouragement which he gave to learning. In his own palace at _Aachen_ (_Aix_), he collected scholars from different quarters. Of these the most eminent is _Alcuin_, from the school of York in England. He was familiar with many of the Latin writers, and while at the head of the school in the palace, and later, when abbot of St. Martin in _Tours_, exerted a strong influence in promoting study. _Charlemagne_ himself spoke Latin with facility, but not until late in life did he try to learn to write. It was his custom to be read to while he sat at meals. Augustine's _City of God_ was one of the books of which he was fond. In the great sees and monasteries, schools were founded, the benefits of which were very soon felt.

CHARLES'S PERSONAL TRAITS.--Charlemagne was seven feet in height, and of noble presence. His eyes were large and animated, and his voice clear, but not so strong as his frame would have led one to expect. His bearing was manly and dignified. He was exceedingly fond of riding, hunting, and of swimming. _Eginhard_, his friend and biographer, says of him, "In all his undertakings and enterprises, there was nothing he shrank from because of the toil, and nothing that he feared because of the danger." He died, at the age of seventy, on Jan. 28, 814. He had built at _Aix la Chapelle_ a stately church, the columns and marbles of which were brought from Ravenna and Rome. Beneath its floor, under the dome, was his tomb. There he was placed in a sitting posture, in his royal robes, with the crown on his head, and his horn, sword, and book of the Gospels on his knee. In this posture his majestic figure was found when his tomb was opened by _Otto III_., near the end of the tenth century. The marble chair in which the dead monarch sat is still in the cathedral at _Aix_: the other relics are at _Vienna_. The splendor of Charlemagne's reign made it a favorite theme of romance among the poets of Italy: a mass of poetic legends gathered about it.

EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE.--Charlemagne's empire comprised all Gaul, and Spain to the Ebro, all that was then Germany, and the greater part of Italy. Slavonic nations along the Elbe were his allies. Pannonia, Dacia, Istria, Liburnia, Dalmatia,--except the sea-coast towns, which were held by the Greeks,--were subject to him. He had numerous other allies and friends. Even _Harunal-Rashid_, the famous Caliph of Bagdad, held him in high honor. Among the most valued presents which were said to have come from the Caliph were an elephant, and a curious water-clock, which was so made, that, at the end of the hours, twelve horsemen came out of twelve windows, and closed up twelve other windows. This gift filled the inmates of the palace at _Aix_ with wonder.

CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.--The number of free Franks diminished under Charlemagne. They were thinned out in the wars, or sunk into vassalage. The warnings and rebukes in the Capitularies, or body of laws, show that the upper clergy were often sensual and greedy of gain. The bishops would often lead in person their contingent of troops, until they were forbidden to do so by law. Nine-tenths of the population of Gaul were slaves. Charlemagne made _Alcuin_ the present of an estate on which there were twenty thousand slaves. Especially in times of scarcity, as in 805 and 806, their lot was a miserable one. At such times, they fled in crowds to the monasteries. The social state was that of feudalism "in all but the development of that independence in the greater lords, which was delayed by the strength of Karl, but fostered, at the same time, by his wars and his policy towards the higher clergy."

CONVERSION OF GERMANY: BONIFACE.--The most active missionaries in the seventh and eighth centuries were, from the British islands. At first they were from Ireland and Scotland. _Columban_, who died in 615, and his pupil Gallus, labored, not without success, among the _Alemanni_. Gallus established himself as a hermit near Lake Constance. He founded the Abbey of _St. Gall_. The Saxon missionaries from England were still more effective. The most eminent of these was _Winfrid_, who received from Rome the name of _Bonifacius_ (680-755). He converted the _Hessians_, and founded monasteries, among them the great monastery of _Fulda_. There his disciple, _Sturm_, "through a long series of years, directed the energies of four thousand monks, by whose unsparing labors the wilderness was gradually reclaimed, and brought into a state of cultivation." _Boniface_ had proved the impotence of the heathen gods by felling with the axe an aged oak at _Geismar_, which was held sacred by their worshipers. Among the _Thuringians_, _Bavarians_, and other tribes, he extirpated paganism by peaceful means. He organized the German Church under the guidance of the popes, and, in 743, was made archbishop of _Meniz_, and primate. But his Christian ardor moved him to carry the gospel in person to the savage _Frisians_, by whom he was slain. He thus crowned his long career with martyrdom.

CONVERSION OF THE SCANDINAVIANS.--The apostle of the Scandinavians was _Ansgar_ (801-865). The archbishopric of _Hamburg_ was founded for him by _Louis the Pious_, with the papal consent; but, as Hamburg was soon plundered by pirates, he became bishop of _Bremen_ (849). In that region he preached with success. Two visits he made to _Sweden_, the first with little permanent result; but, at the second visit (855), the new faith was tolerated, and took root. The triumph of the religion of the cross, which _Ansgar_ had planted in _Denmark_, was secured there when _Canute_ became king of England. The first Christian king in Sweden was _Olaf Schooskonig_ (1008). In _Norway_, Christianity was much resisted; but when _Olaf the Thick_, who was a devoted adherent of the Christian faith, had perished in battle (1033), his people, who held him in honor, fell in with the church arrangements which he had ordained; and he became _St. Olaf_, the patron saint of Norway.

THE BENEDICTINES.--_Benedict_, born at _Nursia_, in _Umbria_, in 480, the founder of the monastery of _Monte Cassino_, north-west of Naples, was the most influential agent in organizing monasticism in Western Europe. He was too wise to adopt the extreme asceticism that had often prevailed in the East, and his judicious regulations combined manual labor with study and devotion. They not only came to be the law for the multitude of monasteries of his own order, but also served as the general pattern, on the basis of which numerous other orders in later times were constituted. His societies of monks were at first made up of laics, but afterwards of priests. The three vows of the monk were _chastity_, including abstinence from marriage; _poverty_, or the renunciation of personal possessions; and _obedience_ to superiors. The Benedictine cloisters long continued to be asylums for the distressed, schools of education for the clergy, and teachers of agriculture and the useful arts to the people in the regions where they were planted. Their abbots rose to great dignity and influence, and stood on a level with the highest ecclesiastics.