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Notes for Charlemagne , Holy Roman Emporer
General Note
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"Charlemagne inherited great wealth and a strong military organization from his father and
brother. He used these assets to double the territory under Carolingian control. In 772 he
opened his offensive against the Saxons, and for more than three decades he pursued a ruthless
policy aimed at subjugating them and converting them to Christianity. Almost every year Charlemagne
attacked one or another region of Saxon territory. Mass executions -- 4,500 Saxons were executed
on a single day in 782 -- and deportations were used to discourage the stubborn. The Saxons
proved to be a far more difficult enemy than any of the other peoples subjugated by Charlemagne.
For example, the Lombards were conquered in a single extended campaign (773-74), after which
Charlemagne assumed the title 'king of the Lombards.' In 788 he absorbed the duchy of Bavaria,
and soon thereafter he launched an offensive against the Avar empire. The Avars succumbed within
a decade, yielding Charlemagne a vast hoard of gold and silver. After one disastrous campaign
(778) against the Muslims in Spain, Charlemagne left the southwestern front to his son Louis.
The latter (later Emperor Louis I), with the help of local Christian rulers, conquered Barcelona
in 801 and controlled much of Catalonia by 814. On Christmas Day, 800, Charlemagne accepted
the title of emperor and was crowned by Pope Leo III. For several years after he regarded the
imperial title of being of little value. Moreover, he intended to divide his lands and titles
among his sons, as was the Frankish custom. At his death on Jan. 28, 814, however, only one
son, Louis, survived; Louis therefore assumed control of the entire Frankish empire.
The
internal organization of Charlemagne's empire varied from region to region. In much of what
is today France, and especially in the south, the old Roman civitates (fortified cities) served
as the focus of most important aspects of political, military, religious, and social organization.
Both the count of the city, appointed by Charlemagne as his representative, and the bishop
made their respective headquarters in the civitas. The count or his agent led the local army,
and the walls of the civitates afforded protection for the inhabitants both of the city and
the nearby countryside. In those parts of the empire that had not been part of the Roman world,
Charlemagne made an effort to impose a similar system. He divided newly conquered lands into
pagi (districts), which were placed under the jurisdiction of counts who exercised the same
kind of administrative powers of their counterparts to the west. Charlemagne also sought to
establish these new pagi as dioceses. In frontier areas, Charlemagne often established districts
that were essentially military in their purpose and organization; these were called marks or
marches. Local customs were everywhere perpetuated by recognition of traditional laws. The
laws, some unwritten, of each of the various peoples of the Carolingian empire, such as Salian
Franks, Ripurian Franks, Romans, Saxons, Lombards, Bavarians, Thuringians, and Jews, were codified
and/or modified if local codes already existed, they wre recognized. This judicial autonomy
enjoyed by the several peoples of the empire indicates the diversity that not only existed
but also flourished under Charlemagne. The emperor did, however, legislate to provide a system
by which these various peoples could interact with each other. The central administration of
the empire, like the local administrations, was rudimentary. A palatine court followed Charlemagne
on his numerous campaigns; during the later years of his life, when he remained at Aachen,
the court stayed there. Charlemagne also sent missi dominici, high-ranking agents of the central
government, from the court to see that his orders, often cast in the form of capitularies (ordinances
divided into capitula, or chapters), were enforced. As part of his administrative efforts,
Charlemagne sought to standardize weights, measures, and coinage. He also made an attempt to
control and develop trade. To these ends he strongly encouraged the development of Jewish communities.
Charlemagne's
concern for administration and his interest in seeing the church function effectively led him
to encourage a rudimentary educational system based in monastaries. Thus a small group of clerical
and lay administrators attained a useful level of literacy. Charlemagne left the development
and implementation of this system largely to Alcuin. The latter's work led to what some scholars
have called the Carolingian Renaissance. At Charlemagne's court a group of scholars was gathered
that included men from England, Spain, and Italy, as well as native Franks and probably Jews.
Charlemagne
has been credited with great political and humanitarian vision and a devout religious bend;
as a result, some have been led to think of his military ventures as crusades. In fact, he
was a gluttonous and superstitious illiterate, or semiliterate, who had a consideral capacity
for brutality. His accomplishments were due mostly to the energy with which he pursued his
military goals and the ruthlessness with which he treated any opponents. Nonetheless, his achievements
were considerable, and the effect of his conquests was to spread Roman Christanity across central
Europe."
The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Release 6
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