...In this passage, the life of Charlemagne is examined closely by his friend Einhard, in which he provided great examples of Charlemagne for future rulers, such as his son Louis, to follow the values of Christian kingship. Through Charlemagne’s life, he portrayed moral behaviors of appearance, family matters, education, church, and modesty, in which many lessons could easily be translated and imitated. Charlemagne was a very dedicated leader, who greatly valued appearance and modesty. In the passage, it claims that “he made use of embroidered clothes, and shoes bedecked with precious stones… but on other days his dress varied little from the common dress of the people.” This statement apparently displays that Charlemagne takes his appearance very precisely and believes it is important to maintain a worthy, public image. At the same time, he occasionally dresses as the common people in order to let them know he is not a superior to them. While he appreciates the extravagant clothing and lifestyle, he knew it was...
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...The Charlemagne Empire came at a difficult time in history known as the Dark Ages between the seventh and tenth centuries. While the Charlemagne Empire started out small, it soon grew to what today is referred to as Western Europe. Charles the Great also known to many as Charlemagne began his reign as King of the Franks in 768 after his father’s death. As ruler of the Charlemagne Empire he in 800 was crowned emperor of the Romans by the Pope in Rome. Charlemagne was a descendant of the Frankish nation and was known for his love of military battle, which he used to expand his empire. With the expansion of the Charlemagne Empire came a spread also of the Roman church. Charlemagne had a great love for Christianity and his wish was to see it spread...
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...The Frankish king Charlemagne possessed many great qualities for a Christian king to have. His son Louis had a great role model while growing up. These good qualities include being learned, being temperate, being involved with his children, being involved in the Church, and not being power-hungry. Having a father who demonstrates these qualities is important, and it gave Louis many lessons on how to be a good Christian king. The first lesson regards being learned. A good king should make a strong effort to learn other languages beside his own native tongue. Charlemagne demonstrated this quality well, as is seen in the text: “He … was such a master of Latin that he could speak it as well as his native tongue; …” Charlemagne learned Latin and Greek. He was also very learned in the liberal arts. He spent much time learning about other...
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...Einhard used the Life of Charlemagne to legitimize the rule of Louis the Pious by establishing and transferring the legitimacy of his father Charlemagne’s rule. Einhard stated that his two reasons for writing this biography were to share the “splendid life” of the king (136) and to honor his relationship with Charles and his children (136). This almost certainly included a relationship with Louis since he was the clear heir to the throne for several years (145). This relationship and Einhard’s previous position on Louis’ court likely brought him to write this biography as a tool to honor his deceased friend while serving the political goal of legitimizing Louis’ rule. Einhard accomplished this goal by legitimizing Charlemagne’s rise to power, using Charles’ deeds to justify his own reign, and transferring this legitimacy to Louis through a clear line of succession....
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...Charlemagne’s Achievements Charlemagne had many significant achievements during his reign in the Holy Roman Empire. One of his greatest achievements was his military conquests. He built an empire greater than any other since ancient Rome. Charlemagne led his armies against enemies in lands surrounding the kingdom. He fought Germanic tribes and Lombards in Italy. He conquered new lands to the east and the south. He was the first leader who was able to finally reunite Western Europe since the Roman Empire. Charlemagne also became the most powerful king in Western Europe. Through his many conquests, he spread Christianity, the religion in which he felt deeply devoted. Charlemagne’s foremost religious accomplishment was spreading Christianity throughout his empire. During the conquests, Christian priests traveled with Charlemagne’s armies. When he conquered a town or country, the priests were directed to convert the people to Christianity. Charlemagne forced conquered people to convert or be tortured to death. Most people did not resist being converted. Charlemagne essentially helped the Roman Catholic Church by spreading Christianity to vast territories. Throughout his reign, Charlemagne cooperated with the church and made it very powerful. Pope Leo III wanted Charlemagne to continue to protect the church and its lands. Therefore, in 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as the Roman Emperor. Charlemagne also had some important cultural achievements. He promoted...
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...church out against the Lombards twice. The first time around he was crowned King, the second time he was anointed, which was reserved for priests and bishops. This made him very powerful because to go against him now also meant you were going against the church, which held the greatest amount of power at the time. This all set the ground work for his successors, such as Charlemagne. Charlemagne’s forces spread through Europe like a wild fire in the name of spreading Christianity. Charlemagne was successful in unifying most of Northwestern Europe. He didn’t rule it all per say, he appointed counts to govern counties. These counts handled the day to day governance of their patch of land. It was their job to publish royal orders, hold court proceedings, collected taxes/tolls, supervised maintenance of bridges and roads, and also raised troops for the army. This system was the ground work for medieval feudalism. Counts were few and far between and the real glue that held the Kingdom together was alliances/oaths between royal families and other personal relationships, which was also one of its greatest weaknesses. Charlemagne had a handful of sons and only 3 of them managed to survive to adulthood and only one of those survived him....
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...allowed for people of diverse linguistic backgrounds to be able to communicate. Latin, like other languages past and present, had more than one form and changed over time because it was both written and spoken, and the educational level or social status of the writer or speaker often determined the final form of the language. Latin was also influenced by local languages spoken or written within the larger territory under the influence of what later came to be known as the Roman Empire. During the Carolingian Renaissance, throughout the reign of Charlemagne and his successors, the development of Latin literacy was greatly promoted. Although reading and writing were skills that some people had, literacy was not widespread before that time. Literacy in Latin was generally limited to people of the upper classes and members of the clergy. Charlemagne invited Alcuin of York to become his personal tutor and the head of his court school. Charlemagne charged Alcuin with the development of a literacy curriculum for children that would provide for their instruction in reading and writing, as well as for further study in the liberal arts and theology, thereby also furthering the Christian teachings that Charlemagne’s court promoted. The promotion of literacy impacted education and language throughout the region. The demand for material relating to the interests of the ruling military class increased. Over time, vernacular languages, the languages commonly spoken, began to be used by writers...
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...*Essays: * 7 sacrements (p.183) * Becoming a knight = knighthood (p.194) * Carlemagne & his empire (p.187-189) * what earned him the title of "great" Notes: * Vulgate - Latin translation of the Bible by Jerome * Sacrement - religious act that automatically grants grace * St. Patrick - spred gospel to Ireland * Boniface - spred gospel to Germany * Clovis - became head of the Frankish tribe in 481 * his capital was Gaul, which is known today as France * "do-nothing" kings * Pepin the Short * Charlemagne - Carolingian House * Charlemagne - became emperor in 800 * Capital was Aachen * Treaty of Verdund (843) - split empire into three separate kingdoms * Charles the Bold = West Franklin * Louis the German = East Franklin * Lothair = emperor; ruled land between his brothers * Fiefs - land grants * Hommage - ceremony to become a vassal * aids - financial payments * Subinfeudation - partitioning fief to become a lord * Peace of God * three "P's" * Church was the center of life * Serfs (peasants) were the most common * 3 social classes * clergy * nobility * peasants * Petrine Theory (p.180) * saints * transubstanteacion * monks - missionaries * Clovis - converted to Christianity * Battle of Tours - stopped Muslim advance * Charles Martel * Fuedalism - political system in which local rulres...
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...years earlier, the continent of Europe’s political and social institutions similarly endured a dramatic change due to an alliance. On Christmas Day 800 CE, King Charles the Great of the Franks (Charlemagne) and the pope of Rome, Pope Leo III, formed this monumental alliance when Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne Imperator Romanorum (emperor of the Romans). However, unlike the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance of the 1900s, the union of Pope Leo and Charlemagne was no formal treaty designed for the means of bailing the other out in some war to come, but simply two men seizing an opportunity to stand by each other for their own ambitions and for a chance at peace. Starting with the accomplishments of their predecessors and ending with the Christmas Day coronation, Charlemagne and Pope Leo created an alliance that brought some disadvantages to the two main protagonists involved, but still yielded more significant political profit for both men, and though Pope Leo stood more to gain from this pact, both men emerged as winners. To have a proper hold on the significance of Charlemagne’s coronation, one must understand the background of the events that took place on Christmas Day, in particular, the history of Charlemagne’s dynasty, the Carolingians. Though, most historians consider Charlemagne the father of modern Europe, it must be stated that he owes much of that title to his father and grandfather. Charles Martel, Charlemagne’s grandfather and the first Carolingian laid the foundations...
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...Authors Einhard and Notker the Stammerer express many criteria for qualities of what makes a good king in their combined work, “Two Lives of Charlemagne.” Einhard chooses to focus more on the aggressive, war-like side of King Charlemagne while Notker tends to focus on Charlemagne’s religious approach to ruling a kingdom. However, both writers consistently agree throughout their respective pieces that King Charles took pity on and gave to the poor, fostered good relationships with many people around him, and focused above all on the good of his kingdom. These are seen by medieval writers as qualities of a good king and Charlemagne’s popular reputation and high levels of respect certainly support this claim. Little is known about Einhard’s...
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...Einhard: The Life of Charlemagne | October 24 2012 | Adrianne Jacobs Western Civilization 77303 Word Count: 927 | Ashlee Graves | Anchorage Woman Part of Archaeological Discovery October 24, 2012 An exciting discovery is being celebrated half way around the world today. Ms. Ashlee Rose of Anchorage, Alaska was working with a field crew on the restoration of the Palatine Chapel, in Germany when a great historical document was unearthed. The document was a narrative written by the Barbarian, Einhard; a fostered son as well as loving and loyal subject to King of the Franks, Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great. This piece of history was Einhards endowment to the legacy of his great king. It was once quoted by the Roman Orator, Cicero, “It is an outrageous abuse both of time and literature for a man to commit his thoughts to writing without having the ability either to arrange them or elucidate them, or attract readers by some charm of style." (Einhard) However some might receive Einhard recount as a disorder of written expression, Ms. Rose described it as, “a romanticized account of a glorious life, which leaves the reader with a little more hope for the compassions of men.” The account of Charles’ life, as written by Einhard recounts the glory of his reign by beginning with the kings’ delegation of power. Pepin, Charles father, had ruled over the Franks for 15 years before dying of dropsy in September of 768. Upon his death, Pepin consecrated his power to his...
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...Charlemagne was the first of the true renaissance men. His list of accomplishments as a world leader are unmatched to this day. Charlemagne, also known as Charles I, and Charles the Great. April 2, 747 – January 28, 814. He was the son of Pippin III (Pippin the Short) and grandson of Charles Martel, who was first of what became known as the Carolingians. Charlemagne died January 28, 814 in Aachen, Austrasia (now part of Germany). He was king of the Franks 768-814, king of the Lombards 774-814, and first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 800-814. He was the heir to his father and grandfather’s political, religious, and social revolution. Charlemagne recruited leading intellectuals from England, Spain, Ireland, and Italy to...
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...(MUSE). All court documents and medical books were all written in Latin. This language separated the upper class from the rest of the lower class, less educated citizens; which also limited the less educated from moving up in class for a better life a new more common-man vernacular languages were created. Charlemagne aka Charles the Great (742-814) was the first "Emperor" in Western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire. Alcuin of York (730 – 804) was a scholar, teacher and poet who created a successful curriculum of reading and writing for children. This combination of King and scholar changed the future of student’s curriculum. After being introduced to Alcuin of York, Charlemagne invited him to come and teach at Charlemagne Palace School. He taught all the royal children and young clerics that were attached to the palace chapel. “Alcuin became a leading scholar and teacher at the Carolingian court and joined the royal court in 781, and became one of Charlemagne's chief advisers on religious and educational matter; where he remained a figure in the 780s and 790s”.(bbc.co.uk). Alcuin brought all new educational standards of the Palace School, introducing Charlemagne to the liberal arts and creating a personalized atmosphere of learning. “Along with another great scholar, Theodulf of Orleans, he was responsible for an intellectual movement within the Carolingian empire in which many schools of learning...
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...The Song of Roland is an ancient text containing many examples of chivalry, an attribute that is often associated with knights meaning to be courteous, generous, and to have valor and dexterity. Roland sets a remarkable standard for chivalry throughout this excerpt, despite his shortcomings we find in laisse 131 where, prior to the battle, he fails to call for assistance from Charlemagne out of obstinacy. He makes up for this by sounding the oliphant to call for help until his temple busts. Undeterred by his injury, Roland goes on to fight valiantly against the Saracens. In regards to Roland’s dexterity, Archbishop Turpin says, “Such gallantry a chevalier should have is he’s to carry arms and ride a horse. He must be fierce and powerful in...
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...Furthermore, Roland character in "Song of Roland" share same idea with Beowulf as Marshall claimed in his article. Roland Fought the Saracens for his pride, glory and faith, but not for wealth and power. To support my thesis statement, I chose Antonio A. García as my critics by using her article" In the Shadow of Mosque". In García, Antonio A. “In the Shadow of a Mosque: Mapping the ‘Song of Roland.’” The French Review, vol. 84, no. 2, 2010, pp. 311–325., www.jstor.org/stable/25758409 García said " the poem celebrate King Charles of France and his best men known as the Twelve Peer – their fight against the people of the Saracen Empire. Roland, the group's leader, and his men seek to annihilate the heathen Saracen religion or convert its...
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