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Charlemagne And The Carolingian Renaissance

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Naomi Spiegelman
Professor Rui de Sousa
Medieval Civilization - Section 01
27 September 2017
Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance

The Carolingian Empire was not at full fruition when Charlemagne rose to power, it was quite the contrary. In the eighth century, the lands covered by what is now known as France and Belgium, as well as part of Germany made up the Frankish state ruled by the kings of the Merovingian line. The Merovingian empire was weak and in a steady decline; the majority of people in Western Europe were illiterate, the economy was facing quite the major decline and the Merovingian kings became “Do Nothing Kings” (Rois fainéants) after the death of Dagobert 639 AD. This is when the Carolingians Mayors of the palace …show more content…

Peter the Apostle of Rome. He also created a dialog with the academic world, making his court a learning hub which could not have been done without the revival of Latin by the educated elite in such an orally-cultured empire. This language renewal luckily occurred because of mistakes made by the monks of Fulda, so he forced reform by making the writings of church fathers mandatory readings, as well as the study of grammar to increase literacy among scribes, and even commoners. Charlemagne’s thirst for knowledge pushed educational boundaries. This is seen in the learning of language and rhetoric via “knowledge before action” that was taught with the help of the Liberal Arts. He organized and centralized cultural activities and a specific curriculum to be taught at the local schools, with many provided resources to do so. He firmly believed that the teaching of Liberal Arts to the children (and even adults) was the duty of a ruler in order to create an educated empire able to flourish and truly understand the world with spiritual enlightenment. In addition to these educational reforms, Charlemagne introduced political ones. It is important to note that Charlemagne ruled a monarchical empire with the help of the aristocracy (which included relatives and friends) in order to contain power. Therefore, the Frankish Empire depended on him because he was the Minister Dei (a servant of god) for institutions, such as

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