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
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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
Charlemagne ruled as king but relied on an inner circle of trusted advisors. He also relied on counts to govern the various territories,
Charlemagne in the historical context made many contributions to the modern world as well as the Carolingian dynasty during his reign. After his father passed away, he united the Franks and went to several conquest to expand his kingdom in 768 (Coffin, 176). Charlemagne was believed to be a very serious Christian king. In one of the longest conquest in Saxon, which lasted about 20 years, he had forced conversion to all the people who
The most famous work about Charlemagne is a book entitled The Two Lives of Charlemagne which consists of two separate biographies published into one book and tells the story of Charlemagne's life as two different people experienced it. Apart from this, there are many other places you can turn to learn more about the life of the king of the Franks, including letters, capitularies, inventories, annals, and more. However, each of these sources seem to paint a different picture of Charlemagne. In one, he seems to be a very average guy; in another, a mythical being, almost god-like; and a strong and firm political leader in yet another. It is because of this of this that we will never really know exactly who Charlemagne was or what he was
He also encouraged Romanesque building and architecture and was studying the languages of Latin and Greek which were spoken amongst the Romans. “He was not simply content with his native tongue but even spent time learning foreign languages. Of these he learned Latin well enough to pray in it as much as in his own native language, but he was able to understand Greek better than he could speak it. He was so fluent that he even seemed verbose.” Einhard continues to go on and describe how Charlemagne encouraged studious behavior and his attempt to preserve learning in his community, which very much emulates Roman society.
I could really understand “Life Story” by David Shields. Shields wrote his essay in all bumper stickers. It may seem as a mess, but it is not. It made sense. The bumper stickers combined a lot of life advice.
The two lives of Charlemagne as told by Einhard and Notker the Stammerer are very different accounts of the life of the great Emperor. Einhard gives us a historical overview of the life of Charlemagne who lived from 742 to 814 A.D. Charlemagne was also known as Charles the Great and the King of the Franks.Charles was one of four children born to Pepin the Short, A Mayor of the Palace of the Carolingian Empire. He had one brother, Carloman and two sisters, Gisela and Pepin.Since women at the time didn’t inherit power, when Pepin the Short died, the kingship of the Carolingian Empire was divided and shared by Charlemagne and his brother, Carloman. Unfortunately, Carloman died early and unexpectedly as a young man and
This period has become known as the Carolingian Dynasty. The sense of renewal in a newly stabilized society was stimulated by an elite group of scholars gathered to Charlemagne’s court. During this time, there was a strong flourish of arts, literature, architecture, and religion.
Holly McNabola is a clinical social worker in North Haven, Connecticut. She received both her BSW and MSW from Southern Connecticut State University. She graduated with honors in 2000. For the past 16 years Holly has had a very diverse experience working with clients who struggle with substance abuse, mental health, medical issues, and more. She provides individual and family therapy and loves what she does.
During the years of St. Augustine, the Roman Empire fell in the west. It was being replaced by regional barbarian kingdoms, and was entering what some historians call the dark ages. It was a traditional, authoritative empire, with vast free-trade and a centralized government. It transformed into a Europe of economic localism, and filled with a minority of educated people. It was now a Christian Europe. A very important person during this new Europe was the Frankish king Charlemagne. His rule was known throughout the world, and Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne the "Emperor of the Romans." On top of this title, he still held all of his other titles. Charlemagne made tons of contributions during this time in Europe. He had
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, reigned during a time of much turmoil and upheaval in Europe during middle ages. Charlemagne’s background and family history contributed much to his rise to power. The triumphs of his past lineage prepared him to take on the task of governing the Frankish Empire, and defending it from invaders. Charlemagne accomplished much during his supremacy. He not only brought education back into medieval Europe, but also invented an efficient way to govern his people. His conquests against the many adversaries of the Holy Roman Empire expanded his empire across the majority of Europe. His conquests also formed strong ties between the Catholic Church and the State. Charlemagne’s drive to convert Europe’s primitive
Before we begin, I would like to take the time out to express how happy I am about the person I interviewed. Coming into the interview, my tour guide expressed to me "that he is a pervert, and he can be a little mean/rude." After her telling me that, I immediately became a little nervous. Why? Because I came into this situation with the perception of trying to avoid someone of this nature. Turns out that my tour guide didn't do such a good job of explaining this guy. Him and I connected extremely well! And I was overwhelmed with joy, and so happy that we did. So, let's begin!
Charlemagne was the king of the Franks and emperor of the Romans from 800-814. During his reign Charlemagne built a kingdom that included almost all of western and central Europe and he started Carolingian Renaissance. His empire had two main territories, East and west Francia that is now the major parts of two important European entities. West Francia is modern-day France, and East Francia became first the Holy Roman Empire and then the modern state of Germany.
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
The Carolingians extended their rule over most Western and central Europe in much less than one 1/2 of a century and became seemed as the renewers of the Roman Empire after the Imperial coronation of Charlemagne in 800. The Carolingian Empire carried out its best territorial extent throughout the reign of Charlemagne (768-814) who added Lombardy, Saxony, Danubian simple and Spanish March to the realm of the Franks. but, Charlemagne’s empire began to say no already below his successor Louis the Pious (814-840) and collapsed via the stop of the ninth century.
The fall of Western Roman Empire in late 5th century led to its vast territory being divided in numerous kingdoms without any central authority. Charlemagne became the King of the Franks in 768. He then successfully led a series of campaigns throughout his reign to unite most of Western Europe under a sole emperor for the first time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The expanded Frankish state Charlemagne founded was called the Carolingian Empire.