When Charlemagne Ruled 10,000,000+ People | History Documentary

[Music] dad he's coming [Music] back [Music] ch a I suddenly remembered my shamine let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky if you're a little skeptical about the Charlemagne quote that I just played for you in the intro then you've got good historical instincts in his role as Indiana Jones father Sean connory sounds awfully convincing but in all likelihood Charlamagne never said anything to that effect after all why would Charlamagne be seeking armies of rocks trees and birds when he had thousands of Franks eagerly awaiting his every command and fully prepared to March to the ends of Europe in his name name it doesn't make much sense to those well acquainted with the carolingian Art of War but put yourself in the shoes of the general audience for a moment doesn't the quote at least sound authentic like it could have come from Charlemagne doesn't his very name evokes something vaguely biblical and otherworldly these Impressions I would argue have a lot to do with Charlemagne's fateful alliance with the Catholic papacy and with his Assumption of an imperial diet at that point Charlamagne became not only Emperor but also the Lord's Steward on Earth this was an inheritance from the late Roman Christian Emperors who gave up the pretense of divinity and assumed the role of divine intermediary instead entrusted with establishing Justice maintaining peace and safeguarding the salvation of their subjects it was a big job maybe the biggest there ever was and its responsibilities and Powers extended over everything under the sun people Birds trees and rocks alike and as we will soon see Charlamagne took the job description literally concerned with even the minutest details of his realm but before we delve into all of that let's discuss the precise moment when Charlemagne was crowned as Emperor as those of you coming straight from the last episode will know getting to this point Point had not been easy much like his father and grandfather Charlemagne was almost perpetually on campaign his conquests taking him further than any of his predecessors could have dreamed of since the coronation of his father pep and the short the territory under Frankish control had doubled in size by now Charlemagne had mastered the art of wartime Logistics and organization handed down new ways of governance and worship to conquered peoples and soon he would inaugurate the Caroline genene Renaissance a period of renewed interest in the Arts sciences and learning in general his gifts in War and Peace made him a worthy successor to Caesar and Augustus and the moment now came for him to be recognized as such it happened during mass on Christmas Day 800 ad in Old St Peter's Basilica which was built upon the bones of Martyrs in the eternal city of Rome the time and place couldn't have been better chosen if Charlamagne himself had planned it I say that because according to the traditional story the coronation came as a complete surprise to him ostensibly Charlamagne had been in Rome for other reasons and while he attended Mass like the pious ruler he was the pope at the time Pope Leo thei supposedly sprung a sort of Ambush while Charlemagne was kneeling in prayer placing the the crown on his bent head the pope named our unsuspecting protagonist emperor of the Romans right then and there at least that is the version of events we get from our lead narrator for charlamagne's Life and Times einhard who said quote Charlamagne at first had such an aversion to the Imperial titles that he declared that he would not have set foot in the church the day that they were conferred although it was a great feast day if he could have foreseen the design of the Pope end quote so we are honestly meant to believe that Charlamagne was just as surprised as everybody around him by this turn of events despite the fact that even contemporary sources had to acknowledge that Charlemagne's Crown had been clearly visible on the altar it was sitting on it's a little like hearing about Julius Caesar being surprised when his right-hand Man Mark Anthony very publicly offered him a crown in both cases we are meant to get the picture of a reluctant ruler someone like Jon Snow of Game of Thrones the type of figure who was not attracted to power but received it all the same I don't want it I never have however the truth is that every part of Charlemagne's coronation was carefully planned ahead of time by both parties right down to every little detail in the preceding months the pope and Emperor to be had plenty of time to talk things over only one year earlier the pope had found solace in Charlemagne's Court after being chased out of Rome by an angry mob bent on plucking out his eyes and tongue on the grounds of simony perjury and lasciviousness these were the sort of corruption charges usually leveled at Renaissance popes in the leadup to the Reformation at which time we almost come to expect such behavior from the successors of the bouras but in these early days of the Middle Ages such accusations were more serious and they earned Pope Leo the reputation of being in the words of one historian among the shiftiest occupants of the Throne of St Peter during this time but whatever we might think of him Pope Leo was in an unenviable position facing down everything from Angry mobs to bickering Patrician families to the ever lingering threat of invasion by this point the Lombards might have been neutralized but the Crescent of Islam loomed ever more imposingly over the Mediterranean world to his credit pop Leo did not give in instead he embarked on a charm offensive closely corresponding with Charlamagne and eventually sending him the keys to St Peter's tomb a clear signal of his intent to make the relationship official the carolingians and the popes had flirted with one another for a while now exchanging military protection for legitimacy but the time to tie the knot had come it would be the start of a new order if Islam was to be a religion of the sword in the safekeeping of a calip then Christianity would be a religion of two swords the pope with his spiritual Sword and the emperor with his material one at least that is how medieval theologians came to retroactively interpret this Arrangement plucking the idea of two swords straight from the Bible passage Luke 2238 according to the two swords Doctrine as historians Now call it there was to be one spiritual head and one temporal head priding over the Christian faithful not one but two heads to rule them all and in the darkness bring them closer to the light the idea elegantly accompan the so-called translatio imperi I.E the transfer of Imperial control controll from the Romans to the Franks in his book on the Holy Roman Empire historian Peter Wilson described the transferred this way saying quote like all powerful medieval ideas this one was rooted in the Bible the Book of Daniel recounts how the Old Testament Prophet responded to a request to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream about the future of his Empire thanks to an influential reading by St Jerome in the 4th Century this was understood as a succession of four World monarchies Babylon Persia Macedonia and Rome the notion of empire was singular and exclusive Empires could not coexist but followed each other in a strict sequence that was epocal involving the transfer of divinely ordained power and responsibility for Humanity rather than merely changes of ruler or Dynasty the Roman Empire had to continue since the appear an of a fifth monarchy would invalidate Daniel's prophecy and contradict God's plan end quote as elaborate as all this theological and intellectual scaffolding sounds there was just one problem well actually a few but we'll get to the rest of them later the immediate problem was that the Medieval World had another Emperor and one that also claimed to be heir to the Romans arguably on firmer grounds that Emperor ruled the greek-speaking Eastern remnants of the Roman Empire today we prefer to call it the bizantine Empire as its power base was not in Rome but in Constantinople formerly known as Byzantium we spoke a little bit about the byzantines in the last episode but let's give them a proper [Music] introduction [Music] although the word Byzantine has come to refer to something bureaucratic and ineffectual this is a disservice to the medieval byzantines theirs was one of the most technologically and culturally sophisticated civilizations of the Middle Ages and unlike the Franks who had extended their rule well beyond the Roman Frontier into places Untouched by Roman roads or aqueducts the Byzantine Greeks mostly ruled over lands in present-day Greece and Turkey that had actually been long established Roman provinces at this time the byzantines were ruled not by an emperor but an empress the infamous Irene of Athens a woman who had seized power from her son and blinded him in case that seems gratuitously cruel to you just know that it probably wasn't personal the byzantines just had had this unfortunate habit of blinding political opponents often times family members in order to disqualify them from rulership now it remained to be seen whether the byzantines would turn a blind eye no pun intended to Charlemagne's coronation but because of his role in the event Pope Leo had effectively severed ties with empress sirene a decision that had less to do with the fact that she was a woman even less to do with her cruelty but almost everything to do with geopolitical realities Pope Leo's predecessors had already begun the process of distancing themselves from the byzantines who had retreated from the Italian Peninsula and begun experimenting with different interpretations of Christianity such as iconic clasm the rejection of Catholic icons this was still before the great schism and the establishment of the Eastern Orthodox church but that is where things were headed in the meantime Christendom was was still United but it had to contend with the problem of the two Emperors the Z Kaiser problem as it later came to be called in German you now had two peoples the Franks and the Byzantine Greeks with the same aspirations of universal Empire that the Romans had it was a state of affairs much changed since the days of the fifth century when the byzantines had cutely regarded the Franks as sons of Rome but as early is the 6th Century the marenian kings of the Franks had begun to outgrow such designations asserting their own right to rule and replacing images of Roman emperors with images of themselves on the coins that they Meed Charlamagne himself seems to have regretted the decision to let the pope coronate him probably because he became less and less enthusiastic about the implications of being crowned by a pope think about it for a second if the Pope could make an emperor did that not mean that he could unmake him as well Charlemagne's successors would learn that lesson the hard way as would many other medieval Catholic rulers once the carolingians had played the part of kingmakers in frania now popes came to play that role for the entirety of Catholic Europe although at first they kept their spiritual sword sheathed as it became honed and polished they would brainish it with righteous Fury to excommunicate rulers and call Crusades almost exactly a millennium after Charlemagne's coronation long after the popes had exhausted these Powers the new Charlemagne Napoleon seems to have learned from his predecessor's example making a deliberate decision to Crown himself instead of being invested with authority by the Pope in that sense Napoleon with his instinctive grasp grasp on the symbols of power had more in common with the Romans even if their last Emperors were Christian none of them was ever crowned by a pope their Imperial legitimacy was vouch saved elsewhere and they were not crowns but Laurel wreaths like the one Napoleon chose to wear in his ceremony that brings us to a fundamental question about Charlemagne's empire building project was it built on Roman foundations or was it something new entirely though Charlamagne was called emperor of the Romans Scholars then and now have never stopped debating the nature of his Empire for our part we've already touched on some of the ways that the carolingian empire was distinct from the Roman One to begin with much of the territorial expanse ruled by the carolingians lay far outside the former boundaries of the Roman Empire and the carolingian power base was not an ital Italy but in a region called austraia that was never fully under Roman control for those who would argue the reverse that the carolingian empire was in fact a continuation of the Roman one the obvious place to start would be with carolingian titles and honorifics we already know that Charlamagne was named emperor of the Romans however in His official Charters he preferred to go by Charles most Serene Augustus crowned by God the great peaceful Emperor ruling the Roman Empire it might just sound like a lengthier version of the first title but there is something else about it worth honing in on specifically the inclusion of the word peaceful because Charlamagne was so frequently at War this may give us pause yet there is an explanation for this idea of Peace like the Romans the Franks excelled in war but they much preferred it when waged far from home the reason why is that offensive Wars afforded opportunities for enrichment through the acquisition of plunder whereas defensive wars were far less profitable at home the Romans and franks wanted order and stability they wanted barbarians kept at Bay and criminal elements punished in other words there was the idea of Peace the so-called fruit of justice and both peoples looked upon the Emperor who was judge jury and executioner to keep the peace the same idea is foundational to the modern state which is expected to monopolize violence and keep us far removed from it the Franks and the Romans only went so far in this regard but they were more successful than many other premodern peoples so much so that we can conceive of the idea of Roman and carolingian states that is not not the only commonality we see beyond the Here and Now Roman and Frankish Emperors alike were looked upon to provide guidance in the Hereafter we have already addressed the fact that these Emperors were looked upon as God's stewards charged by Divine mandate to guide their subjects to Salvation and in this spiritual Quest the carolingian Emperors were aided not only by the popes but also the Frankish nobility these nobl men were literate fluent in Latin and could often Trace their lineage back to the late antique period at times they were referred to in the old Roman way as the optimates a Latin term translating to the best referring not only to the best in rank and wealth but also in moral character at this point you may be wondering was this all just a lot of posturing in actuality how did all this intellectual scaffolding hold up we will have our answers to these questions by the end of this episode but for now it suffices to say that even if this was posturing it was awfully necessary for the carolingians to establish legitimacy up until relatively recently in Frankish history the carolingians were just another Noble family serving the maravian Kings therefore interlinking ideas about the nature of rulership the world and God allowed them to justify their right to rule these were ideas further developed in an intellectual movement known as the carolingian Renaissance characterized by the Revival of classical knowledge which serves as perhaps the greatest evidence in favor of continuity between the Romans and the Franks most people have heard of the Italian Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries and of names like Leonardo da Vinci Michelangelo and Machiavelli by comparison the carolingian Renaissance gets a lot less love even if there may have been no Italian Renaissance without the carolingian [Music] one students of antiquity are always bemoaning the fact that only a tiny fraction of the ancient world has survived to this day well without the carolingians we would only have some fraction of that fraction it was because of the carolingian Renaissance that thousands of classical Works survived to this day which would otherwise have been lost to time of all the books written in Western Europe before charlamagne's coronation fewer than 2,000 survived to this day by comparison 9,000 books survived from the following century when the carolingians ruled and many of these books were laboriously handwritten copies of original Latin and Greek texts dating back hundreds of years which had up until recently been shut away in Lombardy we have long since lost many of the originals but we still have the carolingian copies that were produced in monasteries so anyone who has read Cicero's Republic or the works of tacitus Livy or pus has a carolingian monk to think when the scholars of the Italian Renaissance read some of these copies they mistook them for the Greco Roman originals and figured that the clean and elegant style of handwriting that they encountered was ancient in origin in reality this handwriting was the product of the Frankish monks who gave us Caroline genene minuscule if you listen to our first series about the Acadian Empire then think back to what the cadians did with Sumerian CA form because it's a little bit like like that carolingian minuscule was the culmination of three centuries of experimentation with fairing Roman scripts as the first minuscule script it pioneered the use of lowercase letters making it easier to distinguish between titles subtitles and body text something markedly more difficult when only uppercase letters were in use the gothic script also known as black letter which succeeded Caroline jeene minuscule preserved the use of lowercase letters but it was characterized by a comparatively more bold and ornate look making it far more difficult to read up close if you were to conjure up an image of a medieval letter in your head it is probably this script black letter that you would be thinking of instead of Caroline Gene minuscule which I would say was ahead of its time despite it falling out of popularity car aine minuscule was to make a comeback during the Italian Renaissance after a few tweaks it became humanist minuscule which was stripped of Gothic ornamentality and marked a return to a more clean and legible script clearly influenced by carolingian handwriting one can trace a more or less direct line from carolingian minuscule through humanist minuscule to many of the fonts in common use today in the information age we prefer most of the stuff we read to be as legible as possible it was no different in the carolingian period despite the fact that the ability to read and write was monopolized by a small monastic intelligencia monks had already functioned as some of the most trusted agents of the carolingian regime they were not only missionaries helping the carolingians wi the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of newly conquered territory but also diplomats having played an important role in forging the alliance with the papacy on top of that they frequently undertook pilgrimages to visit saintly remains or to transport them from place to place I find them a seriously impressive Bunch well traveled clever and full of conviction they weren't always traveling though more and more began to lead a sedentary existence in the monasteries from the year 768 to 855 ad 30 Cathedrals and over 400 monasteries went up with the majority of these being built during Charlemagne's Reign these monasteries were not for the exclusive use of the monks who lived there they were also a kind of hotel and restaurant for the carolingians Nobles and missionaries who passed by them those monasteries that were close to campaign routes were chalk full of food and supplies for passing armies in addition to fulfilling all of these functions Charlamagne directed The monasteries to also become centers of intellectual life this was the beginning of the monastic scriptorium a place where books were read copied and written in Mass it had already been a phenomenon in the British Isles and now monastic scriptoria began to spring up across the carolingian Empire what made the script torium viable in the first place was the development of the book which was itself still a new invention not that long ago people had still written things down on Papyrus which because of the limitations of the material better lent itself to use in Scrolls rather than books but then parchment came along a more durable material compared to Papyrus and therefore more capable of withstanding the test of time hence why why carolingian copies outlasted so many original works it all became possible when people caught onto the fact that they could write stuff down on animal skins gradually perfecting the process of preparing these skins for writing they began by soaking the skin in a lime solution so as to more easily discard the fat and hair before cleansing the skin in lie and finally stretching it on a frame and drying it the finished parchment was then turned into Pages or in the language of medieval manuscripts leaves which were stacked on top of each other and stitched together between either hard or soft covers since the quality of parchment was so inconsistent sometimes fine and sometimes chorus it became an indicator of wealth but there were other indicators too easier for us to grasp in today's age when we take books for granted there were for example book book cover studded with jewels or made of carved Ivory silver and gold you could safely judge these books by their cover as they were often beautiful on the inside too consisting of elaborate illustrations and designs that accompanied the text speaking of the text while most times It Was Written In Black Ink a composition of soot Oak apples and Squid Ink that now often appears to us a faded brown or yellow illustrations tended to make use of rarer pigments like blue gold and silver which still bedazzle us today as a consequence these illuminated manuscripts with their hard one splashes of color constitute some of the most enduring works of medieval art the American finer JP Morgan bought one of these manuscripts the lindow gospels and it apparently was enough to turn him into something of a medievalist the elite of the the carolingian age also collected these manuscripts and we see the emergence of private libraries in their palaces and Estates some of which went from having dozens to hundreds of books during this time Charlemagne's library was the most extensive of all and he assembled a court of the finest minds of his age formed a cross between a book club and an elite circle of advisers this despite the fact that he never quite mastered the art of writing and much preferred being read to rather than sitting hunched over a book himself one gets the impression that if he was alive today Charlemagne would have been more of a podcast and Audi book guy constantly soaking up information about a wide variety of topics in his personal Library there were treatises on history art and law and practical manuals about everything from the Latin language to medicine and herbology to astronomy and Mathematics complete with diagrams and drawings something the new medium of books was far better suited to compared to Scrolls although many of the books at this time especially the original ones were works of Christian theology Charlemagne's Library had no shortage of writings produced by Greek and Roman polytheists that is to say pagans this was something monks were understandably nervous about and we find many monasteries completely Barren of these Works to the point that one of the leading intellectuals of this period publicly bemoaned the lack of rare classical texts in frankia sending for something to be imported or copied in the British aisles this is yet another battle in that tug-of war between new and old between preservation and Innovation just like the Frank s never stopped debating the nature of their empire they never stopped debating the value of classical works by this point there was already a long tradition dating back to the 6th Century of preserving classical works on the basis that in spite of their pagan origins they could be used as an aid for interpreting the Bible historian Rosemont mkit a leading expert on this period wrote of the debate quote with so much emphasis on Christian education and Christian Learning one is bound to ask what attitude the Frankish Scholars of the carolingian period had towards the Pagan writings of classical Antiquity the obvious objection to the classical authors was their paganism added to this was the different moral sense and ethic they imparted the carolingians inherited the patristic attitude towards the classics in regarding them as a means to an end and as models for imitation in style one monk summed the attitude up when he stated that the useful elements in the secular poets are so much Grist to the human Mill what is not obviously useful we wipe from our minds and that applies above all to any mention of the heathan Gods love or care of worldly things a few Scholars were violent in their opposition to the classical authors other carolingians loved the classics and did their utmost to obtain copies of them charlamagne's Palace Library had a relatively large collection of rare classical texts and one branch of classical learning in which the carolingians were interested in for its content rather than for its language and style was the technical branch and quote despite the fact that Charlemagne's favorite book was set to be Augustine's city of God which was read aloud to him while he ate bathed and swam his aformentioned library of Classics makes it clear where he stood in this debate we even hear of one occasion where the same scholar at Charlemagne's Court who complained about the lack of rare works in the realm asked the emperor to borrow his copy of Pen's Natural History moreover Charlemagne made this position clear to his brainy Court saying quot quote we are concerned to restore with diligent Zeal the workshops of knowledge which through the negligence of our ancestors have been well nigh deserted we invite others by our own example as much as lies within our power to learn to practice the liberal arts end quote the term liberal arts is often trotted out these days but many don't realize that it has a formal designation or at least it did encompassing seven different areas of knowledge the so-called Trivium grammar rhetoric and logic as well as the quadrivium music geometry arithmetic and astronomy charlemaine really did lead by example making multiple attempts to study all of these arts and ensuring that his children did too although he spoke Frankish and Latin and could understand Greek charlam never really learned how to write in any of these languages nonetheless he went on scribbling stuff down on various books and tablets that he kept stowed away under his pillow his personal foray into learning and his assemblage of great minds were such that his court became a central node in the network of monastic scriptoria and palacial libraries these great minds were United by their appreciation of of the liberal arts and their Devotion to the emperor they were men who came from all over Europe from York to Lombardy and they helped Charlemagne run his vast Empire while composing fawning poetry about him in the tradition of Virgil and comparing him to King David in the Old Testament because Charlemagne's rule was so itinerant in nature his court must have been highly mobile those Scholars who followed him from place to place remind one a little bit of the ones that followed Napoleon into Egypt where they dug up the Rosetta Stone and single-handedly launched the field of egyptology in the 19th century Napoleon also enjoyed the company of intellectuals but he advised against making one your wife or your minister something that Charlemagne obviously felt different about judging by his choice of ministers with all that said if we were to pinpoint an epicenter of intellectual life for the Caroline genene period it would undoubtedly be the city of aen called ex Le Chappel in French Ain shows signs of Life dating back to Neolithic times and the Romans used it as a kind of spa resort due to its naturally occurring thermal Springs although it was hailed as a new Rome by contemporaries admittedly it was a far cry from the great cities of this period like Constantinople and Baghdad the most impressive feature of the City by far would be Charlemagne's Palace complex built at the close of the 8th Century it was to the carolingian Renaissance what St Peter's Basilica was to the Italian one although sadly only a fraction of it remained standing today this collection of palatial buildings included an imperial residence Council Hall treasury Throne Room gymnasium barracks and even a managerie for exotic animals such as peacocks and the Asian elephant Abu abas a gift to Charlemagne from harun Al rashed the famed abset cff portrayed in Arabian Knights In addition to that there was a thermal Springfed bath system its statues of pagan deities replaced with Christian Saints it was here that Charlemagne swam while having books read to him on other occasions he staged huge pool parties with as many as a 100 CES and bodyguards at at a time finally there was the Palatine Chapel the only part of the palace complex that has survived to this day but only after centuries of Renovations and Restorations that have turned it into an extravagant work of bricked blending classical Byzantine and Baroque architectural Styles crowned with an octagon shaped Dome and bronze parets the eye popping blue and gold interior of this tall building is aor dned with colorful mosaics and marble columns the necessary inspiration and materials being sourced from Rena and Rome in the western gallery on a Podium preceded by six Stone steps stands Charlemagne's marble Throne though at first glance it appears to us quite plain the Carlos Throne or Throne of Charlamagne is Laden with Biblical symbolism and today it is believed that its materials were sourced from the church of the holy Seiler in Jerusalem in addition to serving as the coronal throne for later Holy Roman emperors it was also immortalized in a lovely painting by the old French master hry paulm in this depiction Napoleon with his hand characteristically tucked inside his coat stands at a respectful distance only mounting the first of the six steps as if Charlamagne with his long legs outstretched before him was still seated there the real Napoleon disappoints us he was less respectful carting off entire columns from the Chapel to France in the unsentimental fashion of a conqueror Charlemagne would have the last laugh in the end with most of what was stolen being returned to the chapel after Napoleon's fall it's important to mention that the palace complex at aen was only one of 150 Carolinian palaces at this time to say nothing of the 700 Imperial Estates a major source of the family's wealth these palaces were for the most part Monumental in nature meant to inspire awe rather than serving a defensive purpose this is missed by those who would have us believe that the carolingians basically built a bunch of castles and invented feudalism many of the familyes Palaces were constructed near bodies of water like the Ry and danu which made them accessible by boat in the lands north of the Alps still lacking the infrastructure of parts of the Mediterranean world this was the preferred way to travel especially during the winter among these palaces the one at ingleheim was another important one with Charlemagne successors spending their Summers there and their Winters in aen unlike at aen the palatial Hall of ingleheim left depictions of ancient Heroes intact with mosaics of Remis Hannibal and Alexander the Great rendered alongside Carol linin Heroes like Charles Martell Pippen and Charlemagne but of all the carolingian Palaces engelheim included aen was the most important one at least during charlamagne's day after his coronation as Emperor he spent more and more of his time in this expansive Palace complex from where he could issue his many legal decrees and Charters meet with advisors and ambassadors enact currency reforms hold feasts and otherwise ensure the smooth functioning of his Empire that brings us to the topic of administration which will reveal to us the true nature of Charlemagne's rule this is the key to understanding how after his conquests he managed to hold on to such an enormous sweep of territory amounting to roughly 450,000 Square mil or about 1.2 million square km this was Western Europe at its most unified a feat that would not be repeated for another Thousand Years France Germany Austria Belgium Switzerland Luxembourg the Netherlands Northern Italy and even parts of Eastern Europe were at this time all answerable to one Emperor the traditional narrative tells us that the Caroline shean experiment expent in Empire Building yielded feudalism as its byproduct categorizing a population of some 10 million or more into a taxonomy of those who fought those who prayed and those who worked with their hands in other words the nobility the clergy and the Surfs more recently historians have made the case that feudalism emerged not by any such Revolution but rather because of an evolution that may have begun with the Carol Indians but only reached fruition in the 11th century the starting point of the high Middle Ages this was when long established dynasties in cities as well as upand cominging institutions like guilds universities and nightly orders all became sufficiently entrenched to atomize power these actors created the sort of world that looks a lot more like what we imagine when someone brings up the Middle Ages the the carolingians weren't quite there yet and there is no clear consensus among experts about whether their empire was fundamentally antique or medieval in nature nonetheless there is still quite a bit that we do know so let's unpack some of it and begin to draw some conclusions we'll begin with the nobility those who fought most nobles were counts a hold over from the marenian age the majority of these counts acted as administrators ruling counties although some were merely part of the Imperial household It is believed that the Empire had up to 600 counties with the more developed of these composed of cities Villages and monasteries alike this was before counties became hereditary although many counts remained in office until their deaths and passed their lands and titles to their children this process only really aifi in the late 9th and 10th centuries in the time of Charlamagne counts were appointed and the title could be revoked at any time in addition to the count there was the misus dominicus Latin for Envoy of the Lord these Imperial inspectors had been around during maravian times too but to a far more limited degree than under Charlemagne now there were a lot more of them and their Authority was formalized they had the power to decide over courts of law receive Oaths on behalf of the emperor and Survey counties ultimately this was a sort of check on the counts an innovation that was not to outlast Charlemagne due to the breakdown of Imperial power besides the count and the misus dominicus there was the newly invented marcher Lord these Lords ruled marches on the frontiers of the Empire their lands heavily garrisoned and fortified this was another logical innovation in light of the constant expansion that occurred under charlamagne's Reign last of all there was the Duke who also tended to rule in the frontier regions and only appeared at the end of the carolingian period under Charlemagne you still mostly had counts with power being measured not by a fancier title but instead through patronage influence and wealth that is to say some kind were a lot more powerful than others to drive the point home that this was not yet feudalism it's necessary to mention that vassalage as a concept was still in its incipient in his legal decrees Charlamagne had specified that the well-off were to perform military service and swear personal oats of loyalty to him but the less well-off were expected to do the same with the high Middle Ages and the Advent of peasant levies that would change the authors of an authoritative book on the period the carolingian world put it like this saying quote the vassel who held land in return for military service an important prop in the traditional construction of feudalism is nowhere to be found in the carolingian world the central fact of the carolingian countryside was thus the complex interaction between the steepening of the social hierarchy leading to longer and more formal Ty of patronage on the one hand and on the other a continued understanding of Frankish society as based on the community of free landowners acting collectively end quote in essence there was still this residue of marenian Era Leader follower ISM but it was now challenged by Charlemagne's vigorous attempts at Imperial governance which hearkened back to the sophisticated administration of the Romans and these attempts MTS extended to spiritual matters in other words to those who prayed there were something like 180 Bishop bricks in the carolingian Empire with only 45 of these under papal control although Charlemagne was meant to only wield the material sword leaving the spiritual one to the pope by now you may have caught on to the fact that sharing power did not come naturally to a man like Charlamagne he got himself involved D in the Affairs of the clergy to an extent that would have made even King chil from our marenian episode blush a king who was Infamous for being overly involved in theological Affairs but unlike with chil prick there seems to have been good reason for Charlemagne's involvement as well as recent precedents that made it more palpable by the start of Charlemagne's Reign there had been an observable decline in the quality of sermons liturgies and ecclesiastical discipline possibly as a consequence of either the proliferation in men of the cloth or the attempts of his father and grandfather to bring these men to heal as we know Charlemagne conquered much built much and przed much and this bought him the legitimacy necessary to fix the problem that he was in some ways contributing to therefore we see Charlemagne hold religious councils impose a new lurgical standard and set down firm requirements of monasteries and churches he ensured that sermons were well delivered and translated to local vernaculars and even chimed in on the contents of these orations in an effort to bring uniformity and quality assurance to the pulpit in one of his proclamations on the subject Charlemagne said quote correct properly the Catholic Books for too often while people want to pray to God in proper fashion they yet pray improperly because of uncorrected books end quote basically this was a case of sermon Supply Chain management if you will but charlamagne's intense involvement in ecclesiastical activities set a further precedent for his successors who wouldn't be quite as skillful or as successful as him in managing the relationship with the clergy and Pope this is a topic for the next episode so for now let us turn to our last group those who worked with their hands this is you and me the everyday man who accounted for the largest segment of the Empire's population by far it was not an easy life most people toiled away for most of their waking hours working the land with wooden implements like the plow although the iron plow and the Watermill had both been invented by now their diffusion was a slow and gradual process that is why perhaps the chroniclers of the period pay little attention to these Innovations they could not know that the plow in the mill would help transform the European economy in anticipation of the high Middle Ages as the Silicon Valley saying goes the future had arrived it just wasn't evenly distributed like with raising crops raising animals was also a story of drudgery and deficiency with flux being smaller than those that had once grazed the provinces of Roman Gaul there was still some chance of Adventure and advancement though if Charlemagne summons came while you were a young man then you would join the emperor on campaign furnished with weapons and supplies bought by your community with everybody pitching in a silver coin or two if luck was on your side you could strike it rich after a successful raid or Siege in distant lands this probably happened to at least a few poor Franks after the defeat of the avar Confederate ation in present day Hungary where enough Booty Had accumulated over the Decades of rating that the transfer of wealth from the avars to the Franks was a notable enough phenomenon to be singled out in the annals but ill Fortune was just as likely if not more so to befall you whether you were young or old Insidious threats loomed on the horizon Raiders robbers diseases natural disasters and famines induced by summer droughts and winter frosts while at the very highest level the trappings of power grew in sophistication here in the countryside it was all much simpler if you never worried about putting food on the table then that in itself was a sign of power speaking of putting food on the table the average diet consisted of bread made from Rye corn oats and wheat which could be chased down by beans cheeses eggs and Ale larger Estates like the ones owned directly by the carolingians grew vegetables and fruit and also had a more Bountiful supply of wine honey and spices if you did not live in one of these large Estates then you weren't completely out of luck when it came to these Delicacies this was a time when Europe was still covered in Woodlands thus you could easily stumble upon honey and fruit in a nearby Forest where charcoal Lumber meats and pelts were were also sourced in some the unfortified ramshackle wooden Villa or Village that you probably called home inducted you into a culture of self-sufficiency collective ownership and shifting settlement because buildings were abandoned and thrown up again in new locations in the face of natural disasters crumbling infrastructure and Rural exploitation you probably didn't get used to staying in one place for too long there was this consolation though death was certain but taxes not so much like in the maraven era there is some mention of Taxation in our sources but not that frequently given that taxation serves as a sort of litmus test for administrative efficiency all throughout history this is a little bit of a disappointing reality that belies our Notions about Caroline Shan rule in a trend that would continue throughout the Middle Ages we hear that taxes are imposed on the use of certain equipment and infrastructure hence the wheel tax Bridge tax and Port tax but otherwise money would trickle if not pour into the Carolinian treasury by other means like fines gifts and tolls with the latter of these essentially being interchangeable with the forms of Taxation I just mentioned in the days of Roman rule things had been different you had a more sophisticated system of Taxation a standing army a highly specialized Mediterranean commercial network and well-maintained infrastructure the stone and brick Villas of the Roman Imperial period now in Ruins looked more like what we think of when we hear that word owned by patricians and run by slaves as I have alluded to already power in the carolingian countryside was less formalized the carolingian world's authors write quote Villages were tied into the patronage networks that made the Empire tick via well-connected local priests and estate managers who were members of rural communities themselves rather than agents imposed from outside end quote the picture the authors paint is more L Fair than we might expect Charlemagne's many reforms not withstanding the influence of the count and the misus dominicus seemed to have been indirect and although these imperial agents may have frequently been on the move either to pay homage in the Imperial Court to carry out their official duties in the city to partake in a hunt or a feast or to go off to war they tended to be far removed from the Hub up of everyday Village Life that brings us to the question besides priding over the appointment of these many imperial agents what were some of Charlemagne's other reforms how else did he attempt to improve the lot of his people here on Earth rather than in the Hereafter One reform often attributed to Charlamagne is almost symbolic of a golden age coming to an end in response to the poor condition of the sue a gold coin in circulation at that time the silver daus was Meed to replace it the process had actually begun with charlamagne's Father pep in the short who switched to a silver standard in response to the contraction of Mediterranean trade for a little bit of context the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of Islam disrupted longtime trade patterns and Europe's gold Supply was compromised Charlemagne's significance lay in carrying pepin's reform forward and spreading it Beyond frankia to the other parts of Europe that were under his control he also took measures to retain direct control over the mints and ensure uniformity of the coinage it was a similar story with charlamagne's legal reforms he drew on a fairly extensive legal tradition and no universal law code was codified during his Reign whereas during Roman times there had been the geste municipia municipal document registers that kept records of legal transactions the monastic scriptoria filled that role during carolingian times furthermore old codes and precedence dating back to the late antique period were debated revised and written down in some cases for the first time these Regional codes and precedents were less Ironclad than the laws of a modern State they were more like suggestions often serving as a starting point in the arbitration of disputes and dispensation of Justice which was left up to community leaders perhaps the most important of the precedents that the Carolinians Drew on was the banam a word of Germanic origin dating back to the 5th Century and essentially encapsulating the concept of the right to rule more specifically it had begun under the marenian Kings as the right to call free men to arms but by charlamagne's time it expanded into a whole series of Rights and responsibilities enshrined in legal decrees called capitularies the capitulary was organized into chapters capitula in Latin hence the name and its applicability was varied whether it came to demanding Oaths of loyalty Outlaw sax in paganism or even correcting minor abuses the capitulary served as the primary vehicle for expressing Imperial Authority it was the ultimate expression of charlamagne's will tempered as it was by his closest advisers with a quick Google search you can find a lot of these capitularies online and some of them read like bullet pointed lists of regulations and instructions for land and Resource Management the capitulary of 802 is a good example providing guidance on everything from income and expense tracking to animal husbandry to the provision of baggage trains it went so far as to remind those involved in food preparation to wash their hands something that was in all likelihood quite important for the prevention of disease but whether those actually working with their hands listen to Charlamagne is another story and judging from his later capitularies which are a little bit whining in nature Charlamagne seems to have bemoaned the fact that the people people of his empire were not listening to him the authors of the carolingian world who we can turn to once again tell us quote the capitularies rarely had much to say on procedure but were obsessed with structure and establishing chains of command repeated injunctions to counts and Mei to refuse bribes to hold courts in appropriate settings and not in their vassal houses and to refrain from cutting short judicial hearings to go hunting are backhanded evidence not for corruption but for the carolingian drive to persuade their aristocratic followers to consider themselves Royal agents and to follow certain codes of Behavior when they were on the king's business end quote that is kind of what we would expect from a period in transition right when the distinctions between land owners and laborers was not as clear as the antique period and the high Middle Ages again that trace of leader follower ISM lingered and in his capitularies Charlemagne takes the tone not of a dictator but a Persuader before his coronation only a dozen capitularies were issued with the vast majority coming afterward in total we get something like 80 capitularies during Charlemagne's Reign a testament to the power he held compared to his predecessors and successors alike who only managed to pump out a handful more between them by comparison to the capitulary the land Charter was far more prolific this was a document addressing one or more aspects of Land Management like for example its sale lease transference inheritance or inventory of goods and supplies it is the Carolinian periods thousand or so Charters that alongside archaeological evidence shape our understanding of of what life was actually like on the ground ultimately what we can say is this even if the carolingians did not quite top the ancient Romans that was a tall order so we have to give credit where credit is due compared to the maravian era there had been real progress in charlamagne's day an observable increase in the exploitation of arable land and evidence of increased specialization as destitute as the carolingian countryside might have sounded in my description of it things had probably been worse under the mar of Indians it's simply that we don't know as much because of the comparative lack of documentation furthermore at least a small part of the countryside destitution was actually a product of its success in specialization that is because specialization has an Insidious side in the jargon of Economics this is because when scarce economic resources I.E land and labor are allocated toward the production of non-essential Goods economic shocks can produce more negative outcomes in other words when more and more Farmers decide to hang up their plows and start blacksmithing or woodworking a disease or natural disaster are all the more likely to produce famines that A specialized population is ill equipped to respond to nonetheless specialization is a characteristic of any sufficiently sophisticated economy and it was a natural outcome of increased agricultural productivity in this era although trade can be an outcome of specialization for the lands and peoples that came under the influence of the carolingians trade was more limited in scope than we might expect by comparison the Mediterranean Trade Network that flourished under the Romans was a lot more significant to their economy fundamentally that is because it was easier in those days to travel by sea than by Road especially when traveling north of the Alps furthermore the Romans had centuries to build their Trade Network whereas the carolans had only had decades so far that is to say nothing of the unique tectonic and climatic characteristics of the Mediterranean Coast which because of its variance from region to region was an ideal staging ground for the Prototype of a market economy in the end Charlemagne could only play the hand he was dealt which he played very well achieving in his lifetime more than perhaps any other Monarch in the Middle Ages therefore it's well worth our time to say a thing or two about the man of the hour up to this point descriptions of his character have interspersed the larger narrative but let's come to a conclusion about what made Charlamagne tick as a starting point we can turn to his earliest biographer einhard who drew on an extensive set of firsthand experiences to paint a pretty revealing portrait of the man einhard said quote Charlemagne's body was large and strong his stature tall but not ungainly for the measure of his height was seven times the length of his own feet his eyes were very large and piercing his nose was rather larger than his usual he had beautiful white hair and his expression was brisk and cheerful so that whether sitting or standing his appearance was dignified and impressive although his neck was rather thick and short and he was somewhat corpulent this was not noticed oing to the good proportions of the rest of his body his step was firm and the whole Carriage of his body mainly his voice was clear but hardly so strong as you would have expected he had good health but for 4 years before his death was frequently attacked by fevers and at last was lame of one foot even then he followed his own opinion rather than the advice of his doctors whom he almost hated because they advised him to give up the roast meat to which he was accustomed and E boiled instead he constantly took exercise both by riding and hunting this was a national habit for there is hardly any race on the earth that can be placed on equality with the Franks in this respect he took Delight in the vapor of naturally hot Waters and constantly practiced swimming in which he was so proficient that no one could be fairly regarded as his Superior partly for this reason he built his Palace at X and lived there continuously during the last years of his life up to the time of his death he used to invite not only his sons to the bath but also his Nobles and friends and at times even a great number of his followers and bodyguards and end quote this passage forms the basis for much of what we know about Charlamagne the man the fact that his height is the first thing to come up is unsurprising and the topic is of enduring Fascination today with estimates ranging from 5'9 to 65 however tall Charlemagne actually was this was a figure that towered over his contemporaries both in stature and in other ways although he had a reputation for Temperance in eating and drinking an aging Charlemagne developed what one historian has called a pot belly something that we hear einhard more delicately confirm this may have been a consequence of the many feasts that Charlemagne prided over during which he ate his fill and weree finely embroidered Beed clothing that made this tall and bushy mustache ruler even harder to miss under normal circumstances Charlamagne is set to have endearingly preferred the sort of attire that the Everyday People of his Empire wore but at feasts and other Imperial ceremonies it was important that the emperor looked the part after all these sorts of events presented a unique opportunity to him a bloodless ritual that bound the Frankish nobility to him another way Charlamagne achieved this was through hunts although not quite as bloodless as feasts hunts were still a safer way to expend the energies and passions of Frankish noblemen outside of campaigning we heard from einhard already that he considered the Frank's unrivaled Hunters at this time and it can perhaps be said that if war was their ultimate sport hunting was a close second that is why noble assemblies concluded with hunts a welcome respit from the sometimes dull political and ecclesiastical discussions that increasingly came to dominate such proceedings like einhard mentions Charlemagne himself took part in a great many of these hunts this was a sportsman who had hunted and ridden his whole life and also enjoyed swimming his was a life In Motion exceptional even for the paretic Franks one day many years from now Americans would call Theodore Roosevelt the steam engine in trousers a nod to his energy that simultaneously Associated him with a symbol of progress in that vein we might imagine the Franks calling Charlemagne something like the Watermill and britches Charlemagne traveled hundreds if not thousands of miles each year during one particularly busy year his travels amounted to just under 2,000 mil or roughly 3,000 km this was a man who kept himself busy constantly campaigning hunting overseeing assemblies organizing feasts dictating capitularies or surveying The Many Lands under his control as he bounced between the 150 palaces and 700 Estates that he owned probably exhausting the advisors and family members that accompanied him even so Charlemagne was a family man another of his endearing qualities einhard tells us quote he had such care of the upbringing of his sons and daughters that he never died without them when he was at home and never traveled without them his sons rode along with him and his daughters followed in the rear some of his guards chosen for this very purpose watched the end of the line of March where his daughters traveled they were very beautiful and much beloved by their father and therefore it is strange that he would give them in marriage to no one either among his own people or of a foreign state but up to his death he kept them all at home saying that he could not forgo their society end quote Charlemagne's seclusion of his daughters was to be incessantly gossiped about but this may have simply been his way of preventing an ambitious son-in-law from giving his successor unnecessary trouble in any case his daughters were to take lovers and have multiple children out of wedlock who received Charlemagne's unconditional affections all the same as for Charlamagne himself after five wives and many more concubines he sired 18 children Chastity never quite being one of his more conspicuous virtues as one famous historian put it even if he was survived by only one legitimate son this was the start of a formidable bloodline the great dynasties of the Holy Roman Empire and France alike the captians aonian Luxembourg and habsburgs were all to claim direct descent from Charlemagne making his title of father of Europe all the more fitting but we have still not answered the question what was the essence of the man it's not easy to say we have a few biographies but we don't have mounds of material to work with like with later figures and what we do have is sometimes contradictory in nature there is a certain dichotomy that we cannot fail to have recognized by now in the many facets of charlamagne's Life and Times there was Temperance and excess Simplicity and extravagance civilization and barbarism and at the highest level the antique and the medieval if I were to single out just one running thread in the great tapestry of Charlemagne's life then I suppose it would be his restlessness that I would argue is charlamagne's Essence which she applied in the war tent and the council Hall in equal measure Charlemagne was constantly on the Move managing only a few hours of shy here and there known to rise from his bed several times each night one can vividly imagine Candlelight scenes of our Insomniac Emperor scribbling away in a book or reading over the draft of a capitulary sometimes it all took a toll on him yet even if he was too tired to rise from bed the next day Charlemagne resorted to summoning his advisers to his bedside in order to dictate aloud to them it was the sort of unstately display that only a master Statesman could afford like Winston Churchill a millennium later who had the same habit sometimes not rising from his bed until noon but as he approached the age of 60 a much longer Slumber awaited Charlemagne one that did not come as a complete surprise einhard said that as Charlemagne was unsettled by fevers so too were the heavens unsettled by a succession of solar and lunar eclipses but whether or not his death was Written in the Stars Charlemagne seems to have been all too aware of his impending death only a year prior he had summoned his sole surviving legitimate son to court in order to crown him as co-emperor and Heir and yet concerns about his mortality not withstanding he spent the last Autumn of his life hunting before falling ill and drawing his last breath on the morning of January 28th 8:14 ad in a famous poem describing his final moments Charlemagne is said to have uttered my warlike hand once famous throughout the world now Shakes as my blood grows cold his funeral took place the same day and he was interred in a marble sarcophagus inside his beloved aen Palace Chapel a grieving monk at the time overcome with emotion said quote from the lands where the sun rises to Western Shores people are crying and wailing the Franks the Romans all Christians are stung with mourning and great worry the young and old glorious Nobles all lament the loss of their Caesar the world laments the death of Charles oh Christ you who govern the Heavenly Host Grant a peaceful place to Charles in your kingdom alas for miserable me end quote in his final will and test Charlemagne left most of his wealth and his book collection to the church wanting it to be used for charitable purposes as politically motivated as a lot of his decisions seem to our cynical Modern Eyes this was the final Pious Act of someone who was in the end a Pious individual who lived and died by his faith even if he you weaponized it since he had outlived all of his legitimate Sons except for one named Louie the realm would not fracture but instead passed in its entirety to him what comes of his successors is a story for another time for now it suffices to say that Louie was no Charlemagne the world would not see the likes of a Charlamagne for many centuries however much people hoped and prayed that it could be otherwise long after he had died a rumor began that he would return in the end time s that for the time being he was not dead but only resting my only contention is this the Charlamagne we know would never have stayed put this [Music] long [Music] [Music] [Music] Saye [Music] foree

Channel: Empire-Builders

Views: 71,891

Keywords: charlemagne, carolingian, renaissance, medieval, rome, holy roman empire

Id: FAt6MqcqGRI

Length: 75min 37sec (4537 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 28 2023