Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus), the famous king of the Franks and
Emperor of the Romans expanded his kingdom by military conquest to
incorporate much of Western and Central Europe. The map below gives a
clear idea of the extent of his empire by 814.
Charlemagne's rule is also associated with the Carolingian Renaissance incorporating far reaching reforms in education and cultural growth in almost all areas of the expressive arts. We can see a fine example of delicate craftsmanship in the crown typically associated with him:
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| the iron crown of the King of the Franks |
From your reading was it Charlemagne's acquisition of new territories by military conquest or the educational reforms which he fostered which would have the most enduring influence? What was Einhard's view on this do you think?
First!!! : )
ReplyDeleteI think it's obvious that Charlemagne's education reforms were far more enduring than the empire he forged.
Charlemagne's policy of making education available to everyone as opposed to just the elite of society is a common sentiment among the majority of the modern civilised world, and his association of education and religion would continue throughout the Middle Ages and is still
evident in many (predominantly private) schools today.
The Carolingian Empire, on the other hand, collapsed almost immediately after Charlemagne's death as it was repeatedly divided between his sons and their descendants. Moreover, in spite of the culture of the empire, most groups within it retained their traditional language and customs, and thus no sense of a unified national identity within the empire would play a part in the future of European politics.
Regarding Einhard, in the readings he makes no mention of Charlemagne's education reforms, whereas he devotes almost half of his entire book (in the reading) to Charlemagne's military campaigns. As such, it is most likely that Einhard would believe that Charlemagne's conquests are of far greater significance.
According to the readings, Einhard emphasised Charlemagne's great devotion to his and his children's (as well as others in his palace school) education, particularly to the liberal arts. He spent most of his time learning rhetoric, dialect, mathematics and astrology.
ReplyDeleteLater, he established schools in monasteries and cathedrals throughout the entire empire that were open to all classes of people, from the poor to nobles. Charlemagne's believed that the ability to learn and study (particularly in the sacred scriptures) were a gift for all from the grace of God. Therefore he devoted much of his power and effort in his educational reform to improve the intellectual standards of his empire, with the goal of creating a high level clerical class of literates equipped with Latin, theology and liturgy.
In this regard, Charlemagne's educational reform can be seen to be very influential in many aspects such as the continuity of the christian thought and scholarships, the freedom of education for all despite classes, the introduction of early renaissance arts and thought etc.
Toby (Hoai Trung) Dinh
Charlemagne was also responsible for Christianising a very large part of what was to become Europe. Would you put the Christianisation of Charlemagne's lands as an outcome of his military campaigns, or is it a result of the educational reforms?
DeleteIn my opinion, it was a necessary combination of both. Before Charlemagne, most of western Europe was in a chaotic and dark age because of all the wars and tumultuous barbaric takeovers of certain lands. Charlemagne in his military and strategical takeovers, ruled much of western Europe in his control.
DeleteBut he didn't leave it there. Everywhere his rule was established, he made the same reforms to unite all his people under one identity: his kingdom. This included an upside down educational reform (as well as many comercial, political and religious reforms) which heavily involved the spreading of not just Christianity, but a literate and well educated form of Christianity.
Therefore, both Charlemagne's military campaign (for initial control and law and order) and educational reform were important in shaping a more unified and ordered society in western Europe.
Toby (Hoai Trung) Dinh
whoops posted in the wrong place.
ReplyDeleteCharlemagne’s reign was total on all aspects of Carolingians lives, however I would argue that his impact on education was the most influential. I feel that Einhard would disagree with me however. Charlemagne strongly stressed that his citizens be literate in liberal arts, as he him self was an avid learner. He brought scholars from all over Europe to his court. This formed the basis of “systematic hand-copying”. Alcuin, one of Charlemagne’s scholars conducted a school at Charlemagne’s palace he taught many things we still learn today. Grammar being one of the most important, with the transition between Merovingian transcripts to Carolingian, a more clear and practical way of writing. Not stopping at grammar however Alcuin brought Charlemagne everything from music, arithmetic, astronomy etc. Another key factor was women, they were encouraged to be literate at this time period, some times succeeding the men in their education. Monks were also to be learned in literature under Charlemagne’s rule. All of this brought a higher understanding of the world and a more civilized culture. Although I believe Charlemagne’s educational reforms triumphed over his military conquest, Einhard I believe, feels oppositely. I draw this conclusion by the way Einhard uses euphemisms whilst talking about Charlemagne’s battles. He really believed he was a great warrior and he goes in depth about what the accumulation of these lands did for the Frankish Dynasty.
It seems clear to me that Charlemagne's educational reforms have had the most enduring influence. His re-establishment of a literate society, creation of monasteries and places of learning has lasted though the years to todays schools. likewise Charlemagne's introduction of spaces between words, and a set style of writing are still used today. His strong support of the church enabled him to acquire teachers, such as Alcuin, to pass on their knowledge to the next generation.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible that without Charlemagne's belief in the education, today's education system might not exist as we know it.
Einhard's 'The Life of Charlemagne' is focused mainly on Charlemagne's acquisition of new territories by military conquest and personal life. From this I have gained the impression that Einhard valued these aspects of Charlemagne's rule as having the most influence.
Through reading this document I believe that Charlemagne’s educational reforms by far have the most enduring influence. This is due to his belief that education should be available to all as opposed to being selective and only for nobility and those of influential and wealthy families. Through ensuring that everyone received an education he was able to ensure that society became more and more literate; something that would continue to flourish even after his death. I believe that his acquisition of new territories by military conquest alternatively did not have a lasting and enduring influence as the Carolingian Empire collapsed soon after his death due to internal tensions and external pressures.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I believe that Einhard takes on a different view to mine, as he places more emphasis on Charlemagne’s military conquests, I think that his educational reforms proved his greatest success in the long run.
Okay, this is attempt two, my other one disappeared upon posting.
ReplyDeleteEinhard's emphasis on Charlemagne's many military conquests and subsequent acquisition of territory indicates that he beleives it is these acheivements that will have an everlasting effect on future societies. His detailed and praising accounts of Charlemagne's numerous campaigns and international relationships he attained as a result of such conquests and alliances endorse such a beleif. Einhard also emphasises Charlemagne's own educational achievements but not how his educational reforms would benefit the empire in any enduring way. In contrary to this beleif,while Charlegane was able to maintain and expand is vast empire through military conquests during his reign, it could almost be said that the military conquests were to be the eventual undoing of the empire. Issues of land distribution between successors, factors in the undoing of great empire's such as the Roman and the Merovingian kingship, arose between Louis the Pious' sons and contributed to the dissolution of the once great Carolingian Empire. Again, differeing from Einhard's perspective, the educational andd cultural reforms undertaken by Charlegmane during his reign, later to be dubbed as the Caolignian Renaissance, were to have an enduring effect on not only the Frankish kingdom, but Western Europe as well. Charlemagne's devotian to the founding and funding of monasteries allowed the continuation of written latin amongst 'ordinary citizens' through the education of young men. Likewise the creation of the intellectual centre of Aaachen in Germany enabled many classical scripts to be reatained through copies made by acadamic pilgrims and facilitated the development of Carolignian Miniscule (lower case letters) and spaces between words (previously unused in Classic texts) which in itself enabled more coherent communication and documentation.
NB - this is Alex Wormald's comment:
ReplyDeleteIn my view, Charlemagne's educational reforms were the most
long-lasting effect of his rule, because of their impact on
Carolingian (and, therefore, subsequent European) society and culture.
However, I don't think his military successes should be underplayed:
it was the great authority that Charlemagne achieved through these, as
evident in testimonies like Einhard's, that enabled him to make such
important educational reforms.
The effects of Charlemagne's educational reforms endure even today,
something that cannot be said of his land acquisiton. The many schools
that sprung up in monasteries and cathedrals as a consequence of
Charlemagne's rule were very important in reviving a lost literary
culture throughout Europe. They also affected many poor families,
whose sons were provided with accommodation and the ability to learn
for the first time. Perhaps the huge revival of Classical culture
during Charlemagne's rule owed a lot to the increased literacy of the
population; and the effects of this cultural 'Renaissance' are still
evident with, as Slocum points out, 90% of today's classical
manuscripts having been written out in Charlemagne's time.
Einhard's emphasis on Charlemagne's various campaigns suggests he
would have viewed the ruler's military activity as the most enduring
impact of his rule. While hindsight would suggest otherwise,
Charlemagne's military success can be seen as an explanation for the
respect and authority which he enjoyed during his rule, from people
like Einhard. Without such influence, Charlemagne's many other
achievements (cultural, educational and religious) would surely not
have been so far-reaching; so in this sense, his military acheivements
were almost more enduring than his educational reforms.
Anyone else struck by the similarities of Charlemagne's dealings with the Church to that of politicians today? Charlemagne maneuvered to win the Pope's favor not out of religious convictions, but because he realized the Pope's blessing would give him legitimacy (as Clare pointed out today during lecture).
ReplyDeletePoliticians today use the church in similar ways. Being American, I see it all the time during election years. In 2008, people questioned Obama's character simply because of the Church he went to. Many politicians use religion to attract voters. The U.S. President is even sworn in with one hand on the Bible. If an atheist were to run for President, his opponent would likely use that against him, saying that he has no moral standards. He might even go on to say that, as an atheist, he would not be a legitimate President because he would be sworn in with one hand on a book he does not believe in.
Personally, I found the similarities interesting. Charlemagne's wish for religious backing is something we still see today.
Charlemagne's educational reforms had a more enduring influence than the physicality of his empire, yet it was thanks to his many military conquests that his ideals on educating everyone, not just the elitist society, reached out as far into Western Europe as it did.
ReplyDeleteYet it was also thanks to Charlemagne's absolute devotion to Christianity, (yes he did manipulate the pope in order to establish a sense of legitimacy, and he must have known about the 'Holy Roman Emperor' ritual, but it is still evident that he was very much a Christian)that the Latin language and many manuscripts associated with monks and scholars, survived the 'Dark Ages', through a monastic, and at times cathedral schooled, education.
Although, Einhard details the numerous attempts of Charlemagne, under the guidance of Alcuin, to improve his own intellect through studies of rhetoric, dialectics, astronomy, the written language and grammar, he mentions none of the vast number of education reforms of Charlemagne, rather he spends time detailing the many conquests Charlemagne won, (funnily enough after claiming 'if it were not my purpose in this work to record the manner of his life rather than the incidents of the wars he waged'
lets try this again...
ReplyDeletein my opinion the lasting legacies of Charlemagne can be seen in later europe from both his territorial conquests and his educational reforms. Firstly study of the Kingdom of Charlemagne, the Frankish realm can be recognised as a later blueprint of traditional France. Therefore despite the disintegration of his kingdom a generation later it would be reborn time and again throughout history.
Education however remains a constant.The reforms and reintroductions made under Charlemagnes rule were adopted by the church, rulers and scholars who followed Charlemagne and became the standard of medieval education. His schools production of texts fuelled education into the centuries ahead.
I feel that although Charlemagne's military conquests were great and numerous (as detailed by Einhard), the role of Alcuin with regard to Charlemagne's educational reforms cannot be overlooked as having the more enduring influence. This as emphasised it is seen when Charlemagne's son assumes role of Emperor after his death, and proceeds to lose much of the control, respect and land that Charlemagen amassed, while his educational reforms endured.
ReplyDeleteIn this week's lecture and readings, the thing I found most interesting was Charlemagne's use of the Church not only to legitimacy and power but in actually maintaining control of the empire. It seems that in history a lot of monarchs use the Church as a means to prove that they are legitimate (just like Charlemagne) but they then spend the rest of their reign vying for power with the Church. A good example of this was the conflict between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France around 1290CE. This generally occurred due to the growing power of the monarch’s in Europe and of the Church.
ReplyDeleteBut Charlemagne never had a conflict like this. He actually used the Church to strengthen his power and allowed them to spread their religion across his empire in return. By his effort and support many more monasteries were constructed and strengthened, and by convincing his “nobles” to build monasteries on the land he gave them, he was also able to add another level of control to them. But his main power from the Church continued to come to him in support from the populace. Because the Church appeared to follow him, it seemed that God was on his side and that he really was a Holy Roman Emperor.