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?
I was surpirised at how influential Charlemagne's reign seemed to be on Medieval governance: the description on pg 70 of the reader by Slocum sounds very much like the feudal system which the Middle Ages is known for - i.e. a system of class and patronage based on land.
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good point here about the essence of feudalism originating essentially with the Carolingians. I wonder if, however, you could comment in the blogspot set aside for the 1 p.m. tute which is medeuropetute7.blogspot.com.au. Thanks
DeleteHowever I was surprised that while Charlemagne was so harsh on tribes that resisted Christianity, he allowed conquered peoples to maintain their old laws. To me it is not surprising that the big differences in customs between groups in the Empire fostered divisions after Charlemagne's death.
ReplyDeleteI agree it is surprising that he didn't intrude on traditional laws and practices of conquered peoples. He was following in this, I believe, the ancient Roman practice of establishing treaties with the vanquished, rather than really thrashing them. I think Charlemagne had an eye to an eventual peaceful future.
DeleteFrom the reading, it would appear that Charlemagne's educational reforms would have far further reaching consequences than his military conquests. He did grow the empire immensely in his reign, however it was fragmented not too long after his death. His educational reforms would have lasted for many more years than the empire lasted.
ReplyDeleteEinhard's biography of him was primarily about his military conquests and how he handled his new land and hardly stopped gaining more land. Whereas his educational reforms are only mentioned in comparison. I would hypothesis that this would be because a king which grows his empire immensely would seem more glorious than one who educated his people, and Einhard's biography was mostly written to make Charlemagne sound like a great king.
But overall, it is not new territories which lasted for centuries to come, but the educational reforms which Charlemagne implemented.
Hi everyone, I agree with Stephanie. Charlemagne's empire pretty much collapsed less than three decades after his death, and while gaining and securing it in the first place was a pretty significant achievement, it's the educational reforms that endured. I found that fascinating, since you read a lot elsewhere of the knowledge collected in medieval times, and it's amazing to know so much of it was collated and collected under his aegis.
DeleteIn contrast, Einhard's biography not only completely focuses on his conquests (with the vast majority of his topic titles ending in 'war', and only one such title devoted to 'private life'), it's also very clear that it's written to make Charlemagne sound like a glorious conqueror. He's not only listed as valorous in battle, etc. but as an exceedingly kind man, and any severe punishments he inflicts are attributed to his wife.
Hello, I believe that to create an enduring influence, Charlemagne needed to do something that impressed and inspired the world around him. Although it is true that his educatonal reforms existed far longer that his military conquests (@ Stephanie and Erica) his influence and his fame come, not from his reforms, but the prowess of his armys on the battlefeild. At the time, people would have seen his conquest and heard of his far reaching victories and found them a significant factor of the success of his rule. By contrast the educational reforms are somewhat boring. Even today, to those without a great deal of research, Charlemagne is simply a king from Medieval periods. Pesonally, I was unaware of any educational reforms he implemented. His name only stuck in my mind as a conquering french leader. Although his educational reforms may have been a little more useful, they are not what he will be remembered for.
ReplyDeleteEinhard's biography further backs this statement, his writings (or at least the section of his writings assigned for the readings) focus almost entirely on Charlemagne's military conquest. For an educated man, intelligent enough to document the life of a king, to only mention the reforms in passing emphasises the very little importance that he placed in them. If a man learned enough to appreciate educational reforms finds little purpose in them then I doubt that the uneducated masses of the time would feel differently.
You've established the counter case very well I think - now we have a discussion!
Delete@James - that's a very fair point! It's true educational reforms are boring compared to war and very visible acquisitions of land, etc. And it's certainly easier to glorify war and battle, as we can see in Einhard's biography. Charlemagne didn't impress and inspire the world around him with his educational reforms.
ReplyDeleteBut I think the point can be made that while lots of people have managed to conquer large amounts of land in the past (not insulting Charlemagne's amazing ability to win conquest after conquest), it's keeping it that is the problem. That's where the Romans fell down, after all. And a large part of Charlemagne *keeping* the land he conquered included the educational reforms.
And ultimately, although we all remember Charlemagne as a military leader, all the land he conquered and the empire he built was gone thirty years after he died. What endured? His reforms, ones that still affect us today. Mind you, of course he could never have done all this without the military conquests, so I guess it's a bit of a circular argument.
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ReplyDeleteCharlemagne may be known and admired for his military conquests and expansion of the Empire, but it was his provision for the populace to recieve an education which made a lasing difference in years to come. For example, the development of an improved language system which sets the basis for the modern written word and the amount of historic documentation that was contributed during his reign. Einhard focuses on the imperial achievements and war rather than educational reform (it could very well be because this is more exciting to read of in a biography and less boring as mentioned above or perhaps in order to portray a much more masculine and powerful leader...?).
ReplyDeleteIt is completely obvious that the bibliography of Charlemagne, produced by Einhard, focuses primarily upon the military conquests pursued by the Frankish empire and spends little time analysing the educational reforms that he too enforced during his rule. This is fundamentally due to his focus upon the acts of Charlemagne and his ‘direct reign’ as King and Emperor during 742 to his death in 814. (Sounds pretty obvious right?) (or it may just be due to, as James has suggested, the 'boring' nature of the subject). We have to take into account that these reforms have a far more influential impact in the ‘legacy’ of Charlemagne's rule, rather than his direct reign. The conquered land during the period does not remain in the same as it once did by 843, but the educational reforms that focused upon the revival of the liberal arts helped restore pre classical Latin literature that we continue to use today. As was mentioned in the lecture, this copying and revival of Latin text as well as its structural reforms were mainly due to scholars such as Alcuin opposed to Charlemagne himself (another reason why Einhard may not have spent a great deal of time analysing the impacts of the educational reforms).
ReplyDeleteAs plenty of people have already mentioned, Einhard's biography is very much preoccupied with Charlemagne's military achievements. Given the context of the piece, this is understandable — it was a document, written some time after the fact, intended to flatter the figure of Charlemagne (and even went beyond this, as Slocum's text notes: Einhard creates an impression of the man as a "figment of unrealistic hero worship"). Certainly, military achievements – especially those as considerable as Charlemagne's – made for a more impressive and engaging read than education reform. I think it's also important to consider that Einhard was writing in a period where the territory consolidated by Charlemagne had not yet splintered – the fruits of Charlemagne's conquests were still tangible, and this may have influenced his tone and focus. Personally, with the value of hindsight and the knowledge that Charlemagne's empire did eventually dissolve, I'd say the educational reforms of the period had a greater impact (whether Charlemagne was personally responsible for them or not).
ReplyDeleteThe reforms that Charlemagne along with Alcuin set up have had a longer lasting effect on western europe than the legacy of his military conquests. His empire was broken into three for each of his sons after he died. The boundaries and influence of his militant might died soon after. The changes he made to education such as the copying of Latin texts, the creation (although this Alcuin's work) of the Caroligian script, which as Claire showed us, lasted longer than the effects of his conquest. Sort of off topic, but the inclusion of the Catholic Church into Western Europe has also had a lasting influence, by Charlemagne's role as protector of the Church, it allowed it to gain a foothold, and it has had a long lasting influence on the countries where Charlemagne's empire stood. Einhard had serious man love for Charlemagne, and anything Charlemagne did was seen as pretty sweet to him. Einhard did mention the education reforms, but no way near the extent and detail he gave regarding Charlemagne's military exploits. To Einhard, it could have simply been him trying to paint Charlemagne in the most mighty and strong light he could.
ReplyDeleteI like your point about Charlemagne's push for Christianisation of his territories. Do you see this as part of his military campaigns or as a result of the educational reforms?
DeleteWhile the biogrophy by Einhard clearly focuses on Charlemagne's military conquests, his efforts of land aquisition ended up being made for a short period only as the land was split up soon after his death. For this reason it could be argued that his educational reforms endured the longest. However, in terms of "influence" both aspects of Charlemagne's reign, his military conquests and his educational reforms, had a large impact. While the military conquests allowed Charlemagne to expand his empire, it was the educational reforms that allowed him to keep it. Besides this fact, Einhard concentrates on military rather than educational achievements, as "land aquisitioning" sounds much better on a Medieval resume than "educational reforms".
ReplyDeleteEinhard's biography of Charlemagne discussed mainly his military conquests and handling of his land, and only briefly mentioned his educational reforms.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Charlemagne's educational reforms have had a longer lasting impact than his military victories. His educational reforms saw the Carolingian Renaissance- the revival of literature, and artworks etc. Slocum states that during this period Charlemagne and his scholars produced 8,000+ manuscripts that are still around today. In particular he was crucial in the implementation of Carolingian Minuscule script, which is still used today, particularly in Western Societies.
Einhard as a contemporary of Charlemagne was chiefly concerned and impressed by the military conquests of his epoch. Einhard, cursed by his relative distance to the Emperor is unable to comprehend the enduring influence of Charlemagne’s educational reforms and the lasting value it has provided to Western society. The ability of Alcuin and his students through their Liberal Arts education and Latin literacy to transcribe the Classical literary works of Greeks and Romans has had a greater lasting and more profound effect on human history.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my understanding of Charlemagne's reign, it seems that his acquisition of new territories by military conquest had more of an influence on his rise to power than that of his educational reforms. This seems reasonable due to the fact that through Charlemagne's gain of new territories and his implentation of the vows of fealty; he was then able to introduce educational reforms and government systems etc. According to Einhard's biography of Charlemagne, it seems that he also viewed the military conquests to have had greater influence on Charlemagne's acquisition of power.
ReplyDeleteI think the educational reforms of Charlemagne would have had the most enduring influence. An educated clergy strengthened religion and religious practice. They were literate in Latin, could read the Bible and were educated in Roman liturgy. Education enabled men to be trained for the bureaucracy. The need for education led to the establishment of schools in monasteries and cathedrals throughout the Empire. Education persists today. I think Einhard believed military conquest was more important. He describes Charlemagne as a powerful king who most skilfully planned and successfully fought throughout his reign, doubling the size of his territory.
ReplyDeleteWithout military conquests, Charlemagne would never have been able to create educational reforms, however it is definitely the educational reforms which have had the more enduring influence. This is proved by how we still use aspects of changes to, for example, literature that were created during Charlemagne's reign, such as putting spaces between words and different styles of more legible handwriting. But I believe that Einhard's view to this would be opposite, due to the fact that in his narrative, Charlamagne's military conquests are glorified while educational reforms are scarcely mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAgreed; the military conquests were important for expanding the empire's influence so that the following educational reforms could be spread to a wider area of western europe. Both were influential in transforming the medieval european mindset and landscape from post-classical era remants into the fledgling formation of feudalistic society. Ultimately, however, with the division of the realm upon Charlemagne's death and the subseqent inheritence between his sons, the land became seperated both culturally and politically. However, the education provided by Charlemagne created an intelligent and powerful nobility which could perform administration or command armies throughout subsequent wars. It could be argued that some of the greatest men and women of history owe their prestige to their education and thus, indirectly over generations, to Charlemagne's educational reforms throughout western europe. Carolingian Miniscule alone is a significant contribution to writing, making reading and writing a much simpler and easily understandable medium to convey ideas. As for Einhard, he appeared to give greater weight to Charlemagne's military career, his devout faith, his expansion of the realm and his management of it, rather than his educational background or his reforms. Indeed, he mentions Charlemagne's military campaigns in great detail, each given it's own section. Conversely, there is a single point on his studies and similarly only one mention of the reforms he created.
ReplyDelete