books should not be forgotten. All this civilizing work, together with the peace and order which he maintained throughout a wide territory, made his reign the most brilliant period of the early Middle Ages. 107. Charlemagne and the Revival of the Coronation of Charlemagne, 800 A.D. Charlemagne, the champion of Christendom and the foremost ruler in Europe, seemed to the men of his day the rightful successor of the Roman emperors. He had their power, and now he was to have their name. In the year 800 A.D. the Frankish king visited Rome to investigate certain accusations made against the pope, Leo III, by his enemies in the city. Charlemagne absolved Leo of all wrong-doing and restored him to his office. Afterwards, on Christmas Day Charlemagne went to old St. Peter's Church, where the pope was saying Mass. As the king, dressed in the rich robes of a Roman patrician, knelt in prayer before the high altar, the pope suddenly placed on his head a golden crown, while all the people cried out with one voice, "Long life and victory to Charles Augustus, the great and pacific emperor of the Romans, crowned by God!" Reasons for the coronation Although Charlemagne appears to have been surprised by the pope's act, we know that he wished to become emperor. The imperial title would confer upon him greater dignity and honor, though not greater power, than he possessed as king of the Franks and of the Lombards. The pope, in turn, was glad to reward the man who had protected the Church and had done so much to spread the Catholic faith among the heathen. The Roman people also welcomed the coronation, because they felt that the time had come for Rome to assume her old place as the capital of the world. To reject the eastern ruler, in favor of the great Frankish king, was an emphatic method of asserting Rome's independence of Constantinople. The coronation of Charlemagne was one of the most important events in medieval history. It might be thought a small Significance of the matter that he should take the imperial title, when he already exercised imperial sway throughout western Europe. But Charlemagne's contemporaries believed that the old Roman Empire had now been revived, and coronation that a German king now sat on the throne once occupied by Augustus and Constantine. Henceforth there was established in the West a line of Roman emperors which lasted until the opening of the nineteenth century.1 Charlemagne's empire was not in any true sense a continuation of the Roman Empire. It did not include the dominions Charle magne's empire in the East, over which the emperors at Constantinople were to reign for centuries. Moreover, Charlemagne and his successors on the throne had little in common with the old rulers of Rome, who spoke Latin, administered Roman law, and regarded the Germans as among their most dangerous enemies. Charlemagne's empire was, in fact, largely a new creation. magne 108. Disruption of Charlemagne's Empire, 814-870 A.D. The empire of Charlemagne did not long remain intact. So vast was its extent and so unlike were its inhabitants in After Charle- race, language, and customs that it could be managed only by a ruler of the greatest energy and strength of will. Unfortunately, the successors of Charlemagne proved to be too weak for the task of maintaining peace and order. Western Europe now entered on a long period of confusion and violence, during which Charlemagne's possessions broke up into separate and warring kingdoms. Treaty of Verdun, 843 A.D. Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious, who became emperor in 814 A.D., was a well-meaning but feeble ruler, better fitted for the quiet life of a monastery than for the throne. He could not control his rebellious sons, who, even during his lifetime, fought bitterly over their inheritance. The unnatural strife, which continued after his death, was temporarily settled by a treaty concluded at the The title of "Holy Roman Emperor," assumed by the later successors of Charlemagne, was kept by them till 1806 A.D. part of Europe thus suffered from invasions almost as destructive as those which had brought ruin to the old Roman world. 109. Germany under Saxon Kings, 919-973 A.D. The German duchies The tenth century saw another movement toward the restoration of law and order. The civilizing work of Charlemagne was taken up by German kings, not of the old Frankish stock, but belonging to that Saxon people stemwhich had opposed Charlemagne so long and bitterly. Saxony was one of the five great territorial states, or stem-duchies, as they are usually called, into which Germany was then divided.1 Germany at that time extended only as far east as the river Elbe, beyond which lay the territory occupied by half-civilized Slavic tribes. Elective kingship of Germany The rulers of the stem-duchies enjoyed practical independence, though they had recognized some king of Germany ever since the Treaty of Verdun. Early in the tenth century the Carolingian dynasty died out in Germany, and the German nobles then proceeded to elect their own kings. Their choice fell first upon Conrad, duke of Franconia, but he had little authority outside his own duchy. A stronger man was required to keep the peace among the turbulent nobles and to repel the invaders of Germany. Such a man appeared in the person of Henry, duke of Saxony, who, after Conrad's death, was chosen king. Reign of Henry I, called the Fowler, because he was fond of hunting birds, spent the greater part of his reign in wars against the Slavs, Magyars, and other invaders. He conquered from the Slavs the territory afterwards known as Brandenburg. This country was to furnish Germany, in later centuries, with its present dynasty the Hohenzollerns. He occupied the southern part of Denmark (Schleswig) and Christianized it. He also 2 1 The others were Franconia, Swabia, Bavaria, and Lorraine. 936 A.D. 2 The Hohenzollerns became electors of Brandenburg in 1415 A.D., kings of Prussia in 1701, and emperors of Germany in 1871. recovered for Germany Lorraine, a district which remained in German hands until the eighteenth century. Reign of 973 A.D. Henry the Fowler was succeeded by his son, Otto I, whom history knows as Otto the Great. He well deserved the title. Like Charlemagne, Otto presented the aspect of a born ruler. He is described as being tall and Great, 936 commanding in presence, strong and vigorous of body, and gifted with great charm of manner. In his bronzed face shone clear and sparkling eyes, and down his breast hung a long, thick beard. Though subject to violent outbursts of temper, he was liberal to his friends and just to his foes. Otto was a man of immense energy and ambition, with a high conception of his duties as a sovereign. His reign forms one of the most notable epochs in German history. RING SEAL OF OTTO Otto continued Henry's work of defending Germany from the foes which Otto and threatened to overrun that the Magyars country. He won his most conspicuous success against the Magyars, who suffered a crushing defeat on the banks of the river Lech in Bavaria (955 A.D.). These barbarians now ceased their raids and retired to the lands on the middle Danube which they had seized from the Slavs. Here they settled down, accepted Christianity from the Roman Church, and laid the foundations of the kingdom of Hungary. As a protection against future Magyar inroads Otto established the East Mark. This region afterwards rose to great importance under the name of Austria. Otto was an excellent ruler of Germany. He made it his business to strengthen the royal authority by weakening that of the stem-dukes. He had to fight against them on more than 1 The Magyar settlement in central Europe had the important result of dividing the Slavic peoples into three groups. Those who remained south of the Danube (Serbians, Croatians, etc.) were henceforth separated from the northwestern Slavs (Bohemians, Moravians, and Poles) and from the eastern Slavs (Russians). See the map facing page 326. one occasion, for they regarded themselves almost as independent kings. Otto was able to keep them in check, but the rulers who followed him were less successful in this re- Otto and the spect. The struggle between the kings and their stem-dukes powerful nobles formed a constant feature of the medieval history of Germany. 110. Otto the Great and the Restoration of the Otto the Great is not to be remembered only as a German king. His reign was also noteworthy in the history of Italy. The country at this time was hopelessly divided Condition of between rival and contending peoples. The Italy emperor at Constantinople controlled the southern extremity of the peninsula. The Mohammedans held Sicily and some cities on the mainland. The pope ruled at Rome and in the States of the Church. A so-called king of Italy still reigned in Lombardy, but he could not manage the powerful counts, dukes, and marquises, who were virtually independent within their own domains. Even the imperial title died out, and now there was no longer a Roman emperor in the West. Coronation The deplorable condition of Italy invited interference from abroad. Following in the footsteps of Charlemagne, Otto the Great led two expeditions across the Alps, assumed the "Iron Crown" 1 of Lombardy, and then proceeded to Rome, where he secured the pope (John XII) against the latter's enemies in that city. Otto's reward was the same as Charlemagne's. On Candlemas Day,2 962 A.D., the grateful pope crowned him Roman emperor. of Otto the The coronation of Otto the Great seemed to his contemporaries a necessary and beneficial act. They still believed that the Roman Empire was suspended, not Meaning extinct; and that now, one hundred and fifty of the years after Charlemagne, the occasion was oppor coronation tune to revive the name and power associated with the golden age of the first Frankish emperor. Otto's ardent spirit, one 1 See the illustration, page 308. 2 February 2d. |