Main References:

Becher, Matthias. Charlemagne. New Haven: Yale U. Press, 2003.

Boussard, Jacques. The Civilization of Charlemagne. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1968.

Brown, R. Allen. The Origins of Modern Europe: the Medieval Heritage of Western Civilization. Woodbridge: Boydell, 1996.

Bulfinch, Thomas. The Age of Chivalry and Legends of Charlemagne. New York: New American Library, 1962.

Bullough, Donald A. The Age of Charlemagne. London: Ferndale, 1980.

Cabaniss, Allen. Charlemagne. New York: Twayne, 1972.

Calmette, Joseph. Charlemagne. Paris: PUF, 1966.

• Einhard. The Life of Charlemagne. Ann Arbor: U. of Michigan Press, 1960.

• Fichtenau, Heinrich. The Carolingian Empire. Toronto: U. of Toronto Press, 1978.

• Folz, Robert. The Coronation of Charlemagne, 25 Decmber 800. London: Routledge, 1974.

• Halphen, Louis. Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire. Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub., 1977.

• Hodges, Richard. Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe: Archaeology and the Pirenne Thesis. Ithaca: Cornell U. Press, 1983.

• Loyn, H.R., et al., eds. The Reign of Charlemagne: Documents on Carolingian Government and Administration. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1975.

• Macdonald, Fiona. The World in the Time of Charlemagne. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2001.

• McKitterick, Rosamond. Charlemagne: the Formation of a European Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 2008.

• Munz, Peter. Life in the Age of Charlemagne. London: Putnam, 1969.

• Nelson, Janet L. Courts, Elites, and Gendered Power in the Early Middle Ages: Charlemagne and Others. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007.

• Pirenne, Henri. Mohammed and Charlemagne. London: Allen & Unwin, 1968.

• Riche, Pierre. Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne. Liverpool: Liverpool U. Press, 1978.

• Sullivan, R.E. The Coronation of Charlemagne: What did it Signify? Boston: Heath, 1959.

• Thorpe, Lewis. Two Lives of Charlemagne. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.

• 4th - 5th centuries: synthesis of Classical and Christian Cultures

• 8th century: + Germanic (thus, completed = the Birth of Europe [also the title of a book by Robert Lopez])

• Historical background: after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (in 476), in Gaul (modern France) were the Franks

• Clovis (Louis) was the King of the Franks, r. 481-511 [Merovingian Dynasty]

• But soon, it was disorganized, weakened, disintegrated, and decentralized -- the Merovingian kings soon became figure heads (puppets); and power passed to the aristocracy: cliques of nobles.

• By the 7th century, the Carolingians, a great landholding family [in medieval Europe as in China: land was wealth, and wealth was power], rose to power. They became the mayors (or dux) of the itinerant royal household, that is, chief administrator; and their offices were hereditary with own warriors, etc., indicating that they were the real masters.

• Charles Martel (714-741), the Hammer, was a ruthless warrior, especially in the Battle of Tours (732), defeated the Muslims from Spain/North Africa [and stopped the Muslims since then]

• The Carolingians have been producing extraordinary able men over several generations + luck (always only ONE surviving heir fro several generations) [medieval feudalism could be disintegrating, because of divided succession among heirs (not yet primogeniture)].

• Then, Carloman ruled as mayor for 6 years, then retired to a Benedictine monastery in 747; and left the power to his brother, Pepin the Short. When in 751, the Lombards captured Ravenna and threatened the Pope in Rome, who asked for help. Pepin the Short asked the Pope a far from theological question: “Is it right that a powerless ruler should continue to bear the title of king?” Of course, the answer from the Pope was “no”, which meant the powerless Merovingian king should step down; and thus, in 751, Pepin the Short became King of the Franks, (thus, ended the Merovingian Dynasty, and started the Carolingian Dynasty).

• If Pepin the Short needed the support and blessings of the papacy (to legitimize his claim to the throne), the papacy needed Pepin’s support (or military protection) even more; thus, alliance of the two.

• Charlemagne, r. 768-814: a typical medieval feudal warrior king, a talented military commander, a statesman, and a “friend of learning” (limited) [by his biographer: Einhard, Life of Charlemagne].

• “While at his table, he [Charlemagne] listened to reading and music. The readings were stories and deeds of olden times; he was also fond of St. Augustine’s books, especially of the one entitled, The City of God. ... He also tried to write, and used to keep tablets and blank pages in bed under his pillow so that in his leisure hours, he might accustom his hands to form the letters; but as he did not begin his efforts at an early age but late in life, they were met with poor success.”

• Charlemagne was described as warm and talkative on the one hand, but hard, cruel, and violent on the other; thus, admiration and fear (or, hope and fear).

• Nevertheless, Charlemagne was ideal to later medieval ages: what an emperor ought to be was often defined in term of what Charlemagne was, that is, Charlemagne was a model, a typical medieval feudal warrior king.

• The Imperial Coronation at the Mass on Christmas Day, 800: crowned by Pope Leo III as the Holy Roman Emperor (cf. later; and then, in 1804, the coronation of Emperor Napoleon and Empress Josephine).

• Yet, despite his military genius and political charisma, “Charlemagne was a man of his age, in tune with its most progressive forces yet by no means removed from its past.”

• Conclusion: “The Empire of Charles the Great did not long survive the death of its founder, and it never really attained the economic and social organization of a civilized state. But, for all that, it marks the first emergence of the European culture from the twilight of prenatal existence into the consciousness of active life.” (Christopher Dawson, The Making of Europe).

• The Carolingian Renaissance:• What: “The Carolingian Renaissance formed

part of a program of religious renewal that Carolingian political & clerical leaders sponsored and encouraged in the hope that it would lead to the moral betterment of the Christian people.” [John J. Contreni, “The Carolingian Renaissance”, in Warren Treadgold, ed., Renaissances before the Renaissance. (Stanford: Stanford U. Press, 1984), pp. 59-74.]

• The Carolingian Renaissance [limitation, limited in scope and in depth: mainly preservation only] emphasized on the study of Christian scripts.

• Because, in the Carolingian Dynasty, the Franks or the Germanic barbarians were illiterate, thus, the elite scholars were mainly foreign born, such as Einhard, Alcuin, etc.

• Nevertheless, the Carolingian Renaissance had certain effect on education and culture + moral regeneration of society.

• Why & How: By 8th century, the Carolingian mayors of the palace had consolidated and were soon legitimizing their hold over the Frankish kingdom. Then, (1) Carolingian expansion brought the Franks into contact with active cultural centers in Spain, Rome, etc.; (2) learned foreign scholars were invited and they arrived in France; thus, concentrating the materials and human resources for cultural revival in the hands of the Carolingians.

• Carloman copied out the Life of Arnulf of Metz (his ancestor), and wrote out the Deeds of the Franks.

• Pepin the Short supported learning and religion, and reformed the Frankish Church.

• Charlemagne admired St. Augustine’s The City of God; and he recruited and listened to an international constellation of Italian, Anglo-Saxon, Irish, and Visigothic men of letters, such as Alcuin, Einhard, etc.

• All in all, according to Warren Hollister, “The age of Charlemagne/Carolingian Renaissance witnessed the synthesis of Classical, Christian, and Germanic Cultures.”

• Significance: (1) the Carolingians sponsored a literary Renaissance, whose principal effect was to preserve civilization; [Kenneth Clark, “Thanks to the Carolingians, civilization survived by the skin of its teeth;” (2) The Carolingians were not at all original but simply imitated programs & texts proposed earlier and elsewhere.

• The Aftermath of Charlemagne: the 2nd Wave of Barbarian Invasion in the 9th & 10th centuries (Geoffrey Barraclough, The Crucible of Europe) -- Vikings (pirates from Northern Europe [Normans (North men) later]; Magyars in Eastern Europe [Hungarians (Huns) later]; and Saracens in North Africa and Southern Italy (Muslims)].

• Charlemagne died in 814 -- the end of an era.• Louis the Pius, r. 814-840, was not incompetent,

but he could not compare with Charlemagne, his father; Pepin the Short, his grandfather; Charles Martel, the Hammer, his great grandfather (in military, politics, charisma, etc.).

• By the later part of his life, Charlemagne has already stopped expansion [cf. The Song of Roland]; and by the time of Louis the Pius, he could not award his followers in land [feudalism], thus, causing general grievances.

• The Frankish feudalism at that time: what kept the government going effective was loyal service from the vassals to the lords only, thus, unreliable.

• There was no bureaucracy; perhaps, at the most, missi dominici (royal envoys to local counties) by Charlemagne’s own initiative, not a permanent institution; yet, it was the only link between the king’s court and the local level.

• Louis the Pius died in 840, and there were 3 surviving sons to succeed his throne, thus, splitting the empire into 3 regions: Lothar (the eldest) in Holy Roman Empire; Louis the German in Western Germany; and Charles the Bold in Eastern France.

• A period of decline (?), yet, significant changes were happening under the surface (cf. the time between Han and Tang Dynasties in China -- apparently barbaric, yet, many effective institutions proven to be successful in Tang China were rooted in this period).

• The Vikings from Scandinavia [Norway, Denmark, and Sweden of Northern Europe] were called as the North men or Norsemen (cf. Sir James C. Holt); and they were adventurous with restless spirit (perhaps over-population?), and with improved Vikings ships, + the breakdown of the Carolingian empire (causing attraction for invasion to western Europe).

• Nevertheless, the Vikings were great navigators and adventurers, and they have contributed to the widening the perspectives and enhancing the horizons of the medieval Europeans.

• The Magyars were swift moving Hungarian horsemen attacked and finally settled in Eastern Europe.

• The Saracens (Muslims) were pirates from Northern Africa, plundering the coastal cities, such as Sicily in Southern Italy or Lombardy in Northeastern Italy.

• Conclusion: 9th to 10th centuries Europe was a formative period, and it was out of this 2nd wave of barbarian invasion that medieval Europeans of that generation had suffered, but eventually that a rising Europe took shape.

• By the 10th century, Europe was on the eve of the High Middle Ages.

• Causes of the recovery -- a series of interrelated causes: (1) the barbarian invasions ended; (2) the barbarians were settled and Christianized; (3) there were no big plagues/famines, etc.; (4) thus, rise of population; and (5) arable land extended.

• Expansion of frontiers (externally and internally)

• Lynn Whyte, Jr., Medieval Technology and Social Changes.

• Robert Lopez, The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages.

• Thus, by the 10th century, Europe was on the verge of a creative explosion!