Chapter IX: The Age of Charlemagne (1)

15. Charlemagne the Man

Biographical writings make up a not inconsiderable part of mediaeval literature, but unfortunately the greater portion of them are to be trusted in only a limited degree by the student of history. Many biographies, especially the lives of the saints and other noted Christian leaders, were prepared expressly for the purpose of giving the world concrete examples of how men ought to live. Their authors, therefore, were apt to relate only the good deeds of the persons about whom they wrote, and these were often much exaggerated for the sake of effect. The people of the time generally were superstitious and easily appealed to by strange stories and the recital of marvelous events. They were not critical, and even such of them as were able to read at all could be made to believe almost anything that the writers of books cared to say. And since these writers themselves shared in the superstition and credulousness of the age, naturally such biographies as were written abounded in tales which anybody to-day would know at a glance could not be true. To all this Einhard's _Life of Charles the Great_ stands as a notable exception. It has its inaccuracies, but it still deserves to be ranked almost in a class of its own as a trustworthy biographical contribution to our knowledge of the earlier Middle Ages.

Einhard (or Eginhard) was a Frank, born about 770 near the Odenwald in Franconia. After being educated at the monastery of Fulda he was presented at the Frankish court, some time between 791 and 796, where he remained twenty years as secretary and companion of the king, and later emperor, Charlemagne. He was made what practically corresponds to a modern minister of public works and in that capacity is thought to have supervised the building of the palace and basilica of the temple at Aachen, the palace of Ingelheim, the bridge over the Rhine at Mainz, and many other notable constructions of the king, though regarding the precise work of this sort which he did there is a general lack of definite proof. Despite the fact that he was a layman, he was given charge of a number of abbeys. His last years were spent at the Benedictine monastery of Seligenstadt, where he died about 840. There is a legend that Einhard's wife, Emma, was a daughter of Charlemagne, but this is to be regarded as merely a twelfth-century invention.

The _Vita Caroli Magni_ was written as an expression of the author's gratitude to his royal friend and patron, though it did not appear until shortly after the latter's death in 814. "It contains the history of a very great and distinguished man," says Einhard in his preface, "but there is nothing in it to wonder at, besides his deeds, except the fact that I, who am a barbarian, and very little versed in the Roman language, seem to suppose myself capable of writing gracefully and respectably in Latin." It is considered ordinarily that Einhard endeavored to imitate the style of the Roman Suetonius, the biographer of the first twelve Caesars, though in reality his writing is perhaps superior to that of Suetonius and there are scholars who hold that if he really followed a classical model at all that model was Julius Caesar. Aside from the matter of literary style, there can be no reasonable doubt that the idea of writing a biography of his master was suggested to Einhard by the biographies of Suetonius, particularly that of the Emperor Augustus. Despite his limitations, says Mr. Hodgkin, the fact remains that "almost all our real, vivifying knowledge of Charles the Great is derived from Einhard, and that the _Vita Caroli_ is one of the most precious literary bequests of the early Middle Ages."[119] Certainly few mediaeval writers had so good an opportunity as did Einhard to know the truth about the persons and events they undertook to describe.

Source--Einhard, _Vita Caroli Magni_ ["Life of Charles the
Great"], Chaps. 22-27. Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica,
Scriptores_ (Pertz ed.), Vol. II., pp. 455-457. Adapted from
translation by Samuel Epes Turner in "Harper's School
Classics" (New York, 1880), pp. 56-65.

[Sidenote: Personal appearance]

=22.= Charles was large and strong, and of lofty stature, though
not excessively tall. The upper part of his head was round, his
eyes very large and animated, nose a little long, hair auburn, and
face laughing and merry. His appearance was always stately and
dignified, whether he was standing or sitting, although his neck
was thick and somewhat short and his abdomen rather prominent. The
symmetry of the rest of his body concealed these defects. His gait
was firm, his whole carriage manly, and his voice clear, but not so
strong as his size led one to expect. His health was excellent,
except during the four years preceding his death, when he was
subject to frequent fevers; toward the end of his life he limped a
little with one foot. Even in his later years he lived rather
according to his own inclinations than the advice of physicians;
the latter indeed he very much disliked, because they wanted him to
give up roasts, to which he was accustomed, and to eat boiled meat
instead. In accordance with the national custom, he took frequent
exercise on horseback and in the chase, in which sports scarcely
any people in the world can equal the Franks. He enjoyed the vapors
from natural warm springs, and often indulged in swimming, in which
he was so skilful that none could surpass him; and hence it was
that he built his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle, and lived there
constantly during his later years....[120]

[Sidenote: Manner of dress]

=23.= His custom was to wear the national, that is to say, the
Frankish, dress--next his skin a linen shirt and linen breeches,
and above these a tunic fringed with silk; while hose fastened by
bands covered his lower limbs, and shoes his feet. In winter he
protected his shoulders and chest by a close-fitting coat of otter
or marten skins. Over all he flung a blue cloak, and he always had
a sword girt about him, usually one with a gold or silver hilt and
belt. He sometimes carried a jeweled sword, but only on great
feast-days or at the reception of ambassadors from foreign nations.
He despised foreign costumes, however handsome, and never allowed
himself to be robed in them, except twice in Rome, when he donned
the Roman tunic, chlamys,[121] and shoes; the first time at the
request of Pope Hadrian,[122] the second to gratify Leo, Hadrian's
successor.[123] On great feast-days he made use of embroidered
clothes, and shoes adorned with precious stones; his cloak was
fastened with a golden buckle, and he appeared crowned with a
diadem of gold and gems; but on other days his dress differed
little from that of ordinary people.

[Sidenote: Every-day life]

=24.= Charles was temperate in eating, and especially so in
drinking, for he abhorred drunkenness in anybody, much more in
himself and those of his household; but he could not easily abstain
from food, and often complained that fasts injured his health. He
gave entertainments but rarely, only on great feast-days, and then
to large numbers of people. His meals consisted ordinarily of four
courses, not counting the roast, which his huntsmen were accustomed
to bring in on the spit; he was more fond of this than of any other
dish. While at table, he listened to reading or music. The subjects
of the readings were the stories and deeds of olden time. He was
fond, too, of St. Augustine's books, and especially of the one
entitled _The City of God_.[124] He was so moderate in the use of
wine and all sorts of drink that he rarely allowed himself more
than three cups in the course of a meal. In summer, after the
midday meal, he would eat some fruit, drain a single cup, put off
his clothes and shoes, just as he did for the night, and rest for
two or three hours. While he was dressing and putting on his shoes,
he not only gave audience to his friends, but if the Count of the
Palace[125] told him of any suit in which his judgment was
necessary, he had the parties brought before him forthwith, heard
the case, and gave his decision, just as if he were sitting in the
judgment-seat. This was not the only business that he transacted at
this time, but he performed any duty of the day whatever, whether
he had to attend to the matter himself, or to give commands
concerning it to his officers.

[Sidenote: Education and accomplishments]

=25.= Charles had the gift of ready and fluent speech, and could
express whatever he had to say with the utmost clearness. He was
not satisfied with ability to use his native language merely, but
gave attention to the study of foreign ones, and in particular was
such a master of Latin that he could speak it as well as his native
tongue; but he could understand Greek better than he could speak
it. He was so eloquent, indeed, that he might have been taken for a
teacher of oratory. He most zealously cherished the liberal arts,
held those who taught them in great esteem, and conferred great
honors upon them. He took lessons in grammar of the deacon Peter of
Pisa, at that time an aged man.[126] Another deacon, Albin of
Britain, surnamed Alcuin, a man of Saxon birth, who was the
greatest scholar of the day, was his teacher in other branches of
learning.[127] The king spent much time and labor with him studying
rhetoric, dialectic, and especially astronomy. He learned to make
calculations, and used to investigate with much curiosity and
intelligence the motions of the heavenly bodies. He also tried to
write, and used to keep tablets and blanks in bed under his pillow,
that at leisure hours he might accustom his hand to form the
letters; however, as he began his efforts late in life, and not at
the proper time, they met with little success.

[Sidenote: Interest in religion and the Church]

=26.= He cherished with the greatest fervor and devotion the
principles of the Christian religion, which had been instilled into
him from infancy. Hence it was that he built the beautiful basilica
at Aix-la-Chapelle, which he adorned with gold and silver and
lamps, and with rails and doors of solid brass. He had the columns
and marbles for this structure brought from Rome and Ravenna, for
he could not find such as were suitable elsewhere.[128] He was a
constant worshipper at this church as long as his health permitted,
going morning and evening, even after nightfall, besides attending
mass. He took care that all the services there conducted should be
held in the best possible manner, very often warning the sextons
not to let any improper or unclean thing be brought into the
building, or remain in it. He provided it with a number of sacred
vessels of gold and silver, and with such a quantity of clerical
robes that not even the door-keepers, who filled the humblest
office in the church, were obliged to wear their everyday clothes
when in the performance of their duties. He took great pains to
improve the church reading and singing, for he was well skilled in
both, although he neither read in public nor sang, except in a low
tone and with others.

[Sidenote: Generosity and charities]

=27.= He was very active in aiding the poor, and in that open
generosity which the Greeks call alms; so much so, indeed, that he
not only made a point of giving in his own country and his own
kingdom, but when he discovered that there were Christians living
in poverty in Syria, Egypt, and Africa, at Jerusalem, Alexandria,
and Carthage, he had compassion on their wants, and used to send
money over the seas to them. The reason that he earnestly strove to
make friends with the kings beyond seas was that he might get help
and relief to the Christians living under their rule. He cared for
the Church Of St. Peter the Apostle at Rome above all other holy
and sacred places, and heaped high its treasury with a vast wealth
of gold, silver, and precious stones. He sent great and countless
gifts to the popes;[129] and throughout his whole reign the wish
that he had nearest his heart was to re-establish the ancient
authority of the city of Rome under his care and by his influence,
and to defend and protect the Church of St. Peter, and to beautify
and enrich it out of his own store above all other churches.
Nevertheless, although he held it in such veneration, only four
times[130] did he repair to Rome to pay his vows and make his
supplications during the whole forty-seven years that he
reigned.[131]

16. The War with the Saxons (772-803)

When Charlemagne became sole ruler of the Franks, in 771, he found his kingdom pretty well hemmed in by a belt of kindred, though more or less hostile, Germanic peoples. The most important of these were the Visigoths in northern Spain, the Lombards in the Po Valley, the Bavarians in the region of the upper Danube, and the Saxons between the Rhine and the Elbe. The policy of the new king, perhaps only dimly outlined at the beginning of the reign but growing ever more definite as time went on, was to bring all of these neighboring peoples under the Frankish dominion, and so to build up a great state which should include the whole Germanic race of western and northern continental Europe. Most of the king's time during the first thirty years, or two-thirds, of the reign was devoted to this stupendous task. The first great step was taken in the conquest of the Lombards in 774, after which Charlemagne assumed the title of King of the Lombards. In 787 Bavaria was annexed to the Frankish kingdom, the settlement in this case being in the nature of a complete absorption rather than a mere personal union such as followed the Lombard conquest. The next year an expedition across the Pyrenees resulted in the annexation of the Spanish March--a region in which the Visigoths had managed to maintain some degree of independence against the Saracens. In all these directions little fighting was necessary and for one reason or another the sovereignty of the Frankish king was recognized without much delay or resistance.

The problem of reducing the Saxons was, however, a very different one. The Saxons of Charlemagne's day were a people of purest Germanic stock dwelling in the land along the Rhine, Ems, Weser, and Elbe, and inland as far as the low mountains of Hesse and Thuringia--the regions which now bear the names of Hanover, Brunswick, Oldenburg, and Westphalia. The Saxons, influenced as yet scarcely at all by contact with the Romans, retained substantially the manner of life described seven centuries earlier by Tacitus in the _Germania_. They lived in small villages, had only the loosest sort of government, and clung tenaciously to the warlike mythology of their ancestors. Before Charlemagne's time they had engaged in frequent border wars with the Franks and had shown capacity for making very obstinate resistance. And when Charlemagne himself undertook to subdue them he entered upon a task which kept him busy much of the time for over thirty years, that is, from 772 to 803. In all not fewer than eighteen distinct campaigns were made into the enemy's territory. The ordinary course of events was that Charlemagne would lead his army across the Rhine in the spring, the Saxons would make some little resistance and then disperse or withdraw toward the Baltic, and the Franks would leave a garrison and return home for the winter. As soon as the enemy's back was turned the Saxons would rally, expel or massacre the garrison, and assert their complete independence of Frankish authority. The next year the whole thing would have to be done over again. There were not more than two great battles in the entire contest; the war consisted rather of a monotonous series of "military parades," apparent submissions, revolts, and re-submissions. As Professor Emerton puts it, "From the year 772 to 803, a period of over thirty years, this war was always on the programme of the Frankish policy, now resting for a few years, and now breaking out with increased fury, until finally the Saxon people, worn out with the long struggle against a superior foe, gave it up and became a part of the Frankish Empire."[132]

It is to be regretted that we have no Saxon account of the great contest except the well-meant, but very inadequate, history by Widukind, a monk of Corbie, written about the middle of the tenth century. However, the following passage from Einhard, the secretary and biographer of Charlemagne, doubtless describes with fair accuracy the conditions and character of the struggle. A few of the writer's strongest statements regarding Saxon perfidy should be accepted only with some allowance for Frankish prejudice.

Source--Einhard, _Vita Caroli Magni_, Chap. 7. Text in
_Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores_ (Pertz ed.), Vol.
II., pp. 446-447. Adapted from translation by Samuel Epes
Turner in "Harper's School Classics" (New York, 1880), pp.
26-28.

[Sidenote: Lack of a natural frontier]

No war ever undertaken by the Frankish nation was carried on with
such persistence and bitterness, or cost so much labor, because the
Saxons, like almost all the tribes of Germany, were a fierce
people, given to the worship of devils and hostile to our religion,
and did not consider it dishonorable to transgress and violate all
law, human and divine. Then there were peculiar circumstances that
tended to cause a breach of peace every day. Except in a few
places, where large forests or mountain-ridges intervened and made
the boundaries certain, the line between ourselves and the Saxons
passed almost in its whole extent through an open country, so that
there was no end to the murders, thefts, and arsons on both sides.
In this way the Franks became so embittered that they at last
resolved to make reprisals no longer, but to come to open war with
the Saxons.

[Sidenote: Faithlessness of the Saxons]

[Sidenote: Charlemagne's settlement of Saxons in Gaul and Germany]

[Sidenote: The terms of peace]

Accordingly, war was begun against them, and was waged for
thirty-three successive years[133] with great fury; more, however,
to the disadvantage of the Saxons than of the Franks. It could
doubtless have been brought to an end sooner, had it not been for
the faithlessness of the Saxons. It is hard to say how often they
were conquered, and, humbly submitting to the king, promised to do
what was enjoined upon them, gave without hesitation the required
hostages, and received the officers sent them from the king. They
were sometimes so much weakened and reduced that they promised to
renounce the worship of devils and to adopt Christianity; but they
were no less ready to violate these terms than prompt to accept
them, so that it is impossible to tell which came easier to them to
do; scarcely a year passed from the beginning of the war without
such changes on their part. But the king did not suffer his high
purpose and steadfastness--firm alike in good and evil fortune--to
be wearied by any fickleness on their part, or to be turned from
the task that he had undertaken; on the contrary, he never allowed
their faithless behavior to go unpunished, but either took the
field against them in person, or sent his counts with an army to
wreak vengeance and exact righteous satisfaction.[134] At last,
after conquering and subduing all who had offered resistance, he
took ten thousand of those who lived on the banks of the Elbe, and
settled them, with their wives and children, in many different
bodies here and there in Gaul and Germany. The war that had lasted
so many years was at length ended by their acceding to the terms
offered by the king; which were renunciation of their national
religious customs and the worship of devils, acceptance of the
sacraments of the Christian religion,[135] and union with the
Franks to form one people.

17. The Capitulary Concerning the Saxon Territory (cir. 780)

Just as the Saxons were the most formidable of Charlemagne's foes to meet and defeat in open battle, so were they the most difficult to maintain in anything like orderly allegiance after they had been tentatively conquered. This was true in part because of their untamed, freedom-loving character, but also in no small measure because of the thoroughgoing revolution which the Frankish king sought to work in their conditions of life, and especially in their religion. Before the Saxon war was far advanced it had very clearly assumed the character of a crusade of the Christian Franks against the "pagans of the north." And when the Saxon had been brought to give sullen promise of submission, it was his dearest possession--his fierce, heroic mythology--that was first to be swept away. By the stern decree of the conqueror Woden and Thor and Freya must go. In their stead was to be set up the Christian religion with its churches, its priests, its fastings, its ceremonial observances. Death was to be the penalty for eating meat during Lent, if done "out of contempt for Christianity," and death also for "causing the body of a dead man to be burned in accordance with pagan rites." Even for merely scorning "to come to baptism," or "wishing to remain a pagan," a man was to forfeit his life. The selections which follow are taken from the capitulary _De Partibus Saxoniae_, which was issued by Charlemagne probably at the Frankish assembly held at Paderborn in 780. If this date is correct (and it cannot be far wrong) the regulations embodied in the capitulary were established for the Saxon territories when there perhaps seemed to be a good prospect of peace but when, as later events showed, there yet remained twenty-three years of war before the final subjugation. From the beginning of the struggle the Church had been busy setting up new centers of influence--some abbeys and especially the great bishoprics of Bremen, Minden, Paderborn, Verden, Osnabrueck, and Halberstadt--among the Saxon pagans, and the primary object of Charlemagne in this capitulary was to give to these ecclesiastical foundations the task of civilizing the country and to protect them, together with his counts or governing agents, while they should be engaged in this work. The severity of the Saxon war was responsible for the unusually stringent character of this body of regulations. In 797, at a great assembly at Aix-la-Chapelle, another capitulary for the Saxons was issued, known as the _Capitulum Saxonicum_, and in this the harsh features of the earlier capitulary were considerably relaxed. By 797 the resistance of the Saxons was pretty well broken, and it had become Charlemagne's policy to give his conquered subjects a government as nearly as possible like that the Franks themselves enjoyed. The chief importance of Charlemagne's conquests toward the east lies in the fact that by them broad stretches of German territory were brought for the first time within the pale of civilization.

These capitularies, like the hundreds of others that were issued by the various kings of the Franks, were edicts or decrees drawn up under the king's direction, discussed and adopted in the assembly of the people, and published in the local districts of the kingdom by the counts and bishops. They were of a less permanent and fixed character than the so-called "leges," or laws established by long usage and custom.

Source--Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Leges_
(Boretius ed.), Vol. I., No. 26, pp. 68-70. Translated by Dana
C. Munro in _University of Pennsylvania Translations and
Reprints_, Vol. VI., No. 5, pp. 2-5.

First, concerning the greater chapters it has been enacted:[136]

It is pleasing to all that the churches of Christ, which are now
being built in Saxony and consecrated to God, should not have less,
but greater and more illustrious honor than the shrines of the
idols have had.

[Sidenote: The churches as a place of refuge]

=2.= If any one shall have fled to a church for refuge, let no one
presume to expel him from the church by violence, but he shall be
left in peace until he shall be brought to the judicial assemblage;
and on account of the honor due to God and the saints, and the
reverence due to the church itself, let his life and all his
members be granted to him. Moreover, let him plead his cause as
best he can and he shall be judged; and so let him be led to the
presence of the lord king, and the latter shall send him where it
shall seem fitting to his clemency.

=3.= If any one shall have entered a church by violence and shall
have carried off anything in it by force or theft, or shall have
burned the church itself, let him be punished by death.[137]

[Sidenote: Offenses against the Church]

=4.= If any one, out of contempt for Christianity, shall have
despised the holy Lenten feast and shall have eaten flesh, let him
be punished by death. But, nevertheless, let it be taken into
consideration by a priest, lest perchance any one from necessity
has been led to eat flesh.[138]

=5.= If any one shall have killed a bishop or priest or deacon let
him likewise be punished capitally.

=6.= If any one, deceived by the devil, shall have believed, after
the manner of the pagans, that any man or woman is a witch and eats
men, and on this account shall have burned the person, or shall
have given the person's flesh to others to eat, or shall have eaten
it himself, let him be punished by a capital sentence.

=7.= If any one, in accordance with pagan rites, shall have caused
the body of a dead man to be burned, and shall have reduced his
bones to ashes, let him be punished capitally.

[Sidenote: Refusal to be baptized]

=8.= If any one of the race of the Saxons hereafter, concealed
among them, shall have wished to hide himself unbaptized, and shall
have scorned to come to baptism, and shall have wished to remain a
pagan, let him be punished by death.

=9.= If any one shall have sacrificed a man to the devil, and,
after the manner of the pagans, shall have presented him as a
victim to the demons, let him be punished by death.

[Sidenote: Conspiracy against Christians]

=10.= If any one shall have formed a conspiracy with the pagans
against the Christians, or shall have wished to join with them in
opposition to the Christians, let him be punished by death; and
whosoever shall have consented fraudulently to this same against
the king and the Christian people, let him be punished by death.

=11.= If any one shall have shown himself unfaithful to the lord
king, let him be punished with a capital sentence.

=13.= If any one shall have killed his lord or lady, let him be
punished in a like manner.

=14.= If, indeed, for these mortal crimes secretly committed any
one shall have fled of his own accord to a priest, and after
confession shall have wished to do penance, let him be freed by the
testimony of the priest from death....[139]

[Sidenote: Observance of the Sabbath and of festival days]

=18.= On the Lord's day no meetings or public judicial assemblages
shall be held, unless perchance in a case of great necessity, or
when war compels it, but all shall go to church to hear the word of
God, and shall be free for prayers or good works. Likewise, also,
on the special festivals they shall devote themselves to God and to
the services of the Church, and shall refrain from secular
assemblies.

[Sidenote: Baptism of infants]

=19.= Likewise, it has been pleasing to insert in these decrees
that all infants shall be baptized within a year; and we have
decreed this, that if any one shall have refused to bring his
infant to baptism within the course of a year, without the advice
or permission of the priest, if he is a noble he shall pay 120
_solidi_[140] to the treasury; if a freeman, 60; if a _litus_,
30.[141]

=20.= If any one shall have contracted a prohibited or illegal
marriage, if a noble, 60 _solidi_; if a freeman, 30; if a _litus_,
15.

[Sidenote: Keeping up heathen rites]

=21.= If any one shall have made a vow at springs or trees or
groves,[142] or shall have made an offering after the manner of the
heathen and shall have partaken of a repast in honor of the demons,
if he shall be a noble, 60 _solidi_; if a freeman, 30; if a
_litus_, 15. If, indeed, they have not the means of paying at once,
they shall be given into the service of the Church until the
_solidi_ are paid.

=22.= We command that the bodies of Saxon Christians shall be
carried to the church cemeteries, and not to the mounds of the
pagans.

=23.= We have ordered that diviners and soothsayers shall be handed
over to the churches and priests.

[Sidenote: Fugitive criminals]

=24.= Concerning robbers and malefactors who shall have fled from
one county to another, if any one shall receive them into his
protection and shall keep them with him for seven nights,[143]
except for the purpose of bringing them to justice, let him pay our
ban.[144] Likewise, if a count[145] shall have concealed them, and
shall be unwilling to bring them forward so that justice may be
done, and is not able to excuse himself for this, let him lose his
office.

=26.= No one shall presume to impede any man coming to us to seek
justice; and if anyone shall have attempted to do this, he shall
pay our ban.

[Sidenote: Public assemblies]

=34.= We have forbidden that Saxons shall hold public assemblies in
general, unless perchance our _missus_[146] shall have caused them
to come together in accordance with our command; but each count
shall hold judicial assemblies and administer justice in his
jurisdiction. And this shall be cared for by the priests, lest it
be done otherwise.[147]

18. The Capitulary Concerning the Royal Domains (cir. 800)

The revenues which came into Charlemagne's treasury were derived chiefly from his royal domains. There was no system of general taxation, such as modern nations maintain, and the funds realized from gifts, fines, rents, booty, and tribute money, were quite insufficient to meet the needs of the court, modest though they were. Charlemagne's interest in his villas, or private farms, was due therefore not less to his financial dependence upon them than to his personal liking for thrifty agriculture and thoroughgoing administration. The royal domains of the Frankish kingdom, already extensive at Charlemagne's accession, were considerably increased during his reign. It has been well said that Charlemagne was doubtless the greatest landed proprietor of the realm and that he "supervised the administration of these lands as a sovereign who knows that his power rests partly on his riches."[148] He gave the closest personal attention to his estates and was always watchful lest he be defrauded out of even the smallest portion of their products which was due him. The capitulary _De Villis_, from which the following passages have been selected, is a lengthy document in which Charlemagne sought to prescribe clearly and minutely the manifold duties of the stewards in charge of these estates. We may regard it, however, as in the nature of an ideal catalogue of what the king would like to have on his domains rather than as a definite statement of what was always actually to be found there. From it may be gleaned many interesting facts regarding rural life in western Europe during the eighth and ninth centuries. Its date is uncertain, but it was about 800--possibly somewhat earlier.

Source--Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Leges_
(Boretius ed.), Vol. I., No. 32, pp. 82-91. Translated by
Roland P. Falkner in _Univ. of Pa. Translations and Reprints_,
Vol. III., No. 2, pp. 2-4.

[Sidenote: Report to be made to the king by his stewards each
Christmas-tide]

=62.=[149] We desire that each steward shall make an annual
statement of all our income, with an account of our lands
cultivated by the oxen which our plowmen drive, and of our lands
which the tenants of farms ought to plow;[150] an account of the
pigs, of the rents,[151] of the obligations and fines; of the game
taken in our forests without our permission; of the various
compositions;[152] of the mills, of the forest, of the fields, and
of the bridges and ships; of the freemen and the districts under
obligations to our treasury; of markets, vineyards, and those who
owe wine to us; of the hay, fire-wood, torches, planks, and other
kinds of lumber; of the waste-lands; of the vegetables, millet, and
panic;[153] and of the wool, flax, and hemp; of the fruits of the
trees; of the nut trees, larger and smaller; of the grafted trees
of all kinds; of the gardens; of the turnips; of the fish-ponds; of
the hides, skins, and horns; of the honey and wax; of the fat,
tallow and soap; of the mulberry wine, cooked wine, mead, vinegar,
beer, wine new and old; of the new grain and the old; of the hens
and eggs; of the geese; of the number of fishermen, smiths,
sword-makers, and shoe-makers; of the bins and boxes; of the
turners and saddlers; of the forges and mines, that is iron and
other mines; of the lead mines; of the colts and fillies. They
shall make all these known to us, set forth separately and in
order, at Christmas, in order that we may know what and how much of
each thing we have.

[Sidenote: Domestic animals]

=23.= On each of our estates our stewards are to have as many
cow-houses, pig-sties, sheep-folds, stables for goats, as possible,
and they ought never to be without these. And let them have in
addition cows furnished by our serfs[154] for performing their
service, so that the cow-houses and plows shall be in no way
diminished by the service on our demesne. And when they have to
provide meat, let them have steers lame, but healthy, and cows and
horses which are not mangy, or other beasts which are not diseased
and, as we have said, our cow-houses and plows are not to be
diminished for this.

[Sidenote: Cleanliness enjoined]

=34.= They must provide with the greatest care that whatever is
prepared or made with the hands, that is, lard, smoked meat, salt
meat, partially salted meat, wine, vinegar, mulberry wine, cooked
wine, _garns_,[155] mustard, cheese, butter, malt, beer, mead,
honey, wax, flour, all should be prepared and made with the
greatest cleanliness.

=40.= That each steward on each of our domains shall always have,
for the sake of ornament, swans, peacocks, pheasants, ducks,
pigeons, partridges, turtle-doves.

[Sidenote: Household furniture]

=42.= That in each of our estates, the chambers shall be provided
with counterpanes, cushions, pillows, bed-clothes, coverings for
the tables and benches; vessels of brass, lead, iron and wood;
andirons, chains, pot-hooks, adzes, axes, augers, cutlasses, and
all other kinds of tools, so that it shall never be necessary to go
elsewhere for them, or to borrow them. And the weapons, which are
carried against the enemy, shall be well-cared for, so as to keep
them in good condition; and when they are brought back they shall
be placed in the chamber.

=43.= For our women's work they are to give at the proper time, as
has been ordered, the materials, that is the linen, wool,
woad,[156] vermilion, madder,[157] wool-combs, teasels,[158] soap,
grease, vessels, and the other objects which are necessary.

[Sidenote: Supplies to be furnished the king]

=44.= Of the food products other than meat, two-thirds shall be
sent each year for our own use, that is of the vegetables, fish,
cheese, butter, honey, mustard, vinegar, millet, panic, dried and
green herbs, radishes, and in addition of the wax, soap and other
small products; and they shall tell us how much is left by a
statement, as we have said above; and they shall not neglect this
as in the past; because from those two-thirds, we wish to know how
much remains.

[Sidenote: Workmen on the estates]

=45.= That each steward shall have in his district good workmen,
namely, blacksmiths, gold-smith, silver-smith, shoe-makers,
turners, carpenters, sword-makers, fishermen, foilers, soap-makers,
men who know how to make beer, cider, berry, and all the other
kinds of beverages, bakers to make pastry for our table, net-makers
who know how to make nets for hunting, fishing and fowling, and the
others who are too numerous to be designated.

19. An Inventory of One of Charlemagne's Estates

In the following inventory we have a specimen of the annual statements required by Charlemagne from the stewards on his royal domains. The location of Asnapium is unknown, but it is evident that this estate was one of the smaller sort. Like all the rest, it was liable occasionally to become the temporary abiding place of the king. The detailed character of the inventory is worthy of note, as is also the number of industries which must have been engaged in by the inhabitants of the estate and its dependent villas.

Source--Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Leges_ (Pertz
ed.), Vol. I., pp. 178-179.

[Sidenote: Buildings on the estate of Asnapium]

We found in the imperial estate of Asnapium a royal house built of
stone in the very best manner, having 3 rooms. The entire house was
surrounded with balconies and it had 11 apartments for women.
Underneath was 1 cellar. There were 2 porticoes. There were 17
other houses built of wood within the court-yard, with a similar
number of rooms and other fixtures, all well constructed. There was
1 stable, 1 kitchen, 1 mill, 1 granary, and 3 barns.

The yard was enclosed with a hedge and a stone gateway, and above
was a balcony from which distributions can be made. There was also
an inner yard, surrounded by a hedge, well arranged, and planted
with various kinds of trees.

Of vestments: coverings for 1 bed, 1 table-cloth, and 1 towel.

Of utensils: 2 brass kettles; 2 drinking cups; 2 brass cauldrons; 1
iron cauldron; 1 frying-pan; 1 gramalmin; 1 pair of andirons; 1
lamp; 2 hatchets; 1 chisel; 2 augers; 1 axe; 1 knife; 1 large
plane; 1 small plane; 2 scythes; 2 sickles; 2 spades edged with
iron; and a sufficient supply of utensils of wood.

[Sidenote: Supplies of various sorts]

Of farm produce: old spelt[159] from last year, 90 baskets which
can be made into 450 weight[160] of flour; and 100 measures[161] of
barley. From the present year, 110 baskets of spelt, of which 60
baskets had been planted, but the rest we found; 100 measures of
wheat, 60 sown, the rest we found; 98 measures of rye all sown;
1,800 measures of barley, 1,100 sown, the rest we found; 430
measures of oats; 1 measure of beans; 12 measures of peas. At 5
mills were found 800 measures of small size. At 4 breweries, 650
measures of small size, 240 given to the prebendaries,[162] the
rest we found. At 2 bridges, 60 measures of salt and 2 shillings.
At 4 gardens, 11 shillings. Also honey, 3 measures; about 1 measure
of butter; lard, from last year 10 sides; new sides, 200, with
fragments and fats; cheese from the present year, 43 weights.

[Sidenote: Kinds and number of animals]

Of cattle: 51 head of larger cattle; 5 three-year olds; 7 two-year
olds; 7 yearlings; 10 two-year old colts; 8 yearlings; 3
stallions; 16 cows; 2 asses; 50 cows with calves; 20 young bulls;
38 yearling calves; 3 bulls; 260 hogs; 100 pigs; 5 boars; 150 sheep
with lambs; 200 yearling lambs; 120 rams; 30 goats with kids; 30
yearling kids; 3 male goats; 30 geese; 80 chickens; 22 peacocks.

Also concerning the manors[163] which belong to the above mansion.
In the villa of Grisio we found domain buildings, where there are 3
barns and a yard enclosed by a hedge. There were, besides, 1 garden
with trees, 10 geese, 8 ducks, 30 chickens.

In another villa we found domain buildings and a yard surrounded by
a hedge, and within 3 barns; 1 arpent[164] of vines; 1 garden with
trees; 15 geese; 20 chickens.

In a third villa, domain buildings, with 2 barns; 1 granary; 1
garden and 1 yard well enclosed by a hedge.

We found all the dry and liquid measures just as in the palace. We
did not find any goldsmiths, silversmiths, blacksmiths, huntsmen,
or persons engaged in other services.

[Sidenote: Vegetables and trees]

The garden herbs which we found were lily, putchuck,[165] mint,
parsley, rue, celery, libesticum, sage, savory, juniper, leeks,
garlic, tansy, wild mint, coriander, scullions, onions, cabbage,
kohlrabi,[166] betony.[167] Trees: pears, apples, medlars, peaches,
filberts, walnuts, mulberries, quinces.[168]

20. Charlemagne Crowned Emperor (800)

The occasion of Charlemagne's presence in Rome in 800 was a conflict between Pope Leo III. and a faction of the populace led by two nephews of the preceding pope, Hadrian I. It seems that in 799 Leo had been practically driven out of the papal capital and imprisoned in a neighboring monastery, but that through the planning of a subordinate official he had soon contrived to escape. At any rate he got out of Italy as speedily as he could and made his way across the Alps to seek aid at the court of Charlemagne. The Frankish king was still busy with the Saxon war and did not allow the prospect of a papal visit to interfere with his intended campaign; but at Paderborn, in the very heart of the Saxon country, where he could personally direct the operations of his troops, he established his headquarters and awaited the coming of the refugee pope. The meeting of the two dignitaries resulted in a pledge of the king once more to take up the burden of defending the Roman Church and the Vicar of Christ, this time not against outside foes but against internal disturbers. After about a year Charlemagne repaired to Rome and called upon the Pope and his adversaries to appear before him for judgment. When the leaders of the hostile faction refused to comply, they were summarily condemned to death, though it is said that through the generous advice of Leo they were afterwards released on a sentence of exile. During the ceremonies which followed in celebration of Christmas occurred the famous coronation which is described in the two passages given below.

Although the coronation has been regarded as so important as to have been called "the central event of the Middle Ages,"[169] it is by no means an easy task to determine precisely what significance it was thought to have at the time. We can look back upon it now and see that it marked the beginning of the so-called "Holy Roman Empire"--a creation that endured in _fact_ only a very short time but whose name and theory survived all the way down to Napoleon's reorganization of the German states in 1806. One view of the matter is that Charlemagne's coronation meant that a Frankish king had become the successor of Emperor Constantine VI., just deposed at Constantinople, and that therefore the universal Roman Empire was again to be ruled from a western capital as it had been before the time of the first Constantine. It will be observed that extract (a), taken from the Annals of Lauresheim, and therefore of German origin, at least suggests this explanation. But, whether or not precisely this idea was in the mind of those who took part in the ceremony, in actual fact no such transfer of universal sovereignty from Constantinople to the Frankish capital ever took place. The Eastern Empire lived right on under its own line of rulers and, so far as we know, aside from some rather vague negotiations for a marriage of Charlemagne and the Empress Irene, the new western Emperor seems never to have contemplated the extension of his authority over the East. His great aspiration had been to consolidate all the Germanic peoples of western continental Europe under the leadership of the Franks; that, by 800, he had practically done; he had no desire to go farther. His dominion was always limited strictly to the West, and at the most he can be regarded after 800 as not more than the reviver of the old western half of the Empire, and hence as the successor of Romulus Augustulus. But even this view is perhaps somewhat strained. The chroniclers of the time liked to set up fine theories of the sort, and later it came to be to the interest of papal and imperial rivals to make large use, in one way or another, of such theories. But we to-day may look upon the coronation as nothing more than a formal recognition of a condition of things already existing. By his numerous conquests Charlemagne had drawn under his control such a number of peoples and countries that his position had come to be that which we think of as an emperor's rather than that of simple king of the Franks. The Pope did not give Charlemagne his empire; the energetic king had built it for himself. At the most, what Leo did was simply to bestow a title already earned and to give with it presumably the blessing and favor of the Church, whose devoted servant Charlemagne repeatedly professed to be. That the idea of imperial unity still survived in the West is certain, and without doubt many men looked upon the ceremony of 800 as re-establishing such unity; but as events worked out it was not so much Charlemagne's empire as the papacy itself that was the real continuation of the power of the Caesars. Conditions had so changed that it was impossible in the nature of things for Charlemagne to be a Roman emperor in the old sense. The coronation gave him a new title and new prestige, but no new subjects, no larger army, no more princely income. The basis of his power continued to be, in every sense, his Frankish kingdom. The structural element in the revived empire was Frankish; the Roman was merely ornamental.

Sources--(a) _Annales Laureshamensis_ ["Annals of
Lauresheim"], Chap. 34. Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica,
Scriptores_ (Pertz ed.), Vol. I., p. 38.

(b) _Vitae Pontificorum Romanorum_ ["Lives of the Roman
Pontiffs"]. Text in Muratori, _Rerum Italicarum Scriptores_,
Vol. III., pp. 284-285.

(a)

And because the name of emperor had now ceased among the Greeks,
and their empire was possessed by a woman,[170] it seemed both to
Leo the pope himself, and to all the holy fathers who were present
in the self-same council,[171] as well as to the rest of the
Christian people, that they ought to take to be emperor Charles,
king of the Franks, who held Rome herself, where the Caesars had
always been wont to sit, and all the other regions which he ruled
through Italy and Gaul and Germany; and inasmuch as God had given
all these lands into his hand, it seemed right that with the help
of God, and at the prayer of the whole Christian people, he should
have the name of emperor also. [The Pope's] petition King Charles
willed not to refuse,[172] but submitting himself with all humility
to God, and at the prayer of the priests, and of the whole
Christian people, on the day of the nativity of our Lord Jesus
Christ, he took on himself the name of emperor, being consecrated
by the Pope Leo.... For this also was done by the will of God ...
that the heathen might not mock the Christians if the name of
emperor should have ceased among them.

(b)

After these things, on the day of the birth of our Lord Jesus
Christ, when all the people were assembled in the Church of the
blessed St. Peter,[173] the venerable and gracious Pope with his
own hands crowned him [Charlemagne] with an exceedingly precious
crown. Then all the faithful Romans, beholding the choice of such a
friend and defender of the holy Roman Church, and of the pontiff,
did by the will of God and of the blessed Peter, the key-bearer of
the heavenly kingdom, cry with a loud voice, "To Charles, the most
pious Augustus, crowned of God, the great and peace-giving Emperor,
be life and victory." While he, before the altar of the church, was
calling upon many of the saints, it was proclaimed three times, and
by the common voice of all he was chosen to be emperor of the
Romans. Then the most holy high priest and pontiff anointed Charles
with holy oil, and also his most excellent son to be king,[174]
upon the very day of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

21. The General Capitulary for the Missi (802)

Throughout the larger part of Charlemagne's dominion the chief local unit of administration was the county, presided over by the count. The count was appointed by the Emperor, generally from among the most important landed proprietors of the district. His duties included the levy of troops, the publication of the royal decrees or capitularies, the administration of justice, and the collection of revenues. On the frontiers, where the need of defense was greatest, these local officers exercised military functions of a special character and were commonly known as "counts of the march," or dukes, or sometimes as margraves. In order that these royal officials, in whatever part of the country, might not abuse their authority as against their fellow-subjects, or engage in plots against the unity of the empire, Charlemagne devised a plan of sending out at stated intervals men who were known as _missi dominici_ ("the lord's messengers") to visit the various counties, hear complaints of the people, inquire into the administration of the counts, and report conditions to the Emperor. They were to serve as connecting links between the central and local governments and as safeguards against the ever powerful forces of disintegration. Such itinerant royal agents had not been unknown in Merovingian times, and they had probably been made use of pretty frequently by Charles Martel and Pepin the Short. But it was Charlemagne who reduced the employment of _missi_ to a system and made it a fixed part of the governmental machinery of the Frankish kingdom. This he did mainly by the _Capitulare Missorum Generale_, promulgated early in 802 at an assembly at the favorite capital Aix-la-Chapelle. The whole empire was divided into districts, or _missaticae_, and each of these was to be visited annually by two of the _missi_. A churchman and a layman were usually sent out together, probably because they were to have jurisdiction over both the clergy and the laity, and also that they might restrain each other from injustice or other misconduct. They were appointed by the Emperor, at first from his lower order of vassals, but after a time from the leading bishops, abbots, and nobles of the empire. They were given power to depose minor officials for misdemeanors, and to summon higher ones before the Emperor. By 812, at least, they were required to make four rounds of inspection each year.

In the capitulary for the _missi_ Charlemagne took occasion to include a considerable number of regulations and instructions regarding the general character of the local governments, the conduct of local officers, the manner of life of the clergy, the management of the monasteries, and other things of vital importance to the strength of the empire and the well-being of the people. The capitulary may be regarded as a broad outline of policy and conduct which its author, lately become emperor, wished to see realized throughout his vast dominion.

Source--Text in _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Leges_
(Boretius ed.), Vol. I., No. 33, pp. 91-99. Translated by Dana
C. Munro in _Univ. of Pa. Translations and Reprints_, Vol.
VI., No. 5, pp. 16-27.

[Sidenote: The missi sent out]

=1.= Concerning the embassy sent out by the lord emperor.

Therefore, the most serene and most Christian lord emperor Charles
has chosen from his nobles the wisest and most prudent men, both
archbishops and some of the other bishops also, and venerable
abbots and pious laymen, and has sent them throughout his whole
kingdom, and through them he would have all the various classes of
persons mentioned in the following chapters live in accordance
with the correct law. Moreover, where anything which is not right
and just has been enacted in the law, he has ordered them to
inquire into this most diligently and to inform him of it. He
desires, God granting, to reform it. And let no one, through his
cleverness or craft, dare to oppose or thwart the written law, as
many are wont to do, or the judicial sentence passed upon him, or
to do injury to the churches of God, or the poor, or the widows, or
the wards, or any Christian. But all shall live entirely in
accordance with God's precept, honestly and under a just rule, and
each one shall be admonished to live in harmony with his fellows in
his business or profession; the canonical clergy[175] ought to
observe in every respect a canonical life without heeding base
gain; nuns ought to keep diligent watch over their lives; laymen
and the secular clergy[176] ought rightly to observe their laws
without malicious fraud; and all ought to live in mutual charity
and perfect peace.

[Sidenote: The duties of the missi]