ページの画像
PDF
ePub

elephant (an animal never before seen by the Franks), and a clock which struck the hours.

Charlemagne crowned Emperor.-On Christmas Day, 800, as Charlemagne was bending in prayer before the high altar of St. Peter's at Rome, Pope Leo unexpectedly

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed]

placed on his head the crown of the Cæsars. The Western Empire was thus restored; the old empire was finally divided; there were two emperors,-one at Rome, and one at Constantinople; and from this time the Roman emperors were "Kings of the Franks." They lived very little at Rome,

however, and spoke German, Latin being the language only of religion and government.

[graphic][merged small]

Government.-Charlemagne sought to organize by law

the various peoples he had conquered by the sword. His vast empire was divided into districts governed by counts. Royal delegates visited each district four times a year, to redress grievances and administer justice. Diets took the place of the old German armed assemblies, and a series of capitularies was issued, containing the laws and the advice. of the emperor. But the work of Charlemagne's life per

ished with him.

A Division of the Frankish Empire.-His feeble son Louis quickly dissipated this vast inheritance among his children. They quarreled over their respective shares, and after Louis's death fought out their dispute on the field of Fontenay. This dreadful "Battle of the Brothers" was fol

lowed by the Treaty of Verdun (843), which divided the empire among them.

Beginnings of France and Germany.-Lothaire's kingdom was called after him Lotharingia, and a part of it is still known as Lorraine. Louis's kingdom was termed East Frankland, but the word Deutsch (German) soon came into use, and Germany in 1843 celebrated its 1000th anniversary, dating from the Treaty of Verdun. Charles's kingdom was styled West Frankland (Lat. Francia, whence the word France); its monarch still clung to his Teutonic dress and manners, but the separation from Germany was fairly accomplished; the two countries spoke different languages, and Charles the Bald is ranked as the first king of France.

Thus, during the 9th century, the map of Europe began to take on something of its present appearance, and for the first time we may venture to use the geographical divisions now familiar to us, though they were still far from having their present meaning.

Charlemagne and his Court.-In person, dress, speech, and tone of mind, Charlemagne was a true German. Large, erect, muscular, with a clear eye and dignified but gracious manner, his shrill voice and short neck were forgotten in the general grandeur of his presence. Keen to detect, apt to understand, profound to grasp, and quick to decide, he impressed all who knew him with a sense of his power. Like his rude ancestors of centuries before, he was hardy in his

[graphic][merged small]

habits, and unconcerned about his dress; but, unlike them, he was strictly temperate in food and drink. Drunkenness he abhorred. In the industrial schools which he established, his own daughters were taught to work, and the garments he commonly wore were woven by their hands. He discouraged extravagance in his courtiers, and once when hunting,-he in simple Frankish dress and sheepskin cloak, they in silk and tinsel-embroidered robes, he led them through mire and brambles in the midst of a furious storm of wind and sleet, and afterward obliged them to dine in their torn and bedraggled fineries. Twice in his life he wore a foreign dress, and that was at Rome, where he assumed a robe of purple and gold, encircled his brow with jewels, and decorated even his sandals with precious stones. His greatest pride was in his sword, Joyeuse, the handle of which bore his signet, and he was wont to say, "With my sword I maintain all to which I affix my seal." Generous to his friends, indulgent to his children, and usually placable to his enemies, his only acts of cruelty were perpetrated on the Saxons. They, true to the Teutonic passion for liberty, for thirty-three years fought and struggled against him; and, though by his orders forty-five hundred were beheaded in one day, they continued to rebel till hopelessly subdued.

The Imperial Palaces were magnificent, and the one at Aix-laChapelle was so luxurious that people called it "Little Rome." It contained extensive halls, galleries, and baths for swimming,— -an art in which Charlemagne excelled,-mosaic pavements and porphyry pillars from Ravenna, and a college, library, and theater. There were gold and silver tables, sculptured drinking-cups, and elaborately carved wainscoting, while the courtiers, dressed in gay and richly wrought robes, added to the brilliancy of the surroundings. Charlemagne gave personal attention to his different estates; he prescribed what trees and flowers should grow in his gardens, what meat and vegetables should be kept in store, and even how the stock and poultry should be fed and housed.

The College at Aix-la-Chapelle was presided over by Alcuin, an Anglo-Saxon monk whom Charlemagne had invited to his court,-for he surrounded himself with scholars rather than warriors. With his learned favorites and royal household the Great King devoted himself to science, belles-lettres, music, and the languages, and became, next to Alcuin, the best-educated man of the age. It was an arousing of literature from a sleep of centuries, and while Alcuin explained the theories of Pythagoras, Aristotle, and Plato, or quoted Homer, Virgil, and Pliny, the delighted listeners were fired with a passion for learning, In their enthusiasm they took the names of their classical favorites, and Homer, Pindar, Virgil, Horace, and Calliope sat down together in the Frankish court, the king himself appearing as the royal

Hebrew, David. Besides this court school, Charlemagne organized at Paris the first European university, established academies throughout the empire, and required that every monastery which ne founded or endowed should support a school. He encouraged the copying of ancient manuscripts, and corrected the text of the Greek gospels. Like Pliny, he had books read to him at meals,-St. Augustine being his favorite author,—and, like Pisistratus, he collected the scattered fragments of the ancient national poetry. He even began a German grammar, an experiment which was not repeated for hundreds of years." Yet, though he mastered Latin, read Greek and some oriental languages, delighted in astronomy, attempted poetry, and was learned in rhetoric and logic, this great king stumbled on the simple art of writing; and, though he kept his tablets under his pillow that he might press every waking moment into service, the hand that could so easily wield the ponderous iron lance was conquered by the pen.

Wonderful indeed was the electricity of this powerful nature, the like of which had not been seen since the day of Julius Cæsar, and was not to reappear until the day of Charles V. But no one man can make a civilization. "In vain," says Duruy, "did Charlemagne kindle the flame; it was only a passing torch in the midst of a profound night. In vain did he strive to create commerce and trace with his own hand the plan of a canal to connect the Danube and the Rhine; the ages of commerce and industry were yet far distant. In vain did he unite Germany into one vast empire; even while he lived he felt it breaking in his hands. And this vast and wise organism, this revived civilization, all disappeared with him who called it forth.”

RISE OF MODERN NATIONS.

We now enter upon the early political history of the principal European nations, and shall see how, amid the darkness of the middle ages, the foundations of the modern states were slowly laid.

I. ENGLAND.

The Four Conquests of England.—(1) Roman Conquest.-About a century after Cæsar's invasion, Agricola reduced Britain to a Roman province. Walls were built to keep back the Highland Celts; paved roads were constructed; fortified towns sprang up; the Britons became Christians;

« 前へ次へ »