Charlemagne Essay PDF

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Summary and critical reading of Charlemagne...

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Sam Freville Dr. Irvin HON 201 7 December 2020 The Life of the Emperor Charles Connections Charlemagne was born into a position of leadership because of his family, the Merovingians. Kings of the Franks were from this family yet there was not much power associated with being King: “the real power and authority in the kingdom lay in the hands of the chief officer of the court, the so-called Mayor of the Palace, and he was at the head of affairs. There was nothing left the King to do but to be content with his name of King, his flowing hair, and long beard, to sit on his throne and play the ruler” (The Life of the Emperor Charles, 1). Similar to the Mauryan Empire, the Franks had a single person to act as the true leader while the more powerful people worked behind the scenes to run the nation. Charlemagne was a strong and persistant leader, especially in war. He never gave up and went to great lengths to end the Aquitanian War with a victory: “he conducted it with the greatest vigor, notwithstanding his broth withheld the assistance that he had promised, and did not desist or shrink from his selfimposed task until, by his patience and firmness, he had completely gained his ends” (The Life of the Emperor Charles, 2). These values are important to the people and are what make Charlemagne known as one of the greatest leaders of all time. He changed the powerless version of King that had been a apart of the Franks history into a powerful title. The way Charlemagne decides to have his children educated reveals the traditional practice, “in accordance with the custom of the Franks, the boys had to learn horsemanship, and

to practice war and the chase, and the girls to familiarize themselves with cloth-making, and to handle distaff and spindle, that they might not grow indolent through idleness” (The Life of the Emperor Charles, 10). War was a huge part of what made the people a part of the Franks. Even as young children, the boys were learning how to conduct a war, which seems to come in hand since Charlemagne has participated in many wars. The women are also seen as previous civilizations see them: housewives. They are learning the basic skills of being a mother and a wife in a household. Charlemagne and much of his nation were Christians, including the author, as he states: “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” (The Life of the Emperor Charles, 3). They believe in the dignity of human life and respect the guidelines of Christianity, unlike their counterparts. They not only follow the laws of the nation set by the government, but rather hold themselves to a higher standard because of their religious duty. Charlemagne practiced and kept his religious duty as he, “stayed in Rome several days in order to pay his devotions at the holy places” (The Life of the Emperor Charles, 5)....