How Did Charlemagne Create A Unified Christian Empire

642 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The two lives of charlemagne review

Charlemagne was the song of Pepin the III. He inherited the Frankish crown in 768. He represents the first full synthesis of Roman, Germanic, and Christian elements to create a unified Christian empire. (Sivers, Desnoyers, & Stow, p 313). He did this with strong authority, a Christian identity, and the idea of spreading Christianity throughout the world. The world’s view of him was as a strong leader, who was to be feared in war.
With attention to effective rule and extensive military campaigns, he constructed the largest empire in Europe since the collapse of Rome. An important part of his ruling was his construction of a palace conquest at Aachen. He also reformed legal practices by instituting the Frankish inquest, which is a forerunner of the jury system (Sivers, Desnoyers, & Stow, p 314). Charlemagne also increased the power of his empire through intellectual contributions. He created a program of educational reform throughout his empire. Alcuin of York, a leading intellect, was appointed as master of the palace school. Monks also made copies of Roman and Christian texts, including the bible. These copies could help with Charlemagne’s quest to spread Christianity. …show more content…

He ordered the forced conversion of Saxons to Christian practices. He promoted Christianity in his own kingdom, and intervened in Rome as well. He offered protection against the Lombards, and gave assistance to the pope when he was attacked by rivals. For this, he was crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III (Sivers, Desnoyers, & Stow, p 314). This announced the independence of western Europe from the Byzantine East, and a shift of power away from the Mediterranean and toward Europe. It also gave Charlemagne more

Show More
Related

  • Differences Between Charlemagne And The Carolingian Empire

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before Charlemagne and the Carolingian empire, there was in no proper sense a “Western Europe”. For the romans, everything geographically was centered around Mare Nostrum, the medditerrian.* The lands surrounding the Mediterranean sea, Hispania, Italy, Greece, and north Africa were all seen as being closer to together geographically and culturally, then the lands of Gaul or Germania. Even after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Europe was seen as everything away from the northern coast of the Mediterranean, usually only Gaul and Rhineland.*

    Read More

  • Charlemagne’s Will: Church, Empire, and Intellect

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout his essay, Einhard makes constant references to Charlemagne’s piety. He notes that the king “cherished with great fervor and devotion the principles of the Christian religion.” Charlemagne built the basilica at Aix-la-Chapelle, and “was a constant worshipper at this church.” (Einhard, 48)…. He embodied the Christian doctrine to give to the poor, and had close relationships to the popes in Rome. A pessimist might find reason to believe these actions were purely opportunistic or at least had mixed motives—his relationships with the Vatican were monetarily beneficial—but Einhard’s inclusion of Charlemagne’s will removes all doubt. “In this division he is especially desirous to provide…the largess of alms which Christians usually make.” (Einhard, 52). In death, Charlemagne gave much of his wealth to the Church via the archbishops of each city in his empire, and further stipulated that upon the death of one of them, a portion of the remaining inheritance should go directly to the poor, as should the profit of the sale of his library.

    Read More

  • The Countless Lives of Charlemagne

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most famous work about Charlemagne is a book entitled The Two Lives of Charlemagne which consists of two separate biographies published into one book and tells the story of Charlemagne's life as two different people experienced it. Apart from this, there are many other places you can turn to learn more about the life of the king of the Franks, including letters, capitularies, inventories, annals, and more. However, each of these sources seem to paint a different picture of Charlemagne. In one, he seems to be a very average guy; in another, a mythical being, almost god-like; and a strong and firm political leader in yet another. It is because of this of this that we will never really know exactly who Charlemagne was or what he was like, but we do have an idea of what he did and how he lived thanks to those who decided to preserve it.

    Read More

  • The Two Lives of Charlemagne

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    The two lives of Charlemagne as told by Einhard and Notker are two medieval sources about the accounts of the life Charlemagne. Modern sources by Matthew Innes and Rosamond Mckitterick discuss how history was recorded during the medieval period and how it was suppose to be viewed in the early ages. Observing each of these sources helps get an understanding of how the writing of history is important in recorded history and how it affected how the history of Charlemagne was recorded.

    Read More

  • Charlemagne and the Saxon War

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...become great and victorious. There is the concept of how everything that Charlemagne did was for his enemies to be converted to Christianity and nothing else. Through the different interpretations, the argument for religious motives was the strongest. Charlemagne used military tactics in a misguided attempt to further the kingdom of God.

    Read More

  • Charlemagne: A Necessary Evil

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    While expanding his empire across Europe, Charlemagne did remember that he was indeed a Christian, and converted many of the tribes he conquered, to Christianity. However, when 4,500 Saxons resisted, they were slaughtered ("Charlemagne"). But, for better or for worse, by 1000 AD Christianity had spread like wildfire throughout most of Europe, and the Catholic Church, who had crowned our friend Charlemagne the Emperor, had risen to power. Meanwhile, the Seljuk Turks had taken Jerusalem and were threatening Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire (“Crusades”). Near the end of the eleventh century, Emperor Alexius wrote a letter to Pope Urban the II that called for the assistance of his fellow Christians in West (“Crusades”). And, Pope Urban, was more than happy to assemble an army for such a worthy cause, and he also hoped that it might improve the relations between the two

    Read More

  • The Life Of Charlemagne By Einhard

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the Ages there have been many leaders who were known for their great rule. One of these great men during the 8th century was Charlemagne. The Life of Charlemagne was written by Einhard, a Frankish elite who had the privilege of working in the courts of Charlemagne. The book did not come out till after Charlemagne’s death but, it goes through his life in a thematic fashion. Einhard sets the book by first addressing deeds, habits, and then administration. This writing was one of the first of its kind. While there were many biographies written on the lives of saints known as hagiography, this was the first of its kind to be written about a secular ruler since the time of Antiquity. I will begin by talking about Charlemagne’s rise to power, then about his character and personality, and finally his relationship with his family.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Two Lives Of Charlemagne

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    Charlemagne accomplishes many deeds. One includes Charlemagne capturing the Breton’s. He conquers their land in the westernmost part of Gaul since they did not listen to him (25). Charlemagne, in his lifetime, will go through many wars. Many among those are listed in Notker. Notker his second book on Charlemagne goes into more detail about how the wars were brought about. Wars His rule is not limited to wars. Charlemagne sought out to initiate a sort of Renaissance period

    Read More

  • The Similarities And Differences Of The Carolingian Empire And The Roman Empire

    1201 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the middle ages, many empires were working on expanding their territory, but it was not always a success unless they had the appropriate leadership to guide them in the right direction. The main empire that grew to extraordinary lengths is that of the Roman Empire. Through many conquests and battles and with an amicable government, it attained its fortune. However, on the other hand, there was another government that shared similarities with that of Rome; this was the empire of Charlemagne, otherwise known as the Carolingian Empire, but it failed to have a prosperous eternity.

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Charlemagne

    1211 Words  | 3 Pages

    Charlemagne Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, became the undisputed ruler of Western Europe, “By the sword and the cross.” (Compton’s 346) As Western Europe was deteriorating Charlemagne was crowned the privilege of being joint king of the Franks in 768 A.D. People of Western Europe, excluding the church followers, had all but forgotten the great gifts of education and arts that they had possessed at one time. Charlemagne solidly defeated barbarians and kings in identical fashion during his reign. Using the re-establishment of education and order, Charlemagne was able to save many political rights and restore culture in Western Europe.

    Read More

  • The Great Legacy of Charlemagne

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    He had a vision of what it meant to be a great king. He followed the history of the kings after Alexander the Great. He believed he had to increase the social, political and intellectual organization of his society. This distinguished himself from any other ruler from the past three hundred years. Charlemagne wanted to recreate what the Roman Empire once was capable of, but even better. As he traveled, he made sure he created a great educational system. He built a chain of schools and provided classes for chil...

    Read More

  • Differences Between The Han Dynasty And Roman Empire

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    When he won the throne, similar to Emperor Han Wudi’s conversion to Confucianism in Han Dynasty China, converted to Christianity. Because of this conversion, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Christian way became very involved in government in the Roman Empire. Even though Christianity’s message is a sense of universal love, because of it intolerance of other religions, there was persecutions of pagans that lead to death. It was not until 450 CE. that a small majority of the Roman Empire was Christian. There ultimately was a split in the empire between the east and the west. The Western Empire struggled on its survival unlike the eastern Empire. The Eastern Empire strived because it stayed involved in Roman politics, administration, and armies. Because the east stayed involved within the government, they were able to last longer. The east was able to spread Christianity more effectively than that of the

    Read More

  • Life Of Charlemagne Summary

    1208 Words  | 3 Pages

    Additionally, Charlemagne provided Rome with badly needed protection from Islamic invaders. Indeed, Charles saved most of Italy from Muslim piracy. When Rome became one with Carolingian empire, he "Defended and made it beautiful (page 285).&...

    Read More

  • Middle Ages Culture Essay

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion is among one of the aspects that defines culture. This was a key concept for those living in the Middle Ages, whose lives were dominated by religion. More specifically, those in high positions of the church dominated their lives because the church provided a unified culture, or belief system. In fact, in the Early Middle Ages, rulers needed the support of the church to legitimize their rule. This was the case for Charlemagne, who united much of Western Europe and converted his subjects to Christianity. Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans in 800(History). “The assumption of the title of emperor of Charlemagne in

    Read More

  • Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, King of the Franks

    2129 Words  | 5 Pages

    With each conquest the Frankish kingdom grew, and with growth came additional power and responsibility for. Charlemagne. The. In each area of Europe that was taken over by Charlemagne, he. removed the leaders if they would not convert to Christianity and appointed new ones, usually someone with a high position in the Church. Those people who refused to convert or be baptized in the church were put to death.

    Read More

More about How Did Charlemagne Create A Unified Christian Empire

Open Document