According to the custom of pilgrims, Charlemagne visited all the basilicas in Rome. He confirmed his father’s gift to the former Pope, and added new gifts of his own. The Pope gave to Charlemagne a book containing a collection of the canons written by the pontiffs from the origin of the church. This he dedicated to Charlemagne, and wrote in it, “Pope Adrian, to his most excellent son Charlemagne, king.”
Charlemagne then returned to his camp before Pavia, and having captured the city, received the submission of all the Lombards. In 778 Charlemagne had a war with the Arabs in Spain. He crossed the Pyrenees and went as far as the Ebro, but the Arabs gave him large gifts of gold and jewels, and persuaded him to spare their fine cities. As he was returning over the mountains, his army was attacked by a wild people called the Basques; and several of his bravest leaders were killed, among them the famous Roland, concerning whom various stories are told, one being that he blew a blast on his bugle with his last breath, to warn Charlemagne, who was far in the front, of this unexpected danger. Another legend makes him to have possessed herculean strength, in token of which a great cleft is shown in the Pyrenean Hills, said to have been made by one stroke of his sword, and it bears the name of the “La Brèche de Roland.” Pfalgraf, or Count of the Palace, was the name given to some of the bravest Frank lords, and in old romances Roland and others are called the Paladins.
DEATH OF ROLAND.
Charlemagne had three sons, Carl, Pepin, and Lodwig, afterwards called Louis le Débonnaire. In 781 Charlemagne took his two younger sons, Pepin, aged four, and Louis, only three years of age, to Rome, where they were anointed by Pope Adrian I.,—Pepin as king of Italy, and Louis as king of Aquitaine. On returning from Rome, Charlemagne sent the baby Louis at once to take formal possession of his kingdom. He was carried to Orleans in a cradle, and then the little prince was clad in a tiny suit of armor, and attendants held him up on horseback as he entered his kingdom of Aquitaine. He was accompanied by many officers and men of state who were to form his council of guardians. Afterwards the poor baby king was taken back to his father’s palace to be educated.
Charlemagne founded Aix-la-Chapelle and made it his favorite winter residence. He went out to fight each summer, and came back to his kingdom in the winter. He was very seldom defeated in war, for he was wise and energetic, and moved his army about so quickly that he was a match for much larger forces than his own. He held a council of war every Easter when all his chiefs assembled, and Charlemagne made known to them his plans for his coming campaign. He made improvements in the armor and weapons of his soldiers. Their helmets were provided with visors which could be brought down to protect their faces in battle, and their shields were long and large, instead of the small round skin-covered bucklers of the early Gauls. His soldiers fought with sharp-pointed, two-handed swords, and they employed also heavy clubs covered with iron knobs, which were most formidable weapons. Charlemagne’s forces were mounted on strong fleet horses from the Rhine, and so great was his knowledge of all the surrounding countries, that he could despatch an army to any part of his kingdom at short notice, and with perfect accuracy as to route.
On the 23d of November, 800, Charlemagne arrived at Rome, where he was met by Pope Leo III., whom he had several times aided in conflicts with his enemies, at one time receiving Leo into his own palace for a year, when conspirators at Rome were seeking the Pope’s life. In return for these favors, and to secure the help of so mighty a warrior, Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne Emperor of Rome. The ceremony was performed on Christmas day, 800. Eginhard thus described the scene: “The king came into the basilica of the blessed St. Peter, apostle, to attend the celebration of mass. At the moment when in his place before the altar he was bowing down to pray, Pope Leo placed upon his head a crown, and all the Roman people shouted, ‘Long life and victory to Charles Augustus, crowned by God, the great and pacific emperor of the Romans!’ After this proclamation the pontiff prostrated himself before him, and paid him adoration according to the custom established in the days of the old emperors; and thenceforward Charles, giving up the title of patrician, bore that of emperor and Augustus.” Charlemagne had now become emperor of France, of Germany, and of Italy.
But it is not only as a great warrior that Charlemagne is famous. His government was a model for those times, and he held his subjects, so diverse as to nationality and education, under a most wise and powerful authority; and out of a chaos of different nations—the wild anarchy of ruined Rome, and the ill-regulated force of barbaric hordes—he founded a monarchy strong in him alone, and though it fell at his death, each piece of his great empire possessed enough of the vitalizing force, which his mind and wisdom had given to it, to enable it to rise an empire by itself. So, though Charlemagne’s kingdom could not be preserved by his successors, from that great power rose the separate empires of France, Germany, and Italy. One of Charlemagne’s humane acts was his care for the slaves in Gaul. At that time all the chiefs were warriors, while their lands were tilled by serfs, or slaves, who went with the land as part of the property, whether bought or captured. He made laws to protect the slaves as far as possible against unjust and cruel masters.
Charlemagne was also fond of study. He learned Latin and Greek, and improved his native German language by inventing German words for the months and the winds. He paid great attention to astronomy and music, and in theological studies evinced a strong interest. He caused to be commenced the first Germanic grammar. But with all his learning there was one thing he could not accomplish, which was to write a good hand, though he zealously practiced the art, even putting his little tablets under his pillow that he might catch at any odd moments day or night to perfect his imperfect writing. At whatever palace Charlemagne was residing, he always formed there a school called the School of the Palace, where many learned men were gathered together, and where members of the royal family, including Charlemagne himself, and his children, took lessons in the different sciences, grammar, rhetoric, and theology. Two names are famous among these wise men, who became the particular advisers and confidants of Charlemagne, Alcuin and Eginhard, who afterwards became the biographer of Charlemagne, and the adviser of his son Louis le Débonnaire. It was the custom for members of this school to assume other names than their own: thus Charlemagne was called David; Alcuin, Flaccus; Angilbert, Homer; and Eginhard, Bezaleel,—that nephew of Moses to whom God had granted the gift of knowing how to work skilfully in wood and all materials needed for the ark and tabernacle. All of these scholars afterwards became great dignitaries in the church. Charlemagne was of a cheerful disposition, and fond of hunting and other sports. He was especially expert in swimming. He sometimes played jokes upon his chiefs and nobles, and the old monks of his time tell several stories regarding his sly humor. At one time when he thought his courtiers were too much given to fine clothes, he commanded a party of them when decked out in their finest trappings, to follow him in the chase through the rain, mud, and brambles. He was of a tall figure, and though his dress was rich and gorgeous when the occasion demanded it, he was not fond of finery. His appearance is thus described by Eginhard:—