“Charlemagne was large and robust in person, his stature was lofty, though it did not exceed just proportion, for his height was not more than seven times the length of his foot. The summit of his head was round, his eyes large and bright, his nose a little long, beautiful white hair, and a smiling and pleasant expression. There reigned in his whole person, whether standing or seated, an air of grandeur and dignity; and though his neck was thick and short, and his body corpulent, yet he was in other respects so well proportioned that these defects were not noticed. His walk was firm, and his whole appearance manly, but his clear voice did not quite harmonize with his appearance. His health was always good, except during the four years which preceded his death. He then had frequent attacks of fever, and was lame of one foot. In this time of suffering he treated himself more accordingly to his own fancies than by the advice of the physicians, whom he had come to dislike because they would have had him abstain from the roast meats he was accustomed to, and would have restricted him to boiled meats. His dress was that of his nation; that is to say, of the Franks. He wore a shirt and drawers of linen, over them a tunic bordered with silken fringe, stockings fastened with narrow bands, and shoes. In winter, a coat of otter or martin fur covered his shoulders and breast. Over all he wore a long blue mantle.”
He would not adopt the short mantle worn by the later Franks, but preferred the long cloak of the ancient Franks, which made him a distinguished and royal-looking person amidst his short-cloaked courtiers. He was always girded with his sword, which became so famous that it received the name of Joyeuse, whose hilt was of gold and silver, his girdle being also of gold. Upon solemn festive occasions this sword was replaced by one enriched with precious stones. After he became Emperor he sometimes wore the long tunic, the chlamys, and the sandals of the Romans. At great feasts or festivals his dress was embroidered with gold, and his shoes adorned with precious stones. His mantle was fastened with a brooch of gold, and he wore upon his head a glistening diadem of gold and gems; but his usual dress was simple. He avoided all excesses at the table, particularly that of drinking, for he abhorred drunkenness. While he was dining he liked to have histories or poems read to him. He took great pleasure in the works of St. Augustine. He was endowed with a natural eloquence which rendered his speech delightful. His chosen name of David was not inappropriate, for he was a founder and benefactor of the church, and was very devout in the outward observances of the Christian religion; but his domestic life was an irretrievable blot upon his character, which no plea of the laxity of those times can remove. It is true that the same fault mars the greatness of Alexander, Julius Cæsar, and other famous rulers; but Alexander and Cæsar were not Christians, while Charlemagne stands forth as the great champion and upholder of the religion of the spotless Christ. Charlemagne caused to be erected at Aix-la-Chapelle a magnificent basilica, or chapel, which he adorned with gold and silver, and with screens and gates of brass from Rome, and marbles and columns from Ravenna. He always attended service here night and morning, and often arose to assist at some especial worship in the night. He introduced great improvements in the lessons and the psalmody, and is said to have composed several hymns, among them the “Veni Creator Spiritus,” that invocation of the Holy Spirit which is sung at ordinations. Charlemagne was always ready to help poor Christians, not only in his own kingdom, but in Syria, Egypt, in Africa, at Jerusalem, Alexandria, Carthage, and elsewhere. Of all the holy places he had most veneration for the Church of St. Peter at Rome. He sent rich gifts of gold and silver and precious stones to that cathedral, for he desired to make it surpass all other churches in its decorations and riches. But he was only able to go four times during his reign of forty-seven years, to visit that cherished place. Toward the end of his vigorous life and magnificent career, the Emperor Charlemagne met with severe family losses. In less than two years his sister, daughter, and his sons, the two Pepins, one of whom was a hunchback, died; and lastly his son Charles, whom he intended should be crowned emperor, also died, leaving only Louis and several daughters. But Louis was the worthiest of all the sons of Charlemagne to succeed his illustrious father. In the year 813 Charlemagne, fearing that his end was drawing near, assembled all his chief men at Aix-la-Chapelle, and in a grand ceremonial in the chapel he caused his son to be declared emperor, bidding him take the diadem himself from the altar, and place it on his own head, whereupon Charlemagne exclaimed, “Blessed be the Lord, who hath granted me to see my son sitting on my throne!” But he did not at that time resign the crown. Louis went back to his kingdom in Aquitaine; and Charlemagne, in spite of his growing infirmities, continued through the autumn his usual hunting excursions, returning to Aix in November. In January Charlemagne was seized with a fever, but he determined to doctor himself, as was his usual method, which was to “starve” the fever. But pleurisy set in, and still refusing to be ministered to by physicians, on the seventh day after he had taken to his bed, having received communion, he expired about nine o’clock in the morning on the 28th of January, 814, in the seventy-first year of his age, and the forty-seventh year of his reign. He was buried with unusual grandeur. A large and beautifully carved sarcophagus of classical workmanship, was lying empty in the basilica of Aix. But they placed Charlemagne in a large marble chair in the crypt beneath the dome of his great basilica. The chair was ornamented with gold, and Charlemagne was clad in his royal robes with his sparkling crown upon his head, and his royal sceptre in his hand, and the good sword Joyeuse, which had served him in so many famous battles, was girded to his side, while his pilgrim’s pouch was suspended from his girdle, and a copy of the Gospels was laid upon his knees. Thus was he seated on the throne chair, with his feet resting in the carved sarcophagus, as though the great emperor was not to be shut up in a coffin like common mortals, but even in death still sat upon his throne in royal state. Beneath the dome, on the stone which closed the entrance to the tomb, was carved the following epitaph in Latin:—
“In this tomb reposeth the body of Charles, great and orthodox emperor, who did gloriously extend the kingdom of the Franks, and did govern it happily for forty-seven years. He died at the age of seventy years, in the year of the Lord, 814, in the seventh year of the Indication, on the fifth of the Kalends of February.”
This crypt was opened two hundred years afterwards by the Emperor Otho III., when he found the remains of Charlemagne, as described above. A huge black flagstone now lies under the dome, bearing the inscription, “Carolo Magno,” and it is supposed to cover the entrance to the tomb of Charlemagne. Over it hangs a large golden candelabrum which the Emperor Barbarossa gave to burn above the grave. In the time of Barbarossa, the church enrolled the name of the great emperor in its Calendar as St. Charlemagne.
No sovereign ever rendered greater service to the civilized world than Charlemagne, by stopping in the north and south the flood of barbarians and Arabs, Paganism and Islamism. This was his great success, and although he ultimately failed in founding a permanent empire which should exist in unity and absolute power after his death, though at one time he seemed to be Cæsar, Augustus, and Constantine combined, his death ended his empire; but he had opened the way for the Christian religion and human liberty to establish other and more lasting governments. The illustrious French writer, Guizot, thus sums up the life and achievements of Charlemagne. “Great men are at one and the same time instruments and free agents in a general design which is infinitely above their ken, and which, even if a glimpse of it be caught, remains inscrutable to them,—the design of God towards mankind. Charlemagne had this singular good fortune, that his misguided attempt at imperialism perished with him, whilst his salutary achievement, the territorial security of Christian Europe, has been durable to the great honor, as well as great profit, of European civilization.”
ALFRED THE GREAT.
849-901 A.D.
“An honest man’s the noblest work of God.”
Pope.