These windows at Altenburg, being the best examples of their kind, are the distinct artistic attraction of the great abbey, which is a dozen or more miles distant from Cologne.
The choir was commenced in 1255 and completed almost immediately; but the entire main fabric was not finished until well on in the century following.
XXVII
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE
As Rouen in Normandy was known as "the city of the Conqueror," so Aix-la-Chapelle became known, at a much earlier date, as "the city of Charlemagne."
Charlemagne was more than a conqueror; he was a statesman, with a boundless ambition. He founded the German Empire, and changed tribes of lawless barbarians into a civilized people. At Aix-la-Chapelle he received the embassies of the Caliph of Baghdad and of the Saxon Kings of England, and there he endeavoured to advance the enlightenment of his people by the founding of monasteries and by giving very material aid to the monks and priests.
Aix therefore became the scene of some of the most interesting episodes in the life and career of Charlemagne.
At the death of his consort, Frastrade, Charlemagne was inconsolable. Even when she had been dead for three weeks, the monarch[{278}] would not hear her death spoken of. "She did but sleep," he said; and the Emperor clung to the chamber of his beloved, and would not abate his watchfulness "till Frastrade woke."