Charlemagne

Life

Charlemagne was the eldest son of Bertrada and Pepin III (the Short), the Frankish king who founded the Carolingian dynasty. Two dates for his birth are given: 742 and 747–748. When his father died in 768, Charlemagne divided the kingdom with his brother Carloman; after Carloman's death in 771, he ruled alone. In 774 he conquered the Lombard kingdom in northern Italy and took its crown as well. He subsequently waged long wars against the Islamic powers of the Iberian Peninsula and against the Saxons to the east.

After being attacked by his opponents in Rome, Pope Leo III crossed the Alps to seek Charlemagne's help at Paderborn. Charlemagne traveled to Rome and restored the pope to his position. On December 25, 800, during the Christmas Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, Leo III placed the imperial crown on his head. For the first time in some three hundred years since the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Western Europe once again had an emperor. Charlemagne died at Aachen on January 28, 814, and was buried in the palace chapel there (now Aachen Cathedral). He was succeeded by his son Louis the Pious.

Work and Achievements

• Conversion of the Saxons: Over several decades beginning in 772, as he conquered the Saxons, he sought to convert them to Christianity by requiring baptism and oaths of loyalty. Mass baptisms took place in 775–777. When the Saxons repeatedly rebelled, however, Charlemagne regarded resistance after baptism as both political treason and the crime of apostasy, and he suppressed it harshly.
• Education and learning: He made Aachen his capital and gathered scholars from many lands, the most prominent being Alcuin, a native of York in England. He promoted education to train priests and monks to serve the newly converted regions, as well as literate men to administer his vast territories, and he included basic biblical knowledge in the curriculum. The cultural revival of this period is commonly called the "Carolingian Renaissance."
• Church reform: Regarding himself as the ruler of a Christian empire, he undertook reforms of church institutions and theology. As monastic discipline grew lax and abbots allied with the powerful continued to amass wealth, he also pursued monastic reform. Because the church carried out much of the local administration at the time, expanding the church's organization also meant expanding the apparatus of government.

Influence on the Korean Church

No direct influence of Charlemagne on the Korean church has been established. Korean Christian media, however, have presented his imperial coronation as one of the "events that changed Christian history," viewing it as the turning point at which the Mediterranean-centered era of Christianity ended and a medieval Christian era based in the German and French lands began. Columns in denominational newspapers have also discussed his life and faith.

Assessment

For unifying most of Western Europe and organizing its administrative, educational, and religious institutions, Charlemagne is called the "Father of Europe" by many historians. A column in one Korean denominational newspaper argued that for him civilization and mission were two sides of the same coin, and portrayed him as a humble believer who sought heaven's help.

He has also drawn substantial criticism. Most notably, during the Saxon Wars he carried out forced conversions, forced deportations, and massacres under the banner of conversion. Particularly well known is the execution of some 4,500 Saxon prisoners at Verden (the Massacre of Verden). Interpretations of the imperial coronation also differ. His biographer Einhard wrote that had Charlemagne known the pope's intention in advance, he would not have entered the church that day. The image of a pope crowning an emperor is regarded as having sown the seeds of the later era of conflict between papal and imperial power. It is also seen as having created a delicate tension with the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The empire he built depended heavily on his formidable personal abilities. As a result, it was divided among his grandsons in the next generation, and this division laid the foundation for the later emergence of France and Germany.