Hi everyone!
Week 3 is all about the Carolingians and the Carolingian Empire! Some historians devote all of their time and energy to studying this period and it is, as we shall learn this week, incredibly important in the shaping of the later Middle Ages in Europe.
Our readings this week consist of a long extract from a secondary source (Medieval Civilization) by Kay Slocum and the full text of a primary source, The Life of Charlemagne, by a fellow called Einhard.
 |
| Charlemagne as he appeared in the imagination of the 16th-Century German Painter - Albrecht Durer |
 |
| An image of Einhard from a later medieval manuscript |
Einhard is a classic example of the opportunities provided by monasteries for lower status individuals to gain an education and rise in worldly status. Einhard (c.775 - 840) was of a lower status, however, his parents sent him to be educated at a great monastery named Fulda. He became an excellent scholar and part of Charlemagne's administrative team at his court. Later in life Einhard became the personal secretary of Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious.
When reading Einhard's Life of Charlemagne try to ask yourself the 5 'Ws' of document analysis that we discussed in our last tutorial:
Who was Einhard?
When did he write the Life?
What is it?
Where did he write it?
Why did he write it? (Why do you think he wrote it and why does he say he wrote it?)
Some other questions to ask could be:
What were Einhard's literary influences?
Can we rely on his account?
What portrait of Charlemagne does he create? What values and vision of kingship does he celebrate?
Our other source today, the extract from Kay Slocum's Medieval Civilization, gives us a broad, sweeping history of the Carolingian period and provides us with a lot of context to help us understand Einhard's Life.
Some broad questions to ask when reading this text could be:
How did Charlemagne manage to conquer and control such vast territory?
How would you characterize the relationship between the Church (especially the papacy) and Charlemagne (and his successors) during this period?
What do scholars mean when they refer to the 'Carolingian Renaissance'? What ideals lay behind the renaissance and in what ways did it impact Carolingian culture?
Why is the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 as Holy Roman Empire so important? Does it create a new vision of kingship?
As always your comments can be based on these, or the tutorial discussion questions in our reader, however they do not have to. All of your thoughts, questions, and reflections are welcome!
.........
I know that many of you (including myself!) have been struggling with the geography of Europe in the early medieval period. I've uploaded a map below that I think manages to find a good balance between simplicity and detail. I hope it will help us all get these place names straight!
 |
| Map of the Carolingian Empire |
......
Just for fun!
Here is a link to another text that Einhard wrote. It's about the translation of the bones of the saints Marcellinus and Peter from their original resting place in Italy across the Alps to the Carolingian Empire. Translation is a fancy word used to describe the movement of relics (bits of saints preserved and venerated as holy objects in the Church). It is a wonderful adventure story full of grave-robbing, hiding from the authorities, and sneaking around! It gives us wonderful insight into early medieval religious culture. Remember from last week the section in our readings on the importance of relics and saints to early medieval people? This story gives us a brilliant snapshot of that part of early medieval culture!
http://www.archive.org/stream/MN5140ucmf_5/MN5140ucmf_5_djvu.txt
And also just for fun.......here is a link to a 12th century poem called The Song of Roland. It celebrates a great battle fought by the forces of Charlemagne during one of his military campaigns. What ideals and values are celebrated in the poem? Do you think they reflect Carolingian culture or 12th century culture?
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/basis/roland-ohag.asp
.....
Happy reading everyone!
Diana
And also just for fun.......here is a link to a 12th century poem called The Song of Roland. It celebrates a great battle fought by the forces of Charlemagne during one of his military campaigns. What ideals and values are celebrated in the poem? Do you think they reflect Carolingian culture or 12th century culture?
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/basis/roland-ohag.asp
.....
Happy reading everyone!
Diana
Hi all!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about the Carolingian Empire. After all that had been lost in the previous centuries it seems Charlemagne worked hard to return some sense of unity and structure to his people. I think he did what any good leader would do at the time, regardles of whether one would agree with his personal intentions or methods today. He believed in Christianity as the one true religion and wanted it to be the religion of his empire and his relationship with the church only strengthened his position as a king and helped expand his empire.
Charlemagne's interest in extending his power and disminishing heresy wasn't his only concern. Thankfully he focused his attentions on the cultural and intellectual wellbeing of the empire. Education was important again (atleast for men and the aristocrated women) as was maintaining and duplicating the classic and religious texts. The appreciation and creation of art and architecture returned. Carolingian script (although I'm unsure as to how it came about) revolutionised writing. I can understand from all his accomplishments why the Franks would hold Charlemagne in such high regard.
Whether one believes Einhard's version of events and personal assessment of Charlemagne's character doesn't diminish what he achieved for his empire. Einhard's Life of Charlemagne may have been biased due to his sense of loyalty to the Emperor or because he worked for his son Louis, however, I believe the information it contains is still very much valid. While he probably embellished his accounts of the events, the outcomes appear to be the same as stated in the secondary account (Slocum).
In regards to what is a vassal and what is fealty, I looked up the words and have a rough idea of what they mean but I would appreciate some verification. I think vassal means being loyal to a king for giving them land and fealty means something like having blind loyalty or baseless loyalty towards a king. I guess I'll find out on Wednesday!
:) Stel
Hey Guys,
ReplyDeleteI thought that this weeks readings were much more interesting than last weeks. I definitely enjoyed reading about Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire. Although I was also confused by vassal and fealty and felt that the definition in the text was not very clear. I also am a little confused about Clovis and find that the text is constantly referencing previous kings that I have little knowledge of. I appreciated Eihard: The Life of Charlemagne, as it gave descriptions for specific events which made it easy to read about certain aspects of Charlemagne's life. However, it was extremely bias as a result of his close relationship to Charlemagne and his son Louis and I felt this tone leaked through into Slocum's writing as she was obviously using Eihard as her main sources. I felt that this bias point of view made it hard to use these sources and I assume that the Carolingian Empire was not as amazing as it is made out to be. I felt that especially in the Slocum piece the conflicts and wars that resulted from the expansion of the empire was skirted over to leave space for the much more pleasing information about the Carolingian Renaissance. Although I do think it is good that he returned some sort of stability to his people and created some clear guidelines for society in terms of the family and education.
I also though the division of the empire was very interesting and how the area slowly fell back into disarray overtime.
The information about the vikings was also quite enjoyable to read especially this quote from Scolum "Charlemagne himself saw the Viking ships in the English Channel, and was said to have shed tears as he thought of the plight of future generations" it made me think of him as an actual person with emotions of his own which I often forget when thinking or reading about influential figures in history.
I'm looking forward to the lecture and Tute to clarify the readings and give a different perspective Carolingian Empire
Ambs :)
Hey guys,
ReplyDeleteAnybody else think the first reading was just ridiculously long? I have to admit that I didn't get through the whole thing, so I'm kind of hoping Clare will condense the most important points and explain them more concisely in the lecture tomorrow. Or maybe you guys can help explain it in the tutorial. Either way, I find it all quite interesting, I just need someone to help summarise it all. Thanks :)
Caitlin
Hey Everyone,
ReplyDeletei also found the readings ridiculously long but i found many interesting points in them.
i enjoyed reading mostly about the decline of the empire and how one mans tireless work can be undone by the work of other men. i like how it shows that nothing is permanent. that you can work so hard for something so great and have it disintegrate so easily.
i also found it interesting that the Carolingian period was the basis for the foundation of notation in music. im not a musical person at all but i thought this point was just really interesting and i thought that its development really made sense.
the development of education in this period was also interesting as it included the middle class and the poorer people not just the noblemen.
i also thought it was interesting how the Carolingian began in the service of the previous monarchs and how they pretty much ruled in all but name.
i found the einhard readings a little hard to grasp but that might just be because the first reading was so long. so i hope it can be condensed more in the lecture or the tutorial
tori :)
Hey,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the readings on the Carolingian Empire and Charlemagne. What I found particularly interesting about the Carolingian Renaissance was the development of Carolingian minuscule and how it formed the basis for the lowercase letters we use today. It seems that Charlemagne was able to rule so efficiently and expand his empire geographically, religiously and academically because he possessed great military skills as well as political ones. It seems then, that the empire fell because his son, Louis, did not have a great military mind. I think separating the empire also made them more vulnerable to attacks from the 'Northmen'.
While reading The Life of Charlemagne I kept wondering if an impartial biographer may have presented a totally different view of the emperor's life and character to that of Einhard. However, Charlemagne appears to have been an incredibly successful leader having won many wars and accomplished a lot in terms of spreading Christianity.
Bede