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Charlemagne - Emperor Of The Holy Roman Empire

https://www.chronique.com/Library/MedHistory/charlemagne.htm

Chalemagne, King of the Franks and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
Born 2 Apr 0742 in Aix La Chapelle, Austrasia
Died 28 Jan 0814 in Aix La Chapelle, Austrasia

Beyond the legends of Charlemagne lies a biography worthy of the tales. To the medieval mind, only King Arthur vied with Charlemagne as the finest example of what a Christian king could be. Kind, yet fiercely defensive of his family and Empire, there is much to admire. His exploits spawned both histories and romances; like all good legends it stood firmly rooted in history. The biography offered here was published in Will Durant's History of Civilization, but a small part of an encyclopedic historical survey.

He was of German blood and speech, and shared some characteristics of his people- strength of body, courage of spirit, pride of race, and a crude simplicity many centuries apart from the urbane polish of the modern French. He had little book learning; read only a few books- but good ones; tried in his old age to learn writing, but never quite succeeded; yet he could speak old Teutonic and literary Latin, and understood Greek.

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The sense of public participation in the government was furthered by semiannual assemblies of armed property owners, gathered, as military or other convenience might dictate, at Worms, Valenciennes, Aachen, Geneva, Paderborn... usually in the open air. At such assemblies the king submitted to smaller groups of nobles or bishops his proposals for legislation; they considered them, and returned them to him with suggestions; he formulated the capitula, or chapters of legislation, and presented these to the multitude for their shouted approval; rarely the assembly voiced disapproval with a collective grunt or moan. Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, has transmitted an intimate picture of Charles at one of these gatherings, 'saluting the men of most note, conversing with those whom he seldom saw, showing a tender interest toward the elders, and disporting himself with the young."

At these meetings each provincial bishop and administrator was required to report to the King any significant event in his locality since the previous convocation. "The King wished to know,"says Hincmar, "whether in any part or corner of the Kingdom the people were restless, and the cause thereof." Sometimes (continuing the old Roman institution of inquisitio) the representatives of the King would summon leading citizens to inquire and give under oath a 'true statement"(veredictum) as to the taxable wealth, the state of public order, the existence of crimes or criminals, in the district visited. In the ninth century, in Frank lands, this verdict of a jurata, or sworn group of inquirers, was used to decide many local issues of land ownership or criminal guilt. Out of the jurata, through Norman and English developments, would come the jury system of modern times.

Empire Roman Holy The Emperor Charlemagne

I always studied about the emperor Charlemagne in school, but it was usually on his military conquests of the saxons and other pagan groups. I had no idea the amount of programs and ideas that he had that stay with us even today. He had the first idea for a type of welfare program that helped the poor. The idea of schooling everyone was nothing short of brilliant and revolutionary of his day. The frankish king revolutionized his day taking chances that no one else was willing to take. He is the first emperor that I can think of that opposed slavery. While some of his economic plans promoted feudalism, he constantly tried to slow down and stop serfdom and slavery. Charlemagne has to be one of the most prolific and successful emperors of the Roman Empire. I recommend everyone read about Charlemagne, you will be intrigued and surprised at what you learn. I went to google.com and typed in his name and found, well, googles of information!