Charlemagne: The Life and Legacy of Charles the Great скачать в хорошем качестве

Charlemagne: The Life and Legacy of Charles the Great

The Franks, from whom France would get its name, were a Germanic people who had conquered much of Roman-occupied Gaul late in the 5th century. After the reign of their great king Clovis, however, their kingdom shrank and fragmented into smaller states that were frequently at war with one another. By the early 800s, the Merovingian royal house that Clovis had established was characterized by figurehead monarchs who would be remembered as the Do-Nothing Kings. The real power in the land resided with the landed and military aristocracy, particularly the mayors of the palace, who were responsible for the administration of the realm. In the 680s, a powerful ruler finally emerged to establish a new Frankish dynasty. This was Pepin of Herstal, who displaced a legitimate hereditary claimant to make himself mayor of the palace of the Frankish splinter kingdom of Austrasia. Beginning in 687, he fought and won a series of battles against other Frankish states to cement his position. Pepin’s son, Charles went on to fight and rule so forcefully that he was known as Charles Martel or Charles the Hammer. Charles the Hammer managed to reunify the fragmented Frankish kingdom and establish its authority over the Frisians and Saxons. His successor, Pepin, further extended the power and domain of the Franks, at the same time gaining the favor and backing of the Pope in Rome. In 768, Pepin's 26-year old son, Charles, succeeded his father to the throne. He was enthroned in tandem with his older brother, Carloman, but Carloman died soon thereafter. A warrior-statesman of enormous physical strength and energy, Charles proved to be such an effective leader that the clerics of his court started referring to him in Latin as Carolus Magnus or Charles the Great. In the French language, he was Charlemagne. Charlemagne's success depended largely upon his remarkable ability to compel loyalty at all levels of French society. He expanded the practice of vassalage begun by his forebears, the mayors of the palace. He exchanged grants of land for the loyalty of soldiers and others sworn to serve them. Charlemagne broadened the principle by making personal vassals of all those in high authority - counts, dukes, and church officials as well as ranking officers - and he encouraged them to follow his example by developing their own network of vassals. As a result, he managed to establish a chain of fealty that reached every class of society. Later in his life, Charlemagne established his capital at Aachen, a former Roman spa in what would later be western Germany. But until then he ruled through a court that traveled with him as he moved throughout his empire. His chief minister, called the count of the palace, sifted through matters that came up for royal attention. Those that involved great men or high policy were submitted to the king, while the chief minister adjudicated minor cases himself. Administration of local territory divisions, the comitatus, was usually the responsibility of lesser counts who served at the king’s pleasure. In Frankish Gaul, there were about 300 of these small counties. The king commissioned a corps of inspectors to assess the honesty and efficiency of local administrators. The king’s own personal magnetism helped gather the notoriously stand-offish aristocracy to his government and causes. He was jovial and approachable. When in residence in Aachen late in his life, he swam every day in the hot springs and would often invite friends and associates, even bodyguards and attendants, to join him. It was not unusual for a visitor to come upon a hundred or more men, including Charlemagne himself, frolicking about with great hilarity in the hot waters. Charlemagne imported scholars from England, Ireland, and Italy to his palace to instruct him and his court in astronomy and mathematics, in Greek and Latin. The King encouraged the clergy to become teachers, and pressured the Church into opening schools in cathedrals, monasteries, and even rural parishes. His palace school at Aachen was the cradle of the Carolingian Renaissance. Calling himself a ‘most devoted son of the Church’, the King increasingly involved himself in religion. Scarcely any aspect of the spiritual sphere escaped his attention. He headed councils of bishops, was called to rule on ecclesiastical matters, lectured the clergy on how they ought to live, and enjoined his people to pray. He even required that each new pope notify him immediately of his election. Credits: Illustration - Jonathan Benbow bongwedesign.com Script - Steve Theunissen Voice Actor - James Fowler Drone in D by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-... Artist: http://incompetech.com/