The Ritual Slap

In Matthew 5:39, Jesus tells his followers "But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

In the ritual of knighthood, after the girding on of the new knight's sword, he receives a hard slap "so that he will remember what he is promising and the great burden he must carry and the great honour he is taking through the Order of Chivalry" (to paraphrase Ramon Llull's Book of the Order of Chivalry).

The blow or slap to the cheek was a part of many rituals.

The kings of Babylon—including Nebuchadnezzar himself—would submit themselves on the fourth day of the Babylonian new year to being struck on the cheek, reminding them of the importance of humility. [link] A priest in the Mesopotamian Akitu festival would slap the king and have him kneel before the statues of the god Marduk, to remind him that the gods are more powerful than kings. [link] 

Some believe Jewish tradition includes a slap at times, with an added "Mazel Tov," as this writer tells. It is a token slap, not hard. Here, however, it is argued that it does not originate in the Torah and should not be considered Jewish tradition. "Official" or not, it still happens, apparently.

Benvenuto Cellini in his autobiography tells of his father striking him a hard blow specifically in order to cement in his memory the image of a salamander seen in the fire.

The Roman Catholic sacrament of Confirmation involved a light slap on the cheek in order to show the willingness of the confirmed to "suffer for their faith." The blow on the cheek appears in medieval liturgical books. It was officially removed from the ceremony in 1971.

The practice of using a light blow to the cheek to signify a change in a person's status—reminding them of humility, elevating them to knighthood or Catholic adulthood, etc.—has existed from ancient times through medieval and into modern times. Is a common origin likely? Did the Babylonian and Mesopotamian idea of the slap denoting humility inspire Judaism and lead to the New Testament saying, and did that get carried through the Middle Ages as part of not only knighthood but also confirming a Christian's standing as an adult? We can't be certain.

What we can be certain about is the ritual of knighthood, which was explained in detail. We'll look at that next time.

The Peace of God Reception

The Peace of God and the Truce of God wrought changes in the chivalric culture of Western Europe. Starting in the 11th century, knighthood began to develop a religious component. The ritual for knighthood included fasting, a night of prayer, confession, and a symbolic bath/baptism.

Many rulers embraced this melding of religion with their secular roles. Robert the Pious (King of the Franks, 996 - 1031), embodied the new church policies in an oath:

I will not infringe on the Church in any way. I will not hurt a cleric or a monk if unarmed. I will not steal an ox, cow, pig, sheep, goat, ass, or a mare with colt. I will not attack a villain or villainess or servants or merchants for ransom. I will not take a mule or a horse male or female or a colt in pasture from any man from the calends of March to the feast of the All Saints unless to recover a debt. I will not burn houses or destroy them unless there is a knight inside. I will not root up vines. I will not attack noble ladies travelling without husband nor their maids, nor widows or nuns unless it is their fault. From the beginning of Lent to the end of Easter I will not attack an unarmed knight.

(Robert was so pious that he is given credit for some miraculous healings.)

Years later, when Pope Urban II wanted to call for a Crusade, he used the concept of the Peace and Truce to re-direct violent behavior from their fellow man to the Saracen:

Oh race of the Franks, we learn that in some of your provinces no one can venture on the road by day or by night without injury or attack by highwaymen, and no one is secure even at home. Let us then re-enact the law of our ancestors known as the Truce of God. And now that you have promised to maintain the peace among yourselves you are obligated to succour your brethren in the East, menaced by an accursed race, utterly alienated from God.

Not everyone believed that the Truce of God made sense. No less a theologian and scholar than St. Thomas Aquinas writing in the 13th century felt the Truce of God was unnecessarily limiting. Protecting the country was sufficiently important that it should also be fought for on feast days and holy days.

The ritual for confirming a knight included one blow, the only blow he was allowed to take without defending himself. Tomorrow let's look at the ritual and history of being slapped.

The Peace and Truce of God

I once mentioned how the end of the Carolingian Empire and the loss of its centralized administrative system made it difficult to mail a letter. Unfortunately, the loss of a centralized postal service was perhaps the least of the problems created in the 9th century. Without a strong central command, shifting politics and borders created numerous opportunities for warfare. This situation was not only undesirable in and of itself, it also affected innocent bystanders.

In 989, at the Council of Charroux, the Church proclaimed the Pax Dei, the "Peace of God," which declared clergy and other non-combatants "off limits" during military conflicts. Excommunication was the penalty for robbing a church, for robbing peasants of their goods or livestock, for striking or robbing a member of the clergy (unless he is bearing arms). Women and children were specifically added to the list of protected classes. In 1033, merchants and their wares were added to the list. A malefactor could avoid excommunication by making reparations.

This proved to be very popular in Western Europe. Local clergy had the responsibility to adopt and declare the Pax Dei in their region. The Abbey at Cluny gathered to itself a large territory, and many abbeys allied themselves to the Cluniac reforms. Once Cluny declared the Pax Dei, an enormous area was protected.

The Treuga Dei, or "Truce of God," was different. Created in Caen in Normandy in the 11th century, it declared that military hostilities could not take place on Sundays or any saints or feast days when daily work was suspended. Whereas the Pax Dei was declared locally by clergy, the Treuga Dei was universal. It was extended to Advent, Lent, and Rogation days (days of prayer and fasting). Over time, other days were added: Thursdays in memory of the Ascension, Fridays in memory of Good Friday, Saturdays because it was the day of the Resurrection. The Third Lateran Council in 1179 extended the Treuga to the entire Church.

How was this received by those inclined to wage war, and which influential churchman argued against the Treuga? Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you.

Cluny Abbey

William I, Duke of Aquitaine, founded Cluny Abbey in 910. Built in the Romanesque style, it had a basilica that was the largest in the world until the 16th century and St. Peter's in Rome.

More important than its size, however, was its strict adherence to the Rule of St. Benedict. Abbeys and monasteries had become lax for many reasons, and Duke William—whose nickname was "the Pious"—desired to restore a measure of piety and devoutness. He appointed Berno of Baume as its first abbot. Berno had established Baume Abbey on Benedictine principles of prayer, silence, and solitude. Baume later became a priory of the more significant Cluny, rather than an independent abbey.

Cluny had many supporters as its reputation as the leader of western monasticism grew. One was Pope Urban II of First Crusade fame, seen here consecrating the third Cluny church. Cluniac Reforms also promoted pilgrimages to the Holy Lands (which dovetailed with Urban's desire for a Crusade).

Interestingly, "poverty" had an odd relationship with the new brand of monasticism. Cluniac abbeys and churches elevated the trappings of the liturgy and increased the use of gold altar vessels, fine Bible-themed artwork like tapestries and stained glass, and polyphonic choral music.

Another practice or movement supported by the Cluniacs was the "Peace and Truce of God," an attempt to limit violence that was part and parcel of politics in Western Europe. What it was and whether it worked I'll discuss tomorrow.

The Need for Reform

When St. Benedict established the Rule of St. Benedict for the proper functioning and practices of monastic life, he could not have anticipated the ways in which his plans would deteriorate in the future.

The dangers were both foreign and domestic. Raids from Vikings were a constant disruption of monastic life: destroying holy relics, burning crops, pillaging goods, impoverishing the abbeys so that they had to turn to nobles for financial support.

Dependence on local nobles—rather than being self-sufficient, which was the original intent—led to awkward circumstances. A lord might exert undue influence over the land used by the abbey, or the abbey itself. A nobleman might expect that a relative would be installed in the privileged position of abbot or abbess. A noble might also assume control over the abbey's revenue.

Daily life could be disrupted by a non-dedicated abbot, or simply by having a nobleman retire there, which was sometimes the case. He might demand a change in the schedule so that Matins, for instance, would not take place in the middle of the night, as it was designed. The strict vegetarian diet might be expanded to include meat, fasting and silence and monks' robes could be foregone for a much more comfortable daily life.

Ironically, given the last paragraph, it was a nobleman who created the situation that would return monastic living to its Benedictine ideal. That was the Duke of Aquitaine, and the founding of Cluny Abbey, which I will tell you about tomorrow.

The First Benedictine Monastery

When St. Benedict decided to create a place where men could quietly contemplate God, removed from the cares of the world, he chose a 1700-foot above sea level cliff top in southeast Rome. From 530 until 547, he developed the Rule of St. Benedict to guide the daily lives of the monks.

There were difficulties in building, according to an account by Pope Gregory II. Satan made a rock too heavy to move by sitting on it until Benedict shooed him away, and collapsed a wall on a young monk whom Benedict had to bring back to life. It was common in hagiographies to relate how the subject overcame pagan or demonic opposition.

Benedict's time at Monte Cassino was not long. He died in 534 and was buried in the oratory of St. John on the site. The monastery itself was sacked by Lombards in 570, and abandoned.

A second monastery was established on the site in 718 by Petronax of Brescia. He was an Italian monk who made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Benedict and found a few hermits living at Monte Cassino. They asked him to lead them; donations from nobles like the Duke of Benevento allowed them to rebuild. St. Willibald and St. Sturm of Fulda were at Monte Cassino under Petronax. Once again, however, the monastery was a target, this time in 883 by Saracens. The monks of Monte Cassino re-located to Teano and then Capua until 949, when Monte Cassino was rebuilt.

Monte Cassino experienced a golden age in the 11th and 12th centuries. It acquired much land in the area, referred to as the Land of Saint Benedict (ultimately reaching 80,000 hectares) which afforded it much material wealth. The abbey had art from Byzantine and Islamic artisans and received patronage from Byzantine emperors. Three popes came from Monte Cassino during this period.

It started to close independence and authority in the 13th century. Emperor Frederick II garrisoned troops there in his war with the pope. An earthquake in 1349 collapsed most of the buildings. Pope Urban V demanded funds from all Benedictine monasteries toward rebuilding Monte Cassino in 1369.

In 1799, Monte Cassino was sacked by the French Revolutionary Army. In 1866 it was declared a national monument with the monks as custodians. In 1944, it was destroyed by American bombers on the mistaken belief that German troops were stationed there. It was rebuilt, currently housing about a dozen monks.

During the time that the monks were "in exile" at Teano and Capua, the original Rule of St. Benedict was influenced by the Cluniac Reforms, sometimes also called the Benedictine Reforms. What were they, and how did they change the lives of monks? We will explore that next time.

The Bishop of Eichstätt

Willibald spent ten years at Monte Cassino, sharing the experiences of his wide travels and helping to shape the monastic experience for Monte Cassino and another nearby Benedictine monastery.

This would change when Boniface, traveling to Rome in 738, told Pope Gregory III that he would like Willibald's help in evangelizing Germany. (It is believed that Boniface was related to Willibald through the latter's mother.) Gregory thought this was a good idea, and urged Willibald to travel once more.

Willibald came to Eichstätt, where Boniface ordained the monk, making him a priest on 22 July 741 and having him start missionary work. The following year, Boniface asked him to come to Thuringia, on the way to which Willibald ran into his brother Winibald, who had stayed behind in Rome in 724! The brothers had not seen each other in many years.

Returning to Eichstätt with Winibald, the brothers founded a "double monastery" at Heidenheim; that is, a monastery that had separate living arrangements for men and women, but sharing a single chapel and other facilities. This was more common in the eastern monastic communities and the influence of Willibald's travels. Winibald became its first abbot. They were joined by their sister, Walburga, who became its abbess.

In 746, Boniface made Willibald bishop of Eichstätt, where he served for over 40 years until his death c.787. He lived at the Heidenheim monastery, sharing his wisdom and knowledge of various countries and attracting many visitors.

Fascinating as the concept of a "double monastery" might be, the monastery of Monte Cassino has a long history that has caused it to be mentioned several times over the years of this blog, but it has never received proper attention. I'll correct that oversight tomorrow.

St. Willibald's Travels

Although St. Willibald wrote about St. Boniface (to whom he was related on his mother's side), what we mostly know about him came from another's writing, an itinerary written by an Anglo-Saxon nun named Huneberc who knew Willibald and his brother, St. Winebald. The two brothers also had a sister who became a saint, Walburga, whom I wrote about here.

In fact, the entire family was notable. Their mother was a saint, Wuna of Wessex; some think she was the sister of Boniface. Their father was known as Richard the Pilgrim because in 721 he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land with his wife and two sons, leaving his daughter in care of the abbess of Wimborne in Dorset. Richard himself died in Lucca, in Tuscany, after developing a fever; he is considered a saint and his relics were displayed in Lucca and in Eichstätt. Both his and Luna's feast day is 7 February.

After Lucca, Willibald with Winibald continued the pilgrimage. They stayed in Rome, visiting the Lateran Basilica and St. Peter's. Then disaster struck, as Huneberc relates:

Then with the passing of the days and the increasing heat of the summer, which is usually a sign of future fever, they were struck down with sickness. They found it difficult to breathe, fever set in, and at one moment they were shivering with cold the next burning with heat. They had caught the black plague. So great a hold had it got on them that, scarcely able to move, worn out with fever and almost at the point of death, the breath of life had practically left their bodies. But God in His never failing providence and fatherly love deigned to listen to their prayers and come to their aid, so that each of them rested in turn for one week whilst they attended to each other's needs.

The symptoms more closely align with malaria. After recovering, Willibald continued his journey in 724. Winibald stayed in a monastery in Rome.

Willibald went to Ephesus where he visited the tomb of John the Evangelist. He spent the winter in Lycia (in Turkey), then traveled to the island of Cyprus, then to Syria and the church of Saint John the Baptist.

He is the first known Englishman to visit the Holy Land, visiting Nazareth and Bethlehem. He also visited Egypt, before returning to Nazareth, and then Cana, Capernaum, and finally arriving in Jerusalem on 11 November 725. He visits many places in the area before going to stay awhile in Tyre, after which he went to Constantinople.

He spent two years in Constantinople, staying in a small room at the Church of the Holy Apostles. He visited Nicaea, where he studied the records from the First Council of Nicaea, which had been called by Constantine to settle the question of Arian versus Nicene Christianity. He finally left for Naples, arriving there after seven years of traveling. He then spent ten years (729 - 739) at Monte Cassino.

He might have been content to stay at Monte Cassino, but a conversation between Boniface and Pope Gregory III would change his status, his location, and reunite him with his family. I'll explain that next time.

Boniface and the Christmas Tree?

Portrayals of St. Boniface almost always show an axe in his hand or in the background. This stems from the story of Donar's Oak, a tree sacred to Germanic pagans somewhere in what is now the region of Hesse.

The Vita Bonifatii auctore Willibaldi ("Life of Boniface by Willibald") tells us the story of Boniface and the oak tree dedicated to Donar. Here is the relevant excerpt:

...the saint attempted, ... , to fell a certain oak of extraordinary size, which is called, by an old name of the pagans, the Oak of Jupiter. And when in the strength of his steadfast heart he had cut the lower notch, there was present a great multitude of pagans, who in their souls were earnestly cursing the enemy of their gods. But when the fore side of the tree was notched only a little, suddenly the oak's vast bulk, driven by a blast from above, crashed to the ground, shivering its crown of branches as it fell; and, as if by the gracious compensation of the Most High, it was also burst into four parts, and four trunks of huge size, equal in length, were seen, unwrought by the brethren who stood by. At this sight the pagans who before had cursed now, on the contrary, believed, and blessed the Lord, and put away their former reviling.

The oak timber was used to build an oratory dedicated to St. Peter; the rest, as they say, is history.

At some point, however, this story became elaborated upon and embellished with long dialogues between Boniface and the pagan priests. Unbelievably, these stories evolved to Boniface convincing the newly-converted pagans that, rather than worship the oak, they should worship the fir, because the evergreen nature represents everlasting life, because it points upward to heaven, and because it is the wood of peace (too soft for weapons). This has led some to say that Boniface invented the Christmas Tree. 

American author and clergyman Henry van Dyke wrote "The First Christmas Tree" in 1897. This may have been the origin of the modern myth.

Willibald was an interesting character, and a prime example of how well-traveled a person could be in the 8th century. He managed to visit most of the known world in his lifetime. We'll follow his travels tomorrow.

St. Boniface

About 675 CE in Wessex, England, a boy named Wynfrid was born to a noble family. Educated in the Benedictine abbeys of Exeter and Nursling, he chose life as. Benedictine, becoming ordained at the age of about 30.

He traveled to Frisia, attempting to convert the Saxons there, with little success. Returning to England, he discovered that he had been chosen to replace the recently deceased abbot, but he preferred to continue his efforts to evangelize pagans.

On a trip to Rome in 718, he met with Pope Gregory II, who gave him the Name "Bonifatius" meaning "good fate" or "auspicious." Gregory made him a bishop, but instead of granting him a diocese sent him to Germania—where the spent the rest of his life, attempting to convert the area. His job was made more difficult by the war currently being fought between Charles Martel and the Frisian king, Radbod. (Radbod died in 719, but Frisia continued to oppose the Franks, right up through the Massacre of Verden in 782.

Fortunately for Boniface, Charles Martel supported his mission, as did succeeding Carolingian rulers. Boniface's goal of destroying as many pagan symbols as he could probably dovetailed with the Frankish goal to subjugate the Saxons and see them ruled by Frankish culture.

A second trip to Rome in 732 saw him receive the pallium as archbishop from Pope Gregory III. That same year, Charles Martel defeated the Umayyad Caliphate at the battle of Tours, after which he rewarded many churches and monasteries with lands. This act, unfortunately, led to church officials benefitting materially, a practice which Boniface deplored. Martel, however, did establish four dioceses in Bavaria with Boniface as their archbishop.

Boniface had one of his disciples found a monastery at Fulda, where Boniface was interred when he died in 754.

The axe you see in the picture above is pretty ubiquitous in portrayals of Boniface because of a particular act of his, the felling of the Donar Oak, a tree sacred to pagans. And speaking of Boniface and trees, did you know that some credit him with the invention of the Christmas Tree? I think tomorrow would be a good time to tell you about that.

The Abbey of Fulda

Fulda is a town in Hesse, Germany. In 744 CE, a disciple of St. Boniface named St. Sturm built a monastery there, intended to be the largest monastery ever founded at Boniface's behest. Boniface argued—and succeeded—in having Fulda placed directly under the supervision of the popes, rather than local bishops. Sturm was its first abbot. Ten years later, Boniface died and was buried there, which enhanced the reputation of the monastery. Visitors and donations flowed to Fulda, and it became a prominent center of learning.

One of its major manuscripts was the Annales Fuldenses, "Annals of Fulda," a contemporary account of the Carolingians from the final years of Louis the Pious (died 840) to 900. It is believed that Einhard, who was educated there, is responsible for entries up until 838.

Production of manuscripts was a specialty of Fulda, increasing the size of the library to about 2000 volumes. The only surviving copy of the De Rerum Natura of Lucretius was probably discovered here in 1417 (mentioned here). Before his death in 771, Charlemagne's brother Carloman took special interest in Fulda to guarantee its success. The monks also learned many other trades in order for the monastery to be self-sufficient, even living outside the monastery to pursue these trades.

After Sturm, Abbot Baugulf ran the monastery from 779 to 802. He focused on expanding educational aspects of the monastery. Later, under the 5th abbot, Hrabanus Maurus, a new school was formed: Fulda monastery school was essentially a high school, with separate departments for theological studies, the arts, and the sciences. He also sought out more holy relics for the monastery, which further increased its importance as a pilgrimage site.

A turning point for Fulda came in 1221, when its prominence was recognized by the abbots being named Princes of the Holy Roman Empire. This slowly affected Fulda adversely, however: the increasingly wealthy monastery tried to turn public lands to their own private lands, which led to a local insurrection in the 14th century. The monastery was dissolved in 1802, but the diocese and community that sprang up because of it still exists.

Once again, I find that a name that weaves in and out of the posts on this blog has been neglected. St. Boniface has appeared in several posts over the years as a prominent figure without ever discussing what made him prominent. I will fix in that gap that next time.

The Law of Frisians

Nowadays, Frisian or Friesian conjures images of horses. The Friesian is one of the oldest horse breeds, popular as a war horse in the 16th and 17th centuries. Their origin is Frisia in the northern Netherlands and northwestern Germany.

When Frisians joined Widukind in rebellion during the reign of Charlemagne, they guaranteed life would change: Charlemagne prevailed, and forced the Frisians to accept Christianity and a set of laws he imposed upon them. This was the Lex Frisionum, the "Law of he Frisians."

The Lex was based on existing Frisian law. There were four legal classes—nobles, freemen, serfs, and slaves—and fines were applied differently to the different classes. (Clergy were not subject to civil law.) Twenty-two chapters of the Lex were all about fines, including wergild, the payment to relatives of a killed person. As with the Anglo-Saxons (and unlike many other cultures), the wergild was equal whether a man or woman.

The Lex includes two references to trial by ordeal, mentioned here and elsewhere. The Frisian method was to hold a stone that has been pulled from boiling water. Blisters were expected, but if they healed within three days, the holder was deemed innocent. A noble could mark himself innocent by Canonical Purgation, described in the post on Oath of Purgation.

The problem with the Lex Frisionum is that we don't have any original documents. What we know about it comes from a 1557 version, compiled with other Germanic law documents from the monastery at Fulda. We don't know how faithful that copy was to the original; some scholars point out that Charlemagne would not have allowed pagan elements to remain. Like so much of history, we only know what we have, and so much is speculation.

Monastic libraries like that at Fulda provide much of what we know, and since Fulda has been mentioned several times recently, I think I should delve into its significance.

Until next time...

The Acts of Charlemagne

Charlemagne is a known and respected figure in history, his reign establishing a re-birth of arts and education among the Franks, uniting much of western Europe, creating a non-centralized administrative system that managed an empire, re-establishing (with the help of the pope) the "Holy Roman Empire."

Many of those accomplishments, of course, were built on a foundation of decades of war that killed thousands. We've all heard of mass Christianizations by rulers of large sections of the populace, but haven't talked enough about mass slaughters. The two often went hand-in-hand.

Charlemagne spent decades focused on the Saxons to his east, wanting control over their politics and their souls. In 772 he destroyed the Irminsul, an important pagan symbol, and proclaimed rulership over much of Saxon territory. Ten years later, a rebellion rose up among the Saxons against Frankish forces at Süntel in Lower Saxony, joined by the Frisians. The Saxons prevailed, killing envoys of Charlemagne, four counts, and 20 additional noblemen.

When he heard this, the Lord King Charles rushed to the place with all the Franks that he could gather on short notice and advanced to where the Aller flows into the Weser. Then all the Saxons came together again, submitted to the authority of the Lord King, and surrendered the evildoers who were chiefly responsible for this revolt to be put to death—four thousand and five hundred of them. This sentence was carried out. Widukind was not among them since he had fled to Nordmannia [Denmark]. When he had finished this business, the Lord King returned to Francia. [Royal Frankish Annals]

The execution of the 4500 is called the Massacre of Verden. Some annals claim the 4500 were given a choice of baptism or execution, as the woodcut above displays. The instigator was Widukind, who continued being a thorn in Charlemagne's side over the next few bloody years until his final defeat and acceptance of baptism, along with the Frisians who had joined Widukind's Saxons.

Once Charlemagne subjugated a nation, forcing Christianity upon them, he would send missionaries. He would also establish a set of laws for them. In this particular case, the Frisians also asked for their own bishop. Charlemagne sent Ludger, later called "The Apostle of Saxony." He also created the Lex Frisionum, their own set of laws, which I'll dig into next.

The Life of Charlemagne

There are two "Lives" of Charlemagne, one by Einhard who was a member of the Carolingian court for decades, and one by a "Monk of St. Gall." The Monk writes that he was given the idea for the biography when Emperor Charles III visited St. Gall for three days; this can be dated to 883, meaning the Monk was writing 70 years after its subjects death, and 60 years after Einhard's eyewitness account.

Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni ("Life of Charles the Great") is not just a list of wars fought and won—and there were many—but offers insight to the habits and interests of its subject, and in so doing gives a glimpse of daily life in the Frankish court.

One thing we learn is of the close relationship Charlemagne had with the scholars with whom he surrounded himself: they had nicknames for each other. Charles himself was called (King) David, while Einhard's skill at managing building projects and his knowledge of Scripture saw him named Bezaleel, from a character in the Bible

...filled with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, and in carving of timber. [Exodus, xxxi]

Einhard, writing after Charles' death, forsakes the idea of making up tales of his subject's youth, claiming that no one was currently alive who could tell him anything about the king's life before his time as king. As much as Einhard writes because of his admitted great admiration for Charles, he refuses to do what so many medieval biographers would do: embellish his subject's early life with tales of his prowess, etc.

Of the 47 years' worth of wars discussed, the penultimate with the Huns stands out because of the near-total victory by Charlemagne, after which the spoils of war changed the Franks from "a poor people" to a land with so many riches that their coinage was devalued and commodity prices rose.

Of Charlemagne's personal life, we learn of his wives and concubines and their respective children (Einhard even admits that one name escapes him; the honesty of his account in places is refreshing). We learn that he quarreled with his mother Bertrada only once (when he divorced his first wife whom he had married on Bertrada's advice), and that he treated his sister with the same reverence he treated his mother.

As soon as his sons were old enough, he had them taught to ride and hunt and use weapons. His daughters were taught the arts of the spindle and distaff and to avoid idleness; all his children were taught the liberal arts, and to adopt high principles. When he was at court, dinners were always with the family. His attachment to his children was strong, and he openly wept when two sons and a daughter pre-deceased him. He also wept for the death of Pope Adrian I, whom he considered a great friend.

His sons and daughters also traveled with him, the sons riding up front and the daughters in the rear, guarded. One failing in Charles as a king was the fact that his daughters would have made him some powerful alliances through carefully chosen marriages, yet he never allowed them to be married, keeping them always with him. He had betrothed his eldest, Rotrude, to Emperor Constantine VI, but it was broken off, possibly because of religious differences, or the distance she would have been from her father?

Despite the affection he showed for his family, he was a king and emperor who had to be harsh at times. Some of those times will be explored tomorrow.

Einhard

Charlemagne, as has been mentioned many times over the years, brought many educated people to his court (Alcuin, for example), promoting learning and art to the point where there was a Carolingian Renascence long before the Renaissance of common knowledge. One of those scholars and historians was the Frankish Eginhard, in Latin called Einhardus; we simply call him Einhard.

Born about 775, when Charlemagne was already king of the Franks and the Lombards, Einhard was sent to be educated at Fulda. He was physically small, and so focused on scholarship and Latin rather than fencing and riding. (His Latin style is considered superior to that of most writers of the time.) Around 791-2 he was accepted to Charlemagne's court and was made "Clerk of the Works" for several construction projects.

His wife was named Emma; legend says she was a daughter of Charlemagne, and that the two eloped but were forgiven by her father. The woodcut above shows the diminutive Einhard being carried by Emma as they flee Court. There is no evidence to support this story, but folklore liked the idea. The Count of Erbach in 1810 claimed descent from Charlemagne through Einhard and Emma.

He was never given a title or a permanent position until after Charlemagne's death, when Louis the Pious made Einhard his private secretary. Einhard spent about 40 years serving the father and son kings, retiring in 830. Before he retired, however, he made use of the Royal Frankish Annals to compose the Vita Karoli Magni ("Life of Charlemagne"), the most thorough—and, of course, biased—contemporary biography we have for Charlemagne. He died in 840.

Einhard was responsible for other works: On the Adoration of the Cross, On the Translations and the Miracles of SS. Marcellinus and Petrus, and a collection of letters. But the biography of Charlemagne is worth taking a closer look, next time we meet.