and pope; their mutual dependence was galling to both, but for centuries inescapable. There was
constant friction, with advantage now to one side, now to the other. At last, in the thirteenth
century, the conflict became irreconcilable. The Pope was victorious, but lost moral authority
shortly afterwards. The Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor both survived, the Pope to the
present day, the Emperor to the time of Napoleon. But the elaborate medieval theory that had
been built up concerning their respective powers ceased to be effective during the fifteenth
century. The unity of Christendom, which it maintained, was destroyed by the power of the
French, Spanish, and English monarchies in the secular sphere, and by the Reformation in the
sphere of religion.
The character of Charles the Great and his entourage is thus summed up by Dr. Gerhard
Seeliger: *
Vigorous life was developed at Charles's court. We see there magnificence and genius, but
morality also. For Charles was not particular about the people he drew round him. He himself
was no model, and he suffered the greatest licence in those whom he liked and found useful. As
"Holy Emperor" he was addressed, though his life exhibited little holiness. He is so addressed
by Alcuin, who also praises the Emperor's beautiful daughter Rotrud as distinguished for her
virtues in spite of her having borne a son to Count Roderic of Maine, though not his wife.
Charles would not be separated from his daughters, he would not allow their marriage, and he
was therefore obliged to accept the consequences. The other daughter, Bertha, also had two
sons by the pious Abbot Angilbert of St. Riquier. In fact the court of Charles was a centre of
very loose life.
Charlemagne was a vigorous barbarian, politically in alliance with the Church, but not unduly
burdened with personal piety. He could not read or write, but he inaugurated a literary
renaissance. He was dissolute in his life, and unduly fond of his daughters, but he did all in his
power to promote holy living among his subjects. He, like his father Pepin, made skilful use of
the zeal of missionaries to promote his influence in Germany, but he saw to it that popes obeyed
his orders. They did this the more willingly, because Rome had become a barbarous city, in
which the person of the Pope was not safe without
* In Cambridge Medieval History, II, 663.