the Eastern empire, and he is often called the new Constantine, but is as far superior to him as the
Latin empire was to the Greek. He was emphatically a man of Providence.
Charlemagne, or Karl der Grosse, towers high above the crowned princes of his age, and
is the greatest as well as the first of the long line of German emperors from the eighth to the
nineteenth century. He is the only prince whose greatness has been inseparably blended with his
French name.^240 Since Julius Caesar history had seen no conqueror and statesman of such
commanding genius and success; history after him produced only two military heroes that may be
compared with him) Frederick II. of Prussia, and Napoleon Bonaparte (who took him and Caesar
for his models), but they were far beneath him in religious character, and as hostile to the church
as he was friendly to it. His lofty intellect shines all the more brightly from the general ignorance
and barbarism of his age. He rose suddenly like a meteor in dark midnight. We do not know even
the place and date of his birth, nor the history of his youth and education.^241
His Reign.
His life is filled with no less than fifty-three military campaigns conducted by himself or
his lieutenants, against the Saxons (18 campaigns), Lombards (5), Aquitanians, Thuringians,
Bavarians) Avars or Huns, Danes, Slaves, Saracens, and Greeks. His incessant activity astonished
his subjects and enemies. He seemed to be omnipresent in his dominions, which extended from the
Baltic and the Elbe in the North to the Ebro in the South, from the British Channel to Rome and
even to the Straits of Messina, embracing France, Germany, Hungary, the greater part of Italy and
Spain. His ecclesiastical domain extended over twenty-two archbishoprics or metropolitan sees,
Rome, Ravenna, Milan, Friuli (Aquileia), Grado, Cologne, Mayence, Salzburg, Treves, Sens,
Besançon, Lyons, Rouen, Rheims, Arles, Vienna, Moutiers-en-Tarantaise, Ivredun, Bordeaux,
Tours, Bourges, Narbonne.^242 He had no settled residence, but spent much time on the Rhine, at
Ingelheim, Mayence, Nymwegen, and especially at Aix-la-Chapelle on account of its baths. He
encouraged trade, opened roads, and undertook to connect the Main and the Danube by canal. He
gave his personal attention to things great and small. He introduced a settled order and unity of
organization in his empire, at the expense of the ancient freedom and wild independence of the
German tribes, although he continued to hold every year, in May, the general assembly of the
freemen (Maifeld). He secured Europe against future heathen and Mohammedan invasion and
devastation. He was universally admired or feared in his age. The Greek emperors sought his
alliance; hence the Greek proverb, "Have the Franks for your friends, but not for your neighbors."
The Caliph Harounal-Raschid, the mightiest ruler in the East, sent from Bagdad an embassy to him
with precious gifts. But he esteemed a good sword more than gold. He impressed the stamp of his
genius and achievements upon the subsequent history of Germany and France.
Appearance and Habits of Charlemagne.
(^240) Joseph de Maistre: "Cet homme est si grand que, la grandeur a pénétré son nom." (ch. 4),
(^241) "It would be folly," says Eginhard "to write a word about the birth and infancy or even the boyhood of Charles, for
nothing has ever been written on the subject, and there is no one alive who can give information about it." His birth is usually
assigned to April 2, 742, at Aix-la-Chapelle; but the legend makes him the child of illegitimate love, who grew up wild as a
miller’s son in Bavaria. His name is mentioned only twice before be assumed the reins of government, once at a court reception
given by his father to pope Stephen II., and once as a witness in the Aquitanian campaigns.
(^242) According to the enumeration of Eginhard (ch. 33), who, however, gives only 21, omitting Narbonne. Charles
bequeathed one-third of his treasure and moveable goods to the metropolitan sees.