The Historians' History of the World 07 [The History of the Later Roman Empire]

A Frankish Trumpeter

He ate and drank moderately, but he was especially moderate in drinking for he had the greatest horror of drunkenness in any man to say nothing of himself and his companions. He was less abstemious in eating and would often growl that fasting was bad for his body. He very seldom gave banquets, indeed, only on the chief festival days, but then they were attended in great numbers. His daily meal was furnished from four courses in addition to the roast meat which the hunters were wont to bring in on spits and of which he partook more freely than of any other dish. While at his meals he would hear some sort of performance or reading. Histories and the valorous deeds of the men of old were read over to him. He was fond of the works of St. Augustine, especially of those entitled De Civitate Dei. He drank very sparingly of wine and other liquors, rarely taking at his meals more than three draughts. In summer after his midday repast he would take some fruit and one draught, then he would doff his clothes and shoes just as was his custom at night-time, and take two or three hours’ rest. At night he slept so lightly that he would break his repose by waking and even by rising four or five times. While he was dressing and strapping on his shoes he not only received his friends, but if the count of the palace informed him of any suit that could not be determined without his orders, he gave instructions to admit the litigants without further ado; he would then sit as if in court and give judgment on the dispute as soon as he had mastered it. Nor was this all that was settled at this time but he would then give orders for whatever official duty was to be performed on that day and give instructions to any particular servant to do his work.

His fluency of speech was resourceful and abundant and he could express with great openness whatever he wanted to say. Nor did his own language alone satisfy him, but he spent trouble in acquiring foreign tongues; of these he learned Latin so well that he would pray in Latin as freely as in his own language; he understood Greek, however, better than he could talk it. He was so voluble in speaking that he almost produced the impression of being a chatterer. He had the greatest respect for the liberal arts and their learned exponents whom he loaded with great honour. To learn grammar he attended the lectures of the aged Peter of Pisa, a deacon; for the rest of his instructions Albinus was his tutor, otherwise called Alcuin, also a deacon, a Saxon by race, from Britain, the most learned man of the day. With him the king spent most of his time and study in rhetoric and dialectics, and particularly in astronomy. He learned the art of reckoning by numbers and with deep thought and much skill most carefully investigated the courses of the stars. He tried to learn to write, and used to keep his tablets and copybook for this purpose beneath his pillow in bed, so that when he had leisure he could train his hand but he made little progress.

He devoted himself to the Christian religion which had been instilled into him in his infancy with the greatest holiness and piety, and on this account he built the Basilica of Aachen, a work of great beauty, which he embellished with silver and gold and with candlesticks and lattices and doors of solid brass. When he could not get columns and marble for this structure anywhere else, he caused them to be brought from Rome and from Ravenna. As long as his health permitted he was an untiring worshipper in church at matins and even-song and also during the hours of the night and at the time of the sacrifice, and he made it his great care that all the services of the church should be conducted with the greatest cleanliness. Very often he would caution the sacristans not to allow anything improper or foul to be brought into or left in the building. He provided quantities of sacred vessels, gold and silver, and of priestly vestments so that while the mass was celebrated no one—not even the doorkeepers, who are the lowest order of ecclesiastics—was obliged to perform his duties in private dress. He industriously improved the order of reading and chanting. For he was a master in both, though he did not read in public, nor sing above a whisper.

In helping the poor, in free charity, which the Greeks call almsgiving, he was devout, making this his care not only in his own country and kingdom, but he would often send money across the seas into Syria and Egypt and Africa, to Jerusalem and Alexandria and Carthage, where he knew the Christians were living in poverty, and out of compassion for their penury. To this end he untiringly sought the friendship of transpontine kings that some solace and comfort might be forthcoming to the Christians under their sway. Above all other sacred and venerable places in Rome he loved the church of St. Peter the apostle, the treasury of which he enriched with an immense sum in gold, in silver, and in jewels. He sent many countless gifts to the pontiffs, and during his whole reign nothing lay so near his heart as that the city of Rome should assume its ancient prerogative through his zeal and patronage, and that the church of St. Peter should not only be in safe keeping and protection through him, but should also be embellished and enriched with his presents above all other churches. Valuing this ambition as he did within the forty-seven years of his reign, he found leisure but four times to visit Rome for the sake of fulfilling his vows and praying.

HIS IMPERIAL TITLE (800 A.D.)

[800-814 A.D.]

These were not the only reasons for his last visit to Rome, but the Romans had compelled Pope Leo to implore the trusty assistance of the king when that pontiff had been most seriously injured, for they had torn out his eyes and cut out his tongue. So the king came to Rome to reform the condition of the church which was sorely disturbed, and he stayed there the whole winter in this pursuit. During this time he received the name of emperor and of augustus, to which at first he was so averse that he vowed that he would not have entered the church on that day, although it was a festival day, had he been able to foresee the intention of the pope. Yet he bore the envy that the name raised with the Roman emperors, who were most indignant at his assumption of it, with great patience, and he subdued their sullen hostility by a graciousness of demeanour in which he was most certainly their master, sending them frequent embassies and calling them his brothers in his letters to them.

Having adopted the imperial title he turned to the numerous deficiencies in the laws of his people—for the Franks have two laws which differ considerably in very many places. He meditated how to fill up the omissions and reconcile what conflicted and to correct what was mischievous and erroneously stated; but of these projects none were fulfilled except that he increased the laws by a few chapters and these were fragmentary. But he caused the laws of all nations under his dominion which had not been reduced to writing to be definitely codified. So too he wrote out and committed to memory the rough songs of antiquity in which the exploits and wars of the ancient kings used to be sung. He also began a grammar of his native speech. He gave names to the months in the national tongue, for before this the Franks spoke of them partly by the Latin and partly by foreign names. Also he designated the twelve winds by proper appellations, whereas before this, words could not be found for more than about four. The month January he called Wintarmanoth; February, Hornung; March, Lentzinmanoth; April, Ostarmanoth; May, Winnemanoth; June, Brachmanoth; July, Hewimanoth; August, Aranmanoth; September, Witumanoth; October, Windumemanoth; November, Herbistmanoth; December, Heilagmanoth. And the winds he named thus: that called in Latin Subsolanus he called Ostroniwint; Eurus, Ostsunderen; Euroauster, Sundostren; Auster, Sundren; Austroafricus, Sundwestren; Africus, Westsundren; Zephyrus, Westren; Chorus, Westnordren; Circius, Nordwestren; Septenrio, Nordren; Aquilo, Nordostren; Vulturnus, Ostnorden.