Charlemagne is the heart of the 8th century. The only man in history with whose name the adjective great has become so thoroughly incor porated that most people think of it as an essential part of his name, and he thoroughly deserves that distinction. At his accession Charlemagne's kingdom was the bulwark of the Christianity of the West. At his death his empire included most of western and southern Europe. Thought of usually as a warrior his greatness is reflected much more in his success ful pursuit of a far-reaching constructive policy. He put an end to the process of political dis integration which had been at work in Europe since long before the fall of the Roman Empire, and he made it possible for men to think of progress and civilization in place of being con stantly occupied with resistance to barbarian aggression which for three centuries had been their one preoccupation. It was a fitting con summation of his work that he was crowned emperor of the Romans by the Pope at Rome on Christmas Eve of the year 800. It was a striking omen of the new outlook for Europe when in the first year of the 9th century and of the Imperial reign an embassy arrived with precious Oriental presents from the great caliph of the East whose name is as well known in history and romance as Charlemagne's own — Haroun al Raschid.
Charlemagne lives in romance through his expedition into Spain, whither he went to put an end to the menace of the Moors to his king dom by attacking them in their own stronghold. After some years of war, begun at the instance of an embassy from Spain, in the year of the mystical number 777, he succeeded in conquer ing all the district north of the Ebro, and estab lished there the Spanish March, a name given to outlying districts of his domain whose rule was committed to special officials called mar graves, or counts of the marches, or marks, from which our word marquis. Charlemagne's defeat of the Moors was the first step in the gradual expulsion of the Mohammedans from Spain which was not to be accomplished in its entirety for over 700 years. On the return from his victorious expedition to Spain the rear guard of Charlemagne's army was attacked and cut to pieces by the Basques in the pass of Ronces valles, in the Pyrenees. The battle of that name, fought by Roland and his Paladins with surpassing courage to the bitter end, was cele brated in song and story for many centuries afterward. The prodigies of valor there done tinged even the tales of chivalry which were to occupy so much Spanish attention in the later Middle Ages and whose influence was felt until Cervantes laughed the romances of chivalry away.
Charlemagne lives in history much more as a lawgiver, an organizer of the civil functions of his great empire and of education and oppor tunities for intellectual even for his success in arms. At his invitation Al euin, called a Saxon monk by Charlemagne's earliest biographers, but claimed an Irishman (Albinus) by many writers, was invited to organize the schools all over Charlemagne's dominions. He was given the powers of Im perial Minister of Education. He well deserved Charlemagne's confidence. As Duruy says: "Al cuin was truly a scholar ; he was familiar with Pythagoras; often cites Aristotle, Homer, Plato, Virgil and Pliny, and is one of the most notice able instances of the union of those elements so difficult to harmonize, the spirit of ancient lit erature with the spirit of It is interesting indeed to read of his founding in the palace of Charlemagne an academy in which the emperor and all his family and all the nobility at court were members. In this acad
emy the emperor bore the name of David, Alcuin took the name of Flaccus, while other members took such names as Homer, Plato and Virgil. We have some 300 of his letters ad dressed by this modern Aristotle to the Alex ander of the West.
Charlemagne's efforts for the provision of education for his people included women as well as men. His own daughters as well as those of the nobility attended the Palace School, and there are letters of Alcuin which show that they were deeply interested in the intellectual problems of the time. The em peror also recognized the social obligations of the ruler and ordered that there should be hos pitals in connection with all cathedrals and monasteries. At this time the word hospital included also refuges for the infirm, the old, the deformed and defective, and even the insane as well as for the homeless wayfarer.
In spite of many vicissitudes, wars, political disturbance and human incidental frailties, Charlemagne's work for civilization bore fruit down the generations, though his empire broke up and internal dissensions arose mainly through the custom of dividing the realm among his sons which Charlemagne also followed. He deserves such expressions as that of John Fiske: When we think of all the work big with promise that went on in those centuries which modern writers in their ignorance used once to set apart and stigmatize as the Dark Age; . . . when we think of the various work of a Gregory, a Benedict, a Boniface, an Alfred, a Charlemagne, we feel that there is a sense in which the most brilliant achievements of pagan antiquity are dwarfed in comparison with While Charlemagne was reigning gloriously in Europe at the end of the 8th century a ruler in many ways scarcely less worthy than he and equally famous, Haroun Al Rasclnd (Aaron the orthodox), occupied the Eastern caliphate. Haroun was the fifth of the Abasside caliphs, an accomplished scholar, a poet of distinction, who gathered wits, poets and musicians around him. It is for this reason that he is so widely and favorably known for it is to the Arabian Nights .rather than to history that his fame is due. How much of the real greatness of his reign was due to Yalya, his vizier of the Barmecide family, is difficult to say. Ha roun's personal character is revealed by his murder of his sister and his nephews when he learned of her marriage to the brother of his vizier. While all his life he occupied a posi tion of bitter hostility to the Greek emperors, there is a well-established tradition that he sent presents to Charlemagne and endeavored to cultivate his friendship though perhaps only with the idea of thus making less of the rulers of the Eastern Empire.