CHARLEMAGNE 



1273 



CHARLEMAGNE 



and generally appreciated organizations within 

 the Church. Because of their self-sacrificing 

 lives and their systematic devotion to assisting 

 the needy, the members have been spared per- 

 secution many times during religious conflicts. 

 They have been saved by opposing forces 

 when cities in which they were established 

 were besieged and nearly destroyed. There 

 are now a number of Orders in America which 

 are popularly known as the Sisters of Charity. 

 The first of these was founded in Maryland in 

 1809, by Mother Seton, and its branches are 

 numerous. G.W.M. 



CHARLEMAGNE, shahr'le mane (742-814), 

 the first of the Holy Roman emperors and the 

 only ruler of whose name the Great has been 

 made a real part for Charlemagne means 



CHARLEMAGNE 



The inscription declares that "Charles the 

 Great ruled as emperor for fourteen years" ; the 

 sword and the orb represent respectively his 

 might and his divine right; while the emblems 

 above, the eagle of Germany and the fleur-de-Ii 

 of France, indicate that his empire marked the 

 beginning of those two great states. The original 

 painting of the above was by Albert Durer ; it 

 now in the National Museum at Nuremberg, Ger- 

 many. 



literally Charles the Great. His influence on 

 the history of Europe is hard to over-estimate, 

 for he lived just at the close of the Dark Ages, 

 and by his enlightened measures did much to 



hasten the dawn of a newer and better civiliza- 

 tion. 



He was the son of Pepin the Short and the 

 grandson of the famous Charles Martel. On 

 his father's death in 768 he became joint king 

 of the Franks with his brother Carloman, but 

 three years later Carloman died, and Charle- 

 magne was recognized as sole king of the 

 Franks. Desiderius, king of the Lombards, 

 already angered because Charlemagne had mar- 

 ried his daughter and divorced her, supported 

 the claims of Carloman's children to their 

 father's part of the kingdom, and against him 

 Charlemagne undertook his first campaign. 

 This being victoriously ended, he seized all 

 the Lombard possessions and placed on his 

 own head the famous Iron Crown of Lombardy. 

 In 774, before leaving Italy, Charlemagne vis- 

 ited Rome and formally approved the donation 

 of certain lands made by his father to the 

 Pope. This is looked upon as the beginning 

 of the Papal claims to temporal power, which 

 caused so much disturbance in Europe 

 throughout medieval times. 



Campaigns. From this time on his long 

 reign was filled with wars; it is said that he 

 made, in all, fifty-two campaigns. Lombards, 

 Saracens and Saxons especially were time after 

 time forced to defend themselves against him, 



CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE 

 AB divided in 843. 



usually in vain. Yet despite his success Charle- 

 magne was not a great warrior. His genius lay 

 rather in organization, and this helped him 

 not only to win his victories but to weld his 

 great empire with its unrelated peoples into 

 something approaching unity. The religious 

 motive was often strong in his wars. For this 

 reason he undertook in 777 an expedition 

 against the Saracens in Spain, and it was on 

 his return march that his rear guard under 

 Roland was attacked and cut to pieces by the 

 wild peoples of the Pyrenees in the famous 



