CHARLEMAGNE 



1274 



CHARLES 



Pass of Roncesvalles. He was determined, too, 

 to establish Christianity among the Saxons, 

 and for almost thirty years waged intermittent 

 war against them. During the struggle, after 

 one of numerous revolts, Charlemagne had 

 4,500 Saxon prisoners put to death at one time 

 all in an effort to force the Saxons to become 

 Christians. In time they yielded to these 

 forceful methods; Saxony became a part of 

 Charlemagne's empire, and most of the Saxon 

 leaders of the old regime were put to death. 

 I Holy Roman Empire. In 800 Pope Leo III 

 called Charlemagne to Rome to ask his aid 

 in a struggle against a hostile faction. After 

 Charlemagne was victorious the Pope rewarded 

 him by placing upon his head a crown of gold 

 and proclaiming him emperor of the Romans, 

 the successor of Augustus and Constantine. 

 Thus was established the Holy Roman Empire, 

 that curious monarchy which played so large 

 a part in the history of medieval Europe. 



Importance in History. It is not only or 

 chiefly as a conqueror that Charlemagne was 

 an important world figure. He was as well a 

 statesman who bound together his empire and 

 prevented the great nobles from becoming too 

 powerful by his missi dominici, or officials 

 appointed by him and responsible to him. 

 He protected commerce, punishing severely the 

 robbers who had made perilous the life of trav- 

 eling merchants, and encouraged and improved 

 agriculture. Then, too, he was an enthusiastic 

 patron of learning. He formed at his court 

 a school for nobles and their sons, with Alcuin 

 as teacher, and he himself learned to read 

 Latin and even Greek, though he could not 

 write legibly. 



His great empire, which included not only 

 modern France but Germany, Holland, Bel- 

 gium, Switzerland, Hungary, most of Italy and 

 a part of Spain, was left to his son, Louis I, 

 but the son was not as strong as the father, 

 and the carefully built structure was in time 

 torn apart. A.MC c. 



Consult Davis's Charlemagne, in "Heroes of 

 the Nations" Series ; Prutz's Age of Charle- 

 magne; Mombert's History of Charles the Great. 



Related Subjects. For additional information 

 connected with the life and work of Charle- 

 magne, see 



Charles (Prance) 



Charles Martel 



Franks 



Holy Roman Empire 



CHARLEROI, sharleroi', PA., a thriving 

 borough in Washington County, in the south- 

 western part of the state, on the Monongahela 



River, forty miles southeast of Pittsburgh. 

 Railway transportation is provided by the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad. Charleroi was settled 

 in 1890 and was incorporated the following 

 year; its growth is due to the mining indus- 

 try and to manufactures, the principal prod- 

 ucts being various kinds of glass and shovels. 

 In 1910 the population was 9,615; in 1914 it 

 was 11,185. The area is less than one square 

 mile. 



CHARLES [England], the name of two Eng- 

 lish sovereigns of the royal Scottish House of 

 Stuart, both of whom were firm believers in 

 the doctrine of the "divine right of kings." 

 The life of the first of the two was a sacrifice 

 to this belief. 



Charles I (1600-1649), son of James I, per- 

 sisted in a course of tyranny throughout his 

 reign that ended in his execution and the 

 establishment of the Commonwealth of Eng- 

 land. He came to the throne of England in 

 1625; within the next four years he convened 

 three Parliaments and dissolved each of them 

 because they refused to submit to his arbi- 

 trary ways. To the famous Petition of Right, 

 drawn up by the third Parliament, he at first 



CHARLES I 

 The famous triple portrait, by Van Dyck. 



agreed, but speedily violated its most im- 

 portant clauses by attempting to raise money 

 by unlawful taxes and loans. Between 1629 

 and 1640 Charles governed England without 

 a Parliament, using the infamous courts of 

 the Star Chamber and High Commission to 

 make his various methods of raising money 

 seem legal. 



In 1639 the king's attempt to force Scotland 

 to use English forms of worship led to a 

 rebellion, and he was obliged to call a Par- 

 liament in order to have money voted to 



