WEBVTT 00:01.400 --> 00:04.330 PAUL FREEDMAN: Today, ladies and gentlemen, 00:04.333 --> 00:09.373 we move back to Northern Europe to the northern part of 00:09.367 --> 00:11.297 the former Roman Empire. 00:11.300 --> 00:14.800 And since you've done the reading, I won't be giving 00:14.800 --> 00:18.430 anything away by saying that the culmination of what we're 00:18.433 --> 00:22.433 talking about is Charlemagne and Charlemagne's coronation 00:22.433 --> 00:24.773 in Rome at the hands of the Pope in 00:24.767 --> 00:30.527 the year 800 as emperor. 00:30.533 --> 00:33.473 We'll talk about what that title means, a title that had 00:33.467 --> 00:41.297 not been seen in 325 years in the West, at least not agreed 00:41.300 --> 00:46.100 upon by everyone in Western Europe. 00:46.100 --> 00:48.970 Charlemagne, at this time, didn't control quite 00:48.967 --> 00:50.427 everything in Western Europe. 00:50.433 --> 00:55.073 You have a map in the Wickham book of his empire, bequeathed 00:55.067 --> 00:59.597 to his successors in the year 843, the year that it is 00:59.600 --> 01:00.830 partitioned. 01:00.833 --> 01:06.373 This does not include the British Isles. 01:06.367 --> 01:09.227 It does not include most of Spain, which 01:09.233 --> 01:11.503 was in Islamic hands. 01:11.500 --> 01:18.030 But it is a pretty convincing effort at the restoration of 01:18.033 --> 01:21.173 the Roman Empire, even though its base-- 01:21.167 --> 01:25.067 in other words, where Charlemagne and his ancestors' 01:25.067 --> 01:30.197 lands were, where their wealth came from, where they lived, 01:30.200 --> 01:32.030 where their followers came from-- 01:32.033 --> 01:37.173 was at what had been the borders of the Roman Empire, 01:37.167 --> 01:42.667 what's now northeastern France, Belgium, the 01:42.667 --> 01:46.627 Netherlands, west northwestern Germany-- 01:46.633 --> 01:49.403 a territory known at this time as Austrasia. 01:56.333 --> 02:01.373 Charlemagne's ancestors were great men, major nobles of the 02:01.367 --> 02:03.067 region of Austrasia-- 02:03.067 --> 02:08.197 again, eastern France, western Germany, the Low Countries. 02:08.200 --> 02:15.670 They were nominal servants of the Merovingian rulers and 02:15.667 --> 02:21.267 rose to prominence with a title of maior. 02:21.267 --> 02:24.797 And Wickham preserves just the Latin, maior-- 02:24.800 --> 02:28.600 major, larger, great man. 02:28.600 --> 02:30.500 The maior of the palace-- 02:30.500 --> 02:33.170 "the mayor of the palace" is how this is usually 02:33.167 --> 02:34.327 translated. 02:34.333 --> 02:37.473 And of course, our word mayor applies 02:37.467 --> 02:39.067 to a municipal official. 02:39.067 --> 02:42.667 So mayor of the palace is a rather funny title. 02:42.667 --> 02:46.797 But it's really a kind of prime minister or leader of 02:46.800 --> 02:47.970 the soldiers-- 02:47.967 --> 02:52.097 prime minister and defense secretary or minister. 02:54.667 --> 02:58.567 And this title tended to be hereditary. 03:02.567 --> 03:07.697 One of the problems of rulers in Merovingian world, in the 03:07.700 --> 03:12.770 Lombard world, in all of Western Europe, is controlling 03:12.767 --> 03:14.467 their mighty servants. 03:17.800 --> 03:23.370 Because these people were not just easy to fire, you 03:23.367 --> 03:26.597 couldn't just cut their salaries or stop their 03:26.600 --> 03:29.270 paycheck, because they're not getting a paycheck. 03:29.267 --> 03:31.367 They are the leaders of soldiers. 03:31.367 --> 03:33.867 They own castles, fortifications. 03:33.867 --> 03:36.197 But most of all, they own land. 03:36.200 --> 03:41.100 And as landowners and as established powers within the 03:41.100 --> 03:43.900 society, their power rivals-- 03:43.900 --> 03:46.600 and in the case of Charlemagne's ancestors-- 03:46.600 --> 03:51.470 would exceed the power of the king. 03:51.467 --> 03:55.027 So these are not people who are easy to dislodge. 03:55.033 --> 03:59.173 And they are people who tend to want their power to be not 03:59.167 --> 04:01.897 appointive but hereditary-- 04:01.900 --> 04:05.570 in other words, to bequeath titles like mayor of the 04:05.567 --> 04:07.967 palace to their sons. 04:11.467 --> 04:15.197 I mention this now because next week we'll see this is a 04:15.200 --> 04:20.300 problem that Charlemagne's descendants would have. They 04:20.300 --> 04:22.530 would have the same problem. 04:22.533 --> 04:29.073 How do you make your officials that you've appointed listen 04:29.067 --> 04:33.127 to you, obey your orders, if you don't have sufficient 04:33.133 --> 04:35.233 coercive power to remove them? 04:38.400 --> 04:40.900 And the reason you don't have sufficient coercive power to 04:40.900 --> 04:43.930 remove them, again, is because they are military officials, 04:43.933 --> 04:47.733 they have their own followers, they are well-established in 04:47.733 --> 04:51.173 various territories, and so they're hard to tame. 04:51.167 --> 04:54.327 They are becoming little kings themselves. 04:54.333 --> 04:57.303 And a key aspect of the ability to become a local 04:57.300 --> 05:01.470 ruler, even though officially you're subject to the real 05:01.467 --> 05:08.267 king of a large realm, is because it's become 05:08.267 --> 05:09.197 hereditary. 05:09.200 --> 05:12.500 It's become a family property. 05:12.500 --> 05:18.770 This tendency to decentralization, inheritance, 05:18.767 --> 05:25.267 and weakened royal power is often called "feudalism," a 05:25.267 --> 05:29.867 word that you may as well write down-- 05:29.867 --> 05:32.127 you've heard of it-- 05:32.133 --> 05:33.873 but which we're not going to use. 05:33.867 --> 05:36.667 And we're not going to use it for a couple of reasons, one 05:36.667 --> 05:42.867 of which is nobody uses the term at the time. 05:42.867 --> 05:46.067 It carries a lot of other overtones that are not 05:46.067 --> 05:49.727 relevant to us, and really insofar as it has use, it 05:49.733 --> 05:55.603 describes a later period, a History 211 kind of reality, a 05:55.600 --> 05:58.300 post-year 1000 reality. 05:58.300 --> 06:04.200 But what is to be recalled is that, once you no longer have 06:04.200 --> 06:08.470 an official state apparatus with an administrative 06:08.467 --> 06:15.367 structure or bureaucracy like Diocletian, like Constantine, 06:15.367 --> 06:18.867 like Justinian, or even like those Byzantine emperors we 06:18.867 --> 06:23.667 were talking about, or like the Abbasid Caliphate-- 06:23.667 --> 06:29.227 all of those are complex structures of state 06:29.233 --> 06:33.233 bureaucracies funded by taxation. 06:33.233 --> 06:37.503 Here we have something that is not that sort of polity. 06:37.500 --> 06:39.900 It is more personal. 06:39.900 --> 06:42.100 It is more military. 06:42.100 --> 06:48.330 It depends more on plunder, on expansion, on charisma, that 06:48.333 --> 06:52.403 is, personal ability to get people to obey you. 06:52.400 --> 06:57.600 It has a very rudimentary structure. 06:57.600 --> 07:01.830 And the success of a state is judged on the basis of its 07:01.833 --> 07:04.673 ability to survive, even if the ruler doesn't have 07:04.667 --> 07:10.497 charisma, even if the ruler's not all that great. 07:10.500 --> 07:15.600 Because people obey the state, they obey its officials, they 07:15.600 --> 07:19.870 obey the idea of the state, and not the individual 07:19.867 --> 07:22.627 personality. 07:22.633 --> 07:26.303 So we're going to talk about Charlemagne's ancestors and 07:26.300 --> 07:32.270 how they got into power, how they went from being mighty 07:32.267 --> 07:37.067 servants, but servants nonetheless, to kings of 07:37.067 --> 07:43.627 France and eventually, in 800, emperors. 07:43.633 --> 07:45.403 What happened to the Merovingians? 07:45.400 --> 07:48.500 Last time we checked, the Merovingians were certainly 07:48.500 --> 07:54.870 kicking people around Francia, warring with each other, 07:54.867 --> 07:58.927 occasionally regretting it and burning the tax rolls, but 07:58.933 --> 08:02.903 pretty quickly returning to the old plunder, and killing 08:02.900 --> 08:08.200 people, and having fun kind of barbarian economy. 08:08.200 --> 08:15.400 The Merovingian dynasty lasts to the mid-eighth century. 08:15.400 --> 08:21.630 But for its last hundred years, roughly 650 to 750, its 08:21.633 --> 08:23.273 rulers are ineffective. 08:23.267 --> 08:29.567 They have the title "kings." They have great prestige. 08:29.567 --> 08:31.727 But they are weak. 08:31.733 --> 08:37.433 A lot of our understanding of their position really is 08:37.433 --> 08:42.003 simply a gloss, or an elaboration, of a few lines of 08:42.000 --> 08:46.770 Einhard, the biographer of Charlemagne, whom you've read. 08:46.767 --> 08:49.397 "The family of the Merovingians," he says on page 08:49.400 --> 08:53.100 16 of this book, "From which the Franks used to make their 08:53.100 --> 08:58.170 kings, is thought to have lasted down to King Childeric 08:58.167 --> 09:01.297 whom Pope Stephen ordered deposed. 09:01.300 --> 09:04.170 His long hair was shorn, and he was forced into a 09:04.167 --> 09:07.667 monastery." Remember, one of the symbols of Merovingian 09:07.667 --> 09:12.297 familial prestige was this long hair. 09:12.300 --> 09:16.030 But Carolingians had short hair and wore mustaches. 09:16.033 --> 09:19.573 They kind of broke with the Merovingian look. 09:19.567 --> 09:24.527 But of course, this is not just a male fashion statement. 09:24.533 --> 09:27.073 "Although it might seem that the Merovingian family ended 09:27.067 --> 09:30.597 with him, it had in fact been without any vitality for a 09:30.600 --> 09:34.470 long time." The Merovingians were just given a little 09:34.467 --> 09:37.727 shove, because they were already basically finished. 09:40.600 --> 09:46.070 "There was nothing of any worth in it, except for the 09:46.067 --> 09:48.167 empty name of king. 09:48.167 --> 09:50.827 For both the riches and power of the kingdom were in 09:50.833 --> 09:54.573 possession of the prefects of the palace," this is how he's 09:54.567 --> 09:57.167 translating it, "who were called the mayors of the 09:57.167 --> 10:00.797 palace, and to them fell the highest command. 10:00.800 --> 10:03.870 Nothing was left for the king to do except to sit on his 10:03.867 --> 10:07.897 throne with his hair long and his beard uncut, satisfied to 10:07.900 --> 10:10.730 hold the name of king only and pretending to rule. 10:13.867 --> 10:16.167 Except for the empty name of king and a meager living 10:16.167 --> 10:18.867 allowance, which the prefect of the court extended to him, 10:18.867 --> 10:21.797 he possessed nothing else of his own but one estate and a 10:21.800 --> 10:23.930 very small income." 10:23.933 --> 10:27.973 Now, so much depends on these words of Einhard, who then 10:27.967 --> 10:30.827 goes on to describe them going around in these ceremonial 10:30.833 --> 10:33.273 carts, people acclaiming them. 10:33.267 --> 10:35.797 But everybody knows that if they want anything done, the 10:35.800 --> 10:39.930 person to talk to is the mayor of the palace. 10:39.933 --> 10:43.373 It's to Einhard's interest, or at least to the interests of 10:43.367 --> 10:46.427 the Carolingians for whom he's writing, to make it appear as 10:46.433 --> 10:49.273 if the Merovingians were already finished. 10:49.267 --> 10:52.897 But nevertheless, it's clear that they were much weaker 10:52.900 --> 10:54.400 than the people we've been reading about 10:54.400 --> 10:55.400 in Gregory of Tours. 10:55.400 --> 10:58.070 What happened to them? 10:58.067 --> 11:03.027 Well, one possibility that Einhard, in effect, sort of 11:03.033 --> 11:07.373 encourages is that something happened to the family. 11:07.367 --> 11:14.167 They were weak personalities; maybe they had some hereditary 11:14.167 --> 11:15.397 degeneration. 11:18.833 --> 11:21.933 Or, they ran out of money. 11:21.933 --> 11:24.873 They did not have lands to reward 11:24.867 --> 11:26.197 their followers anymore. 11:26.200 --> 11:32.130 Remember that in this economy, this is not something in which 11:32.133 --> 11:35.573 tax revenues are funding the state. 11:35.567 --> 11:40.097 Up to a point they are, because we saw that Fredegund 11:40.100 --> 11:43.930 and Childeric had tax revenues-- 11:43.933 --> 11:46.703 at least, tax records-- to burn. 11:46.700 --> 11:49.400 But as the inheritance of Rome-- 11:49.400 --> 11:55.100 Roman administration, Roman literacy, Roman organization-- 11:55.100 --> 11:59.500 frayed, as that inheritance became further and further 11:59.500 --> 12:04.100 degraded, the ability to tax the population-- 12:04.100 --> 12:07.900 rural, dispersed-- 12:07.900 --> 12:09.330 dwindled. 12:09.333 --> 12:13.203 So it's not only a question of the administrative decline but 12:13.200 --> 12:15.600 of the economic decline, or at least the economic 12:15.600 --> 12:18.200 decentralization of the way people lived. 12:18.200 --> 12:23.730 The Merovingians had depended an awful lot on war and on the 12:23.733 --> 12:25.933 plunder received from war. 12:25.933 --> 12:31.273 You'll remember that when we were talking about Clotar, the 12:31.267 --> 12:36.227 son of Clovis, that his men rebelled when he didn't want 12:36.233 --> 12:38.033 to fight the Saxons. 12:38.033 --> 12:42.733 That's not just because they're warlike savages, or 12:42.733 --> 12:45.373 insofar as they're warlike savages, they're also in it 12:45.367 --> 12:48.497 for treasure, plunder. 12:48.500 --> 12:54.470 Beowulf is a plunder-driven world. 12:54.467 --> 12:57.327 The author of Beowulf is well aware that this is 12:57.333 --> 12:58.633 stupid, in a way. 12:58.633 --> 12:58.933 Right? 12:58.933 --> 13:01.473 The dragon has all this plunder. 13:01.467 --> 13:03.367 And what does he do with it? 13:03.367 --> 13:07.267 Dragons are not consumers. 13:07.267 --> 13:15.267 He lies on beds of gold coins and beautiful armor and all 13:15.267 --> 13:16.667 sorts of things that have been seized. 13:16.667 --> 13:19.267 He has absolutely no use for all of this stuff. 13:19.267 --> 13:22.527 And yet, stealing just a little tiny ring or a little 13:22.533 --> 13:24.433 bit of it enrages him. 13:24.433 --> 13:26.003 And so he starts his depredations 13:26.000 --> 13:29.030 out of anger at that. 13:29.033 --> 13:33.273 The Merovingians, once they stop expanding, don't have the 13:33.267 --> 13:39.167 opportunities to keep their economy going, their source of 13:39.167 --> 13:40.127 income going. 13:40.133 --> 13:43.703 And in particular, they lose the ability, so it would seem, 13:43.700 --> 13:45.870 to reward their followers. 13:45.867 --> 13:48.897 Their followers, their knights, to call them that 13:48.900 --> 13:55.230 anachronistically, their military entourage does not 13:55.233 --> 13:58.603 flourish by being paid because there's very little in the way 13:58.600 --> 13:59.570 of coinage. 13:59.567 --> 14:02.467 There is very little in the way of revenues. 14:05.867 --> 14:09.997 They benefit from things like land, but as you are running 14:10.000 --> 14:13.000 out of plunder and giving away land, then sooner or later 14:13.000 --> 14:16.130 you, yourself, the giver of land, will not 14:16.133 --> 14:17.673 have anymore to give. 14:17.667 --> 14:24.997 That's another hypothesis about Merovingian decline. 14:25.000 --> 14:33.570 In fact, there is an effort by a mayor of the palace of the 14:33.567 --> 14:36.967 late seventh century to depose the Merovingian king-- 14:42.300 --> 14:49.930 a man named Grimoald, who is an ancestor of Charlemagne. 14:49.933 --> 14:51.573 But this is unsuccessful. 14:54.333 --> 14:57.333 He tries to depose a Merovingian ruler. 14:57.333 --> 15:00.173 And even though the Merovingians are weak, their 15:00.167 --> 15:02.967 other followers prevent Grimoald from succeeding. 15:02.967 --> 15:05.167 And indeed, he's executed. 15:05.167 --> 15:09.067 The prestige of the Merovingians was such that 15:09.067 --> 15:11.827 even if they were not effective, they were still the 15:11.833 --> 15:15.673 kings because the blood of Clovis flowed in their veins. 15:15.667 --> 15:19.467 And this was symbolized by their familial 15:19.467 --> 15:22.227 distinctiveness, which included the long hair, the 15:22.233 --> 15:24.803 uncut beard, the traveling around in carts. 15:29.600 --> 15:34.670 This is important because it means that you could not 15:34.667 --> 15:37.567 succeed by direct action against the Merovingians, at 15:37.567 --> 15:41.467 least not in 661, when Grimoald was killed. 15:45.200 --> 15:49.970 In order to make this happen-- 15:49.967 --> 15:52.497 in other words, even though he was killed, his successors 15:52.500 --> 15:54.200 remained as mayors of the palace. 15:54.200 --> 16:01.130 They were tightly enough ensconced or inserted into the 16:01.133 --> 16:04.333 structures of power and successful enough as a family 16:04.333 --> 16:05.803 that they were able to survive, but as 16:05.800 --> 16:07.530 mayors of the palace. 16:07.533 --> 16:10.303 Looked at from the long term-- that is from the perspective 16:10.300 --> 16:16.300 of 751, the year when Pippin declared himself King of the 16:16.300 --> 16:19.530 Franks and deposed that last Merovingian ruler-- 16:19.533 --> 16:23.203 looked at from that perspective, the strategy of 16:23.200 --> 16:28.000 the dynasty which we can call Carolingians, even though 16:28.000 --> 16:31.570 we're not yet at Charlemagne, the strategy of the 16:31.567 --> 16:40.767 Carolingians was to come up with another rationale for why 16:40.767 --> 16:44.697 they should be kings and not the Merovingians, what we can 16:44.700 --> 16:46.930 call "legitimacy". 16:46.933 --> 16:51.073 Legitimacy in politics is the sense that the people who are 16:51.067 --> 16:55.227 ruling are ruling for good reason, that their rule is 16:55.233 --> 16:57.003 legitimate. 16:57.000 --> 17:01.300 This can be on the basis of an election: "I may not like the 17:01.300 --> 17:04.630 president, but he was elected in a fair election, therefore 17:04.633 --> 17:10.133 I accept the fact that he's president." It may be triumph 17:10.133 --> 17:15.603 in war: "This emperor came to power, deposed his 17:15.600 --> 17:19.700 predecessor, and got the Bulgars off our back, 17:19.700 --> 17:23.470 therefore his rule is legitimate." It may be 17:23.467 --> 17:31.197 economic benefit: "This guy has made my life easier 17:31.200 --> 17:33.870 economically or I have the feeling that things are going 17:33.867 --> 17:42.027 right." It may be dynasty: "This is the oldest son of the 17:42.033 --> 17:51.073 former king." The British rulers just changed to end 17:51.067 --> 17:52.997 discrimination between men and women in the succession. 17:59.900 --> 18:03.570 Obviously, Britain has a queen rather than a king and has for 18:03.567 --> 18:11.427 the last sixty years, but the favored candidate would be a 18:11.433 --> 18:12.733 male child. 18:12.733 --> 18:15.373 The circumstances of Elizabeth's succession don't 18:15.367 --> 18:21.767 need to detain us, but she was not the logical eldest-- 18:21.767 --> 18:25.867 obviously not the eldest male child. 18:25.867 --> 18:27.727 So there are all sorts of ways of having 18:27.733 --> 18:29.373 legitimacy as a ruler. 18:29.367 --> 18:35.827 The challenge for the mayors of the palace was to create 18:35.833 --> 18:38.633 this legitimacy. 18:38.633 --> 18:43.633 And they did it by several different means. 18:43.633 --> 18:46.803 It's not that there's this project where they set out in 18:46.800 --> 18:50.300 year 662 and say, "Within ninety years we're coming to 18:50.300 --> 18:53.400 power, and here's how we're going to do it." It is 18:53.400 --> 18:56.430 historians who impose that rational strategy. 18:56.433 --> 19:00.103 But nevertheless, it is discernible. 19:00.100 --> 19:03.630 In fact, they are mayors of the palace of several 19:03.633 --> 19:05.503 different pieces, because the Merovingian 19:05.500 --> 19:06.970 realm was not unified. 19:06.967 --> 19:08.867 It was in particular pieces. 19:08.867 --> 19:13.767 So these guys are the mayors of the palace of Austrasia. 19:13.767 --> 19:21.397 So their opponents include the other kingdoms, particularly 19:21.400 --> 19:26.670 Neustria which is more or less the region of Paris, the 19:26.667 --> 19:32.227 Seine, the central to northern part of modern France, but 19:32.233 --> 19:36.573 further west than Austrasia; So Austrasia is northeast. 19:36.567 --> 19:39.567 Neustria is more central and slightly south. 19:42.567 --> 19:44.197 So there are lots of rivals. 19:44.200 --> 19:45.470 It's a very dangerous situation. 19:45.467 --> 19:47.697 It's a very violent world. 19:47.700 --> 19:49.730 But this is their plan. 19:49.733 --> 19:55.333 A lot of what they, that is the Carolingians, the 19:55.333 --> 19:59.633 ancestors of Charlemagne, accomplished was military. 19:59.633 --> 20:03.873 This is the bottom line of leadership in the period we're 20:03.867 --> 20:05.227 dealing with. 20:05.233 --> 20:10.373 Without military prestige and military success, it's very 20:10.367 --> 20:15.667 hard to craft a polity, let alone hand it down to your 20:15.667 --> 20:16.927 descendants. 20:18.967 --> 20:22.967 What is more unusual than military leadership, however, 20:22.967 --> 20:26.827 is that the Carolingians allied 20:26.833 --> 20:31.873 themselves to the Church. 20:31.867 --> 20:36.127 Their legitimacy as rulers would be based very much on an 20:36.133 --> 20:38.973 alliance with the Church, and in 20:38.967 --> 20:42.527 particular, with the papacy. 20:42.533 --> 20:45.073 The Bishop of Rome is someone whom we haven't 20:45.067 --> 20:48.327 talked about very much. 20:48.333 --> 20:52.933 We mentioned Leo I back in the fifth century, who was 20:52.933 --> 20:56.873 responsible for negotiating with the Huns in the absence 20:56.867 --> 21:03.567 of the emperor and who also upheld doctrinal orthodoxy 21:03.567 --> 21:05.967 against Monophysitism. 21:05.967 --> 21:08.927 But the pope was not inevitably the sole ruler of 21:08.933 --> 21:11.773 the Church in the way he would become in the modern world 21:11.767 --> 21:14.867 within the Catholic Church. 21:14.867 --> 21:20.227 The pope was the Bishop of Rome. 21:20.233 --> 21:23.503 He was the guardian of some of the chief relics of the 21:23.500 --> 21:26.830 Christian world, the relics of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, 21:26.833 --> 21:28.073 the apostles. 21:30.300 --> 21:34.470 He was the inheritor of the aura of the city of Rome, the 21:34.467 --> 21:35.967 imperial city. 21:35.967 --> 21:38.997 He even had appropriated some titles from the Roman 21:39.000 --> 21:44.300 emperors, such as Pontifex Maximus, an old pagan title. 21:44.300 --> 21:47.400 So the pope is the inheritor of a lot of Roman imperial 21:47.400 --> 21:50.870 prestige, but he is a beleaguered inheritor of that. 21:50.867 --> 21:54.467 In fact, the pope's life in Rome was dangerous. 21:54.467 --> 22:01.867 He was often eclipsed by or threatened by the Lombards. 22:01.867 --> 22:05.297 The Lombards, a barbarian tribe who had invaded Italy-- 22:05.300 --> 22:08.230 we talked about them last time. 22:08.233 --> 22:10.433 They invaded in 568. 22:10.433 --> 22:15.173 They took most of Italy from Justinian's heirs. 22:15.167 --> 22:17.197 They were Arian for a longer time than 22:17.200 --> 22:18.500 other barbarian tribes. 22:18.500 --> 22:22.070 And even when they ceased to be Arian, they were eager to 22:22.067 --> 22:22.997 seize Rome. 22:23.000 --> 22:25.100 They weren't overwhelmingly eager to seize Rome because 22:25.100 --> 22:27.770 they never did it, but they threatened the pope. 22:32.600 --> 22:35.870 During the seventh century, the pope considered himself 22:35.867 --> 22:39.297 the ally of the Byzantine Empire. 22:39.300 --> 22:43.930 The emperors continued to intervene, to debate various 22:43.933 --> 22:45.173 doctrinal things. 22:48.400 --> 22:53.430 But as the Lombard threat grew, as the Byzantine 22:53.433 --> 22:58.403 emperors were iconoclast, the pope cast around for a new 22:58.400 --> 23:06.470 protector, beginning in really the 720s, 730s. 23:06.467 --> 23:12.167 And so the alliance between Carolingians and popes is 23:12.167 --> 23:15.627 natural, in the sense that they both want something out 23:15.633 --> 23:17.073 of the other. 23:17.067 --> 23:20.467 The Carolingians, the mayors of the palace, want 23:20.467 --> 23:21.797 legitimacy. 23:21.800 --> 23:26.330 They want to be sacred figures within the Christian world, to 23:26.333 --> 23:31.303 trump the pre-Christian aura of the Merovingians. 23:31.300 --> 23:34.470 And the pope, out of the Carolingians, wants protection 23:34.467 --> 23:40.627 from the Lombards and a sense of rule over most of Europe 23:40.633 --> 23:42.833 that will favor the Church and allow the Church 23:42.833 --> 23:45.503 to advance its work. 23:45.500 --> 23:51.770 The means of cementing this alliance, however, are 23:51.767 --> 23:54.727 interestingly enough monks. 23:54.733 --> 23:58.373 The people who are the shock troops of the Christianization 23:58.367 --> 24:03.967 of Europe, the expansion of Europe, of the Church, and the 24:03.967 --> 24:08.927 furtherance of its mission are monks, many of them from 24:08.933 --> 24:12.573 Ireland and Britain, who would try to convert the 24:12.567 --> 24:16.227 countryside, either those places that were minimally 24:16.233 --> 24:20.173 Christian or, beginning in the late seventh and early eighth 24:20.167 --> 24:26.427 centuries, extend Christianity to places like Holland or 24:26.433 --> 24:32.933 central Germany that were not parts of the Roman Empire and 24:32.933 --> 24:34.173 had never been Christian. 24:37.267 --> 24:40.667 So these monastic settlements not only converted the 24:40.667 --> 24:46.297 countryside, but they served as foci for economic and 24:46.300 --> 24:49.130 social development. 24:49.133 --> 24:52.403 There was an alliance between the mayors of the palace and 24:52.400 --> 24:57.400 monks such as the English monk, Saint Boniface, Apostle 24:57.400 --> 24:58.670 to the Germans. 25:01.200 --> 25:05.370 Saint Boniface, in the eighth century, would convert a lot 25:05.367 --> 25:09.597 of the Germans in and east of the Rhine. 25:09.600 --> 25:14.270 He would receive support from the mayors of the palace of 25:14.267 --> 25:18.197 Austrasia, because this is east of where they are, and 25:18.200 --> 25:20.930 they're interested in expanding and settling there. 25:20.933 --> 25:25.373 And he received support from the pope who is interested in 25:25.367 --> 25:28.497 the conversion of Christians. 25:28.500 --> 25:32.370 And so it's through intermediaries like Saint 25:32.367 --> 25:37.427 Boniface and other monks that the countryside gets converted 25:37.433 --> 25:42.703 and that the Carolingians and the pope approach each other. 25:42.700 --> 25:43.800 Why monks? 25:43.800 --> 25:46.770 Who are these guys? 25:46.767 --> 25:49.527 When we looked at the Benedictine world, it seemed 25:49.533 --> 25:51.803 as if monks were supposed to be enclosed in their 25:51.800 --> 25:55.070 monasteries and not wander around? 25:55.067 --> 25:56.397 These are somewhat special monks. 25:56.400 --> 25:57.800 These are wandering monks. 25:57.800 --> 26:01.100 The Irish tradition was different from the Benedictine 26:01.100 --> 26:04.070 tradition and encouraged wandering 26:04.067 --> 26:07.027 as a form of penance. 26:07.033 --> 26:11.133 If you wanted to do penance or to experience the power of God 26:11.133 --> 26:14.273 and randomness in the world, which would you rather do-- 26:14.267 --> 26:18.867 pray seven times a day in the same place for decades, or 26:18.867 --> 26:23.667 just kind of like wander around, try to convert people, 26:23.667 --> 26:25.727 and see if you could get martyred? 26:25.733 --> 26:28.033 Certainly, the latter is dangerous. 26:28.033 --> 26:30.533 The latter is truly dangerous. 26:30.533 --> 26:33.403 But these are very enterprising guys. 26:33.400 --> 26:34.800 We just have this idea. 26:34.800 --> 26:37.330 Oh yeah, monks pray or they copy manuscripts or they 26:37.333 --> 26:39.433 wander around and convert people-- all of which are 26:39.433 --> 26:41.073 insanely difficult things to do. 26:41.067 --> 26:43.027 You really have to admire these guys. 26:45.833 --> 26:49.403 So many of them are from Ireland, or from 26:49.400 --> 26:51.600 recently-converted Anglo-Saxon England. 26:51.600 --> 26:55.470 Anglo-Saxon England combines a Benedictine structure with 26:55.467 --> 27:01.197 some of this inheritance of Irish wandering. 27:01.200 --> 27:05.200 But it is these monasteries that are founded in the 27:05.200 --> 27:11.530 countryside of Germany, of the Netherlands, and the alliances 27:11.533 --> 27:15.103 between the mayors of the palace and the papacy that are 27:15.100 --> 27:21.400 key in creating the Carolingian dynasty. 27:25.533 --> 27:31.103 The mayors of the palace of Austrasia come to preeminence 27:31.100 --> 27:34.570 in the Merovingian realms in the early eighth century. 27:34.567 --> 27:38.227 One of the key events here is one that we've looked at from 27:38.233 --> 27:41.203 several sides now and that will be, I 27:41.200 --> 27:42.630 hope, familiar to you. 27:42.633 --> 27:48.733 And that is the Battle of Poitiers in 733, also known as 27:48.733 --> 27:50.003 the Battle of Tours. 27:53.200 --> 27:57.800 This is the battle in which the Arabs were defeated in 27:57.800 --> 28:01.370 northern France, and eventually retreated to Spain. 28:01.367 --> 28:09.567 733 marks the high water point of Arab incursions into Europe 28:09.567 --> 28:14.497 and is, in a sense, a parallel to 717, the defeat of the 28:14.500 --> 28:15.770 Siege of Constantinople. 28:21.333 --> 28:24.933 The victor at Poitiers was the mayor of the palace of 28:24.933 --> 28:30.573 Austrasia, a man named Charles Martel, "the Hammer." He 28:30.567 --> 28:31.927 doesn't have a last name. 28:31.933 --> 28:34.633 It's sort of a [clarification: a sobriquet]-- 28:34.633 --> 28:35.873 Charles Martel. 28:37.800 --> 28:40.530 And he gained tremendous prestige from this. 28:40.533 --> 28:45.803 That legitimation that we said comes from military leadership 28:45.800 --> 28:48.000 certainly was his. 28:48.000 --> 28:49.670 The Merovingian king was nowhere to be 28:49.667 --> 28:50.827 seen at that battle. 28:50.833 --> 28:55.203 It was led by the mayor of the palace. 28:55.200 --> 29:02.770 Charles' son, Pepin the Short, started really to put together 29:02.767 --> 29:06.727 these aspects of rule. 29:06.733 --> 29:13.073 Pepin the Short, 741 to 768. 29:13.067 --> 29:16.597 Now there's something going on here that I don't have an 29:16.600 --> 29:17.870 explanation for. 29:21.567 --> 29:23.167 If he really was short-- 29:23.167 --> 29:27.667 yet we know from digging up his body that Charlemagne was 29:27.667 --> 29:30.697 on the order of 6' 7". 29:30.700 --> 29:37.100 Charlemagne is really tall for pre-modern people. 29:37.100 --> 29:38.300 He's really, really tall. 29:38.300 --> 29:40.800 And Einhard describes him as tall. 29:40.800 --> 29:44.700 Einhard says his voice was kind of squeaky and high, 29:44.700 --> 29:46.870 given just how huge he was. 29:46.867 --> 29:48.967 I don't know how that works. 29:48.967 --> 29:51.797 Many of you are more advanced in science and 29:51.800 --> 29:52.630 genetics than me. 29:52.633 --> 29:56.573 But my pet theory, since Pepin's body hasn't been 29:56.567 --> 29:59.927 found, is that actually he was really tall too and that he's 29:59.933 --> 30:03.303 called Pepin the Short as a kind of joke; you know like 30:03.300 --> 30:10.630 guys nicknamed Tiny are often 350 pounders. 30:10.633 --> 30:11.903 I'm just saying. 30:14.667 --> 30:17.127 Pepin the Short is the person who crystallizes this 30:17.133 --> 30:20.503 potential alliance among papacy, missionaries, and 30:20.500 --> 30:21.870 mayors of the palace. 30:21.867 --> 30:25.197 And in doing so, he transforms Europe. 30:25.200 --> 30:27.370 He favored the Church. 30:27.367 --> 30:33.667 He could mobilize his new power and legitimacy through 30:33.667 --> 30:35.627 this alliance with the Church. 30:35.633 --> 30:39.873 He encouraged various kinds of monastic reforms urged by 30:39.867 --> 30:43.997 Saint Boniface, which meant better discipline over 30:44.000 --> 30:51.900 priests, more councils of bishops, the restoration of 30:51.900 --> 30:56.930 lands to the Church, and a role for the king as the 30:56.933 --> 30:58.433 guardian and protector of the Church. 31:03.633 --> 31:10.503 It may be at Boniface's instigation that Pepin wrote 31:10.500 --> 31:15.970 to the pope, Zacharias at this time, asking, "Is it right for 31:15.967 --> 31:20.167 the man who holds the power not to wear the crown, while 31:20.167 --> 31:26.797 the person who wears the crown does not hold the power?" He 31:26.800 --> 31:29.770 asks this as if it were a hypothetical question. 31:29.767 --> 31:31.827 "Oh, you know, we were just discussing this last night and 31:31.833 --> 31:35.473 wondered what you think." But of course, the pope is quite 31:35.467 --> 31:39.167 aware of what's at stake and says it is wrong for the 31:39.167 --> 31:44.497 person who holds the power not to hold the crown; whereupon 31:44.500 --> 31:52.300 in 751, Pepin had himself elected king of the Franks, 31:52.300 --> 31:59.030 deposed and put in a monastery the last Merovingian king, and 31:59.033 --> 32:01.573 by his being put in the monastery, he was tonsured, 32:01.567 --> 32:05.727 that is to say much of his hair was cut off, 32:05.733 --> 32:06.973 desacrilizing him. 32:09.267 --> 32:14.297 And unlike Grimoald's failed coup d'etat, this was totally, 32:14.300 --> 32:18.670 peacefully, no problem, greeted by everybody, 32:18.667 --> 32:21.097 successful. 32:21.100 --> 32:25.670 In 753, two years later, the new pope, Stephen, made an 32:25.667 --> 32:26.867 unprecedented-- 32:26.867 --> 32:28.397 literally unprecedented-- 32:28.400 --> 32:29.930 journey across the Alps. 32:29.933 --> 32:32.273 No pope had ever been in northern 32:32.267 --> 32:34.467 Europe until this year. 32:34.467 --> 32:36.727 And he crowned Pepin. 32:40.567 --> 32:45.897 He was desperate over the situation with the Lombards. 32:45.900 --> 32:51.270 And in return, Pepin led an expedition that, although not 32:51.267 --> 32:55.127 the definitive invasion of Italy that Charlemagne would 32:55.133 --> 32:58.603 undertake, at least gave the pope some breathing room and 32:58.600 --> 32:59.870 defeated the Lombards. 33:04.000 --> 33:09.370 At Pepin's death in 768, he was succeeded by his son, 33:09.367 --> 33:12.667 Charles, and his other son Carloman. 33:12.667 --> 33:13.967 Charles-- 33:13.967 --> 33:15.897 the future Charles the Great, Charlemagne. 33:19.567 --> 33:25.967 Carloman died in 771, maybe naturally, maybe not, leaving 33:25.967 --> 33:29.067 Charlemagne as the sole ruler. 33:29.067 --> 33:32.967 Charlemagne at this point is king of the Franks, inheritor 33:32.967 --> 33:37.727 of the title and accomplishments of his father. 33:37.733 --> 33:43.933 He was the beneficiary, then, of well over a hundred years 33:43.933 --> 33:47.303 of Carolingian ascent. 33:47.300 --> 33:51.470 And let's just review the factors that had aided his 33:51.467 --> 33:53.267 predecessors-- 33:53.267 --> 33:58.127 the weakness of the Merovingians; their position 33:58.133 --> 34:03.073 as mayors of the palace; the activity of monks, 34:03.067 --> 34:08.397 missionaries, to Germany and the eastern part of the 34:08.400 --> 34:14.070 Frankish world; Byzantine weakness and the Lombard 34:14.067 --> 34:23.227 threat; and, of course, Byzantine flirting with 34:23.233 --> 34:25.103 heresies like Iconoclasm. 34:27.867 --> 34:31.227 The result is then a kind of geopolitical shift of the 34:31.233 --> 34:34.173 papacy towards the North. 34:34.167 --> 34:38.097 Another chapter in that long book of the end of 34:38.100 --> 34:40.330 Mediterranean hegemony. 34:40.333 --> 34:42.933 Instead of looking to the eastern Mediterranean for 34:42.933 --> 34:46.903 protection and for the ruler who was his natural ally, the 34:46.900 --> 34:54.030 pope now looks to a northern transalpine ruler. 34:54.033 --> 34:56.903 Charlemagne you've read about. 34:56.900 --> 35:00.530 And you've read Einhard's biography of him. 35:00.533 --> 35:06.133 It is, in some sense, at least a seemingly artless biography. 35:06.133 --> 35:08.973 He obviously likes him, admires him, but he describes 35:08.967 --> 35:11.127 him as a real person. 35:11.133 --> 35:16.303 We learn that he liked baths and roast meat, that he had a 35:16.300 --> 35:20.600 high voice, that he loved having his daughters around 35:20.600 --> 35:22.600 him but probably kind of mistreated them by not 35:22.600 --> 35:23.770 allowing them to marry. 35:23.767 --> 35:25.867 And then Einhard is scandalized that since they 35:25.867 --> 35:31.867 couldn't marry, they had all sorts of guys hanging around. 35:31.867 --> 35:34.297 We get a sense of Charlemagne's personality. 35:34.300 --> 35:39.370 Charlemagne is a man very much at home in his time. 35:39.367 --> 35:43.867 He is comfortable with being a warrior. 35:43.867 --> 35:48.197 He would lead campaigns year after year after year. 35:48.200 --> 35:53.030 At the same time, he is a person of learning, or at 35:53.033 --> 35:58.003 least a person who believes learning is important. 35:58.000 --> 36:02.200 Einhard tells us that he never quite really learned to read 36:02.200 --> 36:05.900 and write, that he tried, that he slept with Augustine's City 36:05.900 --> 36:11.330 of God by his side, which is an impressive thing to do as 36:11.333 --> 36:12.603 bedtime reading. 36:15.667 --> 36:18.027 And we also know that he is pious. 36:18.033 --> 36:23.433 His piety does not interfere with his enjoyment of life or 36:23.433 --> 36:28.973 with his harsh prosecution of military campaigns. 36:28.967 --> 36:30.197 He's not a sensitive person. 36:30.200 --> 36:39.330 He's not a self-examining kind of character. 36:39.333 --> 36:45.333 But very important is that his notion of leadership combines 36:45.333 --> 36:48.333 what might be thought three available forms of legitimacy 36:48.333 --> 36:50.703 of this era. 36:50.700 --> 36:57.000 One, and the most important, is military prestige and 36:57.000 --> 36:59.970 power, war leadership. 37:03.733 --> 37:08.273 And he conquered lots of peoples. 37:08.267 --> 37:10.827 It was not just a question of war 37:10.833 --> 37:11.933 leadership with no results. 37:11.933 --> 37:13.973 He had tremendous results. 37:13.967 --> 37:19.497 He conquered the Lombards in Italy in 774. 37:19.500 --> 37:23.770 He conquered the Avars in the 790s. 37:23.767 --> 37:26.927 So much treasure did he seize from them-- remember we saw 37:26.933 --> 37:29.433 the Avars as besiegers of Constantinople? 37:29.433 --> 37:33.073 By this time, they're in more-or-less modern Hungary. 37:33.067 --> 37:35.827 He seized so much treasure that the entire economy of his 37:35.833 --> 37:40.973 empire basically was financed on the basis of this plunder 37:40.967 --> 37:46.797 until his death in 814, so for nearly twenty years. 37:46.800 --> 37:49.830 He conquered the Bavarians. 37:49.833 --> 37:53.333 He conquered the Saxons in northern, eastern Germany, a 37:53.333 --> 37:59.533 very, very difficult series of campaigns from 774 to 806 that 37:59.533 --> 38:07.133 involved large numbers of civilian casualties, virtual 38:07.133 --> 38:10.703 exterminations of peoples, and forced conversion. 38:10.700 --> 38:15.970 It was the first real, sustained campaign of forced 38:15.967 --> 38:20.127 conversion to Christianity in European history. 38:20.133 --> 38:23.703 Brutal, but successful, opening up really the 38:23.700 --> 38:25.770 definition of modern Germany. 38:25.767 --> 38:29.867 Much of what the modern German state is, in its central and 38:29.867 --> 38:33.197 eastern parts, in the north, is Saxon. 38:33.200 --> 38:36.430 There is a part called Saxony still, a province of the 38:36.433 --> 38:37.633 former East Germany. 38:37.633 --> 38:42.303 But in fact, a province, or a land as they're called, of the 38:42.300 --> 38:46.400 former West Germany is called, Nieder-Sachsen, Lower-Saxony. 38:46.400 --> 38:50.300 So the Saxons are spread throughout northern Germany. 38:50.300 --> 38:53.870 And by Charlemagne's death, Germany or the eastern 38:53.867 --> 39:00.667 Frankish realm starts to look like something familiar. 39:00.667 --> 39:04.627 He conquers a bit in Spain against the Muslims. His 39:04.633 --> 39:09.303 forces would seize Barcelona in the year 801. 39:09.300 --> 39:13.270 But he does not get as far as he had hoped. 39:13.267 --> 39:16.227 In particular, he had hoped to take Saragossa. 39:16.233 --> 39:21.173 His army was defeated by, actually, Basques. 39:21.167 --> 39:25.527 But their defeat leads to the literary triumph known as the 39:25.533 --> 39:28.273 Song of Roland, one of the great works of the Middle Ages 39:28.267 --> 39:31.367 in which the enemy are Muslims. And the Song of 39:31.367 --> 39:35.497 Roland is a great sort of Crusade ideology text which 39:35.500 --> 39:37.970 shows, in its own words, that Christians are 39:37.967 --> 39:40.497 right, pagans are wrong. 39:40.500 --> 39:43.270 Of course, they call the Muslims pagans. 39:43.267 --> 39:45.597 They depict them as worshipping Apollo, and 39:45.600 --> 39:49.100 Termagent, and other gods. 39:49.100 --> 39:51.500 They know that the Muslims are not literally pagans. 39:51.500 --> 39:54.470 But it has higher rhetorical value. 39:57.333 --> 39:58.933 Charlemagne is tremendously successful as 39:58.933 --> 39:59.833 a war leader then. 39:59.833 --> 40:05.733 His second form of power and legitimacy is 40:05.733 --> 40:07.333 as a Christian ruler. 40:09.833 --> 40:20.473 He is a man with a vision of a Christian polity, of alliance 40:20.467 --> 40:27.097 with the Church, and as seeing himself as responsible for the 40:27.100 --> 40:30.400 spiritual health of his people. 40:30.400 --> 40:34.000 This is important, this latter responsibility, because it has 40:34.000 --> 40:36.830 a lot to do with the program of education that we'll be 40:36.833 --> 40:42.503 talking about next week, the intellectual air of his court. 40:42.500 --> 40:44.770 He believes himself, therefore, to be not just 40:44.767 --> 40:49.367 somebody who is supposed to convert the Saxons forcibly, 40:49.367 --> 40:52.767 but is supposed to educate his population into becoming 40:52.767 --> 40:57.097 Christians of a real sort. 40:57.100 --> 41:01.270 This also means that he is allied with the pope and 41:01.267 --> 41:05.167 believes that the pope is capable of aiding him in more 41:05.167 --> 41:09.167 than merely symbolic ways. 41:09.167 --> 41:12.297 The third aspect of power and legitimacy is 41:12.300 --> 41:13.670 the legacy of Rome. 41:13.667 --> 41:17.427 It is the thing that unifies this entire course. 41:17.433 --> 41:22.433 Charlemagne, according to Einhard, went to Rome to 41:22.433 --> 41:27.273 rescue the pope yet again, not this time from the Lombards in 41:27.267 --> 41:30.927 800, but from the Roman factions. 41:30.933 --> 41:38.973 Pope Leo III was rescued by Charlemagne, put back in Rome. 41:38.967 --> 41:42.527 Charlemagne, Einhard tells us, went to Saint Peter's on 41:42.533 --> 41:46.173 Christmas Day to pray. 41:46.167 --> 41:49.097 And lo and behold, the pope jumped out from behind a 41:49.100 --> 41:52.830 pillar and put the crown on his head and he was acclaimed 41:52.833 --> 41:54.673 Roman emperor. 41:54.667 --> 41:58.827 And Charlemagne said later, he wouldn't have gone-- 41:58.833 --> 42:00.833 even though it was Christmas-- he wouldn't have gone to 42:00.833 --> 42:04.073 church at all if he'd known this was going to happen. 42:04.067 --> 42:09.197 We can be cynical about the surprise aspect of this, or 42:09.200 --> 42:12.930 about Charlemagne's uncharacteristic modesty. 42:12.933 --> 42:17.003 Nevertheless, we have to think about the implications of the 42:17.000 --> 42:19.400 pope crowning the emperor. 42:19.400 --> 42:23.030 Constantine wasn't crowned by a pope. 42:30.267 --> 42:33.827 The problem with having someone crown you is that it 42:33.833 --> 42:37.233 could be implied that he is the one who bestows the crown 42:37.233 --> 42:42.173 and could decide not to crown someone in the future. 42:42.167 --> 42:44.227 It looks as if he's the more powerful one. 42:44.233 --> 42:46.273 He's standing; he's putting the crown on 42:46.267 --> 42:48.127 you; and you're kneeling. 42:48.133 --> 42:52.503 Indeed, as an evocation of this, almost exactly 1,000 42:52.500 --> 42:57.300 years later in 1804, when Napoleon had himself crowned 42:57.300 --> 43:02.870 by the pope, Napoleon seized the crown from the pope's 43:02.867 --> 43:07.097 hands and put in on himself, put it on his own head, in a 43:07.100 --> 43:11.030 direct reference to Charlemagne. 43:11.033 --> 43:17.273 So Roman, Christian, and military leadership. 43:17.267 --> 43:20.597 Of these, the Roman is the most impressive and the most 43:20.600 --> 43:24.330 sort of historically dramatic, but probably the least 43:24.333 --> 43:26.673 significant at the time. 43:26.667 --> 43:29.967 Charlemagne did not consider his empire to be exactly the 43:29.967 --> 43:32.227 same thing as the Roman Empire. 43:32.233 --> 43:34.373 He would divide it. 43:34.367 --> 43:37.697 The fact that he handed it over to one son is that he 43:37.700 --> 43:42.400 only ended up having one surviving son. 43:42.400 --> 43:43.830 But he had plans to divide it. 43:43.833 --> 43:46.403 It's not clear if he regarded the imperial title as anything 43:46.400 --> 43:48.830 that would really survive. 43:48.833 --> 43:53.173 Nevertheless, he was an emperor; and an emperor 43:53.167 --> 43:56.667 meaning that he ruled over many peoples. 43:56.667 --> 43:59.527 He was more than just the king of the Franks because he now 43:59.533 --> 44:03.333 ruled over Barbarians, Avars, Visigoths, Lombards. 44:06.267 --> 44:11.667 He had made a good stab at restoring the Roman Empire in 44:11.667 --> 44:17.727 the West. But it's a different Roman Empire. 44:17.733 --> 44:24.473 Its base is not really in Rome nor even in Milan or Ravenna, 44:24.467 --> 44:28.527 the late Roman imperial capitals of the fifth century. 44:28.533 --> 44:40.403 It is in Aachen, a city in Austrasia where remains of his 44:40.400 --> 44:44.870 palace chapel still stand. 44:44.867 --> 44:52.997 His lands, influence, cronies, family, political base, 44:53.000 --> 44:56.800 economic base, military recruiting base, are all in 44:56.800 --> 44:58.400 northern Europe. 44:58.400 --> 45:02.730 Charlemagne is, then in some sense, the reviver of the 45:02.733 --> 45:03.673 Roman Empire. 45:03.667 --> 45:09.127 But he is also the founder of Europe as something not just a 45:09.133 --> 45:13.273 geographical expression but a cultural expression. 45:13.267 --> 45:17.667 Whether it is a socio-political expression, 45:17.667 --> 45:18.797 time will tell. 45:18.800 --> 45:22.230 When the European Union, the Euro, and all these things 45:22.233 --> 45:25.003 that are sort of semi-unraveling now were 45:25.000 --> 45:30.370 cemented in their current form in the early 1990s, the 45:30.367 --> 45:36.067 treaties that established that were deliberately made in the 45:36.067 --> 45:40.327 territories that are neither French nor German entirely, 45:40.333 --> 45:44.403 but are really part of the old Carolingian patrimony. 45:44.400 --> 45:49.300 The treaties in places like Maastricht, the location of 45:49.300 --> 45:53.100 Brussels as the capitol of the European Union, all of this is 45:53.100 --> 45:57.070 really evocative of the empire of Charlemagne. 45:57.067 --> 46:04.167 These are the lands of the Carolingians and this is, in 46:04.167 --> 46:07.167 the next thousand years, in certain respects 46:07.167 --> 46:10.797 the center of Europe. 46:10.800 --> 46:13.430 We'll talk more about the Carolingians next week.