New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-12
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
CHARLEMAGNE.

following the German scholars, has endeavored
to do this In the case of Charles the Great and 1t
must be said that the hero stands 1T well. The
process of reduction is not always agreeable 10
the spectator Many romantic fables have TO
be given IN: MANY picturesque fictions are con-
densed. into prosaic facts But when tho work is
finished there remains q noble and imposing
figure, and life the activities OF which so Tar
TO explain and to justify the popular mythology
which has grown up over it. But the undertaking
Is a difficult one, for several reasons. The main
dependence OF every bographer OF Charles the
Great is the account of him by his contemporary
and dependant, Eginhard. The inter. however.
wrote in an uncriticsl ago and at tho Court Of
Louis the Debonaire, Charles's SON. Greatly
reverencing his dead lord. and at the same time
DESTROYS Of pleasing his living patron. the BIZ
ographer carefully glazed over all the discredit-
able points in Charless career, and magnifed the
creditable ones. Thus the principal authority on
his reign is Initiated by partiality. But this is
not all The trumphs Of Charles. his territorial
expansion the methods he took to subdue his ioes'
are by Eginhard invariably represented as IN some
way forced upon the King, or as being In some way
conducive to the glory or security OF Christen-
dom. Perhaps it was to DO expected that
Frankish historian should put this color upon the
acts of the FranlSish sovereign, but it is none
the less true that when impartial modern is
seeking the exact truth about the Carloving1an
period he is seriously embarrassed by this kind
of discriminating eulogy.
With the help of contemporary chronicles, how
ever it has been found possible to frame an outhc
sketch of the reign which may be accepted as
approximating the truth. There Will even theh
be plenty of dubious passages regarding WHICH
the conscientious student can only suspend ]uog-
ment and hold conflicting statements evenly oai-
anced But these are only Incidental ana IN
tcrfere in no way with the formation of clear
idea of what Charles the Great was and DID. lie
certainly was, as DR.. Mombert says. the greatest
man of the Middle Ages, and one of the greatest
of whom history retains any record. Whether we
regard him as soldier, statesman, lawmaiSer,
sfudent theologian or administrator, we ma MN
nanifesting abilities Of the first order. his
military proves alone would have made the repu-
fation of an ordinary sovereign, for there was no
captain of his time who could withstand HIM. Ills
relation to the Papacy was peculiar. In enect nc
controlled both Hadrisn and Leo, and he con-
trolled them not secularly, but ecce-
siastically, deciding knotty questions OF
theology and canon law, calling ana
manipulating councils. and acting generally not
as the vassal, but as the elder brother OF inc
Church. The master OF nearly all the cohl-
mental Europe of those days. he was indeed the
most pOrtcutOuS uBuTc tuC WoAAu e~S~ ~~~~~
The Emperor Of the West was reality, the
Emperor Of the East a mere fiction. Charles
could make Popes if he chose; he could abolish
or increase the temporal power Of Rome; be
was all-powerful, in short But everywhere
and in all things no was dominant His So
called capitulares show that he prepared to
lepislate upon the least details Of government,
social and religious life. He was dcspot, but
an intelligent one and he reigned in an age when
personal liberty was unknown The methods
by which he secured peace and enlarged his En-
pire are apt to strike modern as ruthless.
His WARS with the SaXons, the Lombards, the
Avars and other nations, were conducted after
that thorough fashion which thousand years
ago was considered the right way of dealing with
enemies, and especially heather enemies.
Under the influence of the Anglo-Saxon AL
cuin, Charles abatcd somewhat of his ferocity
with the Saxons, and when mere forclble bap-
tism failed to convert them at once into
Christians and peaceful subjects he did not, as
at first incontinenty deliver them over to the
sword. DR. Mombert is Mortified by the massacre
of Verdan, where the King caused nearly five
thousand Saxons TO be butchered in one day.
No doubt it was bloody deed, but if all SINH
lar acts are 10 be dealt with in the Same
way there will be an end of Charlemagne's glory.
for all his wars upon less civilized peoples were
conducted on the principle of desolation and ex-
termination. He literally destroyed the Avars
thus, and crushed the power Of the Saxons by
the same fierce and pitiless methods OF course
il was oil very cruel, and it is equally clear
that the only crime of the sO-called rebels"
was attempting to defend and recover their free
dom But that most Christian Prince Louis
the Fourteenth ravaged the Palatinate six CEN
turies later in quite as savage manner, and within
the century so-caled civilized nation5 have, by
their armies, committed atrocities in the sack
Of captured cities such as the Paadins and men,
alarms of Charemagne certainly could not have
exceeded Even the muchcondemned massacre
of verdan must sink into insignifcance beside
the butchery at Magdeburg where thirty thou
sand souls, men, women and children persisted.
Wellngton's troops during the Peninsular War
did some awful things, and to the French during
the Terror, nothing in the ninth CEN
tury can parallel the horrors per-
petrated Then, TOO, II must be remembered
that the Saxons, the Avars, the Abodrites, and
hte other tribes attacked and Subducd by
Charles were the most intolerable of ncighbors
They could not be deferred from raiding over
the borders, and when they went on raid they
were as ptiless as Apaches. The only way to
keep them quiet was TO disable them for mis-
chief and Charles knew this and acted upon it.
He expended much blood and treasure upon
his wars but when their object was accom-
olished he had welded together magnificent
Empire, which he proceeded to govern with an
enlightenment far in advance Of the
time He believed in the humanizing effect OF
letters and art, and encouraged learning and pro-
vided for the diffusion Of education. DR.. Nom
perts description of the Paatine school, taken from
original documents affords vivid glimpse OF
Charles's methods and ideas. Indeed. the luowl-
edge we possess of this monarch's personal habits,
mode Of living, speech, physical appearance and
external aspect generally, is remarkably full and
detailed 50 much SO that if the chronicles of his
deeds were more trustworthy we should know
IL nho,,f ranfa Eictnricol nhar-