Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/682

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CHARLEMAGNE


616


CHARLEMAGNE


ity and jurisdiction", adding that he did not pretend to any jurisdiction in said territory, except when solicited thereto by the pope. (Gosselin, op. cit. II, 262-63. See the documentary works, quoted above, of Cenni and Theiner, also the collection of Roskovany "Monum. Catholica pro independentia potest, eccl. ab imperio civili ", Nitria, 1847-78; cf . Ottolenghi, "Delia dignita imperiale di Carlo magno", Verona, 1897.) It may be noted here that the chroniclers of the ninth century treat as "restitution" to St. Peter the vari- ous cessions and grants of cities and territory made at this period by the Carolingian rulers within the limits of the Patrimony of Peter. The Charter of Louis the Pious was afterwards confirmed by Emperor Otto I in 962 (see Sickel, "Das Privilegium Ottos I fur die romische Kirche", Innspruek, 1883, and Hefele, "Con- ciliengesch."IV, 608)and by Henry II in 1020. These imperial documents make it clear that the acts of authority exercised by the new emperor in the Patri- mony of Peter were only such as were called for by his office of Defender of the Roman Church. Klein- clausz (l'Empire carolingien, etc., Paris, 1902, 441 sqq.) denies the authenticity of the famous letter (871) of Emperor Louis II to the Greek Emperor Basil (in which the former recognizes fully the papal origin of his own imperial dignity), and attributes it to Anastasius Bibliothecarius in 879. His argu- ments are weak; the authenticity is admitted by Gregorovius and O. Harnack. Anti-papal writers have undertaken to prove that Charles' dignity of Palricius Romanorum was equivalent to immediate and sole sovereign authority at Rome, and in law and in fact excluded any papal sovereignty. In reality this Roman patriciate, both under Pepin and Charles, was no more than a high protectorship of the civil sovereignty of the pope, whose local inde- pendence, both before and after the coronation, of Charles, is historically certain (Gosselin, op. cit. I, 262-63; 275-84), even apart from the aforesaid imperial charters. (For the patriciate of Charles, to which he no longer laid claim after his imperial coronation, see G. Brunengo, "II patriziato di Carlo- magno ", in Civilta Cattolica, 1864-66, and the same writer, " II patriziato romano di Carlomagno ", Prato, 1893; also Braun, "Carlo Magno imperante qus inter ecclesiam et imperium intercesserit ratio ", Frei- burg, 1863. For divergent views see Heinemann, " Der Patriziat der deutschen Konige ", Halle, 1889, and Freeman, "The Patriciate of Pippin", in Eng- lish Hist. Review, 1889, 684-713; cf. Hist. Jahrbuch, XI, 349).

The personal devotion of Charles to the Apostolic See is well known. While in the preface to his Capitularies he calls himself the "devoted defender and humble helper of Holy Church", he was especially fond of the Basilica of St. Peter at Rome. Einhard relates (Vita, c. xxvii) that he enriched it beyond all other churches and that he was particularly anxious that the City of Rome should in his reign obtain again its ancient authority. He promulgated a special law on the respect due the See of Peter (Capitulare de hono- randa sede Apostolica, ed. Baluze I, 255). The letters of the popes to himself, his father, and grandfat her, were collected by his order in the famous Codex Carolinus", printed in Jaffe, Biblioth. Her. Germ. IV. 1-306. Gregory VII tells us (Regest., VII, 23) that lie placed a part of the conquered Saxon territory under the protection of St. Peter, and sent toRomea tribute from the same. He received from Pope Adrian the Roman canon law in the shape of the "Collectio Dipnysio-Hadriana", and also (784-91) the "Grego- rian Sarramcntary" or liturgical use of Home, for the fuidance of the Prankish Church (Jaff<5, op. cit. 274). Ie furthered also in the Frankisli churches the intro- duction of the Gregorian chant (Varin, "Alterations de la liturgie (iregorienne en France avant le treizieme sidcle", Paris, 1852; Schubiger, "Die Sangcrschule St.


Gallens vom 8 bis 12 Jahrhundert ", Einsiedeln, 1859; E. Souillier, "Causeries sur le plain chant : Charlemagne et les 6coles francaises", in Etudes religieuses etc., Paris, 1891, LIV, 87-99). It is of interest to note that just before his coronation at Rome Charles received three messengers from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, bearing to the King of the Franks the keys of t he Holy Sepulchre and the banner of Jerusalem, "a recognition that the holiest place in Christendom was under the protection of the great monarch of the West " (Hodg- kin). Shortly after this event, the Caliph Haroun al Raschid sent an embassy to Charles, who continued to take a deep interest in the Holy Sepulchre, and built Latin monasteries at Jerusalem, also a hospital for pil- grims. To the same period belongs the foundation of the Schola Francorum near St. Peter's Basilica, a refuge and hospital (with cemetery attached) for Frankish pilgrims to Rome, now represented by the Campo Santo de' Tedeschi (q. v.) near the Vatican.

The main work of Charles the Great in the develop- ment of Western Christendom might have been con- sidered accomplished had he now passed away. Of all that he added during the remaining thirteen years of his life nothing increased perceptibly the stability of the structure. His military power and his instinct for organization had been successfully applied to the formation of a material power pledged to the support of the papacy, and on the other hand at least one pope (Adrian) had lent all the spiritual strength of the Holy See to help build up the new Western Empire, which his immediate successor (Leo) was to solemnly conse- crate. Indeed, the remaining thirteen years of Charles' eartlily career seem to illustrate rather the drawbacks of an intimate connexion between Church and State than its advantages.

In those years notliing like the military activity of the emperor's earlier life appears; there were much fewer enemies to conquer. Charles' sons led here and there an expedition, as when Louis captured Barce- lona (SOI) or the younger Charles invaded the territory of the Sorbs. But their father had somewhat larger business on his hands at this time; above all, he had to either conciliate or neutralize the jealousy of the By- zantine Empire which still had the prestige of old tradition. At Rome Charles had been hailed in due form as "Augustus" by the Roman people, but he could not help realizing that many centuries before, the right of conferring this title had virtually passed from Old to New Rome. New Rome, i. e. Constanti- nople, affected to regard Leo's act as one of schism. Nicephorus, the successor of Irene (S03), entered into diplomatic relations with Charles, it is true, but would not recognize his imperial character. According to one account (Theophanes) Charles had sought Irene in marriage, but his plan was defeated. The Frankish emperor then took up the cause of rebellious Venetia and Dalmatia. The war was carried on by sea, under ICing Pepin, and in 812, after the death of Nicephorus, a Byzantine embassy at Aachen actually addressed Charles as Bqsileus. About this time Charles again trenched upon the teaching prerogative of the Church, in the matter of the Filioque (q. v.), although in this instance also the Holy See admitted the soundness of his doctrine, while condemning his usurpation of its functions.

The other source of discord which appeared in the new Western Empire, and from its very beginning, was that of the succession. Charles made no pretence either of right of primogeniture for his eldest son or to name a successor for himself. As Pepin the Short had divided tile Frankish realm, so did Charles divide the empire among his sons, naming none of them emperor. By the will which he made in 806 the greater part of what was later called France wenl to Louis the Pious; Frankland proper, Frisia, Saxony, Hesse, and Fran- conia were to be the heritage of Charles the Young; Pepin received Lombardy ami its Italian dependencies,