CHARIVARI. 505 CHARLES THE GREAT. early as the Fourteonth Century, the Cliurch found itself forced to thi-eateu i)unishniciit, and even exconiiiuiiiioation, afjainst those who partici- pated in thoni. In more reecul times the chari- vari has taken a purely political eolorinj:: as, for example, during the Kestoration in France, at which time, however, the popvilar voice beiian to seek vent hy castinj; its satirical darts against public men through the press. Among the papers of this sort the most famous is the Vh<iritari, which was established in Paris, December 2, 1832, corresijonding to the English publication Punch (q.v.). CHARKOV, Klirnvdv. See Kharkov. CHARLEMAGNE, shlirMc-mfin. Fi: pron. sliar Tnui'iiy". Sc<- I'hari.ks tue (Jkeat. CHARLEMAGNE CYCLE OF ROMAN- CES. A division of one of the three principal cycles of romances which took form in France in the Thirteenth Century. These three cycles may roughly he designated as the gestcs royates, the gestes <lc (luUlaume, and the gestex de Doon rfr Mayencr. The first of these divisions was composed of all the poems which had been writ- ten about the three regal historic figures Pepin, Charles, and Louis, and the Cli(irl>iiiagiie Cycle was composed exclusively of all those poems which centred about the life and Court of the second of these characters. It consisted of a col- lection and arrangement made by certain itin- erant musicians, who were editorially minded, of whatever of the ancient chausons de geste per- tained partievilarly to the deeds of this one hero. Many of these chansons were foiuided on certain heroic ballads which Charlemagne himself had caused to be preserved in writing. These had al- ready formed the basis of two Latin chronicle- histories by a monk of Saint Gall (8fl0). and by Benedict of Saint-Andre (968), entitled, De (testis f'aroli Magni ; and the two latter works were doubtless of great aid to the Thirteenth Century codifiers of the grstrn. The cycle is composed of the following individual narrative poems: Fimihriis ; (iiiiiii tie Mdiitghinc ; (lallien Ic Uhetorv : Ogier Ir Uanois: Les Quiitres Filz .lyiiion. and others of varying dates. A prose version of it. in French, was ]irintcd at Bagnyon in 1478. Consult (i. Paris. Hisloire poctiiiite de fhdih ni„iiii€- I Paris. ISO.t). CHARLEROI, shlir Trwii' (Fr., Charles king). . Kelgian town and fortress in the Province of ilainault. situated on the Sambre and on the • harleroi Canal, between Jlons and Xannir. It is divided into the upper and lower town (Map: Belgium, C 4). It possesses an archicological museum, with a mineralogieal collection and an industrial school, and is altogether dependent upon the activities of the surrounding region. The district is rich in coal and iron, the number of ■^melting-furnaces and nail-factories in the neighborhood Ix-ing very great. The iron-works of Couillet, which yield a third of all the cast iron produced in Belgium, are within a mile or two of the to«-n. Population, in 1800, 21,000: in 1000, 24.800. In UlOO the village of Charnoi was fortified by the Spaniards, and named, in honor of the King, Charles II.. Charleroi. CHARLEROI, shiir'lr-rr)!'. A borough in Washington County. Pa.. 40 miles south of Pitts- burg, on the Monongahda River, and on the Pitt.-burg. Virginia and Charleston Railroad. It is an important manufacturing centre, with extensive glass-works of various kinds, and shovel-works. Charleroi was .settled in 1800, and incorporated in the following year. The govern- ment is vested in a burgess, elected every three years, and a borough council, chosen on a general "ticket. Population, in 1000, 5030, CHARLES THE GREAT, or CHARLE- MAGNE (from Lat. CnroUis Magnus. Cliarles the tircat) (742-814). King of the Franks after 7(18, and Roman Emperor from 800 to 814. He was the son of Pepin the Short, the first Carolin- gian King, and of Bertha, a daughter of Chari- liert, C(mnt of Laon, and was limn probably on April 2, 742. Jlis biithplacc is unknown: but from the fondness which he displayed Ihnnighout his life for the cities of Aix-laChapelle and In- gelheim, it lias been conjectured that he was born in one of these places. Of his early youth and education nothing is known, even by Ein- hard, his contemporary biographer. He was l>rought up at the Court of his father, and re- ceived the thorough military training which constituted the education of the time. He took part in his father's exjieditions against Aquitaine in 701 and 702. On Pepin's death, in 708, the Frankish kingdom was divided between his two sons, Charles receiving the eastern part or Aus- trasia, which was predominantly Germanic, to- gether with a part of Aquitaine, while his brother Carlonian received Xeustria, the Ro- mance part of the Frankish domains. Carloman died in 771, and Charles, with the consent of the Frankish nobles, took jjossession of the en- tire kingdom, to the exclusion of the young sons of his brother. Their mother fled to Desiderius, King of the Lombards, and the ensuing com- plications led to the first great war of Charles's reign. Charles had, ere this, in 770, offended Desiderius by repudiating his second wife. Desid- erata, who was that monarch's daughter. The latter, therefore, received Carloman's widow hospitably, and urged Pope Adrian I. to crown the sous of Carlonian. L'pon the Pope's refusal, he invaded the Papal territory. The Pope there- upon summoned the Frankisli King to his aid. Charles endeavored to avert the war; but upon the refusal of Desiderius to restore, the Papal cities of the Pentapolis, he crossed the Alps, with two armies, from Geneva by the Great Saint Bernard and Mont Cenis, in 773, and besieged Desiderius in Pavia, forcing him. after a ten months' siege, to surrender anil retire to a mon- astery. In 777 he proclaimed himself King of the Lombards, and was acknowledged as such by the Lombard dukes. He secured the Pope's favor by ctrnfirming the donation of lands made to the Holy See by Pepin. In the winter of 776 he again crossed the Alps and crushed a Lombard revolt, henceforth ruling over northern and cen- tral Italy as far south as Spoleto. In 780 he went to Italy, where the Po[x> crowned his sec- ond son, Pepin, King of Italy, and his third son, Louis, an infant, three years old. King of Aqui- taine, In 787 he completed the conquest of the Lombards by the subjugation of the Duke of Bcneventuni, The severest war undertaken by Charles was his contest with the Saxons. The struggle was of long standing, having been waged by his father and grandfather, and contemiilated the in- corporation of the Saxons into the Frankish kingdom and their conversion to Christianity. The fibstinate resistance of the Saxons has
