The Carolingian Empire

The Carolingian Renaissance

Charlemagne was no scholar, but he had a great respect for them and he genuinely desired to revive learning at his court. He loved listening to the classics, such as Augustine's The City of God. He studied Latin and Greek, though he spoke only Frankish. But he recognized that learning in his day was in disrepair, and he deliberately gathered the leading intellectual lights of his age at his court.

Among these scholars was Alcuin. A Saxon, Alcuin trained at York, in England, and founded a school at Aix-la-Chapelle. Another figure was Peter the Grammarian, from Pisa. Another was Paul the Deacon, also from Italy, who wrote a history of the Lombards. There was Einhard, a Frank, the royal biographer. And Theodulf, a Visigoth from Spain, who trained at Seville.

I recite these names in part to illustrate the wide geographic dispersal of the scholars. A Spaniard, two Italians, an Englishman, and a Frank, and these are but a handful. Charles' court at Aix-la- Chapelle was a beacon for men of learning, and the king funded their activities. It was from these, and others, there originated a burst of activity that would have a strong influence on medieval intellectual life.

History of Western Civilization

E.L. Skip Knox
Boise State University

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