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The Carolingian Empire

The Carolingian Renaissance: Summary

You should keep clearly in mind how limited was this re-birth of learning, and keep in mind, too, that it was no re-birth of European learning. That it was limited and not unique does not, however, detract from the accomplishments of its scholars or the king who sponsored it.

Most of Europe knew nothing of Einhard or Walafrid Strabo. Not only was the common man oblivious, so were the nobles. The activities of Alcuin and others at the court of Charlemagne are admirable, but they were more or less confined to the court and were dependent on the court for their continuance. As Carolingian rule faltered in the course of the 9th century, so too did the court scholars.

More lasting were the activities of the monasteries. The seeds sown at Fulda and elsewhere took permanent root. Not only did the monasteries preserve manuscripts, incubate Biblical studies, and initiate reforms in handwriting, they passed on these values and accomplishments to subsequent generations. There is a continuity from the Carolingians to the later Middle Ages that not even the disruptions of the tenth century could erase.

As we examine and praise the Carolingians, however, we must not lose sight of the accomplishments of the Celtic monasteries in England and Ireland, of Visigothic Spain, still less of the more vigorous intellectual life of Byzantium and Islam. Medieval Europe drank from all these springs.