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From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS
X. WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES, 476-962 A.D.
» Contents of this Chapter
Page 12
CHARLEMAGNE'S GOVERNMENT
Charlemagne was a statesman, as well as a warrior. He divided his wide dominions into counties, each one ruled by a count, who was expected to keep order and administer justice. The border districts, which lay exposed to invasion, were organized into "marks," under the military supervision of counts of the mark, or margraves (marquises). These officials had so much power and lived so far from the royal court that it was necessary for Charlemagne to appoint special agents, called missi dominici ("the lord's messengers"), to maintain control over them. The missi were usually sent out in pairs, a layman and a bishop or abbot, in order that the one might serve as a check upon the other. They traveled from county to county, bearing the orders of their royal master and making sure that these orders were promptly obeyed. In this way Charlemagne kept well informed as to the condition of affairs throughout his kingdom.
REVIVAL OF LEARNING UNDER CHARLEMAGNE
Charlemagne made a serious effort to revive classical culture in the West from the low state into which it had fallen during the period of the invasions. We still possess a number of laws issued by this Frankish king for the promotion of education. He founded schools in the monasteries and cathedrals, where not only the clergy but also the common people might receive some training. He formed his whole court into a palace school, in which learned men from Italy, Spain, and England gave instruction to his own children and those of his nobles. The king himself often studied with them, under the direction of his good friend, Alcuin, an Englishman and the foremost scholar in western Europe. He had the manuscripts of Latin authors collected and copied, so that the knowledge preserved in books should not be forgotten. All this civilizing work, together with the peace and order which he maintained throughout a wide territory, made his reign the most brilliant period of the early Middle Ages.
THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents
url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp
Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy
