Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/438

 372 Outlines of European History His educa- tion, his atti- tude toward learning, and his public spirit The Charle- magne of romance Charle- magne's idea of a great Christian empire Charles was an educated man for his time, and one who knew how to appreciate and encourage scholarship. While at dinner he had some one read to him ; he delighted especially in history, and in St. Augustine's City of God. He 'tried to learn writing, which was an unusual accomplishment at that time for any but churchmen, but began too late in life and got no farther than signing his name. He called learned men to his court and did much toward reestablishing a regular system of schools. He was also constantly occupied with buildings and other public works calculated to adorn his kingdom. He himself planned the remarkable cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle and showed the greatest interest in its furnishings. He commenced two palaces, one near Mayence and the other at Nimwegen, in Holland, and had a long bridge constructed across the Rhine at Mayence. The impression which his reign made upon men's minds con- tinued to grow even after his death. He became the hero of a whole series of romantic adventures which were as firmly be- lieved for centuries as his real deeds. In the fancy of an old monk in the monastery of St. Gall,^ writing of Charlemagne not long after his death, the king of the Franks swept over Europe surrounded by countless legions of soldiers who formed a very sea of bristling steel. Knights of superhuman valor formed his court and became the models of knighthood for the following centuries. Distorted but imposing, the Charlemagne of poetry meets us all through the Middle Ages. A study of Charlemagne's reign will make clear that he was a truly remarkable person, one of the greatest figures in the world's records and deservedly the hero of the Middle Ages. It was Charlemagne's ideal to bring all the German peoples together into one great Christian empire, and he was wonder- fully successful in attaining his end. Only a small portion of what is now called Germanv was included in the kingdom ruled 1 Professor EmerLoii {In/rodni.iion, pp. 183-185) gives an example of the style and spitit of the monk of St. Gall, who was formerly much relied upon for knowledge of Charlemagne.