Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/300

 292 CHARLES (GERMANY) leraagne was of a tall and commanding figure ; either standing or sitting, he had an air of grandeur and dignity; and notwithstanding the shortness of his neck and his obesity, he was well proportioned and remarkably ac- tive, with a firm step and manly appear- ance, his shrill voice alone being not in ac- cordance with his person. An adept in the use of weapons, he was also an unrivalled swimmer and a consummate hunter. Although encouraging magnificence of attire among his courtiers, he was generally plainly dressed, giving preference to the old Prankish style of costume. He was frugal and temperate, and evinced great severity against drunkards. He had nine more or less legitimate wives, by whom he had at least twenty children. The only son who survived him was his successor, Louis le Debonnaire. Several of his daughters led a dissolute life and caused great scandal. The awe with which Charlemagne inspired his contemporaries increased as time rolled on ; his historical deeds, amplified and adorned by poetry, powerfully seized upon the popular imagination; and the great emperor and his twelve legendary peers became the heroes of innumerable chivalric romances, which were recited or sung everywhere, and the collection of which is now styled "The Carlovingian Cycle." His name has also won a halo of sanctity, the anti-pope Paschal III. having can- onized him in 1165, and Louis XI. having or- dered his anniversary to b celebrated on Jan. 28. The origin of many pious or learned in- stitutions has been ascribed to him ; and fiction and truth are so much blended in his history that it is difficult to disentangle the one from the other. But, however this may be, Charle- magne takes rank among those extraordinary men who, from time to time, appear to change the face of the world and inaugurate a new era in the destinies of mankind. The cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle stands on the site where Char- lemagne had erected a chapel, which he de- signed as his burial place. The chapel was de- stroyed by the Normans, and rebuilt in its present form by Otho III. toward the close of the 10th century. The position of the tomb in which once reposed the remains of Charle- magne is marked by a slab of marble under the centre of the dome, inscribed with the words Carolo Magno. When the vault was opened by Otho III., the body of Charlemagne was found seated on his throne, clothed in the imperial robes. These relics are now deposited in Vienna, excepting the throne, which alone remains in the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle. The literary works attributed to Charlemagne are : 1, his " Capitularies " (first collected by Ansegise, abbot of St. "Wandrille ; best edition that of Etienne Baluze, 2 vols. folio, Paris, 1677) ; 2, " Letters " contained in the collection of De Bouquet; 3, a "Grammar," of which fragments are to be found in the Polygraphia ofTrithemins; 4, his "Testament," contained in Bouchel's Bibliotheque du droitfranfois, torn. Hi. (folio, Paris, 1677); 5, some Latin poems, such as the " Epitaph of Pope Adrian " and the "Song of Roland;" 6, the "Caroline Books." Among the books which treat of Charlemagne, we may refer to the great biog- raphy of his contemporary, Eginhard, Vita Caroli Magni, in Duchesne's Rerum Francorum Scriptores (best edition by Pertz, in the Monu- menta Germanise Historical ; Monachas Sagal- lensis, De Gestis Caroli Magni Libri II. ; Donatus Acciaiolus, De Vita Caroli Magni Commentarii ; Leclerc de la Bruere, Histoire du regne de Charlemagne; Haureau, Charle- magne et sa cour ; Struve, Serum Germani- carum Scriptores, torn. i. ; Dippold, Leben Kaiser Karls des Grossen (Tubingen, 1810); Gaillard, Histoire de Charlemagne (2d ed., 4 vols., Paris, 1819) ; Lorenz, Karh des Grossen Privat- und Hofleben, in Raumer's Historisches Taschenbuch (1832) ; Abel, Jahrbucher des frankischen Reichs unter Karl dem Grossen (Berlin, 1866 et seq.). Piper has edited from the original MS. Karl des Grossen Kalen- darium und Ostertafel (Berlin, 1858). Among the more popular works upon this monarch may be mentioned the "History of Charle- magne," by G. P. R. James (1832), and Bui- finch's " Legends of Charlemagne " (1868). CHARLES II. See CHARLES II., THE BALD, France. CHARLES III., the Fat, the last emperor of the Carlovingian dynasty, born about 832, died in 888. He was the third son of Louis the Germanic, and received the kingdom of Swabia for his portion of his father's posses- sions. After the death of his oldest brother, Carloman of Bavaria, in 880, he succeeded him in the imperial dignity and in the posses- sion of Italy; and after that of his younger brother, Louis of Saxony, in 882, he became king of all Germany. On the death of Carlo- man of France in 884, Charles the Fat united France under his sceptre with Germany and Italy, and the vast empire of Charlemagne was thus again vested in one and the same sovereign. He proved, however, unworthy of this exalted position. He became a passive tool in the hand of his minister, an inactive spectator of the sufferings of his people, and was covered with domestic as well as public disgrace. His incapacity and cowardice soon became manifest. Paris being besieged by the Northmen, he marched against them with a large army from Germany; but instead of fighting the enemy, he offered them large sums of money and the pillage of Burgundy to obtain their retreat. This shameful conduct raised general indignation ; the Bavarians, Saxons, Thuringians, and finally the Alemanni, deserted him and deposed him solemnly in an assembly at Trebur in 887. He had already been dis- owned by the French. He died the next year, poor and forsaken, in a cloister near Constance. He was noted for inordinate love of the plea- sures of the table, and this as well as his corpu- lence gave him the surname of "the Fat."