Charlemagne aspired to and attained to every sort of
greatness--military greatness, political greatness, and intellectual
greatness; he was an able warrior, an energetic legislator, a hero of
poetry. And he united, he displayed all these merits in a time of
general and monotonous barbarism when, save in the church, the minds of
men were dull and barren. Those men, few in number, who made themselves
a name at that epoch, rallied round Charlemagne and were developed under
his patronage. To know him well and appreciate him justly, he must be
examined under those various grand aspects, abroad and at home, in his
wars and in his government.
From 769 to 813, in Germany and Western and Northern Europe, Charlemagne
conducted thirty-one campaigns against the Saxons, Frisians, Bavarians,
Avars, Slavons, and Danes; in Italy, five against the Lombards; in
Spain, Corsica, and Sardinia, twelve against the Arabs; two against the
Greeks; and three in Gaul itself, against the Aquitanians and the
Britons; in all, fifty-three expeditions; among which those he undertook
against the Saxons, the Lombards, and the Arabs were long and difficult
wars.
Pages:
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679