Such was the empire of Charlemagne.
Among annalists and historians, some, treating him as a mere conqueror
and despot, have ignored his merits and his glory; others, that they
might admire him without scruple, have made of him a founder of free
institutions, a constitutional monarch. Both are equally mistaken:
Charlemagne was, indeed, a conqueror and a despot; but by his conquests
and his personal power he, so long as he was by, that is, for
six-and-forty years, saved Gallo-Frankish society from barbaric invasion
without and anarchy within. That is the characteristic of his government
and his title to glory.
What he was in his wars and his general relations with his nation has
just been seen; he shall now be exhibited in all his administrative
activity and his intellectual life, as a legislator and as a friend to
the human mind. The same man will be recognized in every case; he will
grow in greatness, without changing, as he appears under his various
aspects.
There are often joined together, under the title of _Capitularies_
(_capitula_--small chapters, articles) a mass of acts, very different in
point of dates and objects, which are attributed indiscriminately to
Charlemagne.
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