The Carolingian Renaissance
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance. In 800 AD on Christmas Day in Rome, Pope Leo III proclaimed Charlemagne Emperor. According to the Frankish historian Einhard, Charlemagne would never have set foot in St Peter’s that day if he had known that the Pope intended to crown him. But Charlemagne accepted his coronation with magnanimity. Regarded as the first of the Holy Roman Emperors, Charlemagne became a touchstone for legitimacy until the institution was brought to an end by Napoleon in 1806. A Frankish King who held more territory in Western Europe than any man since the Roman Emperor, Charlemagne’s lands extended from the Atlantic to Vienna and from Northern Germany to Rome. His reign marked a period of enormous cultural and literary achievement. But at its foundation lay conquest, conversion at the point of a sword and a form of Christianity that was obsessed with sin, discipline and correction. How did Charlemagne become the most powerful man in Western Europe and how did he finance his conquests? Why was he able to draw Europe’s most impressive scholars to his court? How successful was he in his quest to reform his church and educate the clergy? And can the Carolingian period really be called a Renaissance? With Matthew Innes, Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London; Julia Smith, Edwards Professor of Medieval History at Glasgow University; Mary Garrison, Lecturer in History at the University of York
→ Listen on BBC Sounds website
Guests
- Matthew Innes
2 episodes
Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London -
Julia Smith No other episodes
Edwards Professor of Medieval History at Glasgow University - Mary Garrison
2 episodes
Lecturer in History at the University of York
Related episodes
-
Alcuin
30 Jan, 2020 270 History of Christianity -
Constantine the Great
5 Oct, 2017 930 History of the Ancient World -
Byzantium
19 Jul, 2001 940 History of Europe -
The Sack of Rome 1527
22 Feb, 2024 940 History of Europe -
Bismarck
22 Mar, 2007 940 History of Europe -
The Song of Roland
4 Nov, 2021 840 French and related literatures -
The Concordat of Worms
15 Dec, 2011 940 History of Europe -
The 12th Century Renaissance
20 Oct, 2016 900 History -
Rudolph II
31 Jan, 2008 940 History of Europe -
Third Crusade
29 Nov, 2001 940 History of Europe
Programme ID: p003hydz
Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003hydz
Auto-category: 940.1 (Europe–History–476-1492)
Hello (First sentence from this episode)
Hello, in 800 AD on Christmas Day in Rome, Pope Leo III proclaimed Charlemagne emperor.