A History of Britain by E H Carter

Author:E H Carter
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781906768782
Publisher: Stacey Publishing Limited

VI

BRITAIN IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY: THE ASCENDANCY OF OFFA

1. The Age of Charlemagne

THERE is no evidence to allow even an educated guess at the population of Europe in the period from the third to the seventh centuries, but it seems almost certain that it must have fallen as political stability waned in the later days of the Roman Empire and after its replacement by barbarian kingdoms. Disease in the form of bubonic plague may well have taken a heavy toll of the population after its appearance in the mid-sixth century. Town life disappeared in some areas, such as Britain, and declined everywhere in the west, except in parts of Italy. Trade certainly did not cease, but was probably on a reduced scale. The blows from outside did not cease with the end of the invasions by Germanic tribes in the fifth century. Italy was invaded by the Lombards, yet another Germanic tribe, in the last third of the sixth century. They were pushed southwards by the Avars, a Mongolian people who remained a threat in central and eastern Europe for two centuries. The early eighth century brought attacks by the adherents of the new monotheistic faith of Islam, who had already subdued all the lands from Syria to Morocco. Spain was rapidly overrun and Muslim attackers reached the Loire by 730.

The eighth century seemed to promise a recovery of western Europe. The outstanding political development of the period was the rise of a dynasty usually called the Carolingians, a name based on the Latin Carolus, in English Charles, the name of two of the principal members of the family. From about 670 members of the dynasty were mayors of the palace in Gaul and relegated the Kings of the Franks to a merely ceremonial and symbolic role. Charles Martel (the Hammer) beat back the Muslims in 732 at Tours on the Loire. His son Pepin (741-68) involved the Pope in the removal of the reigning dynasty of Francia and the installation of his own, thus setting the stage for the reign of his famous son Charles the Great (768-814) (Magnus in Latin), always known in French and English as Charlemagne. A mighty warrior, Charlemagne restored order in northern Italy, which became one of his territories; he destroyed the power of the Avars to the east; and he conquered the Saxons between the Weser and Elbe. His forces suffered a check in Spain, but on every other front Charlemagne had vanquished his enemies and in doing so had made western Europe safe from external attack.

On Christmas Day 800 Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III. The assumption by the Pope of the right to confer the imperial title on Charlemagne and its acceptance by the King of the Franks looked like breath-taking arrogance to the Empire of Constantinople and the coronation does seem to have symbolized a new self-confidence felt by the leaders of the peoples of the western half of Christendom. The Emperor imitated the ancient bearers of the title by issuing a stream of what were called capitularies or laws.

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