Carolingian Renaissance: A Revival of Antique Principles in the Frankish Empire

This essay talks about the Carolingian Renaissance in particular; the time during which it prevailed, the eminent personalities who were involved in the encouragement of this development, the role of the Carolingian Empire, and whatever change was brought in after the widespread learning of the laymen.

Running head: CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
Carolingian Renaissance
University Name
Student Name
Author Note

1CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
The Renaissance is that period when awareness was spread amongst common men,
regarding their culture, art, literature, science among other learnings. The term “Renaissance”
means “rebirth” in French. Rebirth here means the studying of antique times in the archaic
Greece and Rome. In medieval Europe, three time periods arose forming an aggregation;
namely, the Medieval Renaissances. The three phases include: the Carolingian
Renaissance during the 8th and 9th century, the Ottonian Renaissance in the 10th century and
the Renaissance of the 12th century.
The Carolingian Renaissance took place during the late 8th century and it went on till
the 9th century. The Carolingian Empire stood witness to this event, notable scholars of the
court back then supported this movement to the fullest. An increase in the studies and
knowledge of the common people is one of the very important paths to development.
Disciplines such as arts, literature, architectonics, law, ceremonial reforms and ecclesiastical
studies.
This essay talks about the Carolingian Renaissance in particular; the time during
which it prevailed, the eminent personalities who were involved in the encouragement of this
development, the role of the Carolingian Empire, and whatever change was brought in after
the widespread learning of the laymen. This research essay intends to conclude by examining
similar renaissance all over the world and critically analysing how different it is from the
others.
With the end of the Dark Ages in Europe, the financial struggles were lessened. The
economy was restored, and Western Europe deteriorated into an enormous agricultural state.
The Frankish king, Charlemagne united most of the Western Europe and the Central Europe
(Story 2005). After the fall of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne was the first ruler to bring
harmony and good fortune by unifying most of Europe. Slave trade formed the eventual

2CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
reason of the sudden development of economy; where, the aristocratic Arabs caused a higher
demand for European serf after the rise of the Arab Empire (Beckwith 1993). Due to the
battles and invasions that were going on in Eastern Europe, a fixed supply of the enslaved
Slavs was sent to the Frankish and Italian traders who in turn sold them to the Spanish
Muslims and other parts of the Muslim world (Irwin 1986). The trade was so lucrative that it
almost instantly changed the European economies for the better. The market for Slavs
permitted the west to re-engage with the more sophisticated culture of East so that other
manufactories like that of textiles could grow.
In disparity with the overall deterioration of Western Europe from the 7th century, the
epoch of Charlemagne records a significant rejuvenation and critical juncture. Through his
use of accessible capitals such as the Church, Irish apostles, and manorial and primitive
institutions, his friendly association with the papacy, and his abundant administrative and
religious reforms, Charlemagne was able to stop the radical and traditional fragmentation of
the early Middle Ages and laid the groundwork for sturdy central government, north of the
Alps (Einhard 1960). Partly because of Charlemagne's activity, northern Europe arose in the
high and late Middle Ages as the overriding financial, dogmatic, and ethnic force in the West.
In the Carolingian era, the official court language used was Latin, so when Western
Europeans who had limited Latin vocabulary were the only ones serving as court transcribers,
it was of severe problem for the rulers. Another problem these rulers faced was when they
realized that not every district minister could read the Vulgate Bible (Metzger 1993). The
Sermo Vulgaris of the Latin dialect soon started to branch into different other local lingos, the
forerunner of the present day’s Romance languages (Bamman and Crane 2006). These
became equally incomprehensible and stopped intellectuals of a part of Europe from
communicating with people from other parts of the country.

3CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
To combat problems as such, Charlemagne established a series of legislative acts,
together known as “Charter of Modern Thought” which was issued in 787 (Dutton 1998).
This reform program had one specific objective- to attract as many Christian scholars as
possible, who would go visit his court. The few men who were called to the court initially,
Italians who could speak, read and right fluent Latin. Peter of Pisa (from 776 to 790) tutored
Charlemagne in Latin, Paulinus of Aquileia (from 776 to 787) was nominated as Patriarch
of Aquileia in 787 by Charlemagne himself. In 782, Lombard Paul the Deacon was brought
into court, when Charlemagne selected him as the Abbot of Montecasino. Theodulf of
Orleans (from 782 to 797) was a Spanish Goth who served the king, was nominated as
Bishop of Orleans. Theodulf was involved in a sociable contest over the adjustment of the
Vulgate Bible, with Alcuin of York as his competitor (Freeman 1957). Alcuin was a monk
hailing from the medieval kingdom of Anglia and was a reputable member of the diaconate.
He was the head of the Palace School from the years 782 to 796, after which he got back to
his scholarly work as Abbot of St. Martin’s Monastery in the city of Tours, located in France
(McKitterick 2016). Amongst men who followed the footsteps of Alcuin to the Frankish
court was Joseph Scottus, who was an Irishman who left behind few innovative theological
annotation and mind-bender experiments. These men constituted the primary generation of
non-Frankish researchers, although they had Frankish pupil who left mark on their own fields
in the distant future.
The later courts consisted of personalities as Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald
(Booker 2009). Later, Dicuil, who was an Irish monk attended the first court and the next
court was attended by an even more famous Irishman, John Scotus Eriugena. One of the
chief energies was the formation of a homogenous prospectus for use at the newly established
schools. Alcuin commanded this exertion and was accountable for the inscription of

4CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
schoolbooks, formation of word lists, and launching the triad and quadruple as the source of
education.
One more contribution from this period was the expansion of Carolingian
Minuscule, a handbook primarily used at the Abbeys of Corbie and Tours that familiarized
the use of small letters (Ganz 1990). A consistent version of Latin was also established that
permitted the inventing of new words while recollecting the linguistic guidelines of Classical
Latin. This Medieval Latin became a public language of studentship and accepted
superintendents and sightseers to make themselves appreciated in numerous areas in Europe.
Carolingian art extents through a hundred-year period from about 800–900. Even
though short-lived, it was an authoritative period (Kessler 1990). Northern Europe clenched
onto traditional Mediterranean Roman art forms for the first time, preparing the backdrop for
the rise of Romanesque art and finally Gothic art in the West. Irradiated documents,
metalwork, small-scale sculpture, montage, and paint survived from that period.
As emblematic illustrative of Rome, Charlemagne pursued the renovation and revival
of Roman culture and acquiring knowledge in the West and he needed an art adept of telling
stories and characterizing numbers with an efficiency which decorative Germanic Migration
era of art could not (Cohen 2014). He desired to authorize himself as the beneficiary of the
great rulers of the past, to outdo and emblematically associate the creative accomplishments
of Early Christian and Byzantine principles with his own.
The most abundant remaining works of the Carolingian renaissance are illumined
scriptures. Several extravagant documents, mostly Gospel books, have subsisted, adorned
with a comparatively small number of pint-sized full-page, often including revivalist
portraits, and profligate precept tables, after the model of the Insular art of Britain and
Ireland. Descriptive images and particularly cycles are scarcer, although many exist, typically

5CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
because of the Old Testament, particularly Genesis; scenes from the New Testament are more
often seen to be depicted on the ivory edicts (Curtius 2013). Indulgent scripts were given
paragon fastenings or abundant facade with trinkets engraved in gold and imprinted with
ivory panels, and, as an Insular art, where respected objects were reserved in the church or
assets, and a different type of object from the used manuscripts saved in the library, where
some monograms might be festooned, and stylograph illustrations added in a few places.
Some of the outstanding majestic documents were manifested on purple scroll.
Other ritualistic works were occasionally formed in extravagant manuscripts, such as
Sacramentaries, but no Carolingian Bible is ornamented as profoundly as the Late Antique
samples that have survived in pieces. Instruction books such as religious, historic, fictional
and technical compositions from prehistoric writers were imitated and usually just
demonstrated in ink, if at all (Martin 2009). The Chronography of 354 was a Late Roman
manuscript that seemingly was clichéd in the Carolingian period, however this replica
appears to have been lost during the 17th century.
The Carolingian architecture was a mindful effort to match Roman construction and
to that end it appropriated severely from Early Christian and Byzantine architecture, although
there are improvements of its own, ensuing in an exceptional charm (Nees 1986). The cabin
of the hermitage at Lorsch, constructed around 800, demonstrates conventional motivation
for Carolingian architecture, erected as a triple-arched gallery leading to the gateway, with
the rounded frontage intermingled with attached traditional pillars and columns above.
The Palatine Chapel in Aachen erected between 792–805 was stimulated by the
octadic Justinian church of San Vitale in Ravenna, made during the 6th century, but at
Aachen there is a tall colossal western entry gateway, as an entirety called a westwork—a
Carolingian novelty. Carolingian churches usually are basilican, like the Christian churches

6CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
from all over Rome, and normally included westworks, which is debatably the example for
the western fronts of later feudal churches (Horn et al. 1979). An innovative westwork
endures today at the Abbey of Corvey, constructed in 885.
Around 755 A.D., Charlemagne's father Pepin the Short renewed the currency of
France. An assortment of indigenous schemes was consistent, with negligible mints staying
closed, regal command over the others were restored, and chastity was increased. In exchange
of the gold Roman and Byzantine coins that were common back then, he founded a structure
based on a neoteric 0.940-fine silver denier the weight of which was 1/240th of a pound. As
the degraded solidus was formerly roughly equal to 11 of the above mentioned pennies, the
shilling was recognized at that price, making it 1/22 of the silver pound. This was changed
later to 12 and 1/20, correspondingly (Coupland 2007). During the Carolingian era, however,
none shillings nor pounds were cast, as an alternative being used as hypothetical units of
interpretation. Despite the transparency and superiority of the new pennies, however, they
were continually forbidden by merchants all over the Carolingian age in favour of the gold
coins used in other places, a condition that directed to recurrent regulation in contradiction of
such rejection to receive the king's coinage. The Carolingian system was trade in to England
by Offa of Mercia and other kings, where it moulded the base of English currency until the
late 20th century.
Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the “Renaissance” denotes
an era of amplified social movement, comprising of, but not restricted to, originations in
prose and poetry, portrait, statuette, construction, way of life, and edification. The most well-
known renaissance from the Middle Ages is the Italian Renaissance, which was indicated by
a cluster of wealthy people who were fascinated with ancient Greece and Rome thus, paying
lots of money on canvases, figurines, edifices, and poems that they believed imitated ancient

7CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
art. Additional examples of medieval renaissances comprise the Macedonian Renaissance,
the Northern Renaissance, and the 12th Century Renaissance.
The Carolingian Renaissance was a prodigious renewal of antique principles in the
Frankish Empire, through the sovereignty of the Carolingians. The archetypal Carolingian
viewpoint was that they were just “savages” as compared to the brainpowers of Classical
Greece and Rome. Thus, they did not try to surpass them but pursued out great performers,
constructors, and critics who could reconstruct their magnificence and prodigy. Charlemagne
was noteworthy in origination of this refurbishment. He created returns for edification in
churches, hermitages, and his own court of law. He introduced educators from Britain, Italy,
and Ireland. The Christian part of this restoration was chiefly highlighted, and Charlemagne
convinced many abbots to improve and copy the more precise versions of the religious texts.
The knowledgeable ethnicities and edifying organizations supported by Charlemagne
seriously affected the growth of Western culture. Grammatists and elocutionist from north
Italy and English scholars, like Alcuin, improved his court. This combination of Italian and
Anglo-Irish ethos replenished a broad base for the later stages of the Carolingian revival.
Charlemagne prolonged the number of schools, both ascetic and clerical, and the value of
education was significantly improved as the impact of the academics who imparted
knowledge at the palace school.
One of the finest aids to civilization during the Carolingian Renaissance, was the
Carolingian miniscule. This script shortened learning by familiarizing uppercase and
lowercase letters and spaces for the very first time. The Carolingian Renaissance was central
in the protection of numerous of the prehistoric texts of philosophy and literature, so that the
future generations can have access to these texts in the modern day.

8CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
Reference
Bamman, David, and Gregory Crane. "The design and use of a Latin dependency treebank."
In Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on Treebanks and Linguistic Theories (TLT2006), pp.
67-78. 2006.
Beckwith, Christopher I. The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: A History of the Struggle for
Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages.
Princeton University Press, 1993.
Booker, Courtney M. Past convictions: the penance of Louis the Pious and the decline of the
Carolingians. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.
Cohen, Simona. Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art.
Brill, 2014.
Coupland, Simon. Carolingian Coinage and the Vikings: Studies on Power and Trade in the
9th Century. Vol. 847. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2007.
Curtius, Ernst Robert. European literature and the Latin middle ages. Vol. 57. Princeton
University Press, 2013.
Dutton, Paul Edward, ed. Charlemagne's courtier: the complete Einhard. Vol. 3. University
of Toronto Press, 1998.
Einhard, Vita Karoli Magni. The life of Charlemagne. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1960.
Freeman, Ann. "Theodulf of Orleans and the Libri carolini." Speculum 32, no. 4 (1957): 663-
705.
Ganz, David. Corbie in the Carolingian renaissance. Vol. 20. Thorbecke, 1990.

9CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
Horn, Walter, Ernest Born, Charles Williams Jones, and A. Hunter Dupree. The plan of St.
Gall: a study of the architecture & economy of, & life in a paradigmatic Carolingian
monastery. Vol. 3. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1979.
Irwin, Robert. The Middle East in the Middle Ages: The Early Mamluk Sultanate, 1250-1382.
Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1986.
Kessler, Herbert L. An Apostle in Armor and the Mission of Carolingian Art. Istituto della
Enciclopedia Italiana, 1990.
Martin, Ronald H. "From manuscript to print." The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus (2009):
241-52.
McKitterick, Rosamond. The Frankish kingdoms under the Carolingians 751-987.
Routledge, 2016.
Metzger, Bruce M. "Important early translations of the Bible." Bibliotheca Sacra 150, no.
597 (1993): 42.
Nees, Lawrence. "The Plan of St. Gall and the Theory of the Program of Carolingian
Art." Gesta 25, no. 1 (1986).
Story, Joanna, ed. Charlemagne: empire and society. Manchester University Press, 2005.