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CHARLES (GERMANY) 291 This was a great era in the middle ages. The Christian kings of Spain, the Mussulmans of Fez, and the caliph of Bagdad, Harouii al- Rashid, sent ambassadors to present homages and gifts to the powerful western monarch. However great as a warrior and the founder of an empire, Charlemagne deserves still more praise as a lawgiver, a civilizer, and a patron of learning, science, and art. He endeavored to establish order and a regular administration among the many nations which his sword had united, most of which were in a barbarous con- dition, totally different in their origin, lan- guage, and manners, and hostile to each other. Great national assemblies, known as champs de Mai, were held yearly in the spring. (See CHAMP DE MASS.) Other assemblies took place in the autumn, but were merely councils of military and ecclesiastical lords whose ad- vice the emperor was pleased to receive, and who under his directions prepared the bills and projects to be submitted to the national meet- ing. In addition to the laws thus adopted by the nation, Charlemagne issued edicts known as capitularies, in which regulations for the administration of the empire as well as the management of the emperor's private property were enacted. The collection of these capitula- ries, a number of which have been preserved, is among the most valuable relics of the middle ages, and affords striking evidence of foresight, wisdom, and prudence in their author. His empire forming ethnologically various king- doms, Charlemagne placed at their head his own sons with the title of kings; but they were nothing more than his lieutenants, the supreme power being concentrated in his own hands, he alone appointing the officers intrust- ed with the administration. His whole do- minion was divided into a number of counties governed by earls (Graferi), and these were placed under the supervision of imperial dele- gates, or missi dominici, who four times every year visited the circuits assigned to them, hold- ing provincial meetings and courts of justice, receiving the accounts of the collectors of pub- lic money, and adjusting the grievances of the people. He was thus enabled to control every branch of administration, as well as the pro- ceedings of the various functionaries, who were appointed for a term of three years only. His protection extended to the clergy, increasing their wealth by a law upon tithes, their liberty by his respect for canonical elections, and their power by certain judicial prerogatives ; but at the same time keeping them under his domin- ion, submitting them to the missi dominici, re- stricting their rights of asylum, interfering with questions of discipline and even of dogma, and causing the monasteries to be reformed by Ben- edict of Aniane. Trade and industry were not less objects of his fostering care; he granted privileges to merchants, and reduced as much as possible the tolls to which they were sub- jected. He established uniformity of currency, had the coinage executed in his palace, and regu- lated the value of gold and silver coin. Beggars were not permitted to prowl about the country, but were provided for by the lords or commu- nities to which they belonged. He bestowed particular attention upon general instruction and the revival of classical learning. Illus- trious men were invited to his court from all parts of the world, and especially from Italy, to diffuse among his subjects various branch- es of learning, as grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, astronomy, history, theology, and medicine. The Anglo-Saxon Alcuin, a man of considerable information, if not thorough learning, seems to have been the leading spirit of this aggregation of teachers ; he was the originator of the palatine school, a kind of normal institution, from which men thoroughly instructed were sent into the provinces, and constituting at the same time an academi- cal society, which consisted of the emperor himself, several members of his family, mostly females, and the most distinguished of his courtiers. The academicians assumed names borrowed from antiquity ; Charlemagne himself was styled David, while two of his daughters, Gisela and Rothruda, were called Delia and Co- lumba. These ladies and some others were also engaged in making copies of ancient manu- scripts, which task, however, specially devolved upon the monks of various monasteries. The emperor gave encouragement to this calling, paying largely for such copies, and establishing a library in his own palace at Aix-la-Chapelle. He himself was eager in his desire of knowledge and science, conversing with- the learned in his lei- sure hours, and having books read to him during his meals. In the night he would frequently get up to study the course of the stars. Through such diligent application he became as much of a scholar as was consistent with his public duties ; and some literary works were due to his encouragement, such as a German grammar and a collection of the national songs of ancient Germany. The fine arts were far from being neglected by him ; he had the Gregorian chant adopted in the churches, and brought singers from Italy, whose concerts he patronized. Among the many palaces constructed by his order, we must mention those of Ingelheim, Nimeguen, and Aix-la-Chapelle. The last was a masterpiece of architecture, having been ornamented with columns and sculptural frag- ments brought from Italy ; it was a large and magnificent building, the spacious halls and rooms of which were decorated in a splendid manner, and filled with most elegant and costly furniture. The basilica in the same city, erected also by Charlemagne, was equally celebrated, and became the pattern of many churches built during the 9th century. He moreover encouraged civil engineering ; a wooden bridge 500 paces long was constructed at Mentz over the Rhine ; and a gigantic canal was com- menced, but not completed, to establish through this river and the Danube a water communica- tion between the North and Black seas. Char-