Sophia Elahi RPC Blog

The Carolingian Renaissance happened between the late 8^th century to the late 9^th century.  The goal of this renaissance was to create a civilization Ancient Rome would have been proud of.  The only change was that the civilization would have Christian emphasis, unlike the polytheistic lifestyle Rome had.

During the renaissance, the Franks were ruling Europe as the protectors of the papacy.  Charlemagne, who was the ruler at the time, set up a fixed capital in Aachen (a city in modern-day Germany).  A chapel was built in the capitol and had maps of Constantinople, Rome, and Aachen.  This signified Charlemagne’s vision of expanding his empire.

Charlemagne would go out searching for great writers, artists, scholars, etc.  He wanted these people to become teachers in his schools or contributors to the renaissance.  Charlemagne built schools that were supposed to mimic Ancient Roman schools.  Scholars at these institutions would give each other Ancient Roman names like ‘Aristotle’ or ‘Plato’ in an attempt to mirror the Ancient Roman schools completely.

There were many things from this renaissance that we still use and enjoy today.  Monks during this time preserved many of the Latin works that we can still read and appreciate today.  The schools Charlemagne set up became the first of many European universities. 

Carolingian minuscule was a creation of Charlemagne’s schools.  Many Latin works had little to no grammar.  There were no such things as commas or periods or capital letters.  Those who had worked hard to preserve and translate those works created Carolingian miniscule, which is what we use today.  Capital letters, periods, commas, any grammatical tool you can think of, came from Carolingian miniscule.

As you can see, the Carolingian Renaissance is yet another example of how a seemingly insignificant event in history can impact us today.  Mr. Woods noted how during this renaissance there was not many new ideas created.  But the few ideas that were created, like Carolingian miniscule, proved to be very useful and are still used today.

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This week in class, one of my reading assignments was Charlemagne’s biography written by an 8^th century scholar known as Einhard.  In this essay, I am going to show how Einhard portrayed the Frank king.

Einhard seemed to portray Charlemagne as a man of two personalities.  The kind and generous king, and the fun, spirited family man.

For example, Einhard described how Charlemagne would share his riches with the poor and do his best to provide good living conditions for them.  He was a devout Christian, and made sure all religious rituals were carried out in the proper order.  He was also said to have donated to Christians who lived in poverty in other nations that were not his own.  Charlemagne seemed to have good diplomatic skills because of how strong and friendly his relationships with other kingdoms were.  Overall, he seemed to be a kind and competent leader.

However, in his private life he was described as a fun, and rather hyper, man.  Einhard described how he loved to swim, and would wake up the house (or castle) in the middle of the night to go swimming with him.  He loved to indulge in a good feast, like any normal person, but hated drinking to the point of sickness.  He believed in self-indulgence to a certain extent.  Charlemagne also seemed to have a strong bond with his children.  He made sure they were well educated and even took them along with him on journeys.

As you can see, Charlemagne seemed to be a good, kind man.  He was a competent king and a loving family man.  I am not sure how accurate the biography is, but it is certainly fun to imagine a king being as kind-hearted as he was.

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This week in class, I learned about the Papal-Frankish alliance, which only happened because of the papacy losing faith in their protectors, the Byzantine Empire.  In this essay, I am going to talk about the significance of the alliance and how it came to be.

The story starts in the early 750s, when the Church in Europe started to start lose faith in the Byzantine Empire, who was their protector.  The Byzantine Empire seemed to want to control the Church, something that they did not approve of.  The Papacy was starting to get threatened by the Lombards (a Germanic tribe) and were worried that the Byzantine Empire would not step in until it was too late.

The Papacy started to look for a new protector, someone who was not as controlling as the Byzantines.  Around this time, Anglo-Saxons from Britain wanted to expand into Europe to spread the message of Christianity.  However, they wanted the approval of the Pope and the Frankish king who ruled the European countries.  This prompted the Pope to propose an alliance to the Franks, which they accepted, and in 756 AD the Papacy officially switched their loyalty from Byzantine to the Franks.

Over the years, the Frank king, Pepin, defeated the Lombards, gave land to the Papacy (becomes the Papal States), and is named Protector of the Church.

Why is this alliance so significant in Western Civilization, though?  This alliance signified that the Papacy had shifted their loyalties from the East (the Byzantines) to the West (the Franks). 

As you can see, the Papal-Frankish alliance is a very important event in Western history.  If the Church had stayed with the Byzantines, who knows what our world wold look like today?  The reason Christianity is so big in the West today, is because of this alliance that happened 1200 years ago.

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This week in class, I learned about the Julio-Claudian and the Flavian dynasties, which started as a consequence of the death of Emperor Augustus.  In this essay, I am going to briefly cover what happened during those years.

The Julio-Claudian dynasty started in 14 AD and continued until 68 AD.  The first emperor of this dynasty was Tiberius, the adopted son of Augustus.  In 37 AD, he disappeared after hearing the news about the death of his biological son, Drusus. 

After Tiberius came Emperor Caligula, who ruled for four years (r. 31-41 AD).  He was considered to be extravagant and cruel.  Some even described him as ‘nearly insane.’  The Praetorian Guard, bodyguards of the emperor, assassinated him because of his lavish spending and cruel ways.

The next emperor, Claudius, may have been the only sane emperor in the Julio-Claudian dynasty.  His successor, Nero, was counselled by Seneca who was a wise philosopher in Rome.  He ended the dynasty in 68 AD when he committed suicide after hearing about a rebellion that started in Gaul that was moving up to Rome.

The Flavian dynasty was started a year later by Vespasian, who suppressed the rebellion Nero killed himself over, and created a stable and thriving Rome.  After his death, his son Titus took over.   He was a kind emperor and did not order executions during his reign.  He created a law that stated anyone who tried to kill another would be flogged and banished from Rome.

After Titus’ death, his brother Domitian (r. 81-96), became emperor.  He made his entire family gods.  His wife, children, deceased brother, and parents were turned into gods to be worshiped by the people.   When Lucius Antonius Saturnius revolted in 89 AD, Domitian became violent and erratic.

As you can see, in each dynasty there were a few good emperors and many bad ones.  Because of how volatile these dynasties were, after the death of Domitian the dynasty of the “Five Good Emperors” was created.  The successor would be chosen by the current emperor who would adopt the person as his son.  It would not be hereditary succession, but chosen succession.  This system worked well until Marcus Aurelius (r. 138-161) appointed his son, Commodus (r. 180-192), as the next emperor.  Commodus was vicious and incompetent, leading to a repetition of the Flavian Dynasty.

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This week in class, one of my reading assignments was the autobiography of Augustus, also known as Octavian.  For those that do not recognize the name, Augustus was the great-nephew and successor of Julius Caesar.  In this essay, I’m going to briefly talk about the autobiography and what it contained.

If I had to describe the autobiography in one sentence: it is a list of his ‘divine’ doings.  The autobiography feels a little embellished.  The title, The Deeds of the Divine Augustus, already hints that the autobiography will not be objective.

While the autobiography is true, it feels fake.  Personally, I think Augustus wrote it to show off.  Maybe I am interpreting the autobiography incorrectly, and Augustus wrote it with good intentions.

Despite my slight aversion to the book, I cannot deny that Augustus did many impressive things in his life.  Besides him being named a god, he was consul thirteen times and he was not psychotic, which should be an accomplishment in itself considering Rome’s history with crazy politicians in the government.

As you can see, the autobiography is not horrible.  It is truthful, slightly embellished, but also very informative.  If you ever want to learn about Augustus in less than thirty minutes, I suggest skimming through the autobiography.

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This week in class I learned about a peaceful war that happened in Rome known as the “Struggle of the Orders.”  In this essay, I am going to talk about the changes in Roman society because of this event.

The Struggle of the Orders was a type of peaceful protest that happened in 494 BC.  The Plebeians (Rome’s lower class) had gotten tired of how they were being treated by the Patricians (Rome’s higher class) and seceded from the city.  This made the Patricians realize that they needed the lower class to maintain the city and do their work.  The Patricians agreed to lessen the restrictions on the Plebeians and invited them back into the city.

Once the Plebeians re-joined Rome, many major changes happened not only in the government, but in society.  The lower class was allowed to choose tribunes (people who “commanded bodyguard units and auxiliary cohorts”[i]) to represent them in the government. In 471 BC, the concilium plebis was formed.  This allowed the Plebeians to govern themselves.  The laws passed by the concilium plebis were only enforced on the Plebeians at first, but by 287 BC, it applied to everyone regardless of class.  Starting in the early 4^th century BC, Plebeians would start getting land won from wars, a luxury that only the Patricians enjoyed before the Struggle of the Orders.

Intermarriage between classes was legalized and debt slavery of a Plebian to a Patrician was abolished.

Plebeians became eligible for the office of consul in 367 BC and by 342 BC at least one consul (decision makers in the government) had to be a Plebian.  In 172 BC, for the first time ever, both consuls were Plebeians.

As you can see, the Struggle of the Orders significantly impacted the Plebeians political abilities, but socially, they were still considered less than the Patricians.  The higher class still had more wealth and were not afraid to continue to flaunt it.  Even into the 4^th century AD, the Patricians had special shoes that only the higher class wore. 

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[i]Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “tribune”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 Nov. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/tribune-Roman-official. Accessed 4 May 2022.