[The appearance of a _Life of Charlemagne_ in these days of cobweb
literature may probably be regarded as a phenomenon by booksellers.
Whatever their feelings may be upon the matter, we are inclined to
regard it as a valuable contribution to our substantial literature. The
author, Mr. G.P.R. James has hitherto produced no work that can at all
compete with the present in our esteem. He has shown his aptitude for
research in three or four semi-historical novels, which will be
forgotten, while his _Life of Charlemagne_ will be allowed place with
our standard historians. He has wisely left the novel to the titled
folks of the Burlington-street press, and betaken himself to better
studies, that will not only gain him a name, but maintain him a proud
distinction, in the literature of his country. We trust the public--for,
in these days, every man is a Mecaenas--will reward his industry and
talent, and thus encourage him to proceed in his design--to illustrate
the History of France by the Lives of her Great Men; each volume, though
forming a distinct work, being connected with that which preceded it, by
a view of the intervening period. The portion before us has our most
cordial approbation and recommendation.
Of Charlemagne, the greatest man of the middle ages, no accurate life
had ever been written. Mr. James tells us that, in his work, he believes
he has corrected some of the errors to be found in former statements,
and has added a few facts to the information which the world before
possessed upon the subject. The Life is preceded by an Historical
Introduction, from A.D. 476, to A.D. 749, recounting the state of Gaul
from a little previous to the final overthrow of the Roman Empire, to
the birth of Charlemagne.
The precise birthplace of Charlemagne is unknown;[7] neither have any
records come down to us of his education, nor any particulars of those
early years which are generally ornamented by the imagination of after
biographers, even when the subject of their writing has left his infancy
in obscurity. The year of his birth, however, seems to have been A.D.
742, about seven years before his father, Pepin, the Brief, assumed the
name of king. The first act of Charlemagne--a task which combined both
dignity and beneficence--was to meet, as deputy for his father, the
chief of the Roman Church, and to conduct him with honour to his
father’s presence. Charlemagne was then scarcely twelve years of age.
This is the first occasion on which we find the great man mentioned in
history; “but,” observes Mr. James, “the children of the Francs were
trained in their very early years to robust and warlike exercises; and
there is every reason to believe that great precocity, both of bodily
and mental powers, fitted the prince for the office which was intrusted
to him by his father.”
[7] The Monk of St. Gall implies that Aix la Chapelle was the
birthplace of Charlemagne. Lib. i. c. 30.
Our admiration of the style in which Mr. James has executed his task
almost tempts us to travel with the reader, page by page, through the
volume. Our time will not allow this task; though we must be less chary
of praise than of our space. The great events are told with elegant
simplicity; the language is neither overloaded with ornament, nor made
to abound with well-rounded terms, at the sacrifice of perspicuity and
truth; but there is throughout the work an air of impartiality and
patient investigation which should uniformly characterize historical
narrative. We make a few selections from various parts of the volume
towards what may be termed a personal portrait of the illustrious
emperor:]
Above[8] the ordinary height of man, Charlemagne was a giant in his
stature as in his mind; but the graceful and easy proportion of all his
limbs spoke the combination of wonderful activity with immense strength,
and pleased while it astonished. His countenance was as striking as his
figure; and his broad, high forehead, his keen and flashing eye, and
bland, unwrinkled brow, offered a bright picture, wherein the spirit of
physiognomy, natural to all men, might trace the expression of a
powerful intellect and a benevolent heart.
[8] Eginhard, in Vit. Car. Mag. cap. xxii. Marquhard Freher, de
Statura, Car. Mag. The dissertation of Marquhard Freher on the
height of Charlemagne, (and on the question whether he wore a
beard or not,) does not satisfy me as to his precise stature.
Eginhard declares that he was in height seven times the length
of his own foot, which we have every reason to believe was not
very small, at least if he bore any resemblance to his mother,
who was known by the name of “Bertha with the long foot.”
Gifted with a frame, the corporeal energies of which required little or
no relaxation, and which, consequently, never clogged and hampered his
intellect by fatigue, Charlemagne could devote an immense portion of his
time to business, and, without taking more than a very small portion of
sleep, could dedicate the clear thoughts of an untired mind to the
regulation of his kingdom, even while other men were buried in repose.
He was accustomed, we are told, to wake spontaneously, and rise from his
bed four or five times in the course of each night; and so great was his
economy of moments, that the brief space he employed in putting on the
simple garments with which he was usually clothed, was also occupied in
hearing the reports of his Count of the Palace, or the pleadings of
various causes, which he decided at those times with as much clear
wisdom as if listening to them on the judgment seat.
Some lighter exercise of the mind was nevertheless necessary even to
him; but this was principally taken during his repasts, when he caused
various works to be read to him, which did not require the severe
attention that he was obliged to bestow on judicial investigations. The
subject of these readings was, in general, the history of past times,
and works, upon theology, amongst which the writings of St. Augustin are
said to have afforded him the greatest pleasure.
By the constant employment of moments which would otherwise have been
wasted to the intellect, an extraordinary mass of business was easily
swept away; and, at the end of the very year in which he returned from
Italy, a number of acts, diplomas, charters, letters, judgments, and
affairs of all kinds, can be traced to Charlemagne himself, the despatch
of which, together with all those that must have escaped research, would
be utterly inconceivable, were we ignorant of what were the habits of
that great and singular man.
The war dress of Charlemagne himself was wholly composed of steel,
consisting of the casque, breast, and back plates, together with
greaves, gauntlets, and cuissards, formed likewise of iron plates. Nor
were inferior warriors less cumbrously defended; for though the arms of
the earlier Francs were light, in comparison with this heavy panoply,
yet we find that, in the days of Charlemagne, each man in the army,
whose means permitted it, was protected by a suit of armour similar to
that of the monarch.
[Mr. James’s summary of the character of Charlemagne is a delightful
piece of writing:]
The character of Charlemagne can alone be appreciated by comparing it
with the barbarism of the times from which he emerged; nor do his
virtues or his talents acquire any fictitious grandeur from opposition
with objects around; for, though “the ruins of Palmyra derive a casual
splendour from the nakedness of the surrounding desert,”[9] his
excellence lay not alone in adorning, but in cultivating the waste. His
military successes were prepared by the wars and victories both of Pepin
and Charles Martel; but one proof of the vast comprehensiveness of his
mind, is to be found in the immense undertakings which he accomplished
with the same means which two great monarchs had employed on very
inferior enterprises. The dazzling rapidity with which each individual
expedition was executed, was perhaps less wonderful, than the clear
precision with which each was designed, and the continuous, persevering,
unconquerable determination wherewith each general plan was pursued to
its close. The materials for his wars,--the brave, the active, and the
hardy soldiers,--had been formed by his father and by nature; but when
those troops were to be led through desert and unknown countries, into
which Pepin had never dreamed of penetrating, and in an age when
geography was hardly known--when they were to be supplied at a distance
from all their resources, in a land where roads were unheard of, and
provisions too scanty for the inhabitants themselves--the success was
attributable to Charlemagne, and the honour is his due. His predecessors
had contented themselves with leading an army at once against the point
they intended to assail, or against the host they proposed to combat;
but Charlemagne was the first in modern Europe who introduced the great
improvement in the art of war, of pouring large bodies of men, by
different roads, into the hostile country; of teaching them to
co-operate, though separate, to concentrate when required; and of
combining their efforts and their movements for a general purpose on a
preconcerted plan.
[9] Gibbon makes this observation in depreciation of the
character of Charlemagne, forgetting or concealing that the
great beauty of the French monarch’s character appeared not from
a contrast with surrounding barbarism, but from his efforts to
do away that barbarism itself.
His great success in civilization was all his own. Nothing had been done
by those who went before--scarcely a germ--scarcely a seed had been left
him. He took possession of a kingdom torn by factions, surrounded by
enemies, desolated by long wars, disorganized by intestine strife, and
as profoundly ignorant as the absence of all letters could make it. By
the continual and indefatigable exertion of mental and corporeal powers,
such as probably were never united but in himself, he restored order and
harmony, brought back internal tranquillity, secured individual safety,
raised up sciences and arts; and so convinced a barbarous nation of the
excellence of his own ameliorating spirit, that on their consent and
approbation he founded all his efforts, and sought no support in his
mighty undertaking, but the love and confidence of his people.
He was ambitious, it is true; but his ambition was of the noblest kind.
He was generous, magnanimous, liberal, humane, and brave; but he was
frugal, simple, moderate, just, and prudent. Though easily appeased in
his enmities, his friendships were deep and permanent; and, though hasty
and severe to avenge his friends, he was merciful and placable, when
personally injured.
In mind, he was blessed with all those happy facilities, which were
necessary to success in the great enterprizes which he undertook. His
eloquence[10] was strong, abundant, and clear; and a great talent for
acquiring foreign tongues added to his powers of expression. The same
quickness of comprehension rendered every other study light, though
undertaken in the midst of a thousand varied occupations, and at an age
to which great capabilities of acquisition are not in general extended.
[10] He is described by Eginhard as “apice capitis rotundo,”
which roundness or fullness of the top of the head must have
been very peculiar to have deserved such especial mention.
His person was handsome and striking. His countenance was fine, open,
and bland, his features high, and his eyes large and sparkling. His
figure was remarkable for its fine proportions; and though somewhat
inclined to obesity in his latter years, we are told that, whether
sitting or standing, there was always something in his appearance which
breathed of dignity, and inspired respect.
He was sober and abstemious in his food, and simple to an extreme in his
garments. Passionately fond of robust exercises, they formed his great
relaxation and amusement; but he never neglected the business of the
public for his private pleasure, nor yielded one moment to repose or
enjoyment which could be more profitably employed. His activity, his
quickness, and his indefatigable energy in conducting the affairs of
state, having already been spoken of at large, it only remains to be
said, that in private life he was gentle, cheerful, affectionate, and
kind; and that--with his dignity guarded by virtues, talents, and mighty
renown--he frequently laid aside the pomp of empire, and the sternness
of command.
No man, perhaps, that ever lived, combined in so high a degree those
qualities which rule men and direct events, with those which endear the
possessor and attach his contemporaries. No man was ever more trusted
and loved by his people, more respected and feared by other kings, more
esteemed in his lifetime, or more regretted at his death.
[The illustrations to this volume, though few, are of the highest
character. The frontispiece portrait has been procured by a friend, for
Mr. James, from the original illumination in the monastery of Saint
Calisto, in Rome. We recommend it to the manufacturers of school books,
wherein, if our memory serve us, the great man of the middle ages is
very inaccurately represented; though we could write a few pages upon
the foolish errors, which, for want of a little care, are perpetuated in
“books for the instruction of youth.”]
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