The domestic policy of Charles 10 briefly. The main directions of foreign and domestic policy of Charlemagne

This manual has been prepared in accordance with the program of the course "History of the Middle Ages". The proposed edition considers the main and most important questions necessary both for preparing for the exam and for successfully passing it.

9. Domestic policy of Charlemagne

At the beginning of the ninth century the international prestige of the Carolingian empire was high: the kings of Scotland and Asturias, the leaders of the tribal Irish principalities sought to receive the patronage of Charles. In 812, with reservations, Charles was recognized as Emperor of Byzantium. Under Charlemagne, the early feudal state reached its peak.

In the VIII-IX centuries. it more and more clearly acted as a tool political power rapidly emerging class of feudal lords. In order to keep the peasantry, which was losing land and freedom, in obedience, the feudal lords needed a relatively strong central authority to conquer and develop new territories. This explains the temporary strengthening of royal power under the first Carolingians, which was especially noticeable during the reign of Charlemagne. Twice a year, meetings of the most influential large landowners met at the king's court. On their advice, the emperor issued decrees - capitulary– For all questions government controlled.

Control over local government was carried out through the "sovereign envoys", who traveled around the counties and observed the actions of local officials. Now military reviews were not meetings of the people's militia, but mainly congresses of royal beneficiaries.

Charlemagne carried out a new military reform. Now only relatively wealthy free landowners were required to serve in the army. All less wealthy people (primarily free peasants) were to unite in groups and put up one armed warrior at a common expense.

Thus, the peasantry, not only dependent, but also free, was increasingly excluded from military service, which gradually became the privilege of the feudal class.

Each of the lands of the empire, inhabited by different tribal groups and nationalities, had little connection with the others and, without constant military and administrative coercion, did not want to submit to the power of the conquerors. Therefore, Charlemagne spent his whole life on campaigns, each time going to where there was a real threat of losing this or that territory. Over time, it became more and more difficult to keep the conquered tribes and nationalities.

This form of empire - an outwardly centralized, but internally amorphous and fragile association, gravitating towards universalism - was characteristic of many of the largest early feudal states in Europe (the Great Moravian state in the 9th century, the Ottonian empire in the 10th century, the power of Knut the Great, which united in beginning of the XI century England and the Scandinavian countries, etc.).

To contemporaries, the Carolingian state, especially under Charlemagne, seemed brilliant and majestic. The emperor appeared in the form of a hero, and then entered into many legends, tales and songs of the Middle Ages.

Contemporaries admired the truly outstanding personality of Charles, his tireless energy, the desire to delve into all the details of the administration of a vast state, military and diplomatic affairs, develop education and culture, and his successes in military campaigns. They were also impressed by the appearance of the emperor: tall, strong physique, handsome face, and his relative education, interest in literature and poetry, in particular ancient poetry, the ability to read Latin and Greek (although he never learned to write).

The image of Charlemagne was strongly idealized by the subsequent medieval tradition, and through it by Western historiography of the 19th-20th centuries. He was even assigned the role of a defender of the peasants from the oppression of the feudal lords.

The real historical Charlemagne, although he was an outstanding statesman of his time, pursued a policy in the interests of the emerging class of feudal lords, was cruel and merciless towards the masses and the population of the lands he conquered.

FEDERAL STATE BUDGET EDUCATIONAL

INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

LIPETSK STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL HISTORY

SERGEY VEDENEEV

MAIN DIRECTIONS OF EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL

POLITICS OF CHARLES THE GREAT

final qualifying work

Lipetsk 2012

Introduction

The era of the existence of the empire of Charlemagne is an integral part of European history. Events to which this work, cover the period from 768g. to 814, that is, when Charlemagne ruled the Frankish state. German historian Arno Borst in the 70s. 20th century characterized the life of Charlemagne as follows: “Charlemagne laid the foundation for a history that still arouses the interest of specialists dealing with modern Europe; we are talking about the mutual understanding of European peoples and national divisions, about the state structure and social structures, about Christian morality and ancient education, about inexhaustible tradition and alluring freedom.” In essence, the history of the state of Charlemagne was part of the still unfinished process of building a united Europe, which vividly reminds of itself at the present time with a variety of forms and novelty. The map of Europe has undergone significant changes literally over the past two decades. Some states and unions disappeared, they were replaced by others. Europe, now striving to acquire a new political image, is undoubtedly returning to its roots, to an interethnic, multi-level structure formed by the personality of the ruler and his family, which we usually call the era of the Carolingian dynasty or the empire of Charlemagne.

Therefore, from the point of view of modern reality, namely, the flow of political and economic processes in modern Europe, the topic of this thesis seems to me extremely relevant. At present, in European states, as in the time of Charlemagne, the political, economic, religious, and territorial interests of many peoples, their economic and political elites are intertwined in the most complex way. The confrontation between Islam, especially its militant, irreconcilable teachings of Wahhabism and Christianity, is sharper than ever. This is confirmed by the events of recent years in Bosnia and Albania, the collapse of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, and the ever-growing crisis in the "euro zone".

When writing this work, the goal for me was, as comprehensively as possible, to consider and characterize the main directions of foreign and domestic policy of Charlemagne. Therefore, I see the main tasks facing me in the need to reveal the diversity of his ideas and ways of implementing them in the life of society.

The German historian Leopold von Ranke in his work "History of the Romanesque and Germanic peoples" (1824) spoke about the symbiosis of European peoples, about the emergence of their common history, the source of which is the empire of Charlemagne. Later Arno Borst in the book "An old scheme of lectures on the study of history" 1868. noted that in the age of the Carolingians, the West acquired a complete outline as a Christian empire that arose under the leadership of the Frankish kings, and moved away from Byzantium. The politico-theological dispute about the veneration of icons (iconoclasm), in which the influence of Charlemagne played an important role, according to Borst, also prepared the separation of the Eastern Church from Latin Christianity, which ended in 1054. schism of the United Christian Church. Borst also remarked that "the Empire of Charlemagne carried within itself a blessed beginning which inspired the European peoples with the idea of ​​a cultural community which since then ... embodies the preemptive right ...".

Belgian historian at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Henri Perenne, who also devoted a lot of attention to Charlemagne, in his book Mohammed and Charlemagne, examined in detail the period of his reign and gave him an assessment in terms of technical innovation, the massive development of new lands, and the improvement of the structure Agriculture, noting at the same time that the rule within the framework of the Carolingian empire was prepared by a sharp economic leap, expressed, in particular, in the subsequent development of medieval cities. Another world - historical moment of that era, he considered the resettlement of the Franks to the east - on the other side of the Rhine up to the Elbe.

The only partially preserved lifetime manuscript about the life of Charlemagne, which, according to Dieter Hegermann, the Carolingian historian Eingard, served as the basis for writing a biography of the emperor, is stored in the monastery library of Corby and is a processing of the Late Antique - Gallic heritage in the field of economy and social structure, church and culture.

Of great historical value, undoubtedly, is the manuscript of a contemporary colleague of Charlemagne, his biographer Karl Eingard "The Life of Charlemagne". To this day, it has been preserved in more than 80 lists. Already at that time, Eingard felt the need to erect a monument to the unique ruler and his “inimitable deeds”, to set off the scale of this historical figure, whose national identity will be challenged in the future by two peoples: French and German. He wrote: "Starting to describe the life, character and exploits of the sovereign ... I present to you, reader, my work, written in order to preserve the memory of the glorious and great husband." "The Life of Charlemagne" is a kind of unique work, a paramount literary and historical monument of the era. It went through a huge number of editions and was translated into the main European languages.

In the XII century. there are manuscripts of French and German monks that have come down to our time, in which Charlemagne's belonging alternately to the ancestors of the Germans, then to the ancestors of the French. The work of 1935 is devoted to the same topic. On the Eight Answers of German Historians. Charlemagne and Charlemagne". The anachronistic question about the nationality of Charlemagne, who rightfully considered himself a Frank, again arises in the book that was published in 1956. five-volume bibliography of the authors Hermann Geimpel, Theodor Heuss and Benno Reifenberg "Great Germans" and is solved in an amazing way. They conclude that Charlemagne "was not German" and there was a time when the German people simply did not exist. From this, the authors conclude that it is logical to name among the “great Germans” such figures who, even without realizing the ultimate goal, turned out to be a tool of history. Thus, they were involved in the history of the emergence of this people, determining its national character.

Published in 1965 - 1968. The five-volume study by Wolfgang Braunfels and Helmut Boyman about Charlemagne puts an end to the centuries-old dispute between the two European peoples. Based on the ancient Venetian chronicles, the 11th century code. from the monastery of Cava in southern Italy, on the annalistic manuscripts of Eingard, they conclude that already in the second decade of the IX century. Franks and Saxons were one people.

Written in 1981, translated into Russian and published in 1986. the work of the Hungarian scholar E. Gergei “History of the Papacy” tells about what happened for many centuries in the residence of the popes, about the fate and deeds of those people who occupied the papal throne, and about the struggle they waged for the spread and strengthening of influence catholic church. Avoiding the shortcomings of extreme points of view, without offending anyone's convictions, E. Geygei examines the relationship of the Carolingian dynasty with the papacy. In 1993 the book “The Origin of the Franks. V - IX centuries »Associate Professor of the Department of History of the Middle Ages of the city of Lille Stefan Lebec, where the problem of the historical roots of medieval France is considered, in the light of the latest archaeological data, with the involvement of well-known texts of primary sources. The author comes to the conclusion that the history of the state of the Franks of the early period "...was to a much lesser extent the history of abrupt changes than the history of evolutionary processes, different in nature depending on time and place." In 1996 The History of Military Art by Hans Delbrück is published, in which, using texts from sources from the Carolingian era, an analysis is given of the military construction of the empire of Charlemagne, the subsequent development of the military affairs of the Franks and other European peoples.

In 1996 - 1997 a two-volume book by Karl Ferdinand Werner "The Franks - the Forerunners of Europe" was published, which includes materials from two historical thematic exhibitions that took place in those years in Mannheim and Paris, and dedicated to the era of the Carolingian rule and the empire of Charlemagne. 1997 For the first time in Russia, the Harper Encyclopedia of Military History is published. Book 1. World history of wars 3500. BC - 1400 from R. H.". It shows the evolution of the methods of warfare, military strategy and tactics of the Carolingian era. The wars of the Franks and their influence on the way of life of the peoples of the Frankish Empire are considered. In 1999 was translated into Russian and the work of 1748 was published. the French philosopher - educator Charles Louis Montesquieu, where the interpretation of the legislative acts of the Carolingian period is given, the form of government of Charlemagne is determined by the originality of the state, its size, climate, geographical conditions, religion. In the same 1999 The work of the German historian Oskar Jaeger "World History" of 1904 is reprinted. in four volumes, the second volume of which is devoted to the history of the Middle Ages. It gives the characteristics of historical figures of the Carolingian era, which appear in vivid, lively and memorable literary sketches. This edition compares favorably with an abundance of factual material and well-chosen illustrations. One of the most complete works on the Frankish theme is the book of the German historian D. Hegerman "Charlemagne" written in 2000. and published in Russian in 2003. In it, the author sets himself the task of determining where the legend of the emperor of the Franks ends and the true story of a smart, far-sighted politician and commander begins, who turned his weak, bloodless state into a powerful empire by the power of the sword and diplomacy. Rene Musso - Gular in the book "Charlemagne" published in 2003. notes that "The history of Charlemagne is the history of the king, inextricably linked with the history of the people subject to him," who stood at the origins of federal statehood in Western Europe. All his efforts were subordinated to the main goal - the creation of the Carolingian empire. A distinctive feature of the book is the abundance of textual excerpts from various historical sources of that time. Book 2004 issue, the English scholar Norman Davis "History of Europe" consists of twelve narrative sections setting out in sequence the history of Europe from prehistoric times to 1990. Chapter IV - "The Birth of Europe" deals with the early period of medieval France, "when for the first time it is possible to recognize what we define as the European community." The empire of Charlemagne is viewed from a materialistic position, based on geology and economic resources, through the prism of art and the development of science. "The main thing in this process was the interpenetration of the classical and barbarian worlds and, as a result, the birth of the Christian community - in other words, the foundation of the Christian world." Published in 2011 The study of the Belgian historian Henri Piren "The Empire of Charlemagne and the Arab Caliphate" is devoted to the influence that the barbarian invasion of the Roman Empire had on the development of the history of Western Europe, and then the conquest of part of this territory by Muslim Arabs and its inclusion in the Arab Caliphate. A. Piren explores the separation of the East of Europe from its Western part, the decline into which the Merovingian monarchy plunged, the emergence of the Carolingian dynasty. The causes and consequences of the union of the Roman popes with the new dynasty, their break with Byzantium, emphasize the dominant role of the church and large landowners in the history of Europe in the 7th-8th centuries.

In Soviet times, works on Carolingian history, which were of a fundamental nature, were practically not published, because. This topic was considered irrelevant and even provocative. Evidence of this is published in 1957. and reissued in 1999. the second volume of the "History of military art VI - XVI centuries." Professor, Major General E. A. Razin, which describes the development of the military art of the peoples of the world, including the Franks of the Middle Ages. As the methodological basis of the monograph was taken "Marxist-Leninist military science”, i.e. the works of K. Marx and F. Engels. However, this can be said to be the only large-scale study of the military history of the Middle Ages in our country at that time. The book is written in a simple and clear language, equipped with a large number of maps. Descriptions of the battles and battle formations of the Frankish troops are understandable and interesting. 1961 under the editorship of Academician V. M. Koretsky, “An Reader of the Monuments of the Feudal State and the Law of the Countries of Europe” is published. The sources of the state of the ancient Franks, and then of France, are usually given in extracts. The purpose of the publications, as noted by V. M. Koretsky, was "to show those of them that most fully reflect the features of the feudal state system and its legal system." In the three-volume "History of France" 1972. edited by A.Z. Manfred only a few pages are devoted to Charlemagne and his empire. Reference books published bibliographic articles containing rather scanty information about the Frankish Empire and Emperor Charlemagne. In 1986 under the editorship of N. F. Kolesnitsky, the book “History of the Middle Ages” is published with rather scarce information about the reign of Charlemagne. In 1987 A collection of works from the first third of the 20th century was presented to the attention of readers. Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR OA Dobiash - Rozhdestvenskaya "Culture of the Western European Middle Ages", which provides comprehensive information about the sources and source study of the Western Middle Ages, including the Merovingian dynasty, as well as the Carolingians.

I would like to note the work of the writer - historian Professor A.P. Lewandowski "Charlemagne. Through the empire to Europe. This is essentially a biography of an entire era - the period of formation of the medieval states of Western Europe - France, Germany, Italy. The author considers various aspects of the activity of the Frankish emperor: administrative, economic, cultural and spiritual. Traces his attempt to create an ideal state, the "City of God", on earth. The main text is accompanied by a number of interesting appendices. These include: an authorized translation of Eingard's Life of Charlemagne, the famous Capitulary on the Estates, a study on the landed possessions of the Carolingians, an analysis of the separate acts of the empire.

with a break of almost a hundred years according to the edition of 1896. the work of the outstanding Russian historian D. I. Ilovaisky is being published Ancient history. Middle Ages. New story". Taking only facts as a basis, the author impartially showed the living life and living people of different centuries - the world of passions and the creative work of time, including the Carolingian era. In the same 1997 the 3-volume book “History of Wars” by N. N. Golovkova, A. A. Egorov, V. P. Podelnikov is published in the first volume of which the causes of Charlemagne’s conflicts with neighboring territories, the course of hostilities, the forces of the opposing sides, the main patterns of development of weapons and military art in the Middle Ages. The book is illustrated with diagrams, drawings, maps.

In 1999 several more works on Carolingian themes are published. This is the work of the priest-philosopher A. Men “History of Religion. Ways of Christianity”, in which one of the paragraphs tells about religious life in the empire of Charlemagne. Workshop on the history of the Middle Ages of the Voronezh State University, edited by N. I. Devyataikina, N. P. Mananchikova "Early Western European Middle Ages", which presents a selection of the most important sources on the history of the early Middle Ages, including political, religious and cultural, and social - economic topics. "History of the Middle Ages" edition, which is a classic monumental anthology of the history of the Middle Ages, compiled at the end of the 19th century (1863) by the famous Russian historian M. M. Stasyulevich, 1376 pages of its first volume were given to historical primary sources of the 5th - 9th centuries. and the works of the best writers and researchers of this period in the first half of the 19th century.

In 2000 the book "Historians of the Carolingian era" is published, edited by M. A. Timofeeva. The book includes the most vivid and informative monuments of historical thought of the 8th - 9th centuries: "The Life of Charlemagne" by Einhard, "The Annals of Xenten", "The Life of Emperor Louis" by Anonymous, "History" by Nithard, "Vedastine Annals". Their content covers the political, cultural and religious life of the Carolingian state throughout its history. All of them (with the exception of Eingard) are being translated into Russian for the first time. 2000 published a monograph by V. P. Budanova "The Barbarian World of the Great Migration Period", which is a comprehensive study of the barbarian world at the turn of antiquity and the Middle Ages.

It reveals the main historical characteristics of the Franks, explores their ethnohistorical structure and dynamics, highlights the ethnic space, the composition of tribal associations, and features of ethnosocial mobility. In the same 2000 the book of the professional military historian A. V. Shilov “100 great military leaders” is published, where he takes, first of all, the victories won in battles and how much these victories determined the course of this or that war as a criterion for assessing the greatness of Charlemagne as a military leader.

in the series "100 Great" by the publishing house "Veche", the book "100 Great Geniuses" by R. K. Balandin was published, which examines the personality of Charlemagne and his era from the point of view of achievements in the field of religion, philosophy, art, literature and science, i.e., in those areas of the spirit where the creative abilities of a person are most fully manifested.

Historical sources and research on Charlemagne and his empire were the basis for me when writing this work. As I study them, from the political chaos reigning in Western Europe at that time, the figure of Charlemagne arises in front of me, the ruler step by step creating and shaping his kingdom.

Chapter 1. Formation of the Empire of Charlemagne

1 Predecessors

In order to appreciate and understand the multifaceted personality of Emperor Charlemagne and his foreign and domestic policy, in my opinion, it is necessary to turn to the early history of the Franks. The beginning of this story, their journey to the empire of Charles, will undoubtedly allow a more complete and reliable understanding of the historical significance of the activities and personality of the emperor.

In the sources, the “Franks” are mentioned for the first time in the middle of the 3rd century, each time in connection with their militancy and their desire to settle in Roman territory. “... tribes of Saxons and Franks wandered ... All these peoples, both large and small, had no other means of subsistence, except for a sword, spear or axe. Constantly in war among themselves, these barbarian peoples seized booty and were never satisfied with it, disputed the property of the Roman provincials from one another, ruined and devastated, as best they could, the country that was supposed to support them. At the turn of the 5th - 6th centuries, the process of internal unification of the Franks reaches such a level that at first a not very strong tribal union begins to turn into a nationality. The formation of a single territory accelerated this process, strengthening the consciousness of a common ethnicity. “At the end of the 5th century migrations were completed by those who started them, the West German group of tribes - the Franks. The unstable way of life, accompanied by more or less frequent changes in the place of settlement of these tribes, ended, as did the process of their consolidation as a whole. Usually the emergence of the Frankish state is associated with the reign of Clovis (481 - 511). “Having killed many other kings, even his closest relatives, out of fear that they would not take away his kingdom, Clodoveus (Clovis) subjugated all of Galia to his power.” “Clovis by the end of his reign already bore the title of king. A cruel and unscrupulous "barbarian", he was distinguished by violent energy, a passion for conquest and a desire to unite all neighboring territories and tribes under his rule.

Although the Franks were still pagans, their ruler had long understood the moral strength of Christianity. Clovis adopted Christianity with his retinue in 496 or 498 and contributed to its spread among his subjects. “... the king recognized the almighty God in the trinity, was baptized in the name of the father and son and the holy spirit, was anointed with holy chrism and overshadowed by the cross of Christ. And from his army more than three thousand people were baptized.

By the beginning of the 7th century the general structure of the state, barely outlined under Clovis, was finally formed. At this time, a new, powerful family of mayordoms came to the fore; a clan that managed to secure this important title for itself and with its help subjugate other magnates. It was a clan that received the name of the Pipinids, after the name of its founder.

In 681 his descendant, also Pepin, nicknamed Gerestalsky, having won a brilliant victory over his rivals, became the sole mayor of the Frankish state, in fact, its sole ruler, finally pushing the "lazy", disenfranchised, kings of the Merovingians into the background. “... this clan (Merovingians) died out ... but it had no vitality for a long time and attracted attention with one conceited title of the king, because the power and state power were in the hands of the highest dignitaries of the court, called mayors, who actually ruled the state. “And the king had to be content with his title and show the appearance of power ... The majord took care of the administration of the kingdom and all internal and external affairs.”

Pepin Geristalsky was the great-grandfather of Charlemagne. His illegitimate son Charles, nicknamed "Martel" (Hammer), became the grandfather of Charlemagne, and his son, Pepin the Short, became the father of Charles. But it was with Charles Martel that the real power of the Pipinids began, which led them to the royal, and then the imperial throne.

Three main figures, determined the course of the history of the Franks in the V-VIII centuries, and prepared the reign of Charlemagne - Clovis, Charles Martel and Pepin the Short.

Clovis laid the first stone in the foundation of the state and the church, Karl Martel outlined the social basis of the new society, Pepin the Short strengthened and further developed the achievements of his ancestors. It can be said that he paved the way for his son, the future emperor Charles, to his dream of the "City of God".

September 24, 768 King Pepin is dead. “... the kingdom, according to the Frankish custom of succession, was equally divided between his two sons: Charles (the elder) and Carloman”, December 4, 771. Carloman died unexpectedly. "Karl, on the death of his brother, by universal consent, was proclaimed the only king of the Franks." He takes his brother's lands under his control and becomes the sole king of the Franks, depriving the widow and two young sons of Carloman of his inheritance and crown. This event seems to open the road of conquest, along which Karl will go all his later life.

2 Formation of the empire

The city begins the era of the great wars of Charles. The era of his creation of the Frankish empire. From this moment on, almost the entire time of Charles's reign will be filled with military campaigns.

The king of the Lombards Desiderius, having accepted his wife and children who had fled from Charles after the death of Carloman, demanded from the pope anointing the sons of Carloman as the legitimate heirs of his father. “... after the death of Carloman (771), his widow with her sons and the most noble of the courtiers neglected the cordiality of her brother-in-law for no apparent reason and fled to Italy to seek the protection of Desiderius, king of the Lombards.” However, Pope Adrian I categorically refused to do so, and fearing further harassment from Desiderius sent an embassy to Charles, imploring him to come to the aid of the "Holy Roman Church". "Charles, yielding to the urgent requests of the Roman Bishop Andrian, undertook a war against the Lombards." June 773. Charles began to prepare troops for a campaign to help the pope. War with Desiderius becomes inevitable. The Frankish army is heading for the Alps. Despite the resistance of the Lombards, he overcomes the mountains and besieges the Lombard capital of Pavia, along with King Desiderius, who is there. Leaving part of the army under siege, Karl with the main forces goes to Verona. Having taken the city, he captured the family of Carloman who was there (their further fate is unknown), but missed the son of Desiderius Adelgiz, who fled to Constantinople.

Rome was waiting for Charles as a savior. On April 2, on Holy Saturday, the troops solemnly entered the city. Karl walked to the church of St. Peter, and demonstrating his deep faith, he kissed all the steps of the stairs leading to the temple. Together with Pope Adrian I, he entered it. “In Rome, of all the holy and blessed places, Charles most revered the Basilica of the Holy Apostle Peter, to the treasury of which he donated a lot of gold, silver and precious stones.” On the same visit, Karl issued a new deed of gift, which greatly increased the territories promised earlier by the “donation of Pepin”. "... the lands taken from the Lombard kings are returned to Hadrian, the ruler (rektori) of the Roman church." Then the army returned to the besieged Pavia. Desiderius and his family surrendered to Charles, the treasures of the palace were distributed to the soldiers, and Desiderius and his wife were forced to take tonsure and imprisoned in a monastery. To his title "King of the Franks" Charles added "and the Lombards, the Roman patrician." “Charles, having started the war, did not stop before he forced Dysederius, who was tired of a long siege, to surrender, and forced his son, Adalgiz, on whom everyone had placed their hopes, to leave not only the state, but also Italy (774); everything taken from the inhabitants of Rome, Charles returned to them ... ".

Incited by Adelgiz, the Dukes of Friul and Spoletto plotted to seize Rome and return the dominion of the Lombards. However, Charles in 776. defeated the conspirators, subjugated the rebellious cities to his power. Adelgiz fled again, the Duke of Friul was killed. "... the governor of the Friulian duchy, who was plotting a new uprising, pacified (776) ...".

At the end of 780 the king again arrives in Pavia “But some time later, the idea came to him to look at Rome, the only ruler of the world, bow to the prince of the apostles and mentor of the peoples and present himself and his son to them. Relying on such assistants, to whom was given power in heaven and on earth, he thought to keep the conquered in obedience and overcome the difficulties of war, if any; he believed at the same time that it would be of great help to him if he and his sons accepted the signs of royal dignity from the vicar of the apostles and his pastoral blessing ... After everything that was to be expected from Rome had been achieved, Charles returned with the world to France, together with his sons and the army: he sent Louis to Aquitaine to rule the country, giving him Arnold as guardians, and duly appointed other ministers necessary for the upbringing of children. Another new king, four-year-old son Pipinn, Karl gives control of the country of Lambards to Italy. "... over all of Italy, subject to his authority, he appointed his son Pepin as king." But conquering Italy was not so easy. Arachis, Duke of Benevent, son-in-law of the deposed Desiderius, declared his rights to the kingdom. Informed about everything by the pope, Charles at the beginning of 787. was already in Rome, where he decided to subjugate the possessions of Arachiz. The army entered the duchy. Arachis, wanting to avoid ruin, formally swore allegiance to the king of the Franks, but secretly hoping later at a convenient moment to get out of obedience. “But the duke of this people, Arachiz, prevented the war: sending his sons Rumold and Grimold to meet the king with great gifts and asking them to take both of them hostages, he promised, together with all the people, to fulfill any orders ...”. The unexpected death of his son Romuld, and then Arachiz himself, put an end to these plans. But now Adelgiz, with the support of Byzantium, began attacks on the papal possessions. The victorious war between Charles and Byzantium put an end to these claims. "The end of the Lombard war was that Italy was subjugated, King Dysederius and his son Adelgiz were expelled from Italy, and the lands taken from the Lombard kings were returned to Hadrian, the ruler of the Roman church." It was a triumph for Charles. They also conquered Istria. However, of all the donated territories in 774. the pope received practically nothing but a tiny region of Sabina, an insignificant part of Tuscia (Tuscany). With all this, Charles fully supported the Roman throne, stood guard over the faith and showed constant signs of attention to its head, who approved all the plans and actions of his new ruler.

The defeat of Desiderius forced his ally and son-in-law Tassion to rely only on his own forces, which were not so great as to enter into open confrontation with Charles. “At the instigation of his wife, the daughter of King Desiderius, who, with the help of her husband, wanted to avenge her father’s exile by entering into an alliance with the Huns ... to disobey ... The indignant king, not wanting to endure such impudence, gathered an army, sent him to Bavaria ... Karl decided ... to find out through his ambassadors about the Duke's intentions. But he, not considering further resistance useful for his people, humbly expressed humility ... ". Therefore, Tassilon renews the oath given once to King Pepin, however, he colludes with the enemies of Charles in southern Italy and secretly agrees on joint actions with the wild nomads - the Avars against the Franks. Carl finds out about it. In 787, he demands an immediate personal appearance from the Bavarian duke. Thassilon dodges. Then the king surrounds Bavaria with troops from all sides. Tassilon, realizing the hopelessness of the situation, comes to Karl and once again takes an oath of allegiance, but this can no longer save the duke. In 788, he was summoned to the general diet, where the Franks unanimously sentenced the rebel to death, Charles commuted the sentence, replacing death with the tonsure of Tassilon and his family. "Thassilon, summoned to the king, was retained by him, and the province of the duke was handed over to the earls to rule."

Now the king is entirely occupied with the subjugation of the Saxons and strives to victoriously end the war with them - the longest and most cruel of all the wars of Charles. "After the end of Italian affairs, the Saxon war resumed again, as if interrupted (772 - 804)."

The tribes of the Saxons inhabited the vast territory between the Rhine in its lower reaches and the Elbe. The Saxons didn't know state power, although they had separate social groups. The top of the society was made up of edelings, or noble - tribal nobility; then came the bulk of the free population - freelings: below all were dependent producers or slaves. Ethnically, the Saxons were also heterogeneous. In the west, up to the mouth of the Weser, lived the Westphalians, the closest neighbors of the Franks; in the center of the country lived tribes that had the common name of the Angrarians, to the east of them, to the Elbe, the lands of the Ostfals stretched, the northernmost part of Saxony was occupied by the Nordalbings. “And so, a war began with them, which lasted 33 years with the strongest bitterness on both sides, but still to the greater harm of the Saxons than the Franks.” Since 772 before 804 with short respite, an exhausting and stubborn war dragged on. “It was the longest and cruelest and cost the Frankish people the greatest losses ... for the Saxons ... did not consider it dishonorable to violate and defile both divine and human laws. Do not count how many times they, defeated, ... submitted to the king, ... promised not to worship demons anymore and accept the Christian faith. But they broke their word; ... ".

Frankish detachments ravaged the settlements and temples of the Saxons, took numerous hostages and left strong garrisons in hastily built fortresses. But when the main Frankish troops left Saxony, the Saxons again and again got out of obedience. All the successes of the conquerors were reduced to nothing. It was necessary to start all over again. On the first campaign of Charles in 772. in Saxony, the Franks destroyed the fortress of Eresburg, overthrew the pagan shrine of Irminsul and took hostages. "772. King Charles was with the troops in Saxony and destroyed their shrine, which was called Irminsul. Campaign 775g. differed from the previous one only in that before leaving enemy territory, the king left strong garrisons in Eresburg and Sigiburg. "775. There was King Charles with troops in Saxony, devastated it, bringing it great destruction, and conquered the fortresses called Eresburg and Sigiburg, and put a garrison there.

However, the Saxons continue to attack the border areas of the Franks. “There were other reasons that contributed to the daily violation of the peace. Our frontiers (of the Franks) and theirs (of the Saxons), on level ground, were almost contiguous, with the exception of a few points where the Frankish fields were clearly separated from those of the Saxons, either by extensive forests, or intermediate ridges of mountains; on the adjacent borders, murders, robberies and fires alternated alternately.

The rebelliousness of the Saxons forced Charles to change tactics. He seeks to create a fortified line - a border "mark" that protects against enemy raids in the future. "... almost continuously there was a struggle with the Saxons, Karl, placed garrisons in convenient places along the border with them ...". In 776. he again fortifies Eresburg and Sigiburg, adding to them the newly built Karlsberg. The king leaves priests in the border zone, who are to convert the pagan Saxons to the faith of Christ. "776. King Charles...conquered most of Saxony; and the Saxons converted to the faith of Christ, and countless multitudes of them were baptized.”

However, the leader of the Westphalian nobility Widukind unites around him for further resistance to the conquerors of the Saxons - the Westphals. Karl's response was to continue the war until complete victory over the recalcitrant. On a campaign in 780. Karl's troops advanced to the Elbe - the border between the Saxons and Slavs. At the same time, the king led numerous priests, wanting to Christianize all of Saxony. His main assistant in this was the Anglo-Saxon, Doctor of Theology Villegarde. "780. The Lord King Charles again went with an army to Saxony and came to the great river Elbe, and all the Saxons submitted to him, and he took various hostages, both free and Lithuanian, and he divided this country between bishops, priests and abbots, in order to they baptized and preached here; and also a huge multitude of pagan Wends and Frisians came to believe.” In 782 Charles divided Saxony, which had not yet been conquered, into administrative districts, at the head of which he put counts, including from the local nobility. Thus, by Christianization and bringing under the Frankish administrative system, Charles included Saxony in his possessions. "782. And King Charles called a great assembly of his army in Saxony in Lippspiering and installed counts over it from among the noblest Saxons.

Secretly arrived in 782. from a refuge in Denmark, Widukind again gathered like-minded people. An uprising broke out. The Saxons, who accepted the new faith, were beaten, the temples were destroyed. The dignitaries of Karl, sent to quell the uprising, approached the Weser. At Mount Zuntal, the rebels gave them a battle that turned into a massacre. Karl had never experienced such a defeat before. “And when he found out that they (the Saxons) again fell away from the faith and gathered, led by Widukind, for a rebellion, he returned to Saxony ...”. His revenge was terrible. In 783 he immediately gathered an army, immediately appeared at the lower reaches of the Weser, summoned the Saxon elders, who were supposed to betray the perpetrators of the "mutiny". Widukind managed to escape back to Denmark. The trembling elders named 4,500 of their countrymen, who, on the orders of Charles, were brought to Verdun and beheaded. "... and a war began with the rebels, ... and the Franks fought with the Saxons and by the grace of Christ they won, and many thousands were killed by the Saxons, even more than before." “This bloody action was purely political in nature. She showed the population what awaits them in case of further disobedience.”

“The next three years (783 - 785) Charles gave almost entirely to Saxony. He beat the Saxons in open battles and punitive raids, took hundreds of hostages, whom he took away from the country, destroyed the villages and farms of the recalcitrant. Winter 784-785. he spent in the Weser, and in the spring he moved to Ehresburg. From Ehresburg, Karl several times threw flying squads through all of Saxony, clearing the roads, tearing down enemy fortifications, and exterminating those who resisted. He began negotiations with Widukind, which successfully ended with the arrival of Widukind to the king in Attiny and his baptism, and Charles himself was the godfather. “Having submitted to him, the Saxons again accepted Christianity, which they had previously rejected. After peace was established and the rebellions stopped, the king returned home. Widukind, the originator of all evils and the inspirer of intrigues, came with his adherents to the palace of Attiny and was baptized there, and Mr. Karl was his godfather and honored him with magnificent gifts.

In 793 an uprising broke out again, the Saxons tried to conduct joint operations with all the enemies of the Franks - Frisians, Avars, Slavs. “... the Saxons, turning away from Christianity, having deceived God and the lord of the king, who showed them many favors, united with the pagan peoples surrounding them. Having sent their ambassadors to the Avars, they tried to rebel - first of all against God, and then against the king and Christians; all the churches that were within their borders, they devastated, destroyed and burned, and, having driven out the bishops and priests who were placed over them, they seized some, killed others, and returned completely to the worship of idols.

The rebels destroyed temples, killed priests. The Frankish garrisons were massacred. In the autumn of the same year, Charles arrived in Saxony with an army. During 794 - 799. he waged a merciless war, accompanied by mass captures of hostages and prisoners, with their subsequent resettlement as serfs in the internal regions of the state. “Not allowing any of their tricks to go unpunished. Charles, leading personally or sending an army under the command of his counts, avenged treason and imposed a fitting punishment, until, finally, crushing and subjugating all those who resisted, he moved ten thousand people ... along with their wives and children to different regions Gaul of Germany (804)". Up to a third of the country's inhabitants were resettled. In the fight against the Saxons, Karl actively used the help of the old enemies of the Saxons - the Slavs - encouraged. “... our Slavs, who are called encouraged, led by the messengers of the lord king, rose against those Saxons who live on the northern bank of the Elbe, devastated their possessions and burned them ... and despite the fact that they were encouraged, they were pagans, they were helped by the faith of Christians and the lord king and they defeated the Saxons ... ".

The last campaign in the Saxon war was the military campaign of 796-799, which Charles carried out together with his sons. "796. That year, King Charles was in Saxony with his two sons, namely Charles and Louis, he went around the Saxon lands ... ". “... King Charles captured many Saxons with their wives and children, settling them in various regions of his state, and divided their land among his faithful, namely between bishops, priests, counts and other vassals of his, and he built an amazing church there in Padeborn magnitude, and ordered it to be illuminated, and after that he returned in peace to the Aachen Palace, and stayed there. The king himself did not show much activity in this campaign. He sent Charles the Young to complete the battle in Nordalbingia and then returned to France as a winner.

In second place in terms of duration and difficulty, you can put the war of Charles with the Avars. The Franks encountered them immediately after the subjugation of Bavaria. The Avars were closely associated with the enemies of the Franks, the Lombards, Saxons, and Bavarians. The war went on with varying success, and the French king had to mobilize all his forces and put forward the best generals to the front ranks in order to successfully resist the nomads. “The king himself led, however, only one expedition, ... he entrusted the leadership of the rest to his son Pepin, the rulers of the regions, as well as counts and special commissioners.”

In 795 doubling their army through an alliance with the southern Slavs, the Franks basically defeated the enemy, capturing rich booty. "It is impossible to point to another war declared by the Franks, during which they could acquire so much and enrich themselves." Charles instructed his young son Pepin, the nominal king of Italy, to finish what he had begun, for whom, of course, the most experienced military leaders fought. "Thanks to the active orders of these people, the end of the war was put in the eighth year." The Avars, realizing the hopelessness of resistance, having killed their ruler Kagagan and his main advisers, decided to submit to Pepin, but the young king did not accept them, but began to destroy and ruin everything in his path, putting the Avars to flight. “How many battles were given, how much blood was shed can be judged by the fact that not a single person remained alive in Pannonia, and the place where the royal dwelling of the Kagan was was devastated to the point that there were no traces of human life left. All the nobility of the Huns perished in this war, and all their glory disappeared.

Karl calculated everything exactly: his son was proclaimed a great strategist and savior of the fatherland. A whole legion of bishops and priests was sent to follow the army, to Christianize the defeated.

The capture of Italy, Bavaria, Saxony, and finally Avaria brought the Franks closer to the new neighbors of the Slavs. The Slavs, like their neighbors the Saxons, lived in a communal - tribal system at the stage of its decomposition. They distinguished tribal nobility, princes appeared who stood at the head of tribal unions. Charles' relations with the Slavic tribes developed differently. In the war with the Saxons, he often relied on the support of the Slavs - the Abodrites, so that the Franks called them "their Slavs." Karl was so pleased with them that he approved the Slavic prince Drazhko as the Grand Duke and handed over Nordalbingia to the Abodrites.

Karl's relations with another Slavic tribal union, the Wilts, who were famous for their ferocity and intolerance, developed differently. The Vilians were constantly at enmity with the Abodrites. "... a war began with the Slavs, who, in our opinion, are imposed on the Wilts, and in their own language - Velatabs." In 789 Charles undertook a grandiose campaign in the country of the Vilians. “The reason for the war was that the Vilians constantly disturbed the raids of the Abodrites, the old allies of the Franks, and could not be held back by orders alone.” Franks, Saxons, Frisians, Lusatian Serbs participated in the campaign. The strongest blow was dealt to the Lutiches. Despite stubborn resistance, the Wilts were defeated, the Capital surrendered. Their prince Dragovit submitted and gave hostages. Then Karl appointed Dragovit the Grand Duke of the Wilts. “With just one campaign, in which Charles led, he tamed them so much that in the future they did not consider it possible to evade obedience anymore.”

Relations with the Lusatian Serbs were not so dramatic. Karl, then carried out military incursions into their territories, then took them as allies against the Wilts.

The conclusion suggests itself that in the 70-90s. VIII century Charles did not make any serious attempt to establish himself in the Slavic lands.

Waging endless wars in the east, Karl made attempts to expand his possessions in the west. "Charles and the Britons, who live in the west ... and did not want to obey him, conquered: the army sent by the king forced the Britons to give hostages and do everything that was ordered." His troops repeatedly invaded Brittany and imposed tribute on the Celtic tribes of the Britons. In the 70s. there was created a fortified zone of the brand with the cities of Rennes, Tours, Angers.

In 799 Charles organized a large expedition to Brittany, but he could not conquer it to the end. She retained her religious customs and peculiarities.

In 778 at the head of a large military force, Charles invaded Spain, but was ambushed by the conquerors in the Ronselval Gorge by the freedom-loving tribe of the Basques - Waxons and was defeated. “When the army was moving in extended formation, as the mountain gorges forced it to be, the Basques, setting up an ambush on the tops of the rocks, ... attacked the detachment from above ... killed everyone to one, after which, having plundered the convoy, under the cover of the coming night, they quickly dispersed in different directions. " Then Karl began to strengthen the areas of Aquitaine and Vasconia closest to the Pyrenees. Since 779 settled vassals there, and in 781. singled out Aquitaine as a separate kingdom and gave it to his youngest son Louis, who, at the behest of his father, carried out a number of campaigns for the Pyrenees. The Spanish brand was founded - a fortified area with the cities of Gerona, Urgell, Vika. In 801 Barcelona was conquered, which became the center of the brand, in 806. Pamplona, ​​and by the end of the reign of Charles, his possessions extended to the Ebro River.

The result of numerous wars was the territorial expansion of the Frankish state almost twice during the reign of Charles. “With these wars, the kingdom of the Franks, received from his father Pepin, already great and strong, Charles expanded and almost doubled.” At the same time, his influence extended far beyond the borders of the state. "Charles increased the glory of his reign by acquiring the friendship of certain kings and peoples." In the Muslim East, Caliph Harun ar-Rashid sought an alliance with him. “Aaron (Harun al Rashid, Caliph of Baghdat), the king of the Persians, who owned the whole east ... was so friendly to Charles that he preferred his love to the affection of all kings and princes on the globe and considered him alone worthy of respect and gifts.”

The name Charles was pronounced respectfully in Austria and Scotland. “He entered into such close relations with Gadefons, the king of Gasil and Asturias (Austrian king), that the latter, sending a letter or ambassadors to Charles, ordered to call himself in these cases only as devoted to him. Even the kings of cattle (i.e. Scottish) he knew how to subjugate his generosity to his will so that they called him nothing more than a master, but spoke of themselves as subjects and slaves. The generosity of the king of the Franks was used by the Christians of Alexandria and Carthage.

In 800 Pope Leo III proclaimed Charles emperor, "... King Charles ... obeying God, and also at the request of the priests and the entire Christian people on the same Christmas day (800) of our Lord Jesus Christ, took the title of emperor along with the consecration from the master of Pope Leo." This is how a global event happened. There was a new French Empire and its Emperor Charlemagne.

The incident caused a sharply negative reaction from the imperial authorities of Byzantium. "...the title of emperor adopted by Charles aroused in them a strong suspicion, as if Charles thereby revealed plans to take away the empire from them." Although "Greeks and Romans have always looked incredulously at the power of the Franks ... he (Charles) entered into a close alliance with them so that there would be no reason for a break between both sides." Byzantium 10 years later recognized the imperial title of Charlemagne.

"Such was, as you can see, the activities of Charles, aimed at expanding, protecting and decorating the state."

2 Government system

Before the conquest of Gaul, the Franks had not yet developed an organization of state administration. The supreme power belonged to military leaders, public and judicial cases were decided at public meetings with the participation of all male soldiers. This primitive device turned out to be unsuitable for organizing domination over the conquered territories and their population. During the reign of Charlemagne, the Frankish state significantly strengthened and expanded, turning into an empire. "... Charles united into one empire the peoples who lived from the Ebro River to the Elbe and from the Apennines to the German (North) Sea, that is, most of the lands that were once part of the Western Roman Empire."

It was necessary to establish a system for the administration of these vast territories and, by means of persuasion and practical measures, to induce the Saxons, Gascons, Italians and Franks to accept the power of the king, to bring to the attention of all peoples living in the kingdom the fundamental principles of royal government, as well as the duties that were imposed in connection with this. to the subjects of the king.

Charlemagne continued and developed the traditions laid down by his father Pepin, “It is desirable for us that the decrees approved by our father in good memory at meetings and synods act as before,” followed the paths outlined by him. "... he managed to make the most of the political results achieved by his predecessors, and to complete the work they started." However, the traditions of the transfer of royal power are changing, acquiring a new meaning. The anointing means that the king is the chosen one of the Lord, i.e. the procedure for choosing the king by the magnates and the clergy ceases to exist. Charlemagne and his family, who were honored with divine election, were now supposed to rule the Frankish empire by the will of the Lord. “Continuously reading the City of God, Blessed. Augustine, ... Karl dreamed of a state structure where there would be two authorities - secular and spiritual - but with the indispensable dominance of secular power.

The fulfillment by the king of his duties ceases to be his personal affair; it now concerned the entire Christian people of the Franks as a whole. “This people was also a Christian people, namely a Christian community, a church where there is a place for everyone, clerics and laity, rich and poor. In the same sermons, praises (Laudes) are offered to the king, and his offspring, and to the whole people of the Franks.

If the king is chosen by God, then God did it for the good and salvation of the people, all the people he had chosen. "... he stands between God and the people." “Happy is the people inspired and led by a true leader and preacher, whose right hand raises the victorious sword, and whose lips make the trumpet of the Catholic faith sound.” The aristocracy, the most powerful political force in the Frankish world, was - at least for a while - removed from influence on the election of the king.

The king, as the anointed of God, had certain obligations in relation to the Christian people, namely, to maintain peace and universal harmony between those people who are brothers in faith. “And may peace, harmony and unity reign among the entire Christian people, and may the bishops, abbots, counts, judges, great and small of this world, be in peace, for the observance of peace is the first joy that we can deliver to the Lord.”

The king was obliged to protect every person belonging to his people and for this he should issue correct laws, and his administration should inform every subject about them. “The Most Serene and Most Christian Sovereign, Emperor Charles ... gave all those named below the opportunity to live according to a just law. If there is something else in the law besides what is right and just, he orders it to be diligently investigated and reported to him; he himself later, according to God's will, will wish to correct this.

For himself, Charles believed that, “We must do the will of God, protect and protect pious, righteous, respectable Christians from any attacks and raids from the outside by the armies of pagans and infidels, sowing death and destruction, and also strengthen and protect the common faith from within , conscientiousness and piety".

The king is obliged to help those who are marked by God: the poor, orphans, widows, pilgrims, the suffering. “And it seems to us fair and honorable that guests, wanderers and the poor should have refuge in various places, established by the rules and canons; because the Lord will also say on the great day of recompense: "I was a stranger, and you received me." “No one dares to bring to the state of a slave ... people who are forced to ask the king for peace and protection, because they are in need and poverty ...”.

Clerics and their well-being become the subject of special concern for the king. “He sacredly and devotedly revered the Christian religion, ... zealously and often attended the church ... provided it with such an abundance of sacred vessels made of gold and silver and the clothes of clergymen ... even the gatekeepers of the lowest church rank did not need to serve in their own clothes.”

So Charles becomes the ruler (rector) of the people and the protector (defensor) of the church. “So, the most illustrious and most Christian sovereign, Emperor Karl ... presented to all subsequent people to live according to the right law. And let no one dare, ... and let no one oppress either the churches of God, or the poor, or widows, or orphans, and no Christians at all; but let them all live together, according to God’s prescription, justly and justly, and let everyone and everyone be unanimous in their decision or utterance; ... let the canons observe a completely canonical way of life, ... let the monastics oversee their lives, under careful supervision, and use secular persons and laity correctly, without crafty deceit, by their own laws, may they all live in perfect mutual goodwill and peace.

The royal estate and court become an example for everyone. Aachen was supposed to be an earthly image of heavenly Jerusalem, a plan was developed to create a unified Christian empire of the "City of God" on earth. By bliss Augustine "City of God" - "... this is an invisible, spiritual kingdom. Coexisting and intertwining with earthly kingdoms, it leads to eternal life... and earthly rulers, being true Christians, must vigilantly monitor the fulfillment of divine plans... By their actions they are called upon to contribute to the formation of an ideal order, the main features of which are peace, unity and truth, guarded by the Church of Christ." Karl became firmly convinced that it was he who was called by God to bring this to life, because he never doubted that he received power from God, the imperial title "God's grace." “Karl, by the grace of God, the king of the Franks and Lombards, the patrician of the Romans, Baugulf abbot and all the brethren - our faithful prayer books entrusted to your care - in the name of Almighty God, sends friendly greetings.”

Karl subordinated all his legislative activity to the desire to plant “holy truth”, unity and peace in any way. "And let everyone live among themselves in mercy, peace and harmony."

"According to the state system of the Frankish Empire, all power was in the hands of the king, the nobility and the clergy."

Under the king, there was a permanent council, which consisted mainly of clerics who worked in the royal office, and a number of magnates. The Council dealt with a variety of issues: the management of royal property, the fiscus, the issuance of edicts, the collection of information, the preparation of instructions intended for both internal and external use. Karl “Inspired by the ideal of peace, order and balance, he pursued a policy that in modern historiography has been called “dirigisme”. Orders came from him for all occasions. His dignitaries and ministerials were in charge of separate threads of government, but all the threads converged in the hands of the emperor. The court remained the center of government of the country"

The chancellor was appointed by the monarch from among the clergy, as well as the head of the office and the army of notaries who compiled imperial letters, diplomas, immunity letters. The post of mayor was abolished. The new person was the archcapellan - the bishop or abbot, who was in charge of general church affairs. Positions - seneschal, cubiculari, marshals remained the same. “Counselors, both spiritual and secular, were chosen such that, first of all, each in accordance with his rank and position, would fear God, then they would be distinguished by such fidelity that, with the exception of eternal life, they preferred nothing to the king and kingdom, nor enemies neither relatives, nor those who bring gifts, nor flattering, nor embittering, (would be) wise, not sophistically, not slyness or the wisdom of that age that is hostile to God, but would have that wisdom or knowledge with which they could with real and with righteous wisdom, not only to completely refute, but also to decisively smash those who rely on the aforementioned human tricks.

In the palace one could always meet intellectuals who create spiritual and artistic values, as well as learned theologians. "... the most pious Charles the Emperor willingly accepts wise husbands ...".

"Diligently engaged in various sciences, he highly appreciated the scientists, showing them great respect." For many, the court was a temporary seat: bishops were replaced at the post of archcapelan; The seneschal, who in normal times was in charge of the house and the kitchen, could be put at the head of the army. Of course, at the court there was also a constant, rather numerous circle of people from noble families, administrators and scientists who rallied around the king. However, they were only part of Charles's entourage: a significant number of very different people were grouped around him, from servants to hostages - children of noble families of the conquered territories. “He loved strangers ... So that their large number justly seemed burdensome ... However, he himself, thanks to the greatness of his soul, was the least burdened by this kind of burden, since even significant inconveniences paid off by acquiring fame for his generosity and good name.”

There was also an inner circle (familia), a very heterogeneous community, whose members were connected with the king by ties of both distant and near kinship. These people were not equal either in position or in length of stay in the palace. Everyone could receive a task, for which it was necessary to leave the palace, someone, on the contrary, was appointed as a palace adviser.

In the first half of his reign, which became a period of incessant wars, Charlemagne was forced to deal with state affairs, being on a constant journey, moving from one Austrasian residence to another. Then the whole yard set off on a journey.

The palace (palatium) was called several residences at once: Geristal, Cologne, Thionville; the king chose one of them, in accordance with political necessity, the availability of free funds and time. During travels to Rome and during military campaigns in which Charles himself participated, the palace residences moved with him to the border areas.

Twice a year, namely in spring and autumn, many distinguished guests came to the palace from remote provinces, accompanied by devoted people. “And let everyone come to the meeting, the first time in the approach of summer, and the second time in the fall.”

At the same time, there were also foreign ambassadors. At this General Assembly, issues of waging and continuing the war were decided, sentences were passed on those guilty of unrest, perjury, betrayal, affairs of the kingdom were discussed, gifts were accepted from ambassadors, tribute from tributaries. “And let all the earls faithful to us, having shown zeal, begin the preparations necessary for the earls to come to us at the meeting with their people, wagons and gifts.”

If the residence turned out to be small for those who arrived from far away, then tents were pitched in the field, placing them in a strictly defined order: depending on the family ties of the participants, as well as the areas from which they arrived. Such an assembly most of all resembled a military camp, and meetings often took place on the eve of military campaigns; in these cases, they assumed the function of organizers of military training.

It was during the General Assemblies that the king ruled the state together with the entire people of the Franks, represented by the largest magnates.

“In those days, it was customary to convene a meeting twice a year ... At the first meeting, the affairs of the entire kingdom for the coming year were decided ... Only the most eminent people gathered at the second meeting ... The emperor brought to the attention of the participants of one or another meeting ... his decisions regarding the issuance of laws or orders, .. Secluded from other people, magnates, clerics and laity had the right to sit together or separately ... The king asked everyone if anything remarkable or worthy of entering into the annals had happened in that part of the kingdom from where he arrived. For each of the magnates was not only allowed, but even initially ordered, before appearing at the Sejm, to inquire in detail about all the affairs of the kingdom, both internal and external ... If in any corner of the kingdom the people were in agitation, the king was interested in the reasons for this unrest, and asked if this agitation was expressed only in murmuring, or if some disturbances were made, and whether the General Assembly should take care of pacifying these disturbances, and asked many more similar questions ... ".

The king asked questions and listened to answers, agreed or made his proposals. As a result of these dialogues, the decision of the sovereign was born, and it was it that was the last and final. “None of the outsiders was allowed until each individually completed case was reported to the sovereign, at his sacred discretion, and no matter what decision he chose, according to the wisdom given to him from God, everyone followed ...”.

Thus, the General Assembly was a kind of extended central government; being the heir to the former Merovingian assemblies, it, however, acted much more effectively, since its activities were based on theocratic principles. It ensured the universal approval of royal decisions, because every free person in the kingdom theoretically had the right to take part in it.

The royal court, which was the central governing body, did not close in on itself. He ruled, educated cadres for the administration, pointed out to the sons of the rebellious nobility which path they should choose, gave advice to local authorities and at the same time supervised them. “But from other officials (ministtrialibus), he received orders to stay in the palace who showed himself to be such that first studying, and then conferring, he could honorably replace them (any palace official) in this or that matter, or now , or in the future, delving into all cases being dealt with in the most attentive way, keeping secrets, studying things that have not been sorted out (cases) and fulfilling the prescriptions and decrees ... ". Every free man had the right to be accepted at court.

The empire created by Charlemagne demanded a complete reorganization of the administrative apparatus of his predecessors. First of all, Karl, seeks to create a strong centralized state, controlled by an extensive apparatus of officials. The center of the administrative apparatus was located in his residence in the city of Aachen (on the territory of modern Germany). The largest officials of Charlemagne's empire lived and served here: the chamber count, the supreme judge (with the prerogative of replacing the emperor in his absence), “The cares of the palace count, among other almost innumerable (cases), were aimed mainly at ensuring that it is fair and it is reasonable to resolve all legal disputes that, having arisen in other places, were brought to the palace in search of a just solution, ”the archchancellor (head of the imperial chancellery), cameraman (imperial treasurer)“ Apokrisiary, that is, the chaplain or guardian of the palace and the camerle (in the palace), and therefore, with the greatest care, such or those chosen were so instructed that they could worthily stay there, ”constable (horseman, head of the cavalry), etc. Naturally, these officials could not manage the entire empire without leaving the royal palace. Therefore, throughout the empire, from the Pyrenees to the Balkans and from the Baltic to Italy, local officials sat in the field, constituting a certain feudal hierarchy, similar to the one that was framed in the center. The count was at the head of a large administrative district, he had vicar assistants (vice counts); the lowest official in the imperial table of ranks was a centurion - the head of a small district, hundreds. Bishops, who were personally appointed by the emperor, played an important role in the localities.

Under Karl, an apparatus was formed to control the actions of local officials. Auditors, or royal envoys, were sent from the center of the empire, “... who four times a year (two, usually one count and one bishop) traveled around the areas subject to their supervision; they had to listen to the complaints of the offended, correct abuses and report everything to the emperor. "Mr. Emperor Charles sent (messengers) throughout the kingdom and through them ordered everyone to live according to the law and justice." The auditors checked how the decrees of the center were carried out, and also informed local officials about the changes taking place in the system of government of the empire. “We, the sovereign’s envoys, have come to you with this letter in order to command you on behalf of the emperor and ask you, on our behalf, to zealously and properly fulfill all the duties that have attached to your high rank, both in the part that concerns the service of the sovereign, and and in that which relates to the service for the good and salvation of the entire Christian people. For our sovereign commanded us, and with us and all the other envoys, to come to him in mid-April with an authentic report on what was done in his state from what he deigned to command in recent years and about which he reported through his envoys and what hasn't been done. And this is done so that he can reward the zealous and zealous as he pleases, and reproach and shame those who did not fulfill his commandments.

“... The position of special “envoys” was established: missi dominisi, who oversaw legal proceedings and military affairs, and missi fiscalini oversaw administration in general.” These envoys everywhere carried out the will of the sovereign, the idea of ​​state unity. “The most illustrious and most Christian sovereign, Emperor Charles, chose from his noble associates the most reasonable and wise, archbishops and other bishops and God-fearing laity, and directed them throughout the kingdom and through them (gave) everyone the opportunity to live according to a just law.”

“The most important means of unity was the privileged position that fell to the lot of the Frankish nationality: from it (albeit not exclusively) the highest dignitaries, counts, officials - envoys were elected mainly ... Clerics took a considerable part in the management, when replacing various spiritual positions, there was no preference for a certain nationality was not given."

Charles made changes to the judicial functions of the counts. The count was supposed to lead the court together with the court assessors - "scabins", who actually became judges. The Count presided over and approved their decisions. "For the analysis of any case, they were chosen ... by the count, in whose jurisdiction should be ... the trial, the best people ...".

There was also a royal court, which was presided over by Charles himself. “... all powerful people who are conducting a lawsuit with each other and who did not want to end his world order were ordered to appear before our face and that their case should not be dealt with in any other place and that this would not delay the administration of justice for the poor and less powerful." [3. C. 177]

The Catholic Church and the uniform education it provided were one of the most important binding principles in the empire and constituted one of the most important government funds of Charles. “To the most pious sovereign… in accordance with your will and your convictions… Working much on many things in order to educate many for the benefit of God’s holy church and to adorn your imperial power. I always urged, sovereign king, young men .., with all my might to study the beginning of such wisdom and to assimilate them with daily labors ... I do not stop sowing (knowledge) in France. And if God wills, I would like (these) crops to sprout ... (on the territory of the entire empire). “And let schools be set up to teach boys to read. Psalms, sheet music, manuals for singing and counting, grammars and liturgical books in monasteries and bishoprics must be corrected (according to a single model).”

The territory of the empire of Charles was great. The emperor was attentive to the problems of the peoples inhabiting his state. Special attention he devoted himself to collecting and putting in order numerous "barbarian truths". Along with the "God's judgment" and the judicial duel, a procedure was introduced to establish the truth by taking an oath. “If a free man cannot pay the debt… let him swear, and with him twelve more witnesses. If the plaintiff does not want to accept the oaths of twelve witnesses, let him challenge the defendant to a duel, and let them fight with a shield and a stick, and also having a cross with them. The old Roman laws were left in force, but each large region got my code. The Jews were judged according to their own laws. Karl demanded that every inhabitant of the state, no matter what nationality he was, knew his laws. “If something came up about which the laws of the world did not give instructions in their ordinances, or in tribal customs a more cruel thing was decreed than Christian virtue and the commandments of God would agree, then this was transferred to the discretion of the king, so that he, together with those who would know both the one and the other law, but would be more afraid of God than the ordinances of human laws, so decided that, where it was possible to observe both one and the other, both would be observed, if the secular law should not be deservedly applied, (then ) to keep God's justice."

So Karl called the law bestowed by God as the main law. It is universal and was a kind of result of Karl's activities in regulating legislation. "Let all live in justice, for thus commanded the Lord."

The lands conquered by the Franks in ancient times, as well as annexed as a result of recent military campaigns, were united and equipped according to a single model. “After accepting the imperial title, Charles, seeing great shortcomings in the legislation of his people, ... decided to fill in the missing, reconcile the contradictory and correct the unjust and outdated.” However, it was a stretch to talk about the unification of the administrative apparatus: in each area, the administration had to adapt to deeply rooted local customs and traditions, taking into account their distinctive features. Therefore, in my opinion, there are three models of local management organization.

Small kingdoms (regna).

They were vast lands ruled by the sons of the king. The former institutions and local governments were preserved here, however, all of them were subordinate to the King of the Franks - Charlemagne, who has been unchanged since May 801. “... called himself in official documents “his august lordship Charles, crowned by God, the great and peace-loving emperor, ruling the Roman Empire, and by the grace of God, the king of the Franks and Lombards.” There were only two such kingdoms, and they were created, in fact, simultaneously: in 781. the kingdom of Italy was formed, placed at the disposal of Pepin, and the kingdom of Aquitaine, destined for Louis. Small kingdoms had a special status as separate territories, however, all decrees necessarily emphasized the dependence of the kings of Italy and Aquitaine on the king of the Franks and the Lombards. In 806 Charlemagne planned to make a preliminary division of the territory of the Frankish state between his three sons, but left his personal power in the empire supreme. In the preface to "Section 806" Karl expresses a desire to have his sons "... during our lifetime as co-rulers, and after our death to leave the heirs of our God-protected empire or kingdom ...". The peculiarity of the management of these kingdoms was the creation of a special system of relationships between the new royal power in them and the power of King Charles. The king of the kingdom, for example, Louis (Aquitaine) legislated, administered justice, led the army on campaigns; Charlemagne also performed the same functions in the region - on the grounds that he holds the title of King of the Franks. Thus, for the first time, the concept of a “small kingdom” arose.

In Italy, as in Aquitaine, and in the possessions of the Lombard dukes, the main person who exercised local government was the count (comes). The Lombards have a gastald. In general, the administrative structure of the small kingdoms did not differ too much from the system adopted throughout the rest of the territory belonging to the Franks. However, due to their remoteness from the central authority of the sovereign and certain inconsistencies that occurred due to the lack of clarity in delimiting the functions of the two levels of royal power, Charles regularly sent his envoys (missi) to the small kingdoms, who played the role of temporary observers and controllers. About 789. he issued two capitularies specifically addressed to envoys in Aquitaine and Italy. “And our sons must be obedient to us, just as our people, beloved by God, are obliged to obey us just as it is fitting for sons to obey their father, as well as their king and emperor.”

Later, Charles divided the entire territory of the kingdom of the Franks into districts (missatica), each of which was also subject to the control of his envoys.

Marks (marca).

The stamps were an intermediate structure between the power of the king and the power of the count. Located on the periphery of the Frankish lands, they served as border guard posts, observation outposts, especially when the neighbors were quite formidable opponents. Spanish, British, Danish, Sorbian, Avar, Friulian, stamps sometimes consisted of several counties ruled by counts, among which one had the title of governor of the borders - margrave. The one who was entrusted with the governorship was called prefect, count or marquis, and sometimes even duke, as in Friul. The prefect is the main ruler of the brand; its administrative structure was subordinated - primarily to tasks related to the conduct of the war. The ruler possessed great fullness of personal power, which, in fact, turned him into the vice-king of the region he ruled. The main difference between the brand and the small kingdoms is that it is never ruled by royal sons. It should also be noted that this position was temporary.

Counties (comes).

Separate districts of the kingdom (padus) called counties were ruled by counts (their position was beneficial), which was the only link between the king and the free people living in the kingdom. The count, brought up at court and chosen for his leadership abilities by the king himself, was sent to the district, the center of which was most often the city where the bishop's chair (civitas) is located. The county usually bore the name of this city, and the earl shared power in it with the bishop. “We send you an order and advice to obey the instructions of your bishop in everything that has to do with his service. You should use all your strength and zeal so that the laws of the emperor, which were brought to you orally and in writing, are observed exactly, and you are responsible for this.

The count was appointed to the district for a certain period, but at any time he could be transferred to another district or, having entrusted the command of a military unit, sent on a campaign far beyond the territory subject to him.

Natives of the aristocracy, having taken office, became the conductors of the unitary policy of the Carolingians. They were in charge of the judiciary, so they were sometimes called judges (judex); the duty of the counts was to gather an army, publicly take an oath of allegiance to the king, oversee the maintenance of fortifications, roads, mints, and collect taxes. As a reward for his labors, the count took away part of the taxes and court fines. “The count should not collect a penalty for any reason either for the guard service, or for the messenger service, or for the wait, or for anything else, if our messenger did not first collect a penalty in our favor and did not give the count, according to our command, to his third parts. The very same fine is not exacted either by lands or serfs, but by gold, silver, fabrics, weapons, livestock, or such items that can be useful. Also, the earl used the income from fiskovyh lands, he had the right to this while he held this position; he also received income from various receipts from monasteries and castles; all the income of the count was called remuneration (honores). In his county, he was the chief commissioner of the king. He had assistant viscounts, vicars and centurions. Neither the origin of these posts nor their powers are completely clear to historians; they are probably closely related to local management traditions; at least that was the case at the beginning of the reign of Charlemagne. Most likely, the duty of the count was to select assistants for himself from the local nobility; it was through them that he exercised control over the territories subject to him.

Not yet an emperor, Charles vigilantly controlled the activities of the counts; at least twice a year - during meetings - he met with them personally; and the counts whom he personally knew diligently carried out the mission entrusted to them. “... he came to them and they completely freely reported how they considered it necessary to resolve individual (issues), and frankly told what disagreements, disputes or friendly squabbles arose between them on this or that occasion.” The king himself traveled a lot around the country and could see how the counts cope with their duties. But as soon as the king began to lead a sedentary lifestyle over the years, the counts ceased, at least conscientiously, to fulfill their duties to the king, referring to being busy with the affairs of their provinces, they did not attend General Assemblies for an hour. Therefore, the number of special inspectors - "sovereign envoys", over time, Karl even has to increase.

Thus, the institution of managers - counts - was founded, which existed until the end of the 8th century.

Clerics, bishops, and abbots were also included in the system of secular power. “Bishops, abbots, abbesses and counts are obliged to be in agreement with each other and with the law, so that they can do justice in justice, mercifully and without disturbing the peace; but they must live according to the prescriptions of the Lord, so that justice will always triumph in our state, and they would administer this justice in justice, they would also live with justice among themselves.

Their role is very significant, it is explained by the important function that was assigned to the church by the king, who acted as its head. The clerics did not have certain positions in the secular administration, but one cannot fail to note their power, as well as the power of some laymen who did not occupy positions in the administrative hierarchies of stamps and counties, but were directly connected with the king. Within their territories, they enjoyed well-defined rights granted for their merits and thus contributed to the creation of the Carolingian world order. “Let everyone who occupies a high position oversee those who are subordinate to him, and, in case of need, exert coercion, so that those subordinates regularly obey and just as regularly fulfill their duties, as well as imperial orders and orders.”

“Charlemagne carried out an administrative reform that established a monarchy, which was controlled by the king, the palace court and the chancelleries headed by the chancellor. The monarch's henchmen controlled the activities of the local counts.

These are the foundations of the functioning of the system of government of Charlemagne.

“The great merit of Charles lies in the fact that he was able to put in order and put into practice the correct administration of the country, which contributed to its appeasement. And if the first means of uniting the empire is considered the personality of Emperor Charles, and the second - his reytags, then the third means of uniting the heterogeneous constituent parts of the empire were undoubtedly the officials appointed by him. The whole state was divided into districts (gau), royal officials were placed everywhere, counts for the collection of troops, administration and justice.

Charlemagne

Chapter 2. Military organization, vassalage and immunity

The Carolingian army during the first 20 years of the reign of Charlemagne was the main instrument of war and conquest. Initially, the king had the support of a small group of warriors from his entourage, connected with him by ties of kinship and devoted friendship. Gradually, as the conquered territories grew, the army, recruited from the free inhabitants of the kingdom, became the main force subject to the king. Every free man who reached 12 years old and up to old age could be called up for military service; the determination of the upper limit of service age was the responsibility of the counts. “When the Sovereign Emperor gives an order for a campaign, let no one dare to disobey him, and let not a single count be so impudent as to let anyone who is obliged by military service be released from the army in any way, sheltering by kinship or being bribed with gifts” . This was how an army was created, the number of which at any moment could be significantly increased by conscription. Usually every spring there was a military gathering of troops near the place of military operations. Then followed “...two - three months (and sometimes more) of continuous battles with the enemy: either the conquest of new territories, or the reconquest of previously conquered ones, or the pacification of recalcitrant rebellions. After that, often another campaign caused by some unplanned event. Then the dissolution of the army until next year and the rest of the king in one of the royal villas.

Charles collected all the decisions on military service in the capitularies (codes of laws), which began with the indication that only free Franks were called up to the army.

“Everyone who, being free, ... let him equip himself and join the army at his own expense, either for his lord, if a lord enters, or for his count.” The presence of developed large land ownership made it possible to have a significant number of heavily armed horsemen, while the vassal squads of royal beneficiaries became the main core of the army. Military historian G. Delbrück calculated the cost of arming one warrior. He writes: “In one old Frankish folk law, a detailed price of weapons and livestock is indicated; if we compare these figures and express the cost of equipment in units of livestock, we get the following: helmet - 6 cows, armor - 12 cows, leggings - 6 cows, spear and shield - 2 cows, warhorse - 12 cows.

Thus, the equipment of one fighter was equal to the value of 45 cows, or - since 3 cows were equivalent to 1 mare - 15 mares, the cost of the cattle of an entire village. The horseman, clad in iron armor, was invulnerable to the enemy. In this regard, the combat importance of the heavy cavalry, which now constituted a significant part of the army, increased. At the same time, measures were taken to preserve and improve the infantry.

The continuous wars of the Franks required colossal and well-timed manpower reserves. Strong garrisons were needed to hold the conquests. “Much attention was paid to consolidating the gains. Castles, guard posts, a fleet at the mouths of rivers, scars and a quick collection of troops - all this reliably ensured the security of the territory of a vast state.

Karl, continuing the traditions of his father and grandfather, practiced a mixed recruitment system. On the one hand, he widely used and expanded the military reform of Charles Martel, creating a stable core of the army - "service people", beneficiaries. “First of all, everyone who has beneficiaries is obliged to join the army.” For regular service, these soldiers, as before, were given benefits - land grants from state funds. At the same time, the king did not neglect the ancient system of conscription, preserved from the times of the Merovingians. However, the king did not conduct a general call every time; it was impossible for the sake of every war to deprive the country of labor. Avoiding military service was almost impossible. “I’ll tell you about our people, as well as the people of bishops and abbots who hold benefices or own their own lands ... If one of them is found at home at a time when he should be in the army, and he will make excuses, claiming that he paid a fine or received from his lord exemption from service, such a person is sentenced to a fine. To obtain exemption from conscription, it was necessary not only to have good reasons, but also to obtain permission from a superior person. A stubborn struggle was waged against turnout evasion by imposing large fines (60 solidi, or the cost of 60 cows). “Every free man who will be called up for military service and neglects to turn out, let him pay a full penalty, that is, 60 solidi, ..”.

Weak free peasants were exempted from military service. At his disposal 811g. Karl blames, "... the weak are forced to go to the army, and those who can give something are released back home."

Anyone who was obliged to go on a campaign, but who was late for the appointed time, was subject to a penalty.

Every year, the king sent orders to the bishops, counts and large landowners of certain areas, ascribing to appear at the appointed time, at the place of assembly, having with him all his people, horse and foot, armed and uniformed. "And let the bishops, counts and abbots take care of their people, so that they arrive at the meeting on the indicated day, well equipped, in armor and helmets ...".

Each warrior was obliged to join a detachment led by either a count, or an abbot, or a bishop, or some seigneur with power. The warrior had to purchase equipment, a horse and provisions for several months at his own expense. “And you must arrive ... along with your people, well armed and in full uniform, ready to go on a campaign in the direction that I will indicate; and your people must take with them weapons, equipment, and everything necessary for the conduct of war, including food and clothing. Each rider must have a shield, spear, sword, bow and quiver of arrows. On the carts they will carry all kinds of tools, axes, axes, drills, cleavers, picks, iron shovels and other tools necessary for the campaign. Also, provisions will be transported on carts, which should be enough for three months, starting from the day of the campaign, as well as weapons and clothing, which should be enough for six months.

Military operations were usually conducted in the summer, so the Carolingian warrior had the right to return home with the onset of winter, those who left the army earlier were threatened with the death penalty.

The army was made up of free men. The poorest of them armed themselves with what they could, which, in the opinion of the king, was reprehensible. "Let no one go on a campaign with a club, but with a bow." To ensure that the soldiers were well armed, Karl issued several legislative acts. “The one who owns three manses, let him unite with the one who has one manse, and let him help him so that he can go to the army for the two of them. And the one who has two mansas, let him unite with the one who also has two mansas, and let one of them, with the help of the second, equip himself and go to military service. To the one who has one manse, let three more join, also having one of the manse each, and let them help one of them to equip himself and go to the army. The king does not forget about those who have very little land. “Those who have half a mansa of land, let six of them unite and gather one into an army. And those poor people whose property is worth no more than five solidi, let them do the same, that is, let them send one of the six. Every poor person who goes on a campaign against the enemy should be given five solidi. Large landowners had to have a horse, armor, spear, sword and serve in heavy cavalry. The less prosperous Franks, from which the infantry was formed, came to the service with a spear, a shield, a bow with two bowstrings and 12 arrows. The poorest of them performed only with bows and arrows and served as archers. “And the count himself, let him see if they are equipped with a spear, a shield, a bow with two bowstrings and twelve arrows. All of the above should have. Bishops, counts, abbots should have such people who would be well equipped with all this and would arrive at the meeting on the appointed day and show their equipment there. Yes, they have a shell and a leather helmet. Widespread throwing weapons - francisca, i.e. an ax with one or two blades, to the handle of which a rope was tied. Frank deftly threw Francis at close range.

For one military campaign, 5-6 thousand soldiers gathered. This number did not include servants, wagonmen, muleteers, and other wagon staff.

Castles and watchtowers were built to secure borders and keep conquered tribes in subjection. At the mouths of the rivers, a fleet was created to protect from the sea from the attacks of the Scandinavian tribes - the Normans. “During the period of the Norman war, he took up the construction of the fleet, building ships for this on the rivers ... which flow into the ocean ... parking lots for ships were arranged by his order and patrol ships were put up in order to prevent the enemy from invading. The same was done in the south, along the coasts of the Narbonne province and Septimania, as well as along the entire coast of Italy, up to Rome ... ".

In the border zone and in large cities there were skars - permanent detachments formed from professional warriors. Karl had the biggest scars. They could make independent military campaigns. In a great war, these scars were the core of the army, which consisted of a militia of free peasants, medium and large farmers.

Under Charles, long shields, longbows, chest armor, helmets and chain mail were introduced. The number of cavalry warriors was significantly increased and almost equaled the number of foot soldiers. All residents of the country were obliged to supply the troops with a certain amount of grain in grain, food supplies, fodder, horses, pack animals and carts. In addition, each county had to have special supplies of food for the passing troops. "And every earl must save two parts of the hay in his county for the needs of the army and have good bridges, good rafts."

At the head of the army were commanders elected among the counts, known for their military talents - the dukes .. The duties assigned to the duke were primarily associated with military operations, so the ducal title could well be considered temporary. After the onset of peace, the duke lost his importance, again took the title of count and returned to his county. Karl himself, and later his sons personally, often commanded armies in military campaigns.

Sharing all the hardships of military life, the king, who was in the army, was sure that, conquering new lands for the people of the Franks, he was working not only for material benefits, but also for the great goal of spreading Christianity.

The main service in the empire was military service. To protect the borders of his empire from constant attacks from outside, one of the main goals of Charlemagne was to create a chain of guarded borders or marks. The system of these stamps was supposed to be a guarantee of the security of the state.

Marks are fortified military-administrative districts that serve as outposts for attacking neighboring countries and organizing defense. The margraves appointed by the king, endowed with broad judicial, administrative and military powers, ruled the marks. They had a permanent military force at their disposal.

The main goal of the military reform of Charles Martel was to create more combat-ready troops from the cavalry and infantry than the peasant militia. Taking this as a basis, Charlemagne, first of all, strives to increase the professional cavalry army, as a more mobile and combat-ready unit. Mounted warriors could only be wealthy people who had the means to support war horse and have the necessary weapons. Charlemagne, like his grandfather and father, gave them lands as benefices (grants), that is, the land was given for service and only for the duration of the service of the recipient and holder. “And all those who hold benefices must first of all go to the army.” The one who received the beneficiary became a vassal (dependent on the terms of ownership), took an oath of allegiance and performance of the assigned service (the commandation - the oath is carried out on holy relics, accompanied by certain gestures, in particular, as a sign of the obligations assumed, the seigneur takes the vassal's hands folded together in his , sometimes in addition to the oath, a written agreement is drawn up, called an agreement; the granting beneficiary became a seigneur (senior, lord) and retained the right of supreme ownership of the granted land, could take it away if the vassal violated his duty.

Charlemagne encouraged the establishment of vassal ties both with him personally and in society as a whole, thus striving to. extend their power not only to the immediate environment, but also to the most remote corners of the empire. To this end, he made obscure private individuals, loyal and distinguished in battle, royal vassals. As a result, he created a large group of people personally devoted to him, connected with him by vassal ties. Some of them received from him beneficiaries for life. Among the royal beneficiaries were many people of humble origin. "The warrior from the Spanish brand, John" took the oath of vassalage with the investment of hands "after he defeated the army of Muslims in the vicinity of Barcelona ...". The personal vassals of the sovereign, in fact, become governors, exercising power in parallel with the administration of counts and bishops. “Now,” Guillermoz notes in his study, “relations with vassals have become so important that vassal service began to attract not only people of low and middle origin and social status, but also the mighty of the world this." Vassals of Charles received gifts from him and sent gifts to him themselves. The emperor's vassals accompanied and protected his envoys, military commanders making inspection trips, and extended hospitality to officials arriving from Aachen. In the districts, their authority was based precisely on a personal vassal connection with the emperor. These people were the main support of Charlemagne in the field, since their power was a counterbalance to the power of the counts, sometimes prone to disobedience. “...Charles with the intention did not provide any earl with more than one county for government, excluding those that occupied the borders adjacent to the barbarians; likewise did not give any bishop the royal abbey or church, unless special circumstances required it. To the questions of his advisers and close associates about the reason for this, he answered: “In doing so, I can, with the help of this or that estate, or estate, or small abbey, or church, secure the loyalty of a vassal as good or even better than another count or bishop".

Charlemagne also supported the establishment of vassal relations between free people. “After the death of his lord, every free person has the right to become a vassal of whomever he himself wishes ... And the person who is not yet a vassal also has the right to choose his own lord.” In the capitulary, Karl also indicates the reasons for the departure of the vassal “No one has the right to leave his signor after he has received property worth one solidus from him, except in cases where the seigneur wants to kill him, beat him with a stick, dishonor his wife or his daughter, or take he has a fiefdom." The conditions under which a vassal loses his benefice are also prescribed. “If one of our loyal subjects wants to engage in a duel with his opponent and calls on one of his vassals to help him, and this vassal is in no hurry to come to his aid, such a vassal can be taken away from the benefices and transferred to another.”

The free, but the poor, received equipment from the lord in exchange for lifelong assistance. “We think that since this year there has been a great famine in many places, bishops, abbots, abbesses, lords, earls, and all our faithful subjects holding benefices royal, ecclesiastical or otherwise, are obliged to use the income from these beneficiaries to feed those who who is under their control.

The beneficiary system accelerated the formation of feudal ownership of land and the feudal subjugation of the peasants. The military profession turned into a monopoly of feudal lords - knights.

The emergence of vassal ties was directly related to the military needs of society. The vassal holding the benefice was to be the first to go into battle. Not every warrior was a vassal, but every vassal had to become a warrior at the first call. "In the first place, those who have beneficiaries must go against the enemy." Over time, the beneficiaries became hereditary possessions, and then the property of vassals. In addition, the royal vassals, who had a lot of land, distributed part of it as beneficiaries to their vassals and became seigneurs, only formally dependent on the king.

At the end of VIII - beginning of IX centuries. vassal-lena relations were widely spread in the military organization and political structure of the Franks. The army largely consisted of mounted warriors endowed with benefices; royal vassals were appointed to government posts. It even strengthened the state system.

The military profession began to turn into a monopoly of the feudal lords, but the peasants nevertheless did not get rid of the hardships of war. They were forced to participate in campaigns as infantry and auxiliary forces, to pay military tax. “We wish that our envoys this year will strictly collect a military fine without any partiality, pleasing or fear, according to our command, that is, from a person who owns 6 livres in gold, silver, armor, iron tools, fabrics, horses, bulls , cows or other livestock (wives and children for this should not be deprived of clothing), it is necessary to levy a legal penalty, namely 3 livres. And whoever has the movable property described above only worth 3 livres, 30 solidi should be exacted from him, so that another time he will be able to arm himself for the service of God and for the benefit of us. And let our envoys watch so that no one, through malicious intent, deviates from our justice, surrendering to the hand of someone else.

As a result of the transformations of Charlemagne, the old popular militia was done away with. The army began to acquire a feudal-chivalrous appearance.

The royal power did not prevent the growth of the private power of the feudal lords, but even contributed to it. The king gave ecclesiastical and secular feudal lords immunity letters, freeing their possessions from any interference in them by state employees. At the same time, judicial and administrative power over the population and all the funds that used to go to the state treasury passed into the hands of the immunists. “... we, at the request of the bishop ... granted him, for the sake of earning an eternal recompense, such a privilege that not a single state official at any time dares to enter the estates of the church, as in our time granted to her by us or by anyone else, and henceforth having been acquired by his Eminence into the power of this holy monastery, nor for the recovery of judicial fines from various persons; but the bishop himself and his deputies must, in the name of God and by the right of inviolable immunity, possess these powers... reclamation of fines, or for the use of accommodation, the collection of feed and the taking of guarantors; and everything that the treasury could expect to receive from free or unfree and other people living on the lands or within the boundaries of the church territory, will go ... to the disposal of the officials of the church, .. ".

Immunity strengthened the right to own land. “... we granted a glorious husband ... an estate ... with all income and lands ... Therefore, by our real power we determine and order to keep inviolable forever ... the aforementioned estate, in all its integrity with lands, houses, buildings, columns, slaves, vineyards, forests, roles , meadows, pastures, waters ... had been granted forever, as a complete immunist, with a ban on employees (ours) of any entry in order to recover court fines in any cases. And let him own it ... and do with it, at our pleasure, whatever you like.

On the immune territory, the votchinnik was the only master, he had power not only over the dependent, but also over the free population living within his possessions.

Charlemagne tried to use immunity as a tool to strengthen state power. “We believe that the power of our state is multiplied to the greatest extent if we freely decide to grant useful privileges to churches or to anyone else and prescribe that these privileges, under God's protection, continue to be strong in the future.”

The immunists were also responsible for maintaining order and gathering militia on their territory.

However, the expansion of immunity privileges benefited only the big feudal lords and was one of the prerequisites for the subsequent political fragmentation.

So Charlemagne created a highly effective military system, although in many respects inferior to the military organization of the Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines. "Thanks to Charlemagne, the military system of the Franks was dominated by exceptional energy and discipline." “Towards the end of his reign, he organized a system of conscription for military service through his subjects, vassals, who provided the army with manpower, that is, Fr. without overloading the economy of the state with additional expenses, without depleting local resources, but by maintaining law and order.

Charlemagne established a system in which the army did not need anything for a few weeks to several months. Replenishment of stocks was carried out in an organized manner, convoys to the places of action were accompanied by a convoy. This allowed Charlemagne to campaign a thousand miles from France, even during the winter months, something Western Europe had not known since the time of the ancient Romans.

Charlemagne revived the Roman and Macedonian practice of using siege carts ... Moreover, by increasing the number of his cavalry, accompanied by pack mules, he was able to deliver fast and strong blows.

A key element of the military strategy of Charlemagne was the use of castles and watchtowers, which were built along the borders in all conquered provinces and were connected to each other by road. Other paths were also laid, leading from each frontier fortification to the old frontier. The fortifications filled with supplies became bases for the maneuver of the disciplined Frankish cavalry, and were also used by the Franks to prepare for further operations.

Charlemagne brought the bow back into the arsenals of Western Europe, however, for unclear reasons, the bow was again discounted in the armies of Western Europe after the death of Charlemagne.

Charlemagne also created an excellent intelligence network. The nature of Charlemagne's orders testifies to his own high professionalism and to the existence of an effective staff system he created. “The main elements of the system of Charlemagne are reflected in the five capitularies - the system of manning the troops; organization of units and units, weapons, armor, equipment that a particular unit should have; a list of punishments for misdemeanors, etc.” All this, together with the Christianization of the population, contributed to the conquest of new territories and keeping in obedience those conquered earlier.

Chapter 3. The Church in the Empire of Charlemagne

All the activities of Charlemagne were permeated with a religious spirit. "Charlemagne favored the Church, comparing it with the soul, and the state with the human body."

The church became an instrument for the emperor, allowing him to take spiritual responsibility for the society entrusted to him. The elevation of Charles to the imperial throne turned him into a representative of God authorized to establish an order in which everyone would take the place allotted to him by the Creator, and establish peace, allowing everyone, in conditions of justice and mercy, to participate in building the “city of God” on earth. “Let everyone live in justice, following the law of God ... let the clergy strictly observe the canons of faith, not seeking unjust enrichment; let the monks fulfill the rules of the hostel under the attentive gaze of mentors; let the laity and priests use the laws justly and without treachery, let everyone build relationships among themselves on the basis of mercy and complete peace ... Let each, to the best of his understanding and his strength, strive to devote himself completely to the service of God on the basis of the law of God and in accordance with his solemn obligations, because the reigning emperor is not able to cover everyone and everyone with his supervision and his discipline.

Karl sought to become the only mediator between God and his subjects, divided into three classes: the clergy, monks and laity. He wanted to concentrate in his hands all power over the church; although he always maintained close ties with the papacy established by his father, but as having received power by God's providence, he would never allow the spiritual authority of the pope to be higher than his own. “We are making efforts to correct mistakes, to eliminate what is superfluous, and to promote what is considered just ... Truly we can read in the Book of Kings about how Josiah brought his kingdom entrusted to him by the Lord to the service of the true Lord, how he walked in the ways necessary, how he destroyed the pagan temples and how he instructed the people in the correct faith ... ".

“I say this not to compare my merits with his holiness, but because it is our duty to always and in everything follow the example of the saints, because we must gather everyone we can to lead them to a righteous life in honor and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is the basis of the plan of Emperor Charles, which he strictly followed throughout his life with the help of the councils that he convened, the capitularies that set out the decisions of the councils adopted under his leadership, and letters where, along with reprimands, he expressed benevolent advice.

Charles took part not only in the meetings of the synods (794,798, 800, 813), but also in the development of relevant decisions, contributed to their adoption. "Karl considered himself a doctor of faith, taking authoritarian positions in matters of dogmas, disputes about which shook the church in those years and formulated them in the capitularies."

He strongly opposed Adoptianism and iconoclasm. In 1813 five church councils held in different parts of the country worked out a large program of reforms, which the bishops entrusted to fulfill the emperor “... a pious, most devoted servant of the Lord, through whose efforts the fountain of holy wisdom springs up, tirelessly distributing holy food to the lambs of Christ, so that they may be brought up in the spirit of holy teachings , a true leader, multiplying by his tireless work the number of peoples who believe in Christ ... a true leader who surpassed all the kings of the earth with his holy wisdom and his zeal and piety ... ".

It can be said that the emperor was the true head of the Frankish church. He sought to restructure the church hierarchy so that its threads converged not to the pope, but to him personally. “... the papacy was pushed into the background: the price of protection was submission. Charles was not only the political, but also the ecclesiastical and cultural leader of the empire. In the same hands, in order to unite the empire, he combined secular and ecclesiastical power. The emperor created bishoprics, convened councils, and directed theological discussions, included the clergy in the state organization.

The reign of Charlemagne is characterized by the phenomenon of a gradual complete merging of imperial laws with religious laws. As an ecclesiastical legislator, he communicated his decisions through the capitularies. Some of which are addressed to bishops and abbots, largely repeat the synodal decrees of that time. Instructions addressed to the clergy can sometimes be found in secular capitularies, for example, in the capitulary for messengers. Here is an excerpt from one “Priests, deacons and other ministers of the church should not let women who are not their relatives into their homes ... Monks and clerics should not go to drink and eat in taverns ... Only canonical books should be read in churches ... No one is allowed to be ordained for money... Clerics should not wander from city to city... No deacon should be ordained, no virgin should be admitted to a monastery before the age of 25... False martyrs should not be honored... Bishops and other clergymen should be well know the canonical charter and observe it…”.

Charles was engaged in the arrangement of all church life in his empire. He made decisions about appointments to important ecclesiastical positions, selecting candidates from among the courtiers, even from the laity, if they were sufficiently competent in matters of religion. Personally defined tasks for each newly appointed. Charles demanded from his bishops and archbishops reports on their activities the same as those given to him by counts and governors. This is evidenced by the epistle of Bishop Leidrad in 801. “When you sent me to lead this church, you deigned to point out to me some of the shortcomings that took place there; you kindly suggested that I should be careful and considerate in order to correct the mistakes made and avoid possible mistakes in the future. The fact is that this church at that time was deprived of much that was necessary for its internal and external activities, for its services and buildings, for the performance of other church functions. Deign now to listen to what has been done since the arrival here of your obedient servant with God's and your help ... ".

The church reform begun by his grandfather and father, he spread and continued throughout the Frankish Empire. Despite the fact that Charles Christianized the peoples of Europe with the help of the sword, at the same time he made great efforts to spiritually correct society and the Church. By the time of the reign of Charles, the licentiousness of morals that reigned in society was also fully characteristic of the clergy. He personally contributed to the strengthening of discipline and morality among the ministers of the faith. “You call yourself either monks or canons, or sometimes neither. Watching your interests and wishing to dispel your bad reputation, we have chosen for you an abbot and leader, calling him from a distant province, so that with his speeches and his advice he will guide you on the true path, and with his good example return you to the path of truth. But alas! Everything turned out differently, and you became the servants of the devil and sow discord among the wise and learned people of the church. And if you are monks and canons, your guilt does not become less from this, for you have shown disobedience to us, which means that you will appear before the court on the day that our messenger will name you.

Being at the top of the church hierarchy of his empire, he zealously monitored, organized and raised the level of intra-church discipline. “The bishop has the right to punish the monks of his province, and if they do not heed his exhortations, the archbishop must call them to the synodal court, and if they still do not correct themselves, then let the bishop bring them to us for our court.” He paid attention to the organization of the management of the clergy. “Each bishop in his diocese is obliged to distribute priests according to rank, according to canon law ... Each bishop in his diocese is obliged to oversee the priests and clergy, and if he meets fugitives, let him send them to their own bishops ... The bishop is obliged to control the collection of tithes and inquire for what purposes the priest intends to use it.

It is precisely the bishops that the emperor places at the center of religious life and assigns them a large role in the management structures of his administration. “Bishops must make a detour of the parishes entrusted to them and conduct an inquiry whether anyone has committed incest, patricide, fratricide, adultery, or any other crime that is contrary to the law of God and not permitted by Christian laws.”

“Bishops and abbots should have their own attorneys who would own their own property in the county, who would be honest and just and would have a desire to judge cases with honor and justice.”

In 774 Having received from Rome a list of ecclesiastical provinces formed in the Late Roman Empire, Charlemagne began the gradual restoration of ecclesiastical metropolises. By 811 21 metropolises were restored, later three more, which received the status of archbishoprics, and the clergy who headed them were of the rank of archbishops. Their duties were spelled out by Charles in the capitularies. "... Each archbishop is charged with the duty to control the priests entrusted to him ...". Throughout the reign of Charlemagne, bishops, and later archbishops, were the main force in arranging the church, and sometimes secular life of the territories entrusted to them. The emperor could entrust them with any assignment, power over the life of parishioners, supervision over monasteries.

Carl was also engaged in bringing the administration of church services, rites and sacraments into a uniform form for all. He introduced Latin into church services everywhere. The clerics were given a monopoly on services and prayers, once former case of the whole people, who in their mass did not know Latin. Work was carried out to unify the liturgy, it was divided into parts. The priest still plays the main role in it, but now clerics, deacons, readers, singers actively participate in it, who, depending on the functions performed and according to their specialization, come into action at a certain time of the service.

“It was hard for us to endure how during our reign, in the middle of the service, solecisms irritating the ear sound, and we instructed Paul the Deacon, our friend, to do the work of straightening the sacred texts ... He obeyed us and soon presented us with two collections, where there were texts read on holidays, each text for its own holiday, and there were enough texts for the whole year, and all of them were corrected and without errors. After carefully reviewing all the collections, we approved them by the authority given to us and now we are sending them to you so that you can read them in churches.

Each rank of clergy was informed of the will of the emperor regarding the choice of texts, manner of reading, euphony and harmony of chants.

Lay believers listen to sermons, admire church decorations, take communion, but no longer approach the altar, donations are transferred to the priest at the end of the service. They are required to respect and honor the Lord's house on earth. However, this is not so easy to achieve, so the emperor has to repeatedly indicate in his capitularies that the church should have decent decoration, the altars should be honored, according to their greatness. You should not go behind the sacred altar, carry on idle talk in churches and decide your own affairs. “All believers must receive communion and listen to the entire Mass, to the very last prayer…

Everyone is obliged to observe Sunday, according to the law and according to the decree of the sovereign of our emperor. “Churches and altars must be kept in order, and priests should not keep grain or hay in church premises ... Each church should have its worthy decoration, and the altars should be honored, according to their greatness and rank. Dogs should not be allowed to run around the house of the Lord and go behind the sacred altar. You should also not conduct idle talk in churches and decide your own affairs ... Only stone altars should be illuminated ... And if it comes to restoring a church, then you should first make sure whether this church is one in the whole district, or there are several, and if they are in abundance, then let them destroy the superfluous, and maintain the necessary in due order ... ". Karl was deeply convinced that in this way he was preparing the salvation of the Christian society, entrusted to his care by the Lord God himself. This explains his desire to expand the network of monasteries and reform their life, which has ceased to be a form of social isolation, designed to atone for the sins of the world.

By the beginning of the IX century. the number of monasteries increased from 200 at the beginning of his reign to 600. His constant concern was to restore order and establish a highly moral, even ascetic way of life for monks, to bring the administration of church services, rites and sacraments into a uniform form for all. “Bishops should visit priests in their parishes, check how they conduct the rite of baptism and celebrate Mass, check whether they correctly understand the essence of faith, and see that baptism is carried out as it should be, according to the Catholic rite, so that the priests understand the prayers said in the time of the mass, so that they sang psalms as usual, observing the rhythm of verses and stanzas ... ".

Monasteries played a special role in the life of Christians. In his desire to carry out reforms in the religious and moral spheres of life, Charlemagne sought support primarily from abbots and abbesses. Monastic rules were unified. For their model, the charter of the Benedictine monastery in Monte Cassino was taken. Still allocating the main place to prayer, this charter also obliged the monks and nuns to engage in intellectual and physical labor, the fruits of which could be used not only by the monks, but also by the laity who arrived at the monastery. “It seems to us useful that the bishoprics and monasteries, the leadership of which has been entrusted to us by the grace of Christ, should be engaged in the ordering of the current life and conduct in accordance with the holy religion, should also devote their time to the study of the Holy Scriptures and the service of those who with God help I am ready to give myself to these occupations.

For the explanation and assimilation of the Holy Scriptures, schools were needed, which began to emerge near the monasteries. In the monastic scriptoria workshops, a font was created, called the Carolingian minuscule, a unified, simplified script that facilitated access to knowledge - the progenitor of our typographic fonts. Libraries were replenished with manuscripts, schools gradually specialized: for example, in the school at the Saint-Gallen monastery, they began to teach mainly church singing. The Gregorian chant, which came from Rome, required special abilities from the performers. The chorister had to read the Latin text simultaneously with the neumes, indicating the coloratura passages, the duration and nature of the voice modulations, and the cadence of the musical phrase.

The monasteries were open to the laity. In monastic buildings, schools, hospitals, refectories, workshops, one could meet people of all classes, ranks and conditions. Even in some villages, parochial schools were opened. In a letter from Charles to the abbot of the monastery in Fulda, Baugulf, we read: “We fear that, being too ignorant to write correctly, they, due to their ignorance, will not be able to correctly interpret the sacred texts. We all know how dangerous it is to make mistakes in the spelling of words, but mistakes in the meaning of words are even more dangerous. Therefore, we urge with all diligence to study not only literacy but also literature, and to apply for this all the strength and humility, as well as the zeal that is pleasing to the Lord ... When you need to conduct a service, choose people who would have both the will and the ability to learn, and would also like to pass on their knowledge to others. It is desirable for us that you be, as befits the soldiers of the Church, both pious and scholars... Do not be lazy to send a copy of this letter to all bishops, to all monasteries, if it is desirable for you to earn our mercy.”

Alcuin, a friend and adviser of Charles, on behalf of the emperor, verified, corrected and brought the text of the Bible to a single order. Other liturgical works were verified and corrected for errors. Works of contemporaries began to appear - annals, lives of saints, epic poems. New manuscripts of old works were made, copied and recopied from copies that were rare even at that time, thanks to which many of them have survived to our time. The text of the Creed, at the direction of the emperor, was to be sung in church services, not read. Everything from the baptismal ceremony to the taking of the last communion, from the solemn mass to the last divine service, was revised, systematized and unified at the will of the emperor. The content, time and addresses of the prayers were determined. Charles took control of the worship of relics and the tombs of saints, over which chapels were erected. The churches were rebuilt, their number increased, the altars in them were modeled after the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome was turned to the west. The inhabitants of the empire also had their own demands. The people had to exert diligence and learn at least two prayers, Our Father and the Symbol of the Apostolic Faith. “Each priest is obliged to teach the Lord's Prayer and the Creed to each person, which he is supposed to observe ... Every priest is obliged not only to teach the Our Father prayer, but also to explain the Creed to the flock. Every lay person should know the Our Father and the Creed.”

In the era of Charlemagne, religion was all the components of the universe. It permeated the whole society, economy, administration, royal administrative structures. The idea of ​​St. Augustine about the construction of the "City of God", about the divine order on earth, according to which each of the people was placed by God in his place on earth and must fulfill the mission that fell to his lot, pretended to be Charlemagne with the greatest possible effort in life, so that everyone's place was clear and defined.

Chapter 4. Conclusion

Charlemagne became in 754. King of the Franks, died in 814. holder of the imperial title. Having gone from king to emperor, Charles, according to Alcuin, becomes "the beacon of the Christian world", or, as they say now, the founder of Western European civilization. The vast Frankish empire was made up of many different peoples, only Christianity and the mighty will of Charlemagne kept these peoples united. That is why the activities of Charlemagne left a deep mark on history. It can be viewed from three main points of view:

) as a warrior and conqueror;

) as administrator and legislator;

) as the patron of sciences, arts and intellectual development in general.

The wars of Charlemagne differed significantly from the wars of the preceding dynasty. These were no longer clashes of one tribe with another, and not campaigns undertaken with the sole purpose of capturing and plundering. These were systematic, political wars, caused by plans, prescribed by a certain necessity. Leading them, he sought to enslave hostile tribes, exterminate their religious beliefs and spread Christianity everywhere as a means of uniting the conquered peoples.

Charlemagne, as a ruler and legislator in the state of the Franks, managed to introduce the Roman idea, try it on with local customs, clarify it and make it more accessible. He adapted the Roman laws to the world of the Franks, to the Christian people. Taking into account the local characteristics and traditions of the peoples they conquered, for each separate region its own model of governance was created - of course, while maintaining a single general leadership. In the society, the foundations of which Charles laid, he contributed to the formation of the vassal and domain systems.

The multilateral administrative activity of Karl was mainly aimed at encouraging the people to practical activities - agriculture, crafts, and trade. He created all the conditions for this - security from external intrusions and internal order.

Charlemagne can undoubtedly be called one of the outstanding Christian rulers. The emperor built his state on a religious foundation, the state structure was subordinated to Christian principles. Having assumed the mission of "defender of the Church", Charles subordinated it to himself, and to strengthen the political influence of his state, he used the preaching of Christianity.

Despite the fact that Charles Christianized the peoples of Europe with the help of the sword, at the same time he made great efforts to spiritually correct society and the Church, in every possible way contributed to raising the level of pastoral preaching, which was supposed to become accessible to the common man and serve as his guide in life. He categorically forbade the clergy to take part in secular affairs: trade, wars, etc., encouraged charity, caring for the poor. He made every effort to develop religious and secular culture, introduced elementary education for the people, the basis of which was the Bible.

As a truly great man, Emperor Charles was at the same time a warrior, a statesman, a commander, and a ruler. He created a state that linked together many strong peoples inhabiting the borders of modern Europe, giving them a state system. It was based on the mind and will of only one great figure - the emperor of the Franks - Charlemagne, therefore, despite the fact that the empire of Charles fell apart in less than 30 years after his death into three states in modern borders France, Germany and Italy. It was the empire of Charlemagne that was the progenitor of the image of modern European civilization. Having become the head of the Christian world, he laid the foundation for a strong state organization and thus earned the name "Great", which is given to the figures of a solid foundation for a new world-historical development.

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This text is based on a scientific work. Historical science in relation to the period of the Bourbon Restoration (which is mostly discussed) provides little information. The personality of King Charles X, the last ruling representative of the senior branch of the Bourbons on the French throne, is not at all reflected in Russian historiography, but only in separate passages. The work does not claim to be absolute completeness and contains the author's view of historical personalities. The opinion of readers may be different from the opinion of the author.

Chapter I. Comte d'Artois: from birth to the throne

The future King of France, Charles, Count d'Artois (comte d "Artois) was born on October 9, 1757 at the Palace of Versailles in Paris in the family of the Dauphin of France Louis and his wife Maria Josephia, nee Princess of Saxony. It is worth saying that Charles became the sixth child and the fifth His two older brothers Prince Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy (1751-1761) and Prince Javier, Duke of Aquitaine (1753-1754) died in childhood, and two other brothers would become French monarchs in the future - Louis XVI and Louis XVIII Immediately after birth, he received the title of Count d`Artois. In accordance with the heraldic rules, Karl received the count's coat of arms: "In the azure field dotted with golden lilies (the old coat of arms of France) - a scarlet tournament collar with three ends, each of which is burdened with three golden three-tower locks (one above the other).

Who were his ancestors? According to his father, he belonged to the ruling family of France of the Bourbon dynasty, which had been in power de jure since 1589, and de facto since 1593. He was the grandson of the King of France, Louis XV, who ruled from 1715-1774, in turn the former great-great-grandson of King Louis XIV. Through his mother, Dauphine Maria Josephia, he belonged to the Wettin dynasty, whose representatives had been the rulers of Saxony since ancient times. Her father was Friedrich August II, Elector of Saxony, who was in 1734-1763. king of the Commonwealth. According to his grandmother, the wife of Louis XV, Queen Maria Leszczynska, he also has foreign roots, also associated with Poland. The surname Leshchinsky appeared in the 15th century and was named after the town of Leszno (now a city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship of the Polish Republic). The most famous representative of the Leshchinsky family is Stanislav Leshchinsky, who was the father of Maria Leshchinsky and the great-grandfather of Charles, Count d'Artois. Stanislav Leshchinsky twice occupied the Polish throne in the first half of the 18th century.
The first time his reign was marked, first of all, by an almost servile rule, to which he was elected on July 12, 1704 "at the behest of the Swedish king" Charles XII. It is worth noting that these events unfolded during the Great Northern War of 1700-1721. and during his reign, as V.I. Guerrier "had neither material means, nor enough adherents, nor personal ability." After losing the throne in 1709, Stanislav Leshchinsky went first to the duchy of Zweibrücken (with the permission of Charles XII), then to France. On September 4, 1725, he married his daughter to the 15-year-old King Louis XV. The wedding ceremony took place in Fontainebleau. The bride, at that time, was 22 years old, she had a "quiet and modest disposition, ... she is extremely respectful in her treatment of her parents." Probably, it was the desire to return the throne of the Commonwealth that forced Stanislav Leshchinsky to take this step, however, after the wedding, the diplomatic corps was notified that the wedding had no "influence on France's relations with Poland." After the wedding of his daughter, Leshchinsky received the right to live in the Chambord castle and received sufficient maintenance from his son-in-law. A few years after these events, in 1733, with the support of the Potocki, he was nominated to the throne of the Commonwealth after the death of Augustus II the Strong, who by birth was the Elector of Saxony and the father of Frederick Augustus II. France, represented by the young Louis XV, promised support to Stanislav, but Russia and Austria opposed this choice. Thus, Stanislav Leshchinsky actually stayed on the throne from September 1733 to June 1734, when the throne of the Commonwealth was occupied by the already mentioned Friedrich August II, who was the maternal grandfather of Count d'Artois and received the throne of the Commonwealth due to the introduction of the 30,000th Russian corps under the leadership of Count P.P. Lassi. The armed clash, which went down in history as the War of the Polish Succession of 1733-1738, ended with the signing of the Vienna Peace Treaty on November 18, 1738. Formally, Stanislav Leshchinsky remained king until the Sejm of 1736, when the Polish gentry officially recognized Friedrich August II as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, who ruled there under the name of August III.

Thus, the genealogy of the Comte d'Artois seems to us an important component of his biography. The vicissitudes of genealogy make us, first of all, think about what dynastic marriages were and how important they were in matters of foreign policy of European countries.

§ 1. Life before exile

Little information has been preserved about the early years of the Count d'Artois. It is known that the baptism of Prince Charles took place on October 19, 1761. The ceremony was led by the confessor of the royal court, under the title "Great Giver of Alms of the Kingdom of France" Charles Anton de la Roche-Aymon in the chapel of the royal residence of Versailles. The godparents of Charles were the daughter of Louis XV Princess Sofia Philippa, the King of Spain Charles III (representative of the Spanish Bourbons), and also the elder brother Louis (the future Louis XVI).

In 1773 he received the title of Duke of Angouleme and peer of France, however, this did not mean the beginning of an active political career in the state and participation in public affairs. He will take his first active part in the political life of France with Charles in 1786, when at the court of Louis XVI he will lead the reactionary party. Then, during the crisis, called the "royal revolution", the Comte d'Artois attempted to reduce the financial privileges of the nobility, and not the social benefits that the representatives of the ruling class insisted on.

Various sources say that before the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, Charles had large debts (according to various estimates, from 40 to 50 million livres). In 1777, he acquired the ownership of the castle of Maisons-Laffitte. The castle by that time was subject to restoration and the Comte d'Artois makes his own changes to the project. The architect of the castle was François-Joseph Belanger, who carried out the reconstruction for two years: from 1779 to 1781. However, the reconstruction project will remain unfulfilled until the end.

Another of his projects was the construction of the Chateau de Bagatelle pavilion in the Bois de Boulogne near Paris. On November 26, 1777, after 64 days of tireless work of the craftsmen, this pavilion was opened. The total amount spent on the construction and arrangement of the pavilion amounted to about 3 million livres. The construction was led by the already mentioned architect F.-J. Belanger.
The family life of the future king also began in the pre-revolutionary period of his life. On November 16, 1773, he married Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy, daughter of King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia by marriage to Maria Antonia, nee Infanta of Spain, a representative of the Spanish branch of the Bourbons. The branch stood out in 1700, when the grandson of Louis XIV, the Duke of Anjou, Philip, under the will of the childless Charles II, took the Spanish throne. Princess Maria Teresa, who never became queen, was born on January 31, 1756 in Turin and became the fifth child in the family. Marriage with the Count d'Artois had four children, but only two survived to adulthood: the Duke of Angouleme Louis-Antoine (1775-1844) and the Duke of Berry Charles-Ferdinand (1778-1820). The marriage quickly broke up and after the birth of children, the couple parted, although they continued to be formally husband and wife, but did not live with each other. The Countess d'Artois herself died at the age of 49 in 1805 in Graz and was buried in the Imperial Mausoleum near Cathedral Graz. But extramarital affairs were normal in that era. The favorite of Charles X was Maria Louise d'Esparbes de Lussan, husband of the Marquis de Polastron. She died of tuberculosis in March 1804 in London. There is only fragmentary information about other connections of the Count d'Artois, requiring a separate study.

§ 2. Emigration

The Comte d'Artois was one of the first representatives of the nobility of the kingdom, who emigrated from France with the outbreak of the revolution and became one of the few members of the royal family who managed to leave France, engulfed by the revolution. The main goal of the forced exile is to search for allies among the European courts to draw attention to the events in France and suppress the revolution. Was the Comte d'Artois successful in this task?

It is rather difficult to answer this question. And the main reason is the lack of information on this issue. However, bibliographic evidence provides us with the following: from 1789 to 1791. Comte d'Artois visited Turin, Koblenz, Brussels and other cities. In August 1791, he arrived in Pillnitz, the country residence of the rulers of Saxony (now part of the city of Dresden) for a congress in which the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation Leopold II took part (it is worth noting that he was the brother of the Queen of France, Mary- Antoinette) and King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. At the end of the congress, on August 27, 1791, the Pilnitz Declaration was signed, from which we learn about the presence of the Count d'Artois at the congress. The declaration says: “After His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the King of Prussia have listened to the wishes and ideas of Monsieur Count d'Artois [My translation. - V.Ch.] ”about the situation in France and given that great interest of European states was riveted to these events, Austria and Prussia were ready to intervene in the affairs of France to restore the power of the king and called on other leaders of European countries to also contribute to this. The Pilnitz Declaration became the starting point for the creation of the first coalition against France. What caused the actions of the Comte d'Artois and what purpose did they have? There are practically no opinions of domestic historians on this issue, but we see the only possible explanation - the desire to preserve the power of the French king, which has persisted for centuries and to suppress revolutionary sentiments in French society. Soviet historian A.Z. Manfred calls the Pillnitz Declaration "a manifesto proclaiming intervention against revolutionary France." At the same time, he noted that the activities of the Count d'Artois and the Count of Provence, who were at the head of the counter-revolutionary emigration, consisted in warming up the ideas of foreign intervention in various European courts.

On February 7, 1792, Austria and Prussia entered into a military alliance against France, engulfed in revolution. Various authors claim that Louis XVI supported the intervention, which he probably did. On April 20, 1792, revolutionary France was the first to declare war on Austria and Prussia. At first, hostilities did not develop in favor of the French revolutionaries. By mid-June, it became apparent that the French army was retreating along the entire front. Noteworthy is the manifesto of July 25, 1792, signed by the Duke of Brunswick Karl Wilhelm, in which the main goal of the war was to "restore the legitimate authority of the king." It is worth saying that this manifesto was published in French newspapers on August 3 and caused a wave of indignation among the revolutionaries. Already on August 10, revolutionary-minded soldiers stormed the Tuileries Palace and after some time captured royal family led by Louis XVI. On the same day, a revolutionary commune was created. This is how the French monarchy fell in 1792. The days of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were numbered, and after a trial in which certain sympathies for Louis XVI were expressed by the Girondins, Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793. His wife, who, according to the revolutionaries, was a possible reason for a peace treaty with members of the anti-French coalition, lived longer. However, on October 16, 1793, after a one-day trial, she was hanged.

After the execution of Louis XVI, his son Louis-Charles, Duke of Normandy, becomes the formal king, who receives the dynastic name of Louis XVII. Not surprisingly, his reign is formal. He became king, being a prisoner in Temple Castle, where members of the arrested royal family were kept, and so he was not released until the end of his life. According to official information, the child king (and at the time of his formal accession to the throne, Louis XVII was only 7 years old) dies in June 1795, however, the Russian historian of France D.Yu. Bovykin cites a number of interesting facts that cast doubt on this version. In any case, in 1799 the Duke of Bourbon wrote to his father that Louis XVII was alive. With all these facts, the death of Louis XVII cannot be doubted, another question is when it happened. This question is still open among historians.

All these events naturally echoed in the French emigration. At the end of the first decade of July 1795 in Verona, which at that moment was part of the Venetian Republic, a manifesto was signed, called the Declaration of Verona. This manifesto, which was addressed to the French, announced the accession to the French throne of King Louis XVIII. Louis XVIII - the younger brother of Louis XVI and uncle of Louis XVII was the middle brother in the family and until 1795 bore the title of Count of Provence. It is not worth talking about his biography for a long time, it is important to understand the role of the Comte d'Artois in the emigration events.

To collect information for the possibility of publishing the manifesto, two different “sources” were used: the “bulletins” of the Count d'Entrague, who had relations with various European courts of that time and whose data was trusted; another source was a “memorandum” in the form of answers by the Swiss publicist J. Malle du Pan to 28 questions from Louis XVIII. And in obtaining the second source, the "Comte d'Artois" played an important role, who "... sent his confidant Comte F. de Saint-Aldegonde" to the publicist. Thus, in drawing up the manifesto of Louis XVIII, our hero took an important part and contributed to the collection of information about what was happening in France during this period.

Did the future Charles X have authority among the emigration? The vigorous activity of the Comte d'Artois in the creation of the Declaration of Verona makes us pay attention to him as to the formation politician. We again have to turn to D.Yu. Bovykin. The historian, referring to the data of the Parisian periodicals of 1795, gives very interesting information. Bovykin says: “Royalists are divided into five groups. The greatest demands a constitutional king, the Duke of Chartres... The most elegant demands an absolute king, the Comte d'Artois... The most committed to principles demands a legitimate king, Monsieur." What does this information give us? Unfortunately, quite a bit, but it is clear that the "elegant" part of the royalists was in favor of the Comte d'Artois becoming the French king, and the absolute king. This means that the information can speak of him, probably as a person with a strong and iron will, which should be more suitable for the qualities of an absolute ruler.

We find important information about these years of Bourbon emigration in the publications of the Russian revolutionary N.G. Chernyshevsky. In one of them, published in 1858, the following information is given that after the execution of Louis XVI, the heir to the throne was in captivity and the affairs of the “royalists” had to be managed by the regent, “but the Count of Provence (later Louis XVIII) did not like the emigrants, and they stubbornly demanded that he cede power to his younger brother, the Comte d'Artois. Foreign courts had already recognized the Count of Provence and opposed their actions, but "the emigrants demanded from him the title of governor of the kingdom" for the Count d'Artois. Considering the fact that Louis XVI was executed at the beginning of 1793, and the struggle of emigrants, according to N.G. Chernyshevsky, lasted "several months", it turns out that in the same 1793, the Count d'Artois received the title of governor of the kingdom. Chernyshevsky, probably, was cunning that the emigrants did not like Louis XVIII, but, in all likelihood, such a specific group really existed and the data of D.Yu. Bovykin confirms this.

Since 1798, Louis XVIII has been living in Mitava (now the city of Jelgava as part of the Republic of Latvia), which at that time was part of the Courland province of the Russian Empire. Together with the monarch, his wife Marie-Josephine-Louise of Savoy, Princess Marie-Louise-Charlotte of France (daughter of Louis XVI), as well as the Dukes of Berry and Angouleme, who were the sons of the Count d'Artois from marriage with Marie-Therese of Savoy, live with the monarch. It is noteworthy that the Comte d'Artois at that time lives in the UK and there is no mention of his life there in the domestic literature, so we have to limit ourselves to this.

On July 24, 1799, the Comte d'Artois received an instruction from his elder brother, which was supposed to indicate his actions in the event of the restoration of the monarchy in France and his arrival there earlier than Louis XVIII himself. The point was that the advisers of the king in exile wrote about the high probability of the restoration of the monarchy, that the people could go over to the side of Louis XVIII, we also note the crisis of the French government of this period, complicated by defeats French army on the fronts and frustration of the administration. The instruction, which is quite complete in content, makes it clear that the king has come to terms with the changes in society that have occurred in the administration of France, but in spiritual matters he is adamant: “Everything that concerns the spiritual sphere must be immediately returned to its previous state ... all legitimate shepherds must be returned to their dioceses and parishes; divine services have been restored, the new calendar has been canceled,” and so on. Louis XVIII demanded "that all personnel" of the civil and judicial administration "... take an oath of allegiance to me." This instruction also gives information regarding taxation, which would have to be levied temporarily until the arrival of Louis XVIII in France, the army, whose officers retained the ranks and positions when the right side was chosen. What do such demands primarily speak of, and what do they mean for the Comte d'Artois? Firstly, about the boundless confidence of Louis XVIII in his brother, secondly, that the group of emigrants that supported the Comte d'Artois was not strong enough to contradict the will of the king in exile, and thirdly, that all the changes that had taken place in French society were taken into account and that only the spiritual sphere should be returned to its previous state, fourthly, that the Comte d'Artois was independent and strong enough to act in conditions of the possibility of restoring the monarchy.

All the facts presented by us of the activities of the Count d'Artois in exile give us a portrait of a businesslike and reasonable person, in whose actions a certain logic can be traced. In August 1791, he decides to participate in the Pilnitz Congress between Austria and Prussia, which later becomes the basis for the creation of the first anti-French coalition. In 1793 he received the title of governor of the kingdom, and in 1795 he took an active part in the preparation of the Verona Declaration - a manifesto on the accession to the French throne of Louis XVIII. In 1799, he becomes one of those whom his elder brother counts on in restoring the monarchy in the same year. Sending a telegram to the Count d'Artois, Louis XVIII sees in his younger brother, first of all, an ally, and that is why he gives him the authority to act on his behalf in France in the event of the restoration of the monarchy and, as we noted, a person who was far from politics could not be content with such powers. and public issues. The restoration of the Bourbons took place much later than planned by Louis XVIII - in 1814, and we are also moving on to this period.

§3. Restoration of the Bourbons

Since the defeat of Napoleon I at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, it has become clear that only a few months remain for his reign. The allied coalition consisting of the Russian Empire, Great Britain, Prussia, Sweden, the Austrian Empire and other states is conducting a swift offensive against Paris, which was taken on March 30, 1814. April 6 Napoleon I signs the act of abdication of the French throne. The Bourbon dynasty was restored to the French throne, and Louis XVIII became king of France. On May 30, 1814, a peace was signed between France and the countries of the sixth coalition, according to which France returned to the borders of 1795 and lost all the gains made by it after that. Thus, in the life of our hero begins one of the last periods of his life.

On May 3, 1814, the royal family returns to France. Soviet historian A.Z. Manfred writes about the Comte d'Artois as a complete supporter of the "feudal-absolutist regime." But was it the way Soviet historians wrote about it? Was there something in the actions of the Comte d'Artois that would remind of a return to the old order? What was the internal and foreign policy France on the eve of the beginning of the reign of the new king? This section is devoted to all these issues.
In fact, two Bourbon restorations in 1814 and 1815 after Napoleon's "hundred days" they give a very vague idea of ​​what was going on in French society. Domestic literature does not give an exact answer, however, some historians make it clear that few of the French wanted the return of the Bourbons to the throne. This was probably the case, because the younger generation of the French did not have a clear idea of ​​​​the dynasty. In any case, it is obvious that the Bourbons were placed on the throne with the support of the troops of the anti-French coalition.

The political life of France during the Restoration is becoming the object of close attention of historians and public figures. The Russian revolutionary N.G. also writes about her. Chernyshevsky. From his writings, we understand what a truly strange and paradoxical situation has developed in the country's leadership.

In 1814, the Constitutional Charter was adopted. At its core, it established a constitutional monarchy in France, in which all executive power in the country belongs “exclusively” to the king (Article 13), and legislative power (Article 15) is shared by the king, the chamber of peers (as the upper house of parliament) and the chamber of deputies for the departments (lower). The peculiarity of the upper house is that during the Restoration until 1830, the peerage was hereditary, in addition, members of the chamber of peers were appointed by the king (Article 27), only the chamber of deputies was elected for a period of 5 years. Another important point is also interesting. Art. 30 of the Charter says that "Members of the royal family and princes of the blood are peers by birthright." Thus, the Comte d'Artois was a peer of France and this is confirmed by a historical source and which gives us a certain touch to his biography.

In 1816, a situation arose in which "the royalists forced the government to take such untimely measures" that this could lead to a new loss of the throne by the Bourbons. At meetings of the Chamber of Deputies, the royalists, who constituted the majority, "do not want to pay attention to the interests of the reigning dynasty." They put forward their own draft electoral law, according to which the voters of the district elect a second elector, and then they, gathering in departments, elected deputies. This project was opposed to the one submitted by the ministry. According to the government project, it was proposed that the election of a deputy takes place “directly by all the voters of the district”, in addition, a certain amount of authority was granted to the king for a personal decision to include in the electorate persons who do not meet the requirements of the electoral law (i.e. have significant property). It turned out that the liberals, not the royalists, supported the king's project. The royalists supported their project, which won, and, according to Chernyshevsky's apt remark, "under such an electoral law, the king had less power than the Venetian doge had." On September 5, 1816, the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved. Oddly enough, the Comte d'Artois spoke out against this, accusing the minister Decaza of treason, who insisted on the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies. The new electoral law, adopted on February 5, 1817, was called upon to elect every year 1/5 of the deputies of the chamber, and it turned out that with each election there were fewer and fewer royalists in the chamber. The Comte d'Artois addresses the courts of Europe with a "secret note" and warns that in the event of new elections, France will again be ruled by revolutionaries.

So we see certain contradictions. The Comte d'Artois opposed both the fact that the Chamber was dispersed and the position of the Chamber after the adoption of the electoral law on February 5. What does this information give us? Probably, the Comte d'Artois was under certain pressure from the royalists, and the fact that he himself apparently adjoined it. But how then to explain his actions in relation to the policy of the royalists, which contradicted the actions of the authorities in the person of his elder brother Louis XVIII? Apparently, he was under serious pressure from a certain group of royalists, but not only. "During the ten years of the restoration" a large number of monasteries "together with Jesuit institutions" were opened. This information explains why, after the assassination of the Duke of Berry, son of the Comte d'Artois, on February 13, 1820, the Comte d'Artois, together with his eldest son the Duke of Angouleme and his daughter-in-law, Princess Maria Teresa, after a debate in parliament in favor of the resignation of E. Decaze, came to Louis XVIII and demanded that he dismiss the minister. Chernyshevsky directly points out that "secret Jesuits, who took possession of the father of the murdered prince and brother of the king", who led the congregation, contributed to the speedy resignation of E. Decaze and, on this basis, publishes a secret correspondence found in 1830, the contents of which we now do not give.

After the events described, the post of prime minister was "offered by the Russian soul" to the Duke de Richelieu, who was appointed on February 20, 1820 and his premiership continued until December 1821. He begins his public career as early as the reign of Louis XVI, receiving the court post of chamberlain. In addition, the Duke of Richelieu in the period from 1804 to 1815. occupies the post of Governor-General of Novorossiysk and Bessarabia, and after the Restoration in 1815-1818. also holds the post of First Minister. He was very friendly with the Russian Emperor Alexander I, and therefore "complete harmony was established" between France and Russia in the international arena. At the same time, the "head of the royalists," Count d'Artois, promised "that his party would support Richelieu." However, this did not happen. As E.V. Polevshchikov, Richelieu himself "A royalist by conviction, he, being a supporter of strong royal power, considered it necessary, however, to maintain civil peace strictly to follow the established constitution - the Charter of 1814." The first minister of France clashed with royalists in both terms of his premiership. Royalist attacks on the government did not stop this time either. Richelieu himself, after his appointment to the post of prime minister on March 5, 1820, wrote about his plans to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, V.P. Kochubey, with whom he was very friendly and under whose command he worked in Russia. The letter said: “... I have made my choice and will make every effort not to give up my post until I complete my task and achieve the strengthening of order and monarchy in France” - such words are present in the correspondence of ministers, which was published in 2003 Ph.D. E.V. Polevshchikova. New royalist opposition to the law on the municipal structure of France, which was introduced in the Chamber of Deputies by government ministers, made a big noise, because the right to appoint a prefect remained with the king, and the local leadership was chosen by wealthy landowners. Thus, in the political life of France during the Restoration, serious internal tensions remained.

We will turn to the foreign policy issues of the reign of Louis XVIII only in passing, giving them a small description. It seemed that the good relations between the Duke of Richelieu and the members Russian government should have far-reaching consequences. Until the death of Emperor Alexander I, "not the slightest cloud passed between the two courtyards." In addition to creating good relations with Russia, France was concerned about the problem of losing territories after the conclusion of the Prague Peace Treaty. In 1817, France received five cities in India from Great Britain. In the next few years, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guinea were returned, which was the object of claims from Portugal, but in 1817 was reinforced by France as a result of a demonstration of the armed forces. Several settlements founded by the French in previous periods in Algiers were reoccupied by the French. In general, the foreign policy of France during this period was quite clear - it consisted in the return of some territories lost by France at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. And what was the position of the French royal court?

Anne Martin-Fugier gives some information about the state of the court of the French king during the Restoration period. Under Louis XVIII in 1814, the court acquired a royal color: the imperial guard of Napoleon I was abolished, and instead the Life Guards, the Swiss Guard were restored, 4 companies of the "red" guard were restored, abolished in 1815 after the "Hundred Days". At court, the service of the royal chambers was very numerous, which, under Charles X, was headed by the chief chamberlain Prince de Talleyrand. Interestingly, Martin-Fugier describes the relationship of the Comte d'Artois to the court. She writes that he considered the court "first of all, the forge of faithful comrades-in-arms", while his brother Louis XVIII "reigned among his court, like a sovereign of the pre-revolutionary period." At the same time, she calls the Count d'Artois "the head of the party" to everyone. The minister of the court in the last years of the reign of Louis XVIII and under Charles X was the Duc de La Rochefoucauld, who was a supporter of strict discipline at court and carried out certain "reforms" in the court service, but he was the only one who resigned in 1827 in protest against the dissolution national guard. This is the general background in which France was in the reign of Louis XVIII, it remains to sum up the intermediate results.

The restoration of the Bourbons in 1814 and 1815 has already presented us with a new portrait and new features of the behavior and political affiliation of the Comte d'Artois. As it turned out, since 1814, after the adoption of the Charter, he became a peer of France. From the materials found it also follows that the future king was strongly influenced by royalists and Jesuits. He resolutely opposes the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies in 1816 and plays a large role in the dismissal of the first minister E. Decaze in 1820. His attitude to the court as a “forge of loyal comrades-in-arms” makes one think that the future Charles X counted on people from the court when pursuing his independent policy. The very image of our protagonist has undergone major changes: from an independent person, he becomes a certain “toy” in the political arena. Now we refer our view to the last period of the life of the Comte d'Artois - his reign in France.

Chapter 2. The throne and the second exile.

Louis XVIII dies on September 16, 1824, and his younger brother, the Comte d'Artois, takes his place on the throne, who becomes Charles X. Even before his coronation in Reims on May 29, 1825, Charles X passes two legislative documents that require attention to characterize the future course new king and his entourage.

The first law of April 20, 1825 made sense in its content that for acts in relation to objects of religious worship, severe punishments followed (up to and including the death penalty). “This law, which, however, has never been put into practice,” aroused public opinion, and Charles X set a section of society against himself. Arguing from the standpoint of common sense, one cannot believe that a religious person calmly looks at the desecration of holy places, in addition, one should not forget the morals of the French of that time - they are deprived of the guardianship of the Catholic Church, which, however, according to the Charter of 1814, has a state character. In general, according to N.I. Kareev, this law was not actually applied in practice, which means that it should not have had serious social consequences.

Another piece of legislation, dated April 27, 1825, was drafted and proposed by Villele, who had been First Minister since 1821. What did this law provide? The law stated that in the form of monetary compensation for the lost lands, the state pays 1 billion francs to representatives of the nobility. At the same time, N.G. Chernyshevsky cites data that annually emigrants received "more than 70 million" francs, and "the income of the sold estates did not extend even up to 50 million francs." A.Z. Manfred says that this law "caused great discontent in the country." Chernyshevsky wrote about the same, expressing his concern that "it is difficult to describe the excitement produced in the mass of the middle class", as well as common people. It should be noted that more than three decades have passed since the confiscation of the estates of the aristocracies and their redistribution in France, but it is also important that these lands, which were divided into segments, could already pass into other hands by inheritance and through trade operations. With all this, we note that it was the remuneration that was paid and the lands for which people so stood up were not returned to their former owners.

Another law, which remained a draft, was pushed into the chamber of peers by representatives of the Jesuit congregation and provided for the restoration of the primacy system, when the entire inheritance of the deceased father passed to the eldest son (exactly the project that was proposed). Thus, the institution of grandees would be restored in the country, which in previous eras of French history occupied a very important place in the struggle against royal power. This project was not accepted, to the relief of many contemporaries.

Thus, it turns out that already at the beginning of his reign, Charles X turned his subjects against himself and against the top of power. Immediately at the beginning of the reign, the Jesuits also showed their positions, who tried to restore the majorate system of inheritance, but failed. We now come to a very important event in the reign of Charles X, the coronation in Reims Cathedral in 1825.

Many historians, including Russian ones, see the coronation ceremony of 1825 as the main sign of France's return to pre-revolutionary times. The French historian M. Blok described this rite as follows: "The sacred and quasi-priestly royal power for the last time tried to amaze the world with the splendor of its ceremonies." Society has not developed an unambiguous attitude towards this ceremony. So Victor Hugo sang the coronation, the national poet Belanger ridiculed her, and in general the society was wary of this ceremony, as it already felt the influence that the congregation had on Charles X. This coronation was reflected in art. The most famous image of the ceremony belongs to the court portrait painter of Napoleon I, Baron Francois Gerard, painted in 1825.

In general, the ceremony of accession to the throne of Charles X resembled a pre-revolutionary tradition. It is worth noting that his predecessor, Louis XVIII, for almost 10 years of his reign, was never crowned.

The very tradition of coronation in Reims dates back to the 9th century, when in 816 Louis I the Pious became the first French king to be crowned in this city in the Champagne region. Traditionally, the ceremony was led by the Archbishop of Reims (during the coronation ceremony of Charles X, he was Cardinal Jean-Baptiste de Latille, who became archbishop in 1824 and was elevated to the Knights of the Royal Order of the Holy Spirit on the day of the coronation), who was co-served by the Bishops of Lana, Langres, Beauvais, Châlons and Noyon. Each of the bishops was assigned a specific role in the ceremony, along with the male representatives of the royal family and the first aristocrats of France, who presented the royal regalia during the ceremony. In addition, an important component of the coronation was the ceremony of laying on the hands of the monarch on scrofulous, to demonstrate the divine gift of the monarch to heal the sick. The discussion around the conduct of this ceremony in 1825 took place in the ruling circles of France, and "March 31, 1825 was the last day when the European king laid his hands on the boils of scrofulous patients." However, this rite did not cause delight either in the ruling circles or in society. Only ardent ultra-royalists, as Mark Blok notes, were pleased with the return of this tradition.

Thus, the coronation in Reims and the "ceremony" of healing scrofulous patients in 1825 went down in history as the last in history. The Reims coronation of 1825 was not unequivocally perceived by French society and thus the coronation of a French monarch took place for the last time in the history of France. Subsequent French monarchs Louis Philippe I and Napoleon III would never be crowned.

§2. Domestic and foreign policy of Charles X

The policy of Charles X, as we have already noted, could hardly be independent under the serious pressure exerted by the Jesuit congregation, which had "such power that by no means every royalist could receive its patronage." Arguing about this, Chernyshevsky, first of all, makes it clear that a certain alliance, which, apparently, was between the Jesuits and the royalists before the accession to the throne of Charles X, began to fall apart. Kareev cites data that under Charles X a clerical character of reaction developed, to which the ultra-royalists became opposition.

As a result of the November 1827 elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the majority of seats were taken by representatives of the liberal wing, and the composition of the chamber received the following arrangement, according to N.G. Chernyshevsky: 170 deputies each from liberals and royalists, and 50 centrist deputies who left the royalist faction. One of the most notable laws that have been considered by the new chamber is the law on the press. However, as the historian A.Z. Manfred, he was recalled from the House because of the protests of the workers in Saint-Marceau and the petition which was accepted by them and circulated among the population. A similar alignment and attacks by the new composition of the chamber on the actions of the government forced Count Villele and members of the government to resign at the end of December 1827. It is worth saying that the count's political life did not end there. In the future, he will be appointed to the House of Peers, in which he will sit until the July Revolution of 1830. He will end his life in Toulouse in 1854 at the age of 80. As a reward for services to the Kingdom, in 1823 Louis XVIII will be awarded the Royal Order of the Holy Spirit.

The government of Count Villele was replaced by the more liberal government of Viscount Martignac, "close to the party of constitutional royalists" and alien to "connections with the congregation". He was born on June 20, 1778 in Bordeaux. Lawyer by education. During the Directory in 1798 he was secretary to Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes, who then headed the Council of Five Hundred. Was known for his royalist sentiments during the First Empire. From 1821 he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies. After being appointed First Minister of France on January 4, 1828, he received the portfolio of Minister of the Interior, which he retained until his resignation on August 8, 1829. It makes sense to list the composition of the ministers of the new government: the Minister of Foreign Affairs Comte de La Ferrone (a member of the royalist movement, since 1815 a member of the House of Peers), the Minister of Finance Comte de Roy (2-time Minister of Finance in 1818 and 1819-1821, a peer of France from 1823), Minister of War Vicomte de Blacutot de Cau, Minister of Marine and Colonial Comte de Chabrol (since March 3, Baron de Nouville), Minister of Justice Comte de Portalis, Minister of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education, Count Freycinou (since March 3, Bishop Furrier of Beauves only as Minister of Spiritual Affairs), the Comte de Mativesnil, Minister of Education since 3 March, and the Comte de Sainte-Cric, Minister of Trade and Agriculture. Thus, the new composition of the ministry included representatives of the noble nobility, members of the royalist movement, headed by Viscount Martinac, and a number of other ministers.

Since the new Prime Minister was not so strongly associated with the Jesuits, he was able to act with them in a much calmer and more confident manner. With the election of President of the Chamber of Deputies Royet-Colar, who represented the left and center of the parliament, it turned out that the government had the opportunity to act more calmly in the implementation of reforms. The main centers of attack of the new government were the Jesuits, who by this point had control over several universities and eight theological seminaries. Martignac succeeded in eliminating the political side of the Jesuit question, in particular in the sphere of the division of the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education, which from 1824 was headed by Count Freycinou, into two separate ministries in March 1828. To resolve issues from both chambers, a commission was created, which determined that many educational institutions were opened without official permission, and some of them trained people whose content was allocated by the Jesuits. Charles X issued ordinances that ordered the administration of schools to be taken away from the Jesuits and subordinated to royal authority in the field of approving the proposed candidates for directors of schools, represented by archbishops and bishops, personally by the king. These actions of the government were negatively received by the clergy, who considered it an attempt to violate the 1814 Charter of N.G. Chernyshevsky says that the French bishops published a declaration in which they actually spoke about the impossibility of submitting to royal authority. The French royalists "decided to print a declaration" in the amount of 100,000 copies for distribution to the parishes. Pope Leo XII's approval of Charles X's actions also did not dampen the fervor of the royalists, who firmly defended the freedom of religion granted by the Charter of 1814. Art. 5. which states that "Everyone shall profess with equal freedom his religion and enjoy equal protection in respect of his religion." After all the speeches of the clergy, the Jesuits left France, having previously closed their schools.

Another aspect of the activities of the Martignac ministry was the implementation of several important laws that ensured the freedom of elections from interference by the administration, the receipt by the government of the right to introduce censorship "by royal command." Martignac developed a law on local self-government, which proposed introducing an electoral character into the system of appointments of members of the general councils, who were nominated by the prefect, while the appointment was carried out by the minister; members of the municipal councils were appointed by the prefect himself municipality. This system was introduced during the reign of Napoleon I Bonaparte. However, both liberals and royalists opposed this project, the first because they were afraid of the influence of local large landowners, who, according to the project, were instructed to elect members of self-government, and the second, because the norms of the revolution were visible in the electoral system itself, which are not able to operate during the existence monarchy. This is how N.I. interprets the sources. Kareev, to whom we refer. Due to lack of support, this project was rejected. It turned out that the king, along with the royalists, was "very happy about the defeat of Martignac."

Thus, on August 8, 1829, the Martignac government was dismissed, and Prince de Polignac, "the greatest fanatic of the feudal party," took his place. Jules Auguste Armand Marie, Prince de Polignac was born on May 14, 1780 in Versailles in the family of Jules de Polignac (at that time Count) and his wife Yolande de Polignac, however, there is numerous evidence of a close connection between Yolande and the Comte de Vaudreuil, who is considered by some historians real father of Jules de Polignac. In addition, it is reliably known that for many years he was a close friend of Charles X. His mother was an intimate and close friend of Queen Marie Antoinette. Jules de Polignac himself was already attuned to the royalists. Together with Charles X in 1804 he participated in a conspiracy against Napoleon. In 1820 he received the title of Roman prince from Pope Leo XII. From 1814 he was a peer of France. In 1823 Prince de Polignac was appointed French ambassador to London. "In society, they looked at him as a person, mentally limited and incapable, as an absolutist and friend of the Jesuits."

On August 8, 1829, the new Cabinet included: Prince de Polignac, who combined the posts of head of the cabinet and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance Count de Chabrol de Crosul, Minister of the Interior Count Labourdonne, Minister of Public Education Baron de Monteble, Minister of War Comte de Gen de Bourmont (marshal since 1830), naval and colonial minister Comte de Rigny (admiral), minister of justice de Courvoisier. The new cabinet came to power when serious economic and political tensions began in the country. To fight the new government, bourgeois circles founded organizations whose goal was to refuse to pay taxes to the government. As the historian Manfred points out, there were 1.5 million people in the country who had poverty benefits. Wages decreased by 22%, while commodity prices increased by 60%.

At the beginning of the next 1830, the opposition newspaper Le National was founded, headed by Armen Carrel (historian), L.A. Thiers (future Prime Minister and 1st President of the Third Republic, historian), F.-O. Mignet (author of works on the history of the Reformation, the French Revolution, since 1836 a member of the French Academy). The first issue of the newspaper published an article saying that the newspaper was ready to support the dynasty, but only if the Charter of 1814 was strictly observed.

The break in relations between the government and parliament occurred during the speech of Charles X from the throne on March 2, 1830. Then the monarch directly demanded support from the side in his actions "to do good" and noted that if forces appeared that would oppose the power of the king, then he "would find the strength to defeat them in ... determination to protect public peace." It was required to accept the answer to the king's speech from the throne. Royet-Collard was re-elected as the new President of the Chamber of Deputies, who presented a reply address addressed to the King, which was adopted by the Chamber by 221 votes to 181. The following phrase is presented in the address: “France desires anarchy as little as you [Charles X. – V.Ch.] have little desire for despotism.” The answer put the king before a choice between those "who reveal such a complete lack of understanding of your nation, calm, quiet and faithful" and those who "with deep conviction in their rightness, cast down at the feet of Your Majesty the grief of an entire people who yearn for the respect and trust of their king ". This address was announced at a solemn audience on March 18, 1830 by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Royer-Kollar. Note that the second part of the excerpt presented was actually compiled by liberals. In response, Charles X expressed his disappointment that "the deputies from the departments refuse me" to assist "for the fulfillment of the good I have conceived." As you can see, Charles X spoke in general terms and it was not entirely clear what goal the French monarch was pursuing. On March 17, 1830, the meetings of the House were adjourned until September 1, and on May 16, the House was dissolved with the appointment of elections for June 23 and July 3, but with the meetings beginning on August 3.

Without seeking to give any assessment of the foreign policy of France during the reign of Charles X, we will define the main milestones and directions. In general, in the foreign policy of France in the whole of the entire period of the Restoration, there were two main vectors: southern and eastern. The southern direction of foreign policy was characterized by the participation and desire of France to colonize the territories of North Africa (the countries of the Maghreb): Algeria and Tunisia. However, we note that during the Restoration, more time was devoted to the Algerian direction, which was only partially implemented. On May 25, 1830, the 37,000-strong French corps, led by the Minister of War, Comte de Bourmont, set off from Toulon for Algiers. As Cherkasov P.P. writes, it took 103 combat and 350 merchant ships led by Admiral Duperre to transport troops. On July 5, 1830, the Fort of the Emperor was taken and the local rulers agreed to surrender, but the uprising led by Abd al-Qadir, which lasted more than 20 years, did not allow the French to gain a foothold in these territories completely. As a result, just a few days before the July Revolution, Charles X confirmed his intention to keep the French contingent on the territory of Algeria "for an indefinite period." This is where the southern direction of the foreign policy of Charles X ended. The revolution of July-August 1830 did not make it possible to complete the final annexation of Algeria, but the successors of Charles X would fulfill this task and at the end of the 19th century Algeria would become French territory.

The eastern direction of the foreign policy of Charles X was first of all marked by the successful campaign of the Russian Empire in the war of 1828-1829. with the Ottoman Empire. Prince de Polignac in August-September 1829 submitted to the discussion of the secret royal council a question that was proposed to the Tuileries court by Russia, for which France at that time was an ally. It was supposed to finally dismember the Ottoman Empire, and if France and Russia would act together, then "they would acquire a dominant position in the council of the great powers." At the same time, Prince de Polignac, first of all, asked not to forget that the primary task in solving the Eastern Question was to weaken the position of Great Britain at sea, the fleet of which was very numerous. In addition, he recalled the injustice of the 1815 treaties, when France was obliged to return to pre-revolutionary borders. He proposed to include in France the territory of Belgium up to the Meuse. In addition, the Dauphin of France Louis, Duke of Angouleme said that Great Britain would not allow the implementation of such ideas of the head of the French cabinet. Debates on all the above issues split the members of the council, and the first meeting on this issue did not decide on a single decision.

At the second meeting on this question, Prince de Polignac prevailed. The decisions of this meeting are presented by S.S. Tatishchev. Belgium would pass to France, at the same moment to Russia Moldavia and Wallachia. Serbia and Bosnia pass to Austria, and the rest of European Turkey "was to form one Christian state under the rule of the king of the Netherlands, and other Turkish possessions in Asia and Africa - a Muslim state with Megmet-Ali, the Pasha of Egypt, at the head." However, the project did not have time to reach St. Petersburg before the Adrianople peace treaty on September 2, 1829.

In the same essay, Tatishcheva S.S. we find other curious details of Russian-French relations in the 1820s and 30s. So Tatishchev, with undisguised regret, states that Count K.O. Pozzo di Borgo "managed to acquire over the prince the same influence that he had over for the most part his predecessors, unfortunately, only in external, and not in internal affairs". Most likely, we are talking here about the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire in 1816-1822. Count John Kapodistrias, who by that time was already the President of Greece.

So, summing up the external and internal political courses of France during the Restoration era, we note the reincarnation and interesting behavior of the French monarch. He boldly gives de Martignac the opportunity to deal with the Jesuits hated by the French, determines and directs the government of Prince de Polignac along a path that has not been officially announced. In foreign policy, we caught the desire of Charles X to participate in the colonial division of the world on the example of the Maghreb countries: Algeria and Tunisia, as well as in attempts, together with Russia, to complete the Eastern Question in their favor.

The immediate cause of the revolutionary events of July-August 1830 was the publication of four royal ordinances. The first abolished freedom of the press and restored censorship. Newspapers began to be published in Paris and departments only by royal order, renewed after 3 months. The second ordinance dissolved the elected Chamber of Deputies. A new chamber of deputies was elected in mid-July and representatives of liberal circles strengthened the position of the opposition in parliament. 202 deputies were re-elected, and the total number of liberals increased to 272. The third ordinance limited the right to vote and admitted only representatives of wealthy landowners to it. The fourth ordinance announced new elections for the Chamber of Deputies on September 6 and 18, and the convocation of the chamber was scheduled for September 28, 1830. The ordinances were signed by Charles X at Saint-Cloud on 25 May and published the following day.

On the first day of the official publication, indignation was heard only from members of parliament and journalists, who had the opportunity to be the first to familiarize themselves with the well-known documents. The next day, journalistic articles were published that protested the government. On the same day, many "printing house owners" dismissed their workers. On July 27, an active protest from the masses began. July 28 was marked by the intensification of protest moods on the part of the people, "the crowd took possession of the town hall and hoisted a tricolor banner on it." On the night of July 28-29, barricades appeared in Paris, and the next day the Tuileries and the Louvre were taken by the rebels.

All this time, Charles X, while in Saint-Cloud, and then in Rambouillet, tried to maneuver, but only on August 1 he withdrew the published ordinances and tried to keep the throne with the help of the appointment of a new government. However, this option could not pacify the rebellion, both on the street and in parliament, where there was already a lively discussion of the candidacy of the Duke of Orleans Louis-Philippe for the throne of the kingdom (the discussion took place starting from July 30). The Duke of Orleans himself arrived from the suburban residence of the Palais Royal on the night of July 30-31. After meeting with members of the Chamber of Deputies, the Duke of Orleans accepted the invitation of parliamentarians to take the French throne, however, at first, he received the title of viceroy of the kingdom.

August 2, Charles X, while in the suburban estate of Rambouillet, decides to abdicate both for himself and for his son the Duke of Angouleme in favor of the grandson of the Duke of Bordeaux (son of the Duke of Berry, who was killed in 1820), but who will be better known as the Count of Chambord . On August 9, 1830, Louis-Philippe I became the new French monarch, King of the French, who would rule until 1848. Charles X himself was forced to emigrate from France, and goes to England, where he lives until 1832. Charles X dies in 1836 in the city of Görtz, which at that moment was part of the Austrian Empire (now Italy). The official cause of death is infection with cholera, which the French monarch in exile becomes infected while moving to Görtz. He was buried in the Church of the Annunciation in Kostanjevica, which is now in Slovenia.

Let us explain certain specifics of the situation that arose in 1830 with the abdication of Charles X, expressing a subjective point of view and a view on the problem of legitimism. The Charter of 1814, as we already know, did not allow the French monarch to abdicate from the throne, such a clause was not even included in the Charter. Therefore, the formal abdication of Charles X could not deprive him of either the title of the reigning French monarch or the throne. We also note that some historians consider the Duke of Angouleme the reigning monarch of France on August 2, 1830, arguing that he signed his own act of abdication a few minutes later than his father, and therefore a number of historians see Louis XIX in the Duke of Angouleme. This cannot be true in terms of the legal aspect, as well as in the opinion of the supporters of the king - the legitimist monarchists. Therefore, despite the abdication, the Duke of Angouleme could actually be considered the Dauphin of France, by the way, who became the last in history. The Duke of Angouleme could count on the title of King of France only after the death of Charles X, which followed in 1836, and since that time the Legitimists have been considered de jure "King of France" and Head of the French Royal House. The practice of taking the title of monarch in exile or "de jure monarch" is also known in the 20th century. So after the assassination of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia in 1975, his eldest son Amha Selassie I declared himself emperor of Ethiopia in exile in 1989 and retained this title until his death in 1997. Similar examples are present in the history of Russia, Albania, Bulgaria and other European countries. Regarding the Duke of Bordeaux, we also note that he retained all his titles, but mainly used the title of Count of Chambord, but among Legitimists he has a different name "Henry V". In fact, he was never a monarch, but he had a chance to take the French throne in 1873 during the presidential term of Marshal McMahon, but the steadfast nature of the Count of Chambord made it impossible to restore the monarchy in France. After the death of the Duke of Angouleme in 1844 until 1883. was the Head of the French Royal House, therefore he has every right to use this name. After the death of the Count of Chambord in 1883, the senior branch of the House of Bourbon ceased, and the leadership of the dynasty passed to the Orleans branch of the dynasty, which still continues to exist.

Conclusion

Having studied all the available processes that took place throughout the life and reign of Charles X, better known as the Count d'Artois, we see his political portrait quite complete.

Born in 1757 in the family of the heir to the throne, Dauphin Louis, he was ordained a statesman from birth. Until the French Revolution of 1789, he does not show himself as a very brave and strong politician, this period can be characterized as the period of his preparation for the service of France.

The revolution of 1789 and the subsequent events of almost 30 years of exile were not in vain for the Comte d'Artois, and it is this period that can be characterized as the period of the formation of a politician. He is actively involved in the life of the Royal House in exile. He takes part in the Pilnitz Congress of 1791, which served as the basis for the creation of the first anti-French coalition the following year. He is a reliable support of Louis XVIII in the preparation of the Verona Declaration of 1795. In addition, during the news from France in 1799 about the possible restoration of the monarchy in the same year, he receives instructions from Louis XVIII that gave him great powers, and only a person with a certain degree of awareness in the political and public sphere could implement them. From 1798/99 he lives in Great Britain until the Bourbon Restoration in 1814-1815. does not appear in the political arena.

His reign, which lasted almost 6 years in 1824-1830. quite interesting characterizes him as a politician. We agree with Anne Martin-Fugier that he was the head of the party, but we have not received an answer which one. It seems to us that this is a completely new politician, who in no way corresponded to the image of a Christian monarch, and even more so a supporter of absolutism, as most historians represent him.

The governments of Martignac and Polignac were, apparently, precisely the tools of Charles X in his policy, they were able to expel the Jesuits from France, who at that time were able to take a serious position in the country and even influenced Charles X himself. In addition, domestic politics is characterized by an attempt to maneuver the monarch between the liberals and royalists. However, if under the Martignac government the internal political course has a certain logic, then under the Martignac government it is very difficult to recognize it. Apparently, he succumbed to the influence of the royalists, to whom he was ranked by many domestic historians and publicists, and was unable to maintain a balance between the two parties.

The foreign policy of Charles X is quite transparent. He seeks to actively participate in resolving the "Eastern Question" in close cooperation with Russian Empire, however, it fails in this. In addition, the first minister, Prince de Polignac, proposes to revise the treaties of 1815, which obliged France to return to pre-revolutionary borders, however, the attitude of Charles X to this issue could not be found out. The territory of Algeria at the end of his reign comes under the control of France, however, France can finally gain a foothold in this territory only by the 1850s.

In the politics of the court, we see his desire to make it a certain forge for loyal comrades-in-arms. At the court, back in the reign of Louis XVIII, the Life Guards were restored to replace the abolished Imperial Guards. A fairly large number of court staff, but at the same time, under both Louis XVIII and Charles X, when he was the royal court under the control of the Duke de La Rochefoucauld, strict discipline reigned in it, which allows us to say that the French monarchs of the Restoration were extremely delicate and demanded diligence from the courtiers.

The end of the reign of Charles X was marked by the July Revolution of July-August 1830. During the issuance of 4 ordinances on July 26, protests of journalists and deputies began, which gradually turned into a strike. Attempts to maneuver ended unsuccessfully, and under the influence of the environment on August 2, 1830, he abdicates the French throne and leaves France. His life in England and Austria was not long. He dies in 1836 at the age of 80.

In general, we note that the political portrait of the French king Charles X, the last representative of the senior branch of the Bourbon dynasty on the throne of France, and the last crowned monarch of France, appears before us in a certain logic of development, which reached its apogee during his 6-year reign. Apparently not wanting to succumb to the influence of the Jesuits anymore, he allows Martignac to use all means to expel them from the country. Foreign policy is logical and quite definite. We can conclude that the life and reign of Charles X, to whom little attention has been paid by historians, seems to us to be a certain synthesis of old France with the splendor of the coronation of 1825, and the realities of the new political and social life, which his brother Louis XVIII put up with and, judging by everything, Charles X himself. After all, it is strange to think that such a businesslike person as he seems could wish France to return to pre-revolutionary orders. This is neither logically nor factually possible. He is a politician, the head of the party, with these two words one can characterize his life and political portrait as a whole. It remains only to regret that so little is said about him in Russian historiography.

List of sources and literature.

Sources:

1. Constitutional Charter of France 1814. URL: http://constitutions.ru/archives/8690. (date of access 1.05.2014).
2. Materials related to the stay of the French royal family in Mitava in 1798 / Reported by K.A. Military // Russian antiquity, 1896. V. 85, No. 2. S. 377-380.
3. Letters of Emperor Paul I to M.I. Lamsdorf, Governor of Courland, 1797. / Reported by K.A. Military // Russian antiquity, 1893. - T. 80, No. 2. pp. 372-394.
4. Chernyshevsky N.G. Works in 2 volumes. T. 1. - M .: Thought, 1986. - 805 p., 1 sheet. portrait - (Philosophical heritage).
5. Pillnitzer Punktation. vom 08/27/1791 // EROCHE NAPOLEON: von der Bastille bis Waterloo. URL: http://www.epoche-napoleon.net/quellen/1791/08/27/pillnitz.html (accessed 04/14/2014).

Literature:

1. Blok M. Miracle-Working Kings: Essay on the ideas of the supernatural nature of royal power, prevalent mainly in France and England / Per. from fr. V.A. Milchina. Foreword J. Le Goff. Scientific ed. and after. AND I. Gurevich. - M .: School "Languages ​​of Russian Culture", 1998. - 712p.
2. Bovykin D.Yu. Verona Declaration of Louis XVIII // New and recent history, 2013, No. 3. pp. 118-129.
3. Bovykin D.Yu. “Forgotten nothing and learned a lot…”: projects for the restoration of the monarchy in 1799 // French Yearbook, 2005. URL: http://annuaire-fr.narod.ru/statji/Bovykine-2005.html#_ftn16 (accessed : 04/13/2014).
4. Bovykin D.Yu. Recognition of Louis XVIII (view from Russia) // Russia and France of the XVIII-XX centuries. M., 2003. Issue. 5. URL: (date of access: 04/13/2014).
5. Bovykin D.Yu. Religion and the Church in the political projects of Louis XVIII and his entourage (1795-1799). // French Yearbook, 2004. URL: http://annuaire-fr.narod.ru/statji/Bovykine-2004.html#_ftn7 (date of access: 04/13/2014).
6. Bovykin D.Yu. The Death of Louis XVII: Archives of the Duke de la Fare. // The French Revolution. URL: http://larevolution.ru/Bovykine-3.html (date of access: 04/23/2014).
7. Bovykin D.Yu. "I think differently..." Louis XVIII and the Constitutional Monarchists (1795-1799). // EUROPE: International almanac. Issue. 5. Tyumen, 2005. URL: (date of access: 10.04.2014).
8. History of France / Under the general editorship of J. Carpentier, F. Lebrun in collaboration with E. Carpentier and others; foreword J. Le Goff; per. from fr. M. Nekrasov. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2008. - 607 p. With.
9. Kareev N.I. Political history of France in the 19th century. - St. Petersburg: Type. Acc. Tot. Brockhaus-Efron, 1902.
10. Manfred A.Z. (ed.). History of France. In 3 volumes. T. 2. - M .: Nauka, 1973. - 666 p.
11. Martin-Fugier A. An elegant life, or How “all Paris” arose, 1815-1848. / Per. from fr. O.E. Grinberg and V.A. Milchina; Enter. Art. V.A. Milchin - M .: Publishing house. Sabashnikov, 1998. - 480s.
12. Polevshchikova E.V. “We are here in the thick of the battle against anarchy…” (Political Life of the Restoration Epoch in Letters from A.E. Richelieu to V.P. Kochubey). // French Yearbook, 2003. URL: http://annuaire-fr.narod.ru/statji/Polevshikova-2003.html (date of access: 04/13/2014).
13. Sergienko V.Yu. The French Revolution through the Eyes of Constitutional Monarchists (Emigration Experience). // French Yearbook, 2001. URL: http://annuaire-fr.narod.ru/statji/Sergienko-2001.html (date of access: 21.04.2014).
14. Tatishchev S.S. Emperor Nicholas and foreign courts. Historical essays. - St. Petersburg: Type. I.I. Skorokhodova, 1889.
15. Cherkasov P.P. The fate of the empire Essay on the colonial expansion of France in the 16th-20th centuries. – M.: Nauka, 1983.

NOTE

Title of heir to the throne in France.
By the name of the historical region (county) in the north-east of France, now located in the department of Pas-de-Calais.
The description (blazon) of the coat of arms was compiled by M.Yu. Medvedev, corresponding member International Academy heraldry.
Guerrier V. I. The struggle for the Polish throne in 1733. - M .: In the printing house of V. Grachev and Co., 1862. S. 115.
There. S. 12.
There. S. 405.
Potocki - gentry clan of the Commonwealth. Probably founded in the 13th century. He began to raise in the XVI century. In 1733-1734. some representatives of the Potocki family hold important positions in the state. So, Jozef Potocki was the Kiev governor and commanded the troops of Stanislav Leshchinsky, Franciszek Potocki was a member of the Seim from Chernihiv.
Charles Anton de la Roche-Aymon (1696-1777). Catholic cardinal. Since 1752 - Archbishop of Narbonne, since 1763 - Archbishop of Reims. He served as the Great Almsgiver of the Kingdom of France in 1760-1777.
Pillnitzer Punktuation vom 08/27/1791 // EROCHE NAPOLEON: von der Bastille bis Waterloo. URL: http://www.epoche-napoleon.net/quellen/1791/08/27/pillnitz.html (accessed 04/14/2014).
Manfred A.Z. (ed.) History of France in 3 vols. T. 2. - M.: Nauka, 1973. S. 32.
There. S. 31.
Louis Henri Joseph (1756-1830). Until 1818 Duke of Bourbon, from 1818 - Prince of Condé. Member of the junior branch of the House of Bourbon. Father of the Duke of Enghien, who was executed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804. He died in 1830 under unclear circumstances.
Bovykin D.Yu. The Death of Louis XVII: Archives of the Duke de la Fare. // The French Revolution. URL: http://larevolution.ru/Bovykine-3.html (date of access: 04/23/2014).
Bovykin D.Yu. Declaration of Verona by Louis XVIII // Modern and Contemporary History, 2013, No. 3. S. 120.
Bovykin D.Yu. “I think differently…” Louis XVIII and constitutional monarchists (1795-1799). // Europe: International Almanac. Issue. 5. Tyumen, 2005. URL: (date of access: 23.04.2014).
Chernyshevsky N.G. Works in 2 vols. T. 1. - M .: Thought, 1986. S. 487.
Materials related to the stay of the French royal family in Mitava in 1798. / Reported by K.A. Military // Russian antiquity, 1896. V. 85, No. 2. S. 377.
Bovykin D.Yu. Religion and the Church in the political projects of Louis XVIII and his entourage (1795-1799). // French Yearbook, 2004. URL: http://annuaire-fr.narod.ru/statji/Bovykine-2004.html#_ftn7 (date of access: 23.04.2014).
Bovykin D.Yu. “Forgotten nothing and learned a lot…”: projects for the restoration of the monarchy in 1799 // French Yearbook, 2005. URL: http://annuaire-fr.narod.ru/statji/Bovykine-2005.html#_ftn16 (accessed : 23.04.2014).
Manfred A.Z. (ed.) History of France in 3 vols. T. 2. - M.: Nauka, 1973. S. 171.
Kareev N.I. Political history of France in the 19th century. - St. Petersburg: Printing house Akts. Tot. Brockhaus-Efron, 1902. S. 92.
Constitutional Charter of France 1814. URL: http://constitutions.ru/archives/8690. (date of access 1.05.2014).
Chernyshevsky N.G. Decree. op. S. 494.
There. S. 495.
Chernyshevsky N.G. Decree. op. S. 505.
Tatishchev S.S. Emperor Nicholas and foreign courts. - St. Petersburg: Type. I.I. Skorokhodova, 1889. S. 132.
There. S. 133.
Chernyshevsky N.G. Decree. op. S. 507.
Polevshchikova E.V. “We are here in the thick of the battle against anarchy…” (Political Life of the Restoration Epoch in Letters from A.E. Richelieu to V.P. Kochubey). // French Yearbook, 2003. URL: http://annuaire-fr.narod.ru/statji/Polevshikova-2003.html (date of access: 1.05.2014).
Tatishchev S.S. Decree. op. S. 134.
Martin-Fugier A. An elegant life, or How "all Paris" arose, 1815-1848. / Per. from fr. O.E. Grinberg and V.A. Milchina; Enter. Art. V.A. Milchin - M .: Publishing house. Sabashnikov, 1998, p. 37.
There. S. 63.
Kareev N.I. Decree. op. S. 111.
Chernyshevsky N.G. Decree. op. S. 520.
Manfred A.Z. Decree. op. S. 211.
Blok M. Kings-Wonderworkers: Essay on ideas about the supernatural nature of royal power, common mainly in France and England / Per. from fr. V.A. Milchina. Foreword J. Le Goff. Scientific ed. and after. AND I. Gurevich. - M .: School "Languages ​​of Russian Culture", 1998. S. 545.
Blok M. Decree. op. S. 549.
Chernyshevsky N.G. Decree. op. S. 524.
Manfred A.Z. Decree. op. S. 215.
Chernyshevsky N.G. Decree. op. S. 527.
There. S. 530.
Constitutional Charter of France 1814. URL: http://constitutions.ru/archives/8690. (date of access 2.05.2014).
Kareev N.I. Decree. op. S. 115.
There. S. 117.
Chernyshevsky N.G. Decree. op. S. 551.
Kareev N.I. Decree. op. S. 117.
Manfred A.Z. Decree. op. S. 216.
Chernyshevsky N.G. Decree. op. S. 552.
Kareev N.I. Decree. op. S. 119.
There. S. 120.
Cherkasov P.P. The fate of the Empire Essay on the colonial expansion of France in the XVI-XX centuries. – M.: Nauka, 1983. S. 28.
Tatishchev S.S. Emperor Nicholas and foreign courts. Historical essays. - St. Petersburg: Type. I.I. Skorokhodova, 1889, p. 136.
There. S. 138.
Tatishchev S.S. Decree op. S. 140.
Kareev N.I. Decree. op. S. 126.
There. pp. 122-123.

Domestic politics

The internal policy of Charlemagne is aimed mainly at the centralization of state administration (this was especially clearly manifested in the organization of regional and local government, in the introduction of the institution of royal envoys, etc.).

The most important reason for all the successes of Charlemagne was the support he enjoyed from the nobility. Karl continued the distribution of beneficiaries, honorary positions, gifts. The political system created under Charles, which was based on the strengthening of vassal ties, contributed to the strengthening of the nobility. The obligation of vassals to serve the king was formalized by contracts and oaths of allegiance; ordinary free people also had to take an oath of allegiance, since 789 lists of those who took the oath were compiled.

Le Goff says that the church council at Tours, convened in 811, noted: "In many places, by various means, the property of poor people is greatly curtailed, and this is the property of those who are free, but live under the rule of powerful persons." Further, Le Goff says that church magnates and landowners are becoming the new owners of this property. Le Goff cites as an example a polyptic compiled in the ninth century at the behest of Hermione, abbe of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, an inventory of land holdings and duties of land holders. It describes twenty-four properties, nineteen of which were located in the Paris region, between Mantes and Château-Thierry. This economic power opened the way to public power for the landed magnates, largely through the process initiated by Charlemagne and his heirs. As already mentioned, Charlemagne increased the number of beneficiary gifts, obliged him to take an oath and enter into vassal relations. This was done in order to strengthen the Frankish state, Karl expected to tie to himself not only significant people, land magnates, but also smaller landowners by vassal ties, so he encouraged his vassals to also have vassals, and he obliged all free people to choose a lord. Carl's actions had almost the opposite effect. Charlemagne's Capitulary of 811 states that "the poor complain of being deprived of their property, they complain alike of bishops and abbots and trustees, counts and their centurions." Peasants went bankrupt due to church tithes, heavy taxes, high court fines

Charlemagne maintained an alliance both with the pope and with the local church hierarchy. Providing energetic assistance in the spread of Christianity, patronizing the clergy and establishing tithes for him, being on the best possible terms with the pope, Charles retained, however, full power in church administration: he appointed bishops and abbots, convened spiritual councils, and decided at the Diets decisions concerning church affairs. Charles himself was diligently engaged in the sciences; ordered to compile a grammar of the national language, in which he established the Frankish names of the months and winds; ordered to collect folk songs. He surrounded himself with scientists (Alcuin, Paul the Deacon, Einhard, Raban Moor, Theodulf) and, using their advice and assistance, sought to educate the clergy and people. In particular, he took care of the organization of schools at churches and monasteries; at his court, he set up a kind of academy for the education of his children, as well as courtiers and their sons.

Charles made an attempt to reform monasticism in accordance with the Benedictine rule, at the same time a reform of the liturgy was carried out and a single collection of sermons was compiled. In general, the attitude of the church towards him was servile, this is evidenced by the fact that Pope Leo III, after his election to the papal throne, sent Charles the keys of St. Peter and the papal banner in recognition of his authority. Charles became the defender of orthodoxy in the west, he wanted to challenge the decision of the Council of Nicaea in 787.

Regarding the church, Charles issued many capitularies. One of them says that they do not offend or plunder the holy churches of God, or orphans, or pilgrims, since the emperor himself, after God and his saints, is declared their protector and patron. In many capitular acts, Charlemagne reminds the counts and bishops that their behavior must be pious: let them forgive the debts of their debtors, ransom the captives, help the oppressed, protect widows and orphans.

Charlemagne carried out a new military reform. Now only relatively wealthy free landowners who had 3-4 allotments were required to serve in the army. All mene wealthy people, primarily free peasants, had to unite in groups and put up one armed warrior at a common expense.

Thus, military power was strengthened by regularizing the collection of the militia, and Charlemagne strengthened the borders by the military organization of the marks, ruled by the margraves. He destroyed the power of the people's dukes, which seemed to him dangerous for the king.

After the military reform carried out by Charles, four peasants had to pool one warrior. Such a practice was not only ruinous for the peasantry in itself, but also for a long time tore it away from the economy, and since Charlemagne pursued an active policy of conquest, such military practice was constant. Ruined peasants gave their possessions to land tycoons in exchange for patronage and protection, the practice of transferring land to a precarium, which began under the Merovingians, was especially widespread - land ownership that the tycoon transferred to a ruined peasant on condition that certain duties were performed: military service, corvée or payment of dues - this contributed to the strengthening of the land magnates, it is precisely with this that, as Le Goff writes, "From 811, Charlemagne complained that some refuse military service under the pretext that their lord was not called up for it and they must stay with him."

The situation was aggravated by such a phenomenon as immunity, which consisted in the fact that the magnate in the territories belonging to him received the right to collect taxes and taxes, used the supreme judicial power and was the leader of the military militia convened on his territory. Unable to prevent this process, the state legalized it with special letters, according to which the immune lands were no longer subject to the counts. This practice, which became widespread under the Carolingians, began, however, as early as the time of the Merovingians. In addition, after the judicial reform of Charlemagne, free peasants were deprived of an active role in the court, so they could not prevent the strengthening of the magnates through the state judiciary. "The freedom of these people ceases to imply full rights." Often they united and revolted, however, this was ineffective, and they could not stop the "offensive" of the magnates. Charles in many of his capitularies prescribed not to allow the oppression of the peasants, however, this did not have the desired effect. If we talk about the economy associated with the processes described above, then during the reign of Charles - from the end of the 8th to the middle of the 9th century, the trend of economic growth was prevalent, as evidenced by the existence of excess products on large estates that were sold on the market, which is confirmed by a certain revival of those who had the Roman roots of cities, compared to their decline during the Late Roman Empire. The number of mints increased several times, which prompted Charles to limit the right of cities to mint coins. The growth of the money supply indicates a large scale of trade.

Connecting with the issue of land, on the orders of Charles, swamps were drained, forests were cut down, monasteries and cities were built, as well as magnificent palaces and churches (for example, in Aachen, Ingelheim).

Started in 793, the construction of a canal between Rednitz and Altmühl, which would connect the Rhine and Danube, Northern and Black Sea, remained unfinished.

In 794, on the site of the thermal resort of the Celts and Romans in Aachen, Charles began the construction of a huge palace complex, completed in 798. Having first turned into the winter residence of Charles, Aachen gradually became a permanent residence, and from 807 - the permanent capital of the empire.

Carl strengthened the denier, which began to weigh 1.7 grams. Charles's fame spread far beyond his realm; embassies from foreign lands often appeared at his court, such as the embassy of Harun al-Rashid in 798.

The cultural aspirations of Charles were connected with politics - the culture of the Frankish state had to correspond to the name "empire". Karl himself was very educated for his, in many ways still barbaric time: “Not content with only his native speech, he tried to learn foreign languages. He studied Latin in such a way that he usually spoke it as if in his native language, but in Greek he understood more than he said."

Cultural reforms began with the establishment of a single canonical text of the Bible, and were generally carried out in alliance with the church.

Charlemagne purposefully encouraged secular culture, inviting philologists, architects, musicians and astronomers from all over the empire, as well as from Ireland and England, to his capital Aachen. Under the guidance of the great Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin, who was actually the “minister of education” of the empire for Charles (in 796, having retired from the court, he became the abbot of Tours), and with the participation of such famous figures as Theodulf, Paul the Deacon, Einhard and many others (all of them were part of the informal "Palace Academy") actively revived the education system, which received the name of the Carolingian Renaissance.

Karl himself took an active part in the work of the academy he founded: on his initiative, the correct text of the Bible was compiled; the monarch collected ancient German legends and songs (the collection, unfortunately, is almost lost); he instructed scholars to compile the grammar of his native Frankish language (this command was not carried out).

Under him, the study of classical Latin was revived, annalism was encouraged, and a whole stream of imitative poetry poured out from the pen of talented courtiers. Charles himself took grammar lessons from Alcuin and began compiling a grammar of the Germanic language. He also worked on correcting the texts of the Gospels and already in his advanced years tried to learn the difficult art of calligraphy (the mention of this fact in Eingard's biography of Karl was the basis for the false idea that he allegedly could not write). The collection of traditional short German heroic poems ordered by him, unfortunately, has not been preserved. Everywhere, new schools were opened at monasteries and churches, and provision was made for the education of the children of the poor. Under the leadership of Alcuin, scriptoria (rooms for correspondence and storage of manuscripts) were revived or established in the monasteries, where a magnificent font called "Carolingian minuscule" was used for correspondence, and copying was carried out at such a rapid pace that the lion's share of the entire heritage of antiquity has come down to us through the efforts of precisely that era. The impulse given to learning by Charlemagne continued for a full century after his death.

Foreign policy of Charlemagne

Of all the wars that Charles waged, he was the first to undertake the Aquitanian, begun by his father, but not finished. Charles could end this war quickly, even during the life of his brother Carloman. And Karl completed, thanks to endurance and constancy, with an excellent end what he planned to do.

Having put things in order in Aquitaine and ended that war, Charles, heeding the requests and entreaties of the bishop of the city of Rome Adrian, undertook a war against the Lombards. This war had been started even earlier with great difficulty (at the humble request of Pope Stephen) by Charles's father. However, at that time the war against the king was started and ended very quickly. Charles, having started the war, completed it no earlier than he accepted the surrender of King Desiderius, tired of a long siege, his son Adalgiz, on whom the hopes of everyone seemed to be turned, forced him to leave not only the kingdom, but even Italy. He returned everything taken from the Romans, suppressed Ruodgaz, the ruler of the duchy of Friul, who plotted a coup, subjugated all of Italy to his power and installed his son Pepin as king at the head of conquered Italy.

For Charles, who entered Italy, crossing the Alps and overcoming impassable places, mountain ranges and rocks rising to the sky was very difficult.

So, the end of that war was the conquest of Italy: King Desiderius was banished into eternal exile, his son Adalgiz was removed from Italy, and the property taken by the Lombard kings was returned to the ruler of the Roman church, Adrian.

After the end of that war, the Saxon war began again, which seemed already completed. None of the wars started by the people of the Franks was so long, terrible and requiring so much effort, for the Saxons, who, like almost all peoples living in Germany, are warlike by nature, devoted to the worship of demons and are opponents of our religion, did not consider it impious to violate, nor transgress both divine and human laws. There were other reasons why not a day passed without breaking the peace, since the borders and the Saxons almost everywhere adjoined on the plain, except in a few places where large forests and wedged cliffs of mountains separated the fields of both by a reliable border. Otherwise, murders, robberies and fires would not be slow to reappear there either. The Franks were so angry that, in order not to endure any more inconvenience, they decided that it was worth starting an open war against them. That war was started and fought for thirty-three years with great courage on both sides, but with more damage to the Saxons than to the Franks. It could have ended sooner if not for the perfidy of the Saxons.

It is difficult to say how many times the vanquished surrendered, promised that they would follow orders, gave hostages, sent by them without delay, received ambassadors sent to them. And several times they were so subdued and weakened that they even promised to turn to the Christian religion and leave the custom of worshiping demons. But as many times they promised to do it, as many times they broke their promises. But the strong spirit of the king and his constant constancy, both under unfavorable and favorable circumstances, could not be defeated by the fickleness of the Saxons and were not exhausted by the undertakings undertaken. Charles did not allow those who did something like this to get away from punishment. Charles himself took revenge for treachery and appointed them a well-deserved punishment, himself standing at the head of the army, or sent his counts. It was believed that the war, which had been waged for so many years, ended under the condition put forward by the king and accepted by the Saxons: the Saxons, having rejected the veneration of demons and leaving their fatherly rites, accept the sacraments of the Christian faith and religion and, having united with the Franks, form a single people with them.

In the course of that war, although it dragged on for a very long time, Charles himself faced the enemy in battle no more than twice: once at a mountain called Osneggi, in a place called Teothmelly, and the second time near the river Haza. In those two battles, the enemies were so crushed and completely defeated that they did not dare to challenge the king, nor to oppose him with their advance, unless they were in some place protected by fortifications. In that war, many who held the highest posts, both from the Frankish nobility and from the nobility of the Saxons, were killed. And although the war ended in the thirty-third year, in the course of it, in various parts of the country, so many other most serious wars arose against the Franks, which the king masterfully waged, that, considering them, it is difficult to decide what in Charles should be more surprised - steadfastness in difficulties or his luck. For he began the Saxon war two years before the Italian, and did not cease to wage it, and none of the wars that were fought anywhere else was stopped or suspended at any stage because of difficulties. Since Charles, the greatest of all the kings then ruling the peoples, who excelled everyone in prudence and greatness of soul, never retreated before difficulties and was not afraid of the dangers of those wars that he undertook or waged. On the contrary, he knew how to accept and lead each undertaking in accordance with its nature, not retreating in a difficult situation and not succumbing to the false flattery of luck in a favorable situation.

Thus, during a long and almost uninterrupted war with the Saxons, he, having placed garrisons along the frontier in proper places, went to Spain only after he had made the best preparations for war. Having overcome the gorge of the Pyrenees, he achieved the surrender of all the cities and castles that he approached, and returned with an unharmed army. On the way back, on the Pyrenees itself, he had to experience the treachery of the Basques. The Basques, setting up an ambush and starting a battle, killed everyone and plundered the convoy, and then scattered in different directions. In this case, the ease of armament and the nature of the area in which the case took place helped the Basques; on the contrary, heavy weapons, and the ruggedness of the place made the Franks unequal in everything to the Basques. In this battle, with many others, the steward Eggihard, the palace manager Anselm and Ruodland, the prefect of the Breton March, died.

Charles also conquered the Britons, who lived in the West, on one of the outskirts of Gaul, on the ocean, and did not obey his orders. Sending an army to them, he forced them to hand over the hostages and promise that they would do what he ordered them to do. After that, Charles again invaded Italy with an army and, passing through Rome, attacked Capua, the city of Campania. Having set up a camp there, he began to threaten the Benevents with war if they did not surrender - Aragis, their duke sent his sons Rumold and Grimold to meet the king with great gifts. He invited Karl to accept his sons as hostages, and he promised that he would carry out the order together with his people, except that he would be obliged to appear before the eyes of the king.

The king, after that, paid more attention to the benefit to the people than to the inflexibility of the duke. He accepted the hostages offered to him and agreed, as a great favor, not to force Aragis to appear before him. Charles left the younger son of the duke as a hostage, but returned the eldest to his father, and, sending ambassadors in all directions so that they took an oath of allegiance from Aragis and the people, he went to Rome. After spending several days there venerating the holy places, he returned to Gaul.

The Bavarian War, which began suddenly, then ended quickly. It was caused at the same time by the arrogance and carelessness of the Duke of Tassilon, who, succumbing to the persuasion of his wife (the daughter of King Desiderius, who wanted to avenge her father's exile with the help of her husband), entered into an alliance with the Huns, the former neighbors of the Bavarians from the east, and tried not only not to fulfill the orders of the king , but also to provoke Charles to war. The king, whose pride was wounded, could not endure the obstinacy of Thassilon, therefore, having summoned soldiers from everywhere, Charles set off with a large army to the Lech River with the intention of attacking Bavaria. That river separated the Bavarians from the Alamans. Before invading the province, Charles, having set up camp on the banks of the river, decided through ambassadors to find out about the intentions of the duke. But he, considering that stubbornness would not benefit either him or his people, with a plea personally appeared before the king, providing the required hostages, including his son Theodon. Moreover, he swore an oath that he would not give in to any incitement to rebellion against the royal authority. So, that war, which seemed to be a long one, was put to the quickest end. However, later Thassilon was called to the king without permission to return back; the administration of the province which he owned was entrusted not to the next duke, but to several earls.

After those unrest were settled, another war was started with the Slavs, who are usually called Wilts. The reason for the war was that the obodrites, who had once been allies of the Franks, were disturbed by the Wilts with frequent raids and could not be restrained by orders.

In just one campaign, which he himself led, Charles so defeated and tamed the Velatabs that later they believed that they should no longer refuse to obey the orders of the king.

Charles waged this war more cruelly than others, and with the longest preparations. Charles himself, however, conducted only one campaign in Pannonia, and ordered the rest of the campaigns to be carried out by his son Pepin, provincial prefects, as well as counts and even ambassadors. Only in the eighth year that war was finally completed, despite the fact that it was fought very decisively. How many battles were fought, how much blood was shed - evidence because Pannonnia became completely uninhabited, and the place where the kagan's residence was is now so deserted that there is no trace that people lived here. All the noble Huns died in that war, all their glory was cut short. All the money and treasures accumulated over a long time were captured by the Franks. In human memory, not a single war that arose against the Franks remained, in which the Franks would have been so enriched and increased their wealth. Only two of the noble Franks died then: Heirik, Duke of Friuli, was killed from an ambush in Liburgia by the townspeople of the seaside city of Tarsatica, and Herold, prefect of Bavaria in Pannonia, while he was building an army before the battle with the Huns. Otherwise, that war was bloodless for the Franks and had the most favorable end, although it dragged on for quite some time. After this war, the Saxon campaign also came to an end, corresponding to its duration. The Bohemian and Linoan wars that arose after this were not long. Each of them ended quickly, being conducted under the direction of Charles the Younger.

The last war was started against the Normans, called Danes. At first they engaged in piracy, then with the help of a large fleet they ravaged the coasts of Gaul and Germany. The Norman king Godfried hoped to rule all of Germany. Frisia, like Saxony, he considered only his provinces. He had already subjugated his Obodrite neighbors, making them his tributaries. Killed by his own bodyguard, he put an end to both his life and the war he unleashed.

Such were the wars waged by the king in various parts of the earth for 47 years. In those wars, he so thoroughly expanded the already large and powerful kingdom of the Franks, received from Pepin's father, that he added to it almost double the amount of land. Indeed, before the authority of the king of the Franks was subject only to that part of Gaul that lies between the Rhine, Leger and the Atlantic Ocean to the Balearic Sea; the part of Germany inhabited by the Franks, called the Eastern, which lies between Saxony and the rivers Danube, Rhine, and Sala, which separates the Turines and the Sorabs; in addition, the power of the kingdom of the Franks extended to the Alamans and Bavarians. Charles, in the wars mentioned, first subjugated Aquitaine, Vasconia, and the entire range of the Pyrenees up to the Iber River, which begins at the Navars and cuts through the most fertile fields of Spain, pouring into the Balearic Sea under the walls of the city of Dertosa. Then he annexed all of Italy, stretching for a thousand or more miles from Augusta Pretoria to southern Calabria, where, as the borders of the Greeks and the Benevents meet. Then he annexed Saxony, which is no small part of Germany, and is thought to be twice as wide as the part inhabited by the Franks, though perhaps equal in length; after that, both Pannonia, Dacia, located on the other side of the Danube, as well as Istria, Liburnia and Dalmacia, with the exception of coastal cities, which, as a result of friendship and the alliance concluded, Charles allowed the Emperor of Constantinople to own. Finally, he so pacified all the barbarian and savage peoples that inhabit Germany between the rivers Rhine, Visula, as well as the ocean and Danube (the peoples are almost similar in language, but differ greatly in customs and appearance), which made them tributaries. Among the latter are the most remarkable peoples: Velatabs, Sorabs, Obodrites, Bohemians; with them Charles fought in the war, and the rest, whose number is much larger, he accepted into submission without a fight.

He increased the glory of his reign also thanks to the friendship he made with some kings and peoples. Alphonse, king of Galicia and Asturias, he tied with such a close alliance that when he sent letters or ambassadors to Charles, he ordered himself to be called nothing more than "belonging to the king." He acquired such a disposition among the kings of the Scots, captivated by his generosity, that they called him nothing more than master, and themselves his subjects and slaves.

The collapse of the Empire of Charlemagne

The empire, created as a result of the conquest of weak tribes and nationalities by the Thracians, was an unstable state formation and fell apart shortly after the death of its founder.

The reasons for its collapse were the lack of economic and ethnic unity and the growth of the power of large feudal lords. The forcible unification of ethnically alien peoples could only be maintained under a strong central government.

Already during the life of Charlemagne, symptoms of its decline were outlined: the centralized control system began to degenerate into a personal seigneurial system, the counts were out of obedience. Separatism intensified in the outskirts.

The royal power was deprived of the former political support from the feudal nobility and did not have sufficient funds to continue the policy of conquest and even to retain the occupied territories. The free population was subjected to serfdom or fell into land dependence on the feudal lords and did not fulfill the former state, natural and military duties. Thus the king lost his material resources and military force, while the feudal lords expanded their possessions and created their own troops from vassals. All this inevitably led to the collapse of the empire and feudal fragmentation.

In 817, at the request of the grandchildren of Charlemagne, the first section was made. But the ambitions remained unsatisfied, and a period of internecine wars began.

In 843, an agreement was concluded in Verdun on the division of the Empire of Charlemagne between his grandsons - Lothair (France and Northern Italy), Louis the German (East Frankish state) and Charles the Bald (West Frankish state).

By the beginning of the tenth century the imperial title lost its meaning and disappeared.



For the onset of a new cultural upsurge, it was necessary to reunite the meager remnants of ancient and Christian culture in a common center. This center was the Frankish state of the Carolingians, primarily the court of Charlemagne. The prerequisite for the cultural reunification of Europe was the political reunification of Europe by the Frankish kings. The grandfather of Charlemagne, Charles Martel, widely carried out the secularization of church possessions, repelled the invasion of the Arabs in the seven-day battle of 732 at Poitiers. The father of Charlemagne, Pepin the Short, supported the activities of Boniface, prepared for an offensive to the east and secured an alliance with the papacy. Finally, Charlemagne himself (768-814) launched an offensive along all borders, annexed Italy and Bavaria to the Frankish kingdom, conquered Saxony, defeated the Avars, pushed the Spanish border to the Ebro, almost doubling the territory of the Frankish state and uniting in it, according to in essence, the whole of Christian Europe, except only for England and Asturias. This reunification of Western Christianity was solemnly sanctioned by the papacy when, on Christmas Eve 800, on the eve of the new century, Pope Leo III placed the imperial crown in Rome on Charlemagne. Charlemagne inherited from Charles Martel an excellently functioning system of military organization, and from Pepin the Short - a system of spiritual organization of Frankish society. He could only improve this state machine.

For several decades, the Frankish Empire became the strongest state in Western Europe. The city of Aachen became the permanent residence of the emperor at the end of his life. The new frontiers of the empire were fortified by border areas - "marks".

Under Charlemagne, the Frankish early feudal state reached its peak. In the VIII-IX centuries. it more and more clearly acted as an instrument of political power of the rapidly developing class of feudal lords. In order to keep the peasantry, which was losing land and freedom, in obedience, the feudal lords needed a relatively strong central authority to conquer and develop new territories. This explains the temporary strengthening of royal power under the first Carolingians, which was especially noticeable during the reign of Charlemagne. The king issued decrees - capitularies - on various issues of state administration, which were in force throughout the vast empire.

"CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE" - a well-known cultural upsurge in the Frankish state in the 8th - 1st half of the 9th centuries, expressed in the organization of new schools, attracting a number of educated figures to the royal court. The term "Carolingian Renaissance" was introduced by Western historiography in the 19th century. Cultural transformations were closely connected with the great military-political, administrative and organizational tasks that faced the Carolingians, who sought to strengthen their power throughout the empire. The center of the "Carolingian Renaissance" was a kind of circle at the court of Charlemagne, led by Alcuin. Angilbert (d. 814) belonged to the highest Frankish nobility and is known for a number of panegyric poems in which he sings of the victory over the Avars and glorifies Charlemagne, his son Pepin (a friend of the poet himself), and others. More significant is the poetic work of Theodulf (d. 821) , a Spanish Goth by origin, who enjoyed the patronage of Charles and became the bishop of Orleans. Although Theodulf was "his" person at court, it is not clear whether he participated in the work of the palace school. A few years after the death of Charles, Theodulf was accused of involvement in the rebellion and ended his days in exile in Angers. A prolific poet, he enjoyed great fame during his lifetime, not much inferior to the glory of the ancient classics. Paul the Deacon (c.725-799) belonged to a noble Lombard family and was the court writer of King Desiderius and the teacher of his daughter. Wrote the "History of the Langobabds". A special place among the writers of the Carolingian Renaissance is occupied by Einhard (c.770-840). Having received his initial education at the Fulda Monastery and having shown excellent abilities, he was sent to Aachen to continue his studies at the court school. After some time, Eingard became the favorite of Charlemagne, who entrusted him with responsible assignments. The main work - "The Life of Charlemagne" - he wrote a few years after the death of his hero. During the period of the "Carolingian Renaissance" interest in secular knowledge, the "seven free arts" grew. Significant development during the period of the "Carolingian Renaissance" was achieved by historiography. From the 2nd third of the 9th c. the local chronicle develops, the Fulda Annals (680-901) are of particular importance, the correspondence of figures of this era is also of great value, the Renaissance was marked by the appearance of a series of biographies of kings. Literature developed, folk languages ​​were formed Great development of the art of miniatures, monumental painting.