From Bulfinch's Mythology: Charlemagne - anthology.
Publié le 12/05/2013
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The titles of some of Archbishop Turpin's chapters will show the nature of his history.
They are these: 'Of the Walls of Pampeluna, that fell of themselves.' 'Of theWar of the holy Facundus, where the Spears grew.' (Certain of the Christians fixed their spears, in the evening, erect in the ground, before the castle; and found them,in the morning, covered with bark and branches.) 'How the Sun stood still for Three Days, and the Slaughter of Four Thousand Saracens.'
Turpin's history has perhaps been the source of the marvellous adventures which succeeding poets and romancers have accumulated around the names ofCharlemagne and his Paladins, or Peers.
But [16th-century poet Ludovico] Ariosto and the other Italian poets have drawn from different sources, and doubtless oftenfrom their own invention, numberless other stories which they attribute to the same heroes, not hesitating to quote as their authority 'the good Turpin,' though hishistory contains no trace of them;—and the more outrageous the improbability, or rather the impossibility, of their narrations, the more attentive are they to cite 'theArchbishop,' generally adding their testimonial to his unquestionable veracity.
The principal Italian poets who have sung the adventures of the peers of Charlemagne are [15th-century poet Luigi] Pulci, [15th-century poet Matteo Maria]Boiardo, and Ariosto.
The characters of Orlando, Rinaldo, Astolpho, Gano, and others, are the same in all, though the adventures attributed to them are different.Boiardo tells us of the loves of Orlando, Ariosto of his disappointment and consequent madness, Pulci of his death.
Ogier, the Dane, is a real personage.
History agrees with romance in representing him as a powerful lord who, originally from Denmark and a Pagan, embracedChristianity, and took service under Charlemagne.
He revolted from the Emperor, and was driven into exile.
He afterwards led one of those bands of piraticalNorsemen which ravaged France under the reigns of Charlemagne's degenerate successors.
The description which an ancient chronicler gives of Charlemagne, asdescribed by Ogier, is so picturesque, that we are tempted to transcribe it.
Charlemagne was advancing to the siege of Pavia.
Didier, King of the Lombards, was in thecity with Ogier, to whom he had given refuge.
When they learned that the king was approaching, they mounted a high tower, whence they could see far and wideover the country.
'They first saw advancing the engines of war, fit for the armies of [6th-century- BC king of Persia] Darius or [1st-century- BC Roman general and statesman] Julius Cæsar.
'There is Charlemagne,' said Didier.
'No,' said Ogier.
The Lombard next saw a vast body of soldiers, who filled all the plain.
'CertainlyCharles advances with that host,' said the king.
'Not yet,' replied Ogier.
'What hope for us,' resumed the king, 'if he brings with him a greater host than that?' At lastCharles appeared, his head covered with an iron helmet, his hands with iron gloves, his breast and shoulders with a cuirass of iron, his left hand holding an iron lance,while his right hand grasped his sword.
Those who went before the monarch, those who marched at his side, and those who followed him, all had similar arms.
Ironcovered the fields and the roads; iron points reflected the rays of the sun.
This iron, so hard, was borne by a people whose hearts were harder still.
The blaze of theweapons flashed terror into the streets of the city.'
This picture of Charlemagne in his military aspect would be incomplete without a corresponding one of his 'mood of peace.' One of the greatest of modern historians,[19th-century French historian François Pierre Guillaume] M.
Guizot, has compared the glory of Charlemagne to a brilliant meteor, rising suddenly out of thedarkness of barbarism to disappear no less suddenly in the darkness of feudalism.
But the light of this meteor was not extinguished, and reviving civilization owedmuch that was permanently beneficial to the great Emperor of the Franks.
His ruling hand is seen in the legislation of his time, as well as in the administration of thelaws.
He encouraged learning; he upheld the clergy, who were the only peaceful and intellectual class, against the encroaching and turbulent barons; he was anaffectionate father, and watched carefully over the education of his children, both sons and daughters.
Of his encouragement of learning, we will give someparticulars.
He caused learned men to be brought from Italy and from other foreign countries, to revive the public schools of France, which had been prostrated by the disordersof preceding times.
He recompensed these learned men liberally, and kept some of them near himself, honoring them with his friendship.
Of these the most celebratedis [scholar and ecclesiastic] Alcuin, an Englishman, whose writings still remain, and prove him to have been both a learned and a wise man.
With the assistance ofAlcuin, and others like him, he founded an academy or royal school, which should have the direction of the studies of all the schools of the kingdom.
Charlemagnehimself was a member of this academy on equal terms with the rest.
He attended its meetings, and fulfilled all the duties of an academician.
Each member took thename of some famous man of antiquity.
Alcuin called himself Horace [after 1st-century- BC Roman poet and satirist], another took the name of [4th- and 5th-century- AD Roman philosopher and Christian Church father] Augustin, a third of [5th-century -BC Greek poet] Pindar.
Charlemagne, who knew the Psalms by heart, and who had an ambition to be, according to his conception, a king after God's own heart, received from his brother academicians the name of David.
Of the respect entertained for him by foreign nations an interesting proof is afforded in the embassy sent to him by the Caliph of the Arabians, the celebrated Harounal Raschid, a prince in character and conduct not unlike to Charlemagne.
The ambassadors brought with them, besides other rich presents, a clock, the first that wasseen in Europe, which excited universal admiration.
It had the form of a twelve-sided edifice with twelve doors.
These doors formed niches, in each of which was alittle statue representing one of the hours.
At the striking of the hour the doors, one for each stroke, were seen to open, and from the doors to issue as many of the littlestatues, which, following one another, marched gravely round the tower.
The motion of the clock was caused by water, and the striking was effected by balls of brassequal to the number of the hours, which fell upon a cymbal of the same metal, the number falling being determined by the discharge of the water, which, as it sunk inthe vessel, allowed their escape..
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