UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA School of History Main Series UG Examination 2014-15 THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE HIST3N2Y Time allowed: 3 hours Answer THREE questions. Answer Question 1 for SECTION A and TWO questions from SECTION B. Do not use the same material in the same way in more than one answer in this paper. Notes are not permitted in this examination. Do not turn over until you are told to do so by the Invigilator. HIST3N2Y Module Contact: Dr Hugh Doherty, HIS Copyright of the University of East Anglia Version 1
Page 2 SECTION A 1. Comment on TWO of the following extracts: (a) Revised Frankish Annals, sub anno 778 He razed its walls to the ground to prevent the possibility of its rebellion and, deciding to withdraw, moved into the pass across the Pyrenees. At the highest point of this the Basques lay in ambush; they attacked the rear-guard and threw the whole army into great commotion and disorder. And although the Franks were manifestly superior to the Basques in both weapons and courage, yet they were rendered their inferiors by the steepness of the terrain and the character of the battle, which was not fought fairly. A great number of palace dignitaries whom the king had appointed to command the troops were killed in this action. The baggage was plundered and the enemy promptly melted away in all directions, thanks to his knowledge of the country. The sorrow of this wound which he received over clouded in the king s heart much of what had been successfully accomplished in Spain. (b) Royal Frankish Annals, sub anno 801 On that very same most sacred day of the Lord s birth, when the king, at mass, rose from prayer before the confessio of the blessed apostle Peter, Pope Leo placed a crown upon his head, and from the entire people of the Romans came the acclamation: To Charles, Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor of the Romans, life and victory! And after the acclamations [laudes] he was adored by the apostolicus in the way the emperors [principes] of old were and, the name of patrician having been laid aside was called emperor and Augustus. (c) Life of Hadrian I (Liber Pontificalis), c. 39. Once the prayer was finished, the king of the Franks earnestly requested the bountiful pontiff s permission to enter Rome to fulfil his prayers and vows at God s various churches. The holy pope and His Excellency the king of the Franks, with the judges of the Romans and Franks, went down together to St Peter s body and ratified their oaths to each other; straightaway the king of the Franks and his judges and people entered Rome with the pontiff. That same Holy Saturday they entered the Saviour s basilica close to the Lateran together, where His Excellency the king with all his [followers stayed] while the thrice-blessed pontiff celebrated the sacrament of holy baptism. Afterwards the kindly king returned to St Peter s.
Page 3 (d) Theophanes, Chronicle [Chronographia], Anno Mundi 6294, AD 801/2. In this year the patrician Aëtios, being rid of Staurakios and feeling secure, strove to confer the Empire on his brother whom he appointed monostrategos of Thrace and Macedonia, while he himself was in control of the Asiatic themata, namely the Anatolics and Opsikion. Being filled with pride, he humiliated dignitaries in positions of authority and took no account of them. They, for their part, being much aggrieved at him, planned a revolt against the empress and put it into effect. There also arrived the emissaries sent by Karoulos and Pope Leo to the most pious Irene asking her to marry Karoulous and so unite the eastern and western parts. She would have consented had she not been checked by the oft-mentioned Aëtios who ruled by her side and was usurping power on behalf of his brother. (e) Abū Ja far Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-tabarī, The History of Prophets and Kings (Ta rīkh al-rusul wa l-mulūk), pp. 214 15 So al-rashīd gave her to him in marriage on these conditions. He used to invite them both to his circle when he held a drinking session, then he would get up from the circle and leave the two of them together. They would then become intoxicated with the wine, and both of them being in the vigour of youth, Ja far would make for her and copulate with her. Subsequently, she became pregnant by him and gave birth to a boy. She was afraid of her own safety from al-rashīd, if he should get to know about that, so she sent the newly born child, accompanied by nurses for him from among her own slaves, to Mecca. The matter remained concealed from Hārūn until some bad blood arose between Abbāsah and a certain slave girl of hers, and this latter thereupon communicated the story of her affair and the matter of the child to al-rashīd, informing him at the same time of the child s whereabouts, of the slave girls of Abbasāh who were looking after him, and of the ornaments with which his mother had adorned him. So when Hārūn performed this particular pilgrimage, he sent to the place where the slave girl had told him the child was with someone who would bring back to him the child and nurses looking after him. TURN OVER
Page 4 (f) Articles sent by missi to counts (Liège, March 806), cc. 2 4. [2] Next, that in all respects you judge the cases of churches, widows, orphans, and all others without any evil trickery, without any unlawful payment and without any adjournment or unnecessary delay, fully, irreproachably, and in accordance with the law and justice, whether the case concerns you yourself or your subordinates or any person whatsoever, that in consequence you may receive both reward from God and noble recompense from our lord. [3] Next, that you list the names, however great the number, of those who are rebellious or disobedient towards you and refuse to heed you in accordance with the law or justice, and either send the names to us beforehand, if that is necessary, or inform us of them personally when we meet, that we may take such action in their regard as our lord has enjoined upon us. [4] Next, that you most assuredly see to it that if you have doubts about anything in the body of commands, both as regards God and as regards secular matters, with which our lord has charged you in writing or orally, you swiftly send a man of sound understanding to us as your missus, to the end that you may understand everything aright and, with the Lord s help, accomplish it well. (g) Einhard, The Life of Charlemagne (Vita Karoli), c. 14 The last war was undertaken against the Northmen who are called Danes, firstly they engaged in piracy and then they raided the shores of Gaul and Germany with a larger fleet. Their king Godefrid was so filled with vain hope that he promised himself power over all Germany. Indeed he thought of Frisia and Saxony as his own provinces. He had already brought his neighbours, the Abrodites, into his power and made them pay him tribute. He even boasted that he would soon come with a vast army to Aachen, where the king s court was. Although the boasts were most delusive they could not be completely refused credence, for it was thought that he was about to begin something like this, but he was stopped by sudden death. For he was slain by own bodyguard, which ended both his life and the war he had begun.
Page 5 (h) Notker, The Deeds of Charlemagne (Gesta Karoli), c. 15 When he found that the nobles of his army were accustomed in secret to speak contemptuously of him, he ordered one day a bull, terrible in size, to be brought out, and then a most savage lion to be let loose upon him. The lion rushed with tremendous fury on the bull, seized him by the neck and cast him to the ground. Then the king said to those who stood round him: Now, drag the lion off the bull, or kill the one on top of the other. They looked at one another, with a chill in their hearts, and could hardly utter these words amid their gasps: Lord, there is no man under heaven, who dare attempt it. Then Pippin rose confidently from his throne, drew his sword, and at one blow cut through the neck of the lion and severed the head of the bull from his shoulders. Then he put his sword back into its sheath and sat down on his throne and said: Well, do you think I am fit to be your lord? Have you not heard what little David did to the giant Goliath, or what tiny Alexander did to his nobles? They fell to the ground, as though a thunderbolt had struck them, and cried: Who but a madman would deny your right to rule over all mankind? SECTION B Answer TWO of the following questions: 2. Does Einhard s Life of Charlemagne tell us more about Einhard than it does about Charlemagne? 3. Why was Carloman such a threat to Charlemagne? 4. Was the career of Widukind a reflection of the failure of Charlemagne s treatment of the Saxons? 5. Was Charlemagne an obedient ally of the popes? 6. How exceptional was Fastrada as a wife and queen? 7. Was the legislation known as the general admonition (Admonitio generalis) a failure? TURN OVER
Page 6 8. Did Charlemagne listen to his court intellectuals? 9. Account for the success of Frankish armies under Charlemagne. 10. What functions were served by Charlemagne s palaces? 11. Why did the Empress Irene fall from power? 12. Why was Harun al-rashid s treatment of the Franks so different from his relations with the Byzantines? END OF PAPER