Matthew Gabriele

And that's still kind of true, though the term itself has fallen out of fashion.

One of the things that Charlemagne did was not to kind of do something new, but to consolidate a lot of the learning that had been happening elsewhere.

And what I mean by that is that one of the most famous figures of this period, this so-called Carolingian Renaissance, was a guy by the name of Alcuin.

Alcuin from Northumbria, grew up kind of around York, also known as Alcuin of York.

It wasn't that he suddenly became kind of brilliant once he showed up at Charlemagne's court.

He had been a very learned scholar, and he was attracted to this kind of center that Charlemagne was establishing around his court.

Educational standards absolutely without question seem to rise there.

Aristocratic men from all over want to be sent or have their sons sent to the palace school to be educated there, but also, of course, to be in proximity to the king, to maybe gain a favor from him, to go on campaign with him, to catch his eye so that they can be rewarded with some of the plunder or land or a title, to be named a Missi Dominici, to be sent out to the hinterlands on the king's behalf as well.

It wasn't just kind of a side interest in education.

And by education, we should say not just secular education, but religious education as well.

Charlemagne cared about Christianity.

He really did.

Like, he wanted people to worship in the proper way.

He wanted people to be converted.

And it wasn't just an element of political control, but the role of king, as he seemed to understand it, was to be a shepherd of souls.

especially his eldest daughter by the name of Bertha, she seems to have been the power at court.

She was the one who distributed patronage, who allowed access to the king in his old age and stuff like that, and basically ran things in his absence.

I don't know if the daughters themselves, in every case, wanted to marry.

They were very happy establishing themselves at court.

They had power.