Around 800, he has himself crowned roman emperor. But why? As the ruler of the west, he didn’t want to concede anything to the ruler in the east. Secondly, we tend to define progress as moving forward, something new. They think progress is going backwards. Memory of success, to be successful is to be like Romans. Takes mental construct of roman empire an puts himself as the new emperor. In some ways he was kidding himself. First of all, geographical differences. From Mediterranean to continental. Charlemagne had no standing army, had very small advisors. Lacks the economic base of Roman empire. Charlemagne lived in an under populated agrarian Europe. Little money in circulation. Charlemagne was discovered to be 6’4” tall. They try to tie people down with obligations. Vassi dominici – military men who had the obligation to fight where and when needed, because they were given landholdings. He has more vassals than anyone because he has a ton of land. Counts set out to rule districts in his name. They are pretty much on their own, so Charlemagne has to bank on their loyalty. There was a sort of transition period. He spends the offseason traveling the empire, visiting vassals and counts. Missi Dominici – visiting party. Missi – those who have been sent forth. Missi are pretty much wined and dined. System was cheap. Seemed to work because Charlemagne was successful in forming bonds of obligation between himself and the Frankish soldiers serving for him. This loyalty does not easily pass on through generations. Charlemagne realized his regime was fragile. He knew he needed to establish some kind of institutional base for power. The first thing he knew he needed was a literate bureaucracy. He needs this to communicate in a short period of time. You need a common language. This was something of a concern because the world of Charlemagne was multicultural including dozens of different languages. Deliberately revives Latin. Instruct some individuals in the reading and writing of Latin. Small network of schools started. Seats of the bishop. Charlemagne calls upon bishops to organize small schools to create a literate group of people in service not only of church, but also state. Central school at Aachen which is to train officials for the central administration. In order for school to be good enough, he brings in an outside expert. Sets Alcuin of York to overlook the building of the schools. In order to instruct in Latin, people are going to have to read. One book at a time. Carolingians revolutionize how books are written. If you write quickly, it may be illegible. Carolingians introduce a new medium for writing. The ancients wrote on papyrus. Carolingians couldn’t get the Egyptian papyrus because of Muslims and money. They use prepared and scraped animal skins – parchment. Carolingians introduced spacing and lowercase letters. Carolingian renaissance. Einhard writes the life of Charlemagne. Great lesson is that there is no going back. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t organize Europe like Rome. 843 – Terminal date of the empire. Two grandsons want to divide it. France and Germany result from the Treaty of Verdun of 843. Like the Roman Empire it fell apart because of internal and external problems. Charlemagne’s descendants are unable to maintain obligations. Externally, the frontiers of empire come under military pressure from the north (Norse) and south (Muslims) and from the east (avars and mayar Hungarians). Louis the pious s Charles sole surviving son. Charlemagne had a group of sons, but because he lived to a relatively old age, only his youngest son survives him. Louis inherits entire empire. Also known as Louis I. His problems come from three directions. The Vikings become a serious concern. Secondly, he was fertile, but he had 3 sons. Louis was more educated the Charlemagne, he intends to give everything to Lothair. Charles the bald and Louis the german revolt against that. He was pious, not scary, so personal relationships between vassals and counts and missi, because he was weak.