WINGED
WORDS WINDSDAY
Compiled
& Edited by Rob Chappell (@RHCLambengolmo)
Vol.
2, No. 37: July 12, 2023
Commemorating
Bastille Day on Friday, July 14
An
Introductory Note from the Editor
This week, in honor of Bastille Day, we take a look
at a popular section of the “Matter of France” – medieval tales and legends
that grew up around Charlemagne (742-814 CE) and his paladins (knights). As in
the traditional stories of King Arthur and the Round Table, the stories of
Charlemagne summarized below are a mix of history and legend – but together,
this collection of tales inspired the heroism and patriotism of the French
nation, from the 9th century to today (and beyond!).
Excerpts
from Chapter 1 of Legends of Charlemagne (1863)
By
Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867)
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, succeeded his
father, Pepin, on the throne in the year 768. This prince, though the hero of
numerous romantic legends, appears greater in history than in fiction. Whether
we regard him as a warrior or as a legislator, as a patron of learning or as
the civilizer of a barbarous nation, he is entitled to our warmest admiration.
Such he is in history; but the romancers represent him as often weak and
passionate, the victim of treacherous counsellors, and at the mercy of turbulent
barons, on whose prowess he depends for the maintenance of his throne. The
historical representation is doubtless the true one, for it is handed down in
trustworthy records, and is confirmed by the events of the age. At the height
of his power, the French empire extended over what we now call France, Germany,
Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, and great part of Italy.
In the year 800 Charlemagne, being in Rome, whither
he had gone with a numerous army to protect the Pope, was crowned by the
Pontiff Emperor of the West. On Christmas day Charles entered the Church of St.
Peter, as if merely to take his part in the celebration of the mass with the
rest of the congregation. When he approached the altar and stooped in the act
of prayer the Pope stepped forward and placed a crown of gold upon his head;
and immediately the Roman people shouted, "Life and victory to Charles the
August, crowned by God the great and pacific Emperor of the Romans." The
Pope then prostrated himself before him, and paid him reverence, according to
the custom established in the times of the ancient Emperors, and concluded the
ceremony by anointing him with consecrated oil.
The principal Italian poets who have sung the
adventures of the peers of Charlemagne are Pulci, 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.
Holger, the Dane, is a real personage. History agrees
with romance in representing him as a powerful lord who, originally from
Denmark and a Pagan, embraced Christianity, and took service under Charlemagne.
He revolted from the Emperor, and was driven into exile. He afterwards led one
of those bands of piratical Northmen which ravaged France under the reigns of
Charlemagne's degenerate successors. The description which an ancient
chronicler gives of Charlemagne, as described by Holger, 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 the city with Holger, 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 wide over the country. "They
first saw advancing the engines of war, fit for the armies of Darius or Julius
Caesar. 'There is Charlemagne,' said Didier. 'No,' said Holger. The Lombard
next saw a vast body of soldiers, who filled all the plain. 'Certainly Charles
advanced with that host,' said the king. 'Not yet,' replied Holger. 'What hope
for us,' resumed the king, 'if he brings with him a greater host than that?' At
last Charles 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. Iron covered 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 the weapons 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, M. Guizot, has compared
the glory of Charlemagne to a brilliant meteor, rising suddenly out of the
darkness of barbarism to disappear no less suddenly in the darkness of
feudalism. But the light of this meteor was not extinguished, and reviving
civilization owed much 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 the laws. He encouraged learning; he upheld the
clergy, who were the only peaceful and intellectual class, against the
encroaching and turbulent barons; he was an affectionate father and watched
carefully over the education of his children, both sons and daughters. Of his
encouragement of learning we will give some particulars.
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 disorders of preceding times. He recompensed these
learned men liberally and kept some of them near himself, honoring them with
his friendship. Of these the most celebrated is Alcuin, an Englishman, whose
writings still remain and prove him to have been both a learned and a wise man.
With the assistance of Alcuin, 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. Charlemagne himself 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 the name of some famous man of antiquity. Alcuin
called himself Horace, another took the name of Augustine, a third of 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.
Imperial
Coronation of Charlemagne,
by Friedrich Kaulbach, 1861. (Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia
Commons)
“The
Poet's Tale: Charlemagne”
Excerpted
from Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863)
By
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Holger
the Dane and Desiderio,
King
of the Lombards, on a lofty tower
Stood
gazing northward o'er the rolling plains,
League
after league of harvests, to the foot
Of the
snow-crested Alps, and saw approach
A
mighty army, thronging all the roads
That
led into the city. And the King
Said
unto Holger, who had passed his youth
As
hostage at the court of France, and knew
The
Emperor's form and face "Is Charlemagne
Among
that host?" And Holger answered:
"No."
And
still the innumerable multitude
Flowed
onward and increased, until the King
Cried
in amazement: "Surely Charlemagne
Is
coming in the midst of all these knights!"
And Holger
answered slowly: "No; not yet;
He
will not come so soon." Then much
disturbed
King
Desiderio asked: "What shall we do,
if he
approach with a still greater army!"
And Older
answered: "When he shall appear,
You
will behold what manner of man he is;
But
what will then befall us I know not."
Then
came the guard that never knew repose,
The
Paladins of France; and at the sight
The
Lombard King overcome with terror cried:
"This
must be Charlemagne!" and as before
Did Holger
answer: "No; not yet, not yet."
And
then appeared in panoply complete
The
Bishops and the Abbots and the Priests
Of the
imperial chapel, and the Counts
And Desiderio
could no more endure
The
light of day, nor yet encounter death,
But
sobbed aloud and said: "Let us go down
And
hide us in the bosom of the earth,
Far
from the sight and anger of a foe
So
terrible as this!" And Holger said:
"When
you behold the harvests in the fields
Shaking
with fear, the Po and the Ticino
Lashing
the city walls with iron waves,
Then
may you know that Charlemagne is come.
And
even as he spake, in the northwest,
Lo!
there uprose a black and threatening cloud,
Out of
whose bosom flashed the light of arms
Upon
the people pent up in the city;
A
light more terrible than any darkness;
And
Charlemagne appeared;--a Man of Iron!
His
helmet was of iron, and his gloves
Of
iron, and his breastplate and his greaves
And
tassets were of iron, and his shield.
In his
left hand he held an iron spear,
In his
right hand his sword invincible.
The
horse he rode on had the strength of iron,
And
color of iron. All who went before him
Beside
him and behind him, his whole host,
Were
armed with iron, and their hearts within them
Were
stronger than the armor that they wore.
The
fields and all the roads were filled with iron,
And
points of iron glistened in the sun
And
shed a terror through the city streets.
This
at a single glance Holger the Dane
Saw from
the tower, and turning to the King
Exclaimed
in haste: "Behold! this is the man
You
looked for with such eagerness!" and then
Fell
as one dead at Desiderio's feet.
How
the Fairies Came to See Holger the Dane
by H.J. Ford (1921)
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