For decades, many historians have portrayed Charlemagne’s final years as a period of fading energy and stalled expansion. David Bachrach revisits the evidence and argues that the emperor remained deeply engaged in military, political, and religious affairs right up to his death.
By David Bachrach
Working backwards from the military setbacks suffered by Emperor Louis the Pious (814-840) as well as the latter’s sons and grandsons, particularly at the hands of Viking, Muslim, and Magyar raiders, there has been a strong tendency in scholarship in the period after the Second World War to attribute their failures to the supposedly unsustainable empire bequeathed to them by Charlemagne. Concomitantly, the “imperial years” of Charlemagne’s reign, between his coronation by Pope Leo III (795-816) in 800 and his death in 814, often are depicted as a period of decreased vigor, particularly in military terms.
Writing in 1973, Donald Bullough argued that the time for organized wars of conquest had gone by after c. 800. Guy Halsall argued in 2003 that the period after c. 802 saw Charlemagne’s conquests slowed down. John France argued in 2011 that Carolingian expansion came to an end in 800. Three leading specialists in Carolingian history, Marios Costambeys, Matthew Innes, and Simon MacLean, argued in The Carolingian World, also published in 2011, wars of conquest were already winding down in the 790s and came to an end in the first years of the ninth century.
This assessment of the end of Carolingian military expansion often is tied to the supposed declining health of Charlemagne, himself. J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, for example, argued as early as 1952 that “the old man had lost his vigor and was content to stay at home.” Paul Dutton argued in 2004 that Charlemagne’s health was so bad that he was unable to maintain his early peripatetic approach to ruling the vast Frankish realm and largely remained at Aachen. Johannes Fried asserted in 2008 that by the imperial period of his rule, Charlemagne was approaching his “dotage” and could not effectively pursue his earlier plans. Some scholars, such as F. L. Ganshof and Heinrich Fichtenau, used the aging emperor as a metaphor for the decline or breakdown of Charlemagne’s empire.
A More Active Emperor Than Historians Assume
Map of the Carolingian Empire under Charlemagne, c. 814 – map by Simeon Netchev / World History Encyclopedia
However, this image of decline, whether applied to Charlemagne the man or to the empire that he established, is thoroughly at odds with the vast corpus of information available to historians from narrative accounts, letters, and capitularies produced during the first decade and a half of the ninth century. Carolingian military operations in northern Iberia continued throughout the “imperial period” and were carried further during the reign of Louis the Pious. Following the conquest of the Avar Khanate in 803, Charlemagne dispatched additional armies into the region in 805, 806, and 811. These campaigns set the predicate for the subsequent Carolingian efforts to exercise their hegemony over Bohemians and Moravians under both Louis the Pious and Louis the German. The Carolingian bridgehead established at Magdeburg in 805 and the subsequent establishment of the Limes Saxonicum in 810 and the Sorbian March late in Charlemagne’s reign similarly set the stage for numerous military operations against the Slavic peoples, which were intended to extend Carolingian hegemony to the lands east of the Saale River and in the region of the lower Elbe River.
In a study published just after his 80th birthday, Bernard Bachrach offered a systematic refutation of what he deemed the post-war revisionist model of a decaying empire and an emperor in his dotage. Bachrach focused on the year spanning 812-813, when the Frankish ruler celebrated his own 70th birthday, and highlighted the numerous policy initiatives that Charlemagne took over this brief period.
Charlemagne spent the winter months of 812-813 in much the same manner as he had during most of his reign, that is meeting with his advisors to discuss ongoing policies and make plans for the coming year. Two of the major initiatives that had dominated Charlemagne’s long-term thinking for more than three decades were pursuing his offensive military operations in the western Mediterranean and codifying many of the religious reforms that he had put into place.
The results of the planning sessions held at Aachen that winter are made clear in a flurry of activities that began in the spring of 813 and continued into the summer and autumn. Charlemagne appointed Bishop Amalhar of Trier and Abbot Peter of Nonantola to lead an embassy to Constantinople to work out the final details for the East Roman recognition of his imperial title. The emperor commanded that naval operations against the Muslims in the western Mediterranean were to continue, in part, to protect merchant shipping operating out of the Iberian ports that had been captured by the Carolingians over the previous 15 years.
The planning meetings also set the groundwork for the summoning of five regional synods that were held in the regnum Francorum during the spring and summer of 813. The royal writing office produced lengthy agendas for the many hundreds of prelates and members of their staffs who attended these ecclesiastical assemblies.
The imperial planning staff also put in train the preparations for the holding of a massive assembly of both secular and ecclesiastical magnates to be held at Aachen in September, where the elevation of Louis the Pious as co-emperor was to be celebrated. The attendees at this assembly likely numbered in the many thousands and included almost all of the important office holders and magnates from throughout the empire.
Old Age Did Not Slow Him Down
Hunting in the Stuttgart Psalter – Württembergische Landesbibliothek Cod.bibl 23 fol. 21r
Charlemagne also took an active part in the social-political element of his rule through the organization of two lengthy hunts, the first of which was to last from mid-spring to late summer. During this period, Charlemagne directly engaged with numerous office holders and other important men, who were invited to participate in the royal hunt for a number of days or weeks.
The activities took place in the royal hunting grounds in the Ardenne. The 150-kilometer route between the royal palace and the much more rustic conditions of the royal hunting lodges ran through a great deal of wild and difficult terrain, which Charlemagne traversed on horseback. Hunting in the Ardenne also required considerable stamina as well as skills as a horseman. Despite being afflicted by gout, a disease caused by diet rather than old age, Charlemagne remained in the Ardenne until late August when a particularly bad attack of gout forced him to return home.
At the assembly in September, Charlemagne was once again able to take full part, not only in the festivities surrounding the coronation of Louis as emperor, but also in assembling the teams of officials who were responsible for coordinating the results of the five ecclesiastical synods held that year and formulating the government’s final policy decisions regarding recommendations for religious reforms.
At the same time that he was deeply involved in religious policy, Charlemagne received reports about significant political developments in the Danish kingdom that had the potential to threaten Carolingian interests in the lower Elbe region. The emperor worked with his advisors to establish a plan and then dispatched several Frankish and Saxon officials to deal with the new Danish situation.
Even after suffering the bad attack of gout in the context of a vigorous hunting expedition, and dealing with the exceptionally complex diplomatic, religious, and military affairs of the previous six months, Charlemagne again went hunting following the end of the September assembly. He spent between 5-6 weeks at the royal hunting preserve located near Cologne. Einhard, Charlemagne’s close confidant and biographer, observed that despite being old and rather tired, the emperor chose the excitement of the hunt rather than the comforts of the palace at Aachen.
After returning to Aachen, where he celebrated Christmas, Charlemagne once again spent the early winter of 813-814 planning for the coming year. It was in this context that he was taken ill by a fever from which he ultimately died on 28 January.
There is no basis in the sources that Charlemagne was anticipating his own death when he raised up Louis the Pious as his co-emperor. In fact, Louis was sent back to Aquitaine immediately after his coronation, and did not take up planning duties at Aachen. Rather, Charlemagne continued in the same fashion as he had the year before, and for many previous decades, before succumbing to an illness.
In short, historians must look directly to Louis the Pious and his successors to explain the failures of their reigns. Up through the very last year of his rule, Charlemagne maintained the same vigorous approach to governance and to his life that had characterized his entire adulthood.
David Bachrach is a Professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he researches medieval military history, particularly in England and Germany.
For decades, many historians have portrayed Charlemagne’s final years as a period of fading energy and stalled expansion. David Bachrach revisits the evidence and argues that the emperor remained deeply engaged in military, political, and religious affairs right up to his death.
By David Bachrach
Working backwards from the military setbacks suffered by Emperor Louis the Pious (814-840) as well as the latter’s sons and grandsons, particularly at the hands of Viking, Muslim, and Magyar raiders, there has been a strong tendency in scholarship in the period after the Second World War to attribute their failures to the supposedly unsustainable empire bequeathed to them by Charlemagne. Concomitantly, the “imperial years” of Charlemagne’s reign, between his coronation by Pope Leo III (795-816) in 800 and his death in 814, often are depicted as a period of decreased vigor, particularly in military terms.
Writing in 1973, Donald Bullough argued that the time for organized wars of conquest had gone by after c. 800. Guy Halsall argued in 2003 that the period after c. 802 saw Charlemagne’s conquests slowed down. John France argued in 2011 that Carolingian expansion came to an end in 800. Three leading specialists in Carolingian history, Marios Costambeys, Matthew Innes, and Simon MacLean, argued in The Carolingian World, also published in 2011, wars of conquest were already winding down in the 790s and came to an end in the first years of the ninth century.
This assessment of the end of Carolingian military expansion often is tied to the supposed declining health of Charlemagne, himself. J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, for example, argued as early as 1952 that “the old man had lost his vigor and was content to stay at home.” Paul Dutton argued in 2004 that Charlemagne’s health was so bad that he was unable to maintain his early peripatetic approach to ruling the vast Frankish realm and largely remained at Aachen. Johannes Fried asserted in 2008 that by the imperial period of his rule, Charlemagne was approaching his “dotage” and could not effectively pursue his earlier plans. Some scholars, such as F. L. Ganshof and Heinrich Fichtenau, used the aging emperor as a metaphor for the decline or breakdown of Charlemagne’s empire.
A More Active Emperor Than Historians Assume
However, this image of decline, whether applied to Charlemagne the man or to the empire that he established, is thoroughly at odds with the vast corpus of information available to historians from narrative accounts, letters, and capitularies produced during the first decade and a half of the ninth century. Carolingian military operations in northern Iberia continued throughout the “imperial period” and were carried further during the reign of Louis the Pious. Following the conquest of the Avar Khanate in 803, Charlemagne dispatched additional armies into the region in 805, 806, and 811. These campaigns set the predicate for the subsequent Carolingian efforts to exercise their hegemony over Bohemians and Moravians under both Louis the Pious and Louis the German. The Carolingian bridgehead established at Magdeburg in 805 and the subsequent establishment of the Limes Saxonicum in 810 and the Sorbian March late in Charlemagne’s reign similarly set the stage for numerous military operations against the Slavic peoples, which were intended to extend Carolingian hegemony to the lands east of the Saale River and in the region of the lower Elbe River.
In a study published just after his 80th birthday, Bernard Bachrach offered a systematic refutation of what he deemed the post-war revisionist model of a decaying empire and an emperor in his dotage. Bachrach focused on the year spanning 812-813, when the Frankish ruler celebrated his own 70th birthday, and highlighted the numerous policy initiatives that Charlemagne took over this brief period.
Charlemagne spent the winter months of 812-813 in much the same manner as he had during most of his reign, that is meeting with his advisors to discuss ongoing policies and make plans for the coming year. Two of the major initiatives that had dominated Charlemagne’s long-term thinking for more than three decades were pursuing his offensive military operations in the western Mediterranean and codifying many of the religious reforms that he had put into place.
The results of the planning sessions held at Aachen that winter are made clear in a flurry of activities that began in the spring of 813 and continued into the summer and autumn. Charlemagne appointed Bishop Amalhar of Trier and Abbot Peter of Nonantola to lead an embassy to Constantinople to work out the final details for the East Roman recognition of his imperial title. The emperor commanded that naval operations against the Muslims in the western Mediterranean were to continue, in part, to protect merchant shipping operating out of the Iberian ports that had been captured by the Carolingians over the previous 15 years.
The planning meetings also set the groundwork for the summoning of five regional synods that were held in the regnum Francorum during the spring and summer of 813. The royal writing office produced lengthy agendas for the many hundreds of prelates and members of their staffs who attended these ecclesiastical assemblies.
The imperial planning staff also put in train the preparations for the holding of a massive assembly of both secular and ecclesiastical magnates to be held at Aachen in September, where the elevation of Louis the Pious as co-emperor was to be celebrated. The attendees at this assembly likely numbered in the many thousands and included almost all of the important office holders and magnates from throughout the empire.
Old Age Did Not Slow Him Down
Charlemagne also took an active part in the social-political element of his rule through the organization of two lengthy hunts, the first of which was to last from mid-spring to late summer. During this period, Charlemagne directly engaged with numerous office holders and other important men, who were invited to participate in the royal hunt for a number of days or weeks.
The activities took place in the royal hunting grounds in the Ardenne. The 150-kilometer route between the royal palace and the much more rustic conditions of the royal hunting lodges ran through a great deal of wild and difficult terrain, which Charlemagne traversed on horseback. Hunting in the Ardenne also required considerable stamina as well as skills as a horseman. Despite being afflicted by gout, a disease caused by diet rather than old age, Charlemagne remained in the Ardenne until late August when a particularly bad attack of gout forced him to return home.
At the assembly in September, Charlemagne was once again able to take full part, not only in the festivities surrounding the coronation of Louis as emperor, but also in assembling the teams of officials who were responsible for coordinating the results of the five ecclesiastical synods held that year and formulating the government’s final policy decisions regarding recommendations for religious reforms.
At the same time that he was deeply involved in religious policy, Charlemagne received reports about significant political developments in the Danish kingdom that had the potential to threaten Carolingian interests in the lower Elbe region. The emperor worked with his advisors to establish a plan and then dispatched several Frankish and Saxon officials to deal with the new Danish situation.
Even after suffering the bad attack of gout in the context of a vigorous hunting expedition, and dealing with the exceptionally complex diplomatic, religious, and military affairs of the previous six months, Charlemagne again went hunting following the end of the September assembly. He spent between 5-6 weeks at the royal hunting preserve located near Cologne. Einhard, Charlemagne’s close confidant and biographer, observed that despite being old and rather tired, the emperor chose the excitement of the hunt rather than the comforts of the palace at Aachen.
After returning to Aachen, where he celebrated Christmas, Charlemagne once again spent the early winter of 813-814 planning for the coming year. It was in this context that he was taken ill by a fever from which he ultimately died on 28 January.
There is no basis in the sources that Charlemagne was anticipating his own death when he raised up Louis the Pious as his co-emperor. In fact, Louis was sent back to Aquitaine immediately after his coronation, and did not take up planning duties at Aachen. Rather, Charlemagne continued in the same fashion as he had the year before, and for many previous decades, before succumbing to an illness.
In short, historians must look directly to Louis the Pious and his successors to explain the failures of their reigns. Up through the very last year of his rule, Charlemagne maintained the same vigorous approach to governance and to his life that had characterized his entire adulthood.
David Bachrach is a Professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he researches medieval military history, particularly in England and Germany.
Click here to read more from David Bachrach
Further Readings:
Bernard S. Bachrach, “Charlemagne’s Health in ‘Old Age’: Did it Affect Carolingian Military Strategy,” Mediavistik 32 (2019), 11-53.
Eric J. Goldberg, In the Manner of the Franks: Hunting, Kingship and Masculinity in Early Medieval Europe (Philadelphia, 2020).
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