Charlemagne and all that - Prologue (Part 3)
History of the Germans from the Middle Ages to Reunification
Dirk Hoffmann-Becking
4.9 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Part 3 of the Prologue is dedicated to Charlemagne, one of Europe's greatest rulers. and less because he conquered most of Europe and became the first Roman emperor for 325 years, but because he saved many books from antiquity, increased literacy and numeracy and made it possible for you to read this text comfortably.
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
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To make it easier for you to share the podcast, I have created separate playlists for some of the seasons that are set up as individual podcasts. they have the exact same episodes as in the History of the Germans, but they may be a helpful device for those who want to concentrate on only one season.
So far I have:
Salian Emperors and Investiture Controversy
Fredrick Barbarossa and Early Hohenstaufen
The Holy Roman Empire 1250-1356
The Reformation before the Reformation
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, third and last part of the prologue. |
| 0:13.2 | Again, thanks a lot for coming along, and I hope you will enjoy this third and last high-speed run |
| 0:19.0 | through thousand years of German history. |
| 0:22.0 | Last episode, we left off with Pippin the Short being crowned King of the Franks by Pope |
| 0:27.4 | Stephen II. Today, we talk about Pippin's eldest son, Charles, known to history and to us |
| 0:34.7 | as Charlemagne. No introduction needed. Charles must have been an impressive |
| 0:41.1 | sight. I mean, here's what his biographer Einhard had to say about him. Charles was large and strong, |
| 0:47.9 | and of lofty statue. Though not disproportionately tall, his height is well known to have been seven times the length of his |
| 0:54.8 | foot. The upper part of his head was round, his eyes very large and animated, nose a little |
| 1:01.7 | long, hair fair, and face laughing and merry. Thus his appearance was always stately and dignified, |
| 1:08.8 | whether he was standing or sitting. |
| 1:12.0 | Although his neck was thick and somewhat short, and his belly rather prominent, but the |
| 1:17.2 | symmetry of the rest of his body concealed these defects. |
| 1:21.1 | His gait was firm, his whole carriage manly, and his voice clear, but not so strong as his size led one to expect. His health was |
| 1:30.3 | excellent, except during the four years preceding his death, when he was subject to frequent |
| 1:36.3 | fevers. At the last, he even limped a little with one foot. |
| 1:42.3 | In 768, when Charles succeeded his father, he was probably 20 or 21 years old. |
| 1:49.5 | As was the custom inherited from the Merovingians, Pippin had split his kingdom in two parts |
| 1:54.9 | between Charles and his brother Carloman. Carloman had the decency to die in 771 under circumstances that were no further investigated. |
| 2:06.3 | Let's just say that Kalamann's wife and children ran away to Lombardy as fast as their legs could |
| 2:11.4 | carry them. |
| 2:13.6 | Having become the sole ruler of the kingdom, he started a series of military campaigns that |
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