Legends of Charlemagne | Page 7

of Rheims, the friend and secretary of Charles the
Great, excellently skilled in sacred and profane literature, of a genius
equally adapted to prose and verse, the advocate of the poor, beloved of
God in his life and conversation, who often fought the Saracens, hand
to hand, by the Emperor's side, he relates the acts of Charles the Great
in one book, and flourished under Charles and his son Louis, to the
year of our Lord eight hundred and thirty."
The titles of some of Archbishop Turpin's chapters will show the nature
of his history. They are these: "Of the Walls of Pampeluna, that fell of
themselves." "Of the War of the holy Facundus, where the Spears
grew." (Certain of the Christians fixed their spears in the evening, erect
in the ground, before the castle; and found them, in the morning,

covered with bark and branches.) "How the Sun stood still for Three
Days, and of the Slaughter of Four Thousand Saracens."
Turpin's history has perhaps been the source of the marvellous
adventures which succeeding poets and romancers have accumulated
around the names of Charlemagne and his Paladins, or Peers. But
Ariosto and the other Italian poets have drawn from different sources,
and doubtless often from their own invention, numberless other stories
which they attribute to the same heroes, not hesitating to quote as their
authority "the good Turpin," though his history contains no trace of
them; and the more outrageous the improbability, or rather the
impossibility, of their narrations, the more attentive are they to cite "the
Archbishop," generally adding their testimonial to his unquestionable
veracity.
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.
Ogier, 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 Ogier, 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 Ogier, 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 Ogier. 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 Ogier. '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