Art and Charlemagne: how did western sacred art start?
Introducing the "Carolingian Renaissance" - 780 to 900
On Christmas Day, in the year of our Lord 800, a momentous event unfolded that would change the course of European and world history. In the great Constantinian basilica of St. Peter's in Rome1, Pope Leo III placed a crown upon the head of Charles, king of the Franks, proclaiming him "Emperor of the Romans."
In the end, this act of the pope was to lead to the establishment of an entirely new Western Christian civilisation, the one in whose ruins we still live today.
In today’s post for paid subscribers, we’re going to take a broad look at this absolutely crucial moment for western Europe and Christendom. We’ll look at how Charlemagne’s reforms and energetic rebuilding of European unity laid the foundation for Medieval Christian Europe that created the society we live in today. It will be our jumping off point for a series through August going into more focused investigations of key figures and movements.
It’s my own opinion that the Carolingian foundations and the incredible burst of intellectual and artistic energy of this short period is much more worthy of the title “Renaissance” than the catastrophic break from the metaphysics of Christianity represented by the Florentine philosophical revolution of the 15th century. The Carolingian Renaissance devoted all of Europe to the cause of Christ; the Florentine revision broke faith with that ancient establishment.
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