Religious Traditions and Church

Charlemagne and the Authority of the Church

Before Charlemagne i.e. Charles the Great became the King of the Franks in 771, the Franks were the only tribe in Europe who were mainstream Christians. The Franks were the mainstream Christians across Europe during this period despite the hugely successful works and initiatives of missionaries like Augustine and Patrick in the British Isles (Graves par, 1). When he became King of the Franks, Charles the Great was a great military conqueror who focused more on serving the church. Throughout his reign as King of the Franks, Charlemagne was seemingly focused on service of the church, which helped him enhance the authority of the church through several initiatives and actions.

One of the ways Charlemagne's actions helped in enhancing the authority of the church was through compelling all his subject peoples to become Christians. During this period, Charlemagne used bloodthirsty measures of spreading the church, which in turn compelled people to become Christians and in turn enhanced the church's authority. In his war against Saxons who worshipped devils and demonstrated hostility towards Christianity, Charlemagne enhanced the authority of the church by using Christian values and beliefs as the premise for punishing the Saxons. Charlemagne did not allow the Saxons' faithless behaviors, worship of devils, and hostility towards Christianity to go unpunished. In this case, he fought the Saxons in person or used his counts' armies to get revenge and righteous satisfaction. At the conclusion of the war, the Saxons submitted to his conditions, renounced their religious traditions, accepted Christianity and united with the Franks to become one people. Consequently, the authority of the church was enhanced as Christian values and beliefs became the premise for governing people's behaviors and religious practices. The war against Saxons was part of Charlemagne's efforts to create a common identity among people, which was based on Christianity.

The other way through which Charlemagne enhanced the authority of the church is by sponsoring more subtle missionary initiatives. These initiatives not only helped in the spread of evangelism but also contributed to the spread of Benedictine monasteries. The spread of Benedictine monasteries was characterized by the copying of theological manuscripts. In this case, the authority of the church was enhanced by ensuring that Christian values and beliefs influenced people's behaviors.