By Philip Daileader, William & Mary
In the final quarter of the 20th century, historians’ views on Charlemagne changed considerably. However, even as historians began to view Charlemagne and his empire more and more positively, they simultaneously backed away from identifying Charlemagne as pater Europae. Why?
‘Father’, ‘the Father’, or ‘a Father’?
In 2001, Janet Nelson had offered a case for regarding Charlemagne as Father of Europe by positing similarities between Charlemagne’s Empire and the European Union in 2001: for example, both had a ‘mixed’ economy in which public and private interests co-existed; and both pursued justice.
By contrast, in a talk published in 2014, Nelson stepped away from that position, stating: “I am no longer sure that it’s plausible…to make any very specific claims for Charlemagne’s paternity of today’s Europe.” The problem, according to Nelson, was that the European Union of 2014 had a territorial configuration quite different from that of 2001, and even farther removed from the territorial configuration of Charlemagne’s Empire.
There is another way of approaching the issue. Grammatically, pater Europae can mean ‘Father of Europe’, ‘the Father of Europe’, or ‘a Father of Europe’. As several 21st-century scholars have suggested, perhaps we should embrace the last of these three possibilities—Charlemagne: a Father of Europe. According to this approach, Charlemagne was a pivotal figure, yes, but not uniquely or exclusively so.
This article comes directly from content in the video series Charlemagne: Father of Europe. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
A Founder to the Future Core of Europe
The case for Charlemagne’s being The Father of Europe has usually run as follows. Charlemagne’s Empire included much of the future Franco-German core of Europe; Charlemagne himself, through his conquests, did much to bring that core together.
Moreover, he spread an enduring and relatively uniform administrative structure throughout his empire; there was a secular structure based on counties, and an ecclesiastical structure based on bishoprics and archbishoprics.
Charlemagne promoted educational and liturgical standardization as well; he catalyzed a common handwriting. And while his achievements never matched his ambitions in these regards, Charlemagne did bring about more uniformity than there had been previously.
Some of Charlemagne’s efforts at standardization and commonality even seeped beyond his empire’s boundaries, eventually spreading throughout Spain and the British Isles. Moreover, given the centrality of classical Roman texts to European identity, the Carolingian Renaissance’s preservation of those texts is yet another reason why Charlemagne should be considered the Father of Europe.
The Origin of the Term ‘Europe’
Whether or not we regard Father of Europe as an appropriate epithet, the phrase doesn’t reflect how Charlemagne thought of himself. By Charlemagne’s time, Europe was already a very old word—as a Greek geographical term, it went back to the 6th and 5th centuries BC. Its meaning fluctuated with time and location, but generally, Europe meant all the land west of the River Don in Russia.
When authors in Charlemagne’s Empire used the word Europe, they had in mind a territory more limited than what the term Europe denotes today. Europe meant lands ruled by Charlemagne’s dynasty, the Carolingians; therefore, Europe excluded the British Isles, Scandinavia, much of central and eastern Europe, and almost the whole of Spain.
Most importantly, in Charlemagne’s day, Europe was an uncommon word. Authors employed it not because the term Europe resonated powerfully with their readers, but because it showed off their large vocabularies.
That rarity helps to explain why Irish and Anglo-Saxon authors, more than Frankish authors, used the word Europe in their writings. Irish and Anglo-Saxon authors tended to be the best Latin scholars of their day, and they wanted to demonstrate their erudition.
‘Renewal of the Roman Empire’
There was a broad geographical unit that, unlike Europe, resonated powerfully with Charlemagne and his contemporaries: Christendom. Christendom included the Byzantine Empire and its possessions in the Near East. It would be many centuries until the concept of Europe caught up with and displaced Christendom.
If Charlemagne was indeed Father of Europe, then the gestational period was very long. In fact, it wasn’t until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that the concept of Europe started to make significant headway. Renaissance humanists loved showing off their large, classical vocabularies, and they put Europe into general usage.
Another way of judging whether Charlemagne was the father of Europe is to ask the question: did Charlemagne see himself as father of Europe? To discover Charlemagne’s own, preferred choice of epithet, a good place to look is his imperial seal.
Charlemagne did not put pater Europae on the imperial seal. Instead, he put Renovatio Romani imperii, ‘Renewal of the Roman Empire’. Fatherhood looks forward to the creation of something that did not previously exist, but Charlemagne portrayed himself as a renewer, as a restorer of something that had once existed.
Common Questions about Considering Charlemagne the Father of Europe
In 2001, Janet Nelson had offered a case for regarding Charlemagne as Father of Europe by positing similarities between Charlemagne’s Empire and the European Union in 2001: for example, both had a ‘mixed’ economy in which public and private interests co-existed; and both pursued justice.
When authors in Charlemagne’s Empire used the word Europe, they had in mind a territory more limited than what the term Europe denotes today. Europe meant lands ruled by Charlemagne’s dynasty, the Carolingians; therefore, Europe excluded the British Isles, Scandinavia, much of central and eastern Europe, and almost the whole of Spain.
To discover Charlemagne’s own, preferred choice of epithet, a good place to look is his imperial seal. Charlemagne did not put pater Europae on the imperial seal. Instead, he put Renovatio Romani imperii, ‘Renewal of the Roman Empire’. He portrayed himself not as father of Europe, but as a renewer, as a restorer of something that had once existed.
