Charles  was  a  true  militant  son  of  the  Church — the  relent-
less propagandist  and  establisher  of  Christianity  throughout
Europe,  who  for  his  faith  waged  war  for  forty  years,  and  deluged
Europe  with  blood ;  though  neither  proving  his  valor  or  skill  in
the  field,  says  Gibbon  (D.  and  Fall,  ix.).  In  774  he  crowned
himself  King  of  Lombardy,  and  in  799  was  crowned  "  Emperor
of  Germany  and  the  West"  by  Pope  Leo  III.,  and  declared  by
acclamation  to  be  "  The  Saintly  Emperor  given  by  the  Lord  "
to  the  Church  !  His  head  and  body  was  anointed,  and  "  he  was
saluted  and  adored"  by  Pope  and  people,  shouting:  "Long
life  to  the  most  pious  Augustus,  he  who  is  crowned  by  God" —
after  the  manner  of  the  Caesars.  He  was  exalted  to  Saintdom
in  the  Roman  Kalendar,  and  his  name  declared  to  be  Charle-
magne or  "  Charles  the  Great."


X.  CHARLEMAGNE  V.  MAHAMAD — DEATH  CRIMES.  489

Yet  judging  him  by  his  life  and  conduct,  Charlemagne
was  utterly  irreligious,  nay,  one  of  the  most  dissolute  of  men,
even  in  that  dark  age.  Gibbon  shows  that  "  he  had  nine  wives
and  concubines,  besides  mere  transient  amours  " — extending  to
incest  and  other  horrors  related  in  Gibbon,  who  says  he  shocked
even  his  licentious  Court.  The  Church  graciously  accepted  his
ill-gotten  offspring,  ecclesiastics  only  venturing  to  depict  their
feelings  after  his  death,  as  in  the  quasi  "  Vision  of  a  monk  " —
quaint,  but  far  too  indecent  and  horrible  to  be  here  given,
though  he  was  a  valued  patron  of  the  pious  writer.
