266 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

arduous, this was not his greatest or noblest work. In the
words of Professor Fisher :

"He was bold yet deliberate, genial and yet exact, popular
and yet formidable. A vast appetite for animal enjoyment was;
combined in him with the cardinal gifts of statesmanship, a spa-
cious vision, strong common sense, a flawless memory, and a
tenacious will. It was part of his strength that he attempted
nothing impossible, and asked no more of his people than they
were able to accomplish. To his Prankish warriors he was the
ideal chief, tall and stout, animated and commanding, with fla-
shing blue eyes and aquiline nose, a mighty hunter before the
Lord That he loved the old Prankish songs, used Prankish
speech, and affected the traditional costume of his race—the
high-laced boots, the cross-gartered scarlet hose, the linen tunic,
and square mantle of white or blue—that he was simple in his
needs, and sparing in food and drink, were ingratiating features
in a rich and wholesome character. Yet in the habits of.
daily life he was a Frank to the marrow; in all matters pertain-
ing to culture and religion he was prepared to obey the call
and extend the influence of his Roman priests— It is one of
the highest titles of Charlemagne to fame that he used his great
authority to promote the revival of intellectual life on the illite-
rate continent of Europe...,What is important to notice is the
new place which, with the advent of Charles, learning and edu-
cation are made to take in the life of the court and the country,
the concentration of foreign men of learning round the person
of the king, the travelling academy or school of the palace which
follows him even on his campaigns, the equal terms with which
he associates with his scholar friend, his strong insistence on-
literacy as a qualification for a clerical career and for prefer-
ment in the church, the establishment of diocesan and monas-
tic schools, and the encouragement given to the multiplication,,
correction, and gathering together of books... .The earliest copies-
of twelve of the great Latin classics are due to the scribes of"
the Carolingian Renaissance."1

1. H. A. L. Fisher, A History of Europe, pp. 156-161.