Charles the Great: the \u27Father of Europe\u27 and a Great Christianizer

Magistrsko delo z naslovom Karel Veliki: »Oče Evrope« in veliki pokristjanjevalec predstavlja Karla Velikega z dveh zornih kotov. V prvem delu je predstavljen kot mogočen vladar, »Oče Evrope«, svetilnik tedanje zahodno srednjeveške Evrope, ki je z reformami v cerkvi, upravi in izobraževanju ter s čutom za umetnost uspešno vodil Frankovsko kraljestvo. Kot edini takšen vladar zgodnjega srednjega veka je želel ohraniti vez z Rimom. Eden izmed načinov je bilo popravljanje svetih knjig. Proces se je imenoval »correctio« in se ni nanašal le na prepisovanje in popravljanje knjig, ampak je proces zajel vse vidike življenja, tudi arhitekturo. V drugem delu je Karel Veliki predstavljen kot goreč kristjan, ki je s silo in z mečem pokristjanjeval vsa poganska ljudstva v svojem kraljestvu, saj jih je želel pripeljati h krščanski veri. Formalno je bila politika križa in meča takrat zakonsko utemeljena, a ni prinašala želenih dolgoročnih rezultatov. Slednje je bilo doseženo šele skozi irski način pokristjanjevanja, ki so se ga po uspešnem izvajanju pri saškem ljudstvu posluževali tudi pri slovanskem ljudstvu. S pridobljenim nazivom cesarja leta 800 je Karel Veliki lahko pokristjanjevanje v krščansko vero na območju cesarstva tudi opravičil.This master\u27s thesis, titled: Charles the Great: the \u27Father of Europe\u27 and a Great Christianizer, presents Charles the Great from two perspectives. In the first part of the thesis, he is portrayed as a mighty ruler, the Father of Europe, a lighthouse of the then western medieval Europe, who had, with his Church, administration and educational reforms, and with his artistic sense, successfully ruled over the Frankish kingdom. As the only ruler of this kind, he wished to preserve a connection with Rome. One of the ways to do that, was mending sacred books. The process was called ‘’correction’’. It meant not only copying and mending books. The process included all aspects of life, including architecture. In the second part of the thesis, Charles the Great is presented as a devoted Christian who had used violence and his sword to Christianise all pagan tribes in his kingdom, in order to bring them into the Christian faith. Formally, this ‘’By the Cross and the Sword’’ policy was legally grounded but did not produce the desired long-term results. These was achieved only through the Irish way of Christianisation, which was, after it was successfully implemented with the Saxons, also used with the Slavs. After he had acquired the title of the Emperor in 800, Charles the Great was also able to justify Christianisation within the Empire