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Education:
After the fall of Rome in 476 CE, the ability to read and write began
to disappear. Soon, the only people left with these skills were the
clergy, and not even all of them had these abilities.
To effectively rule his kingdom, and to
successfully convert people to Christianity, Charlemagne wanted his
officials to be able to read and write. If he sent them a note, giving
them some instruction, he wanted to make sure they could read it.
To
accomplish this, he turned his own palace into a center for learning.
Scholars came from all over Europe to teach in the palace school.
Charlemagne knew how to read, but he did not know
how to write. He attempted to learn, but his hands were too scared
from battle to write legibly. Charlemagne tried to talk other nobles
into joining him in his educational pursuits, but they were quite
resistant. It was not the Frankish way. The Frankish nobles thought
reading and writing was a waste of time. They were warriors.
Preservation:
Charlemagne gave many of his scholars the job of copying all the
old manuscripts into Latin by hand. This preserved much knowledge. All
books in the middle ages were written by hand. All books were
written to glorify religion. Each page was beautifully designed. Some
pages were "illuminated" with a cover of gold.
These books
are known as illuminated
manuscripts. The art of illuminating manuscripts
continued for many hundreds of years.
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