Compilation of Christian Documents
Charlemagne formulated the Carolingian Book, which stipulated the basic Roman doctrines and religious rituals, thus enabling spontaneous interpretation and interpretation of doctrines everywhere. The messy religious rituals took shape. He also used the power of the royal power to assign Alguin personnel to collate various Bible texts collected at that time from 797 to 800, unify the Bible texts and translate them into Latin, which became Later, it was the final version commonly used by Catholics. Authorized Alguin to carry out large-scale copying and revision of Christian literature and classics (including the "Benedictine Rules", etc.). Emperor Charlemagne required every church and monastery to set up schools and libraries to teach the "Seven Arts" (grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) in Latin. Courses in the "Seven Arts" Later it developed into a relatively complete and unique European curriculum system.
The famous scholars of this period include—
The learned Anglo-Saxon priest and Northumbrian scholar Alcuin;
Petrus, archdeacon, grammarian, and litterateur of Pisa, Italy;
Paul Inus of Aquiles;
Lombard historian Paulnus and Diaconus;
Spanish bishop and classical scholar Theodore;
Felix, bishop of Urgil;
Written later Einhard in the Life of Charlemagne;
Sister Leoba, who crossed the sea from England with 30 companions, was appointed abbess of Tauberbischofheim nunnery. Lorsch Gospels 778–820. Charlemagne's Court School. Carolingian art covers the 120 years from 780 to 900.
As Charlemagne ordered schools and monasteries to copy the Bible, the art of illuminated manuscripts began to develop, and they elevated writing to the art of calligraphy and design. Before Charlemagne's reign, scribes had free choice of fonts, including personale, semi-conciale, capital, and rustic. During Charlemagne's time, in order to ensure the accuracy of the manuscript content, it was unified into "Carolingian lowercase font". In 789, King Charlemagne issued an order to unify the layout standards, font standards, and decoration standards of books across Europe. And the wild style of the Irish gradually transformed into the elegant style of Europe. Notable manuscripts from this period include the Godescalc Evangelistary (781–783), the Lorsch Gospels (778–820), the Ada Gospels, the Soissons Gospels, and the Coronation Gospels.
The art of the Carolingian Renaissance mainly included book illustrations and architecture. The famous St. Matthew is an illustration of the Gospel of Charlemagne. Aachen Cathedral (also translated as Aachen Palace because Charlemagne was crowned here) was built according to the Italian St. Vital Church. During the reign of Charlemagne, he admired ancient Roman Basilica architecture and was influenced by the Byzantine style at that time, creating an era of Romanesque architectural style in the history of architecture.
The Aachen Cathedral in Aachen, the then capital, was his masterpiece.
The Aachen Cathedral was the most important construction project in Charlemagne’s era. In order to reflect the desire to revive classicism, the design of the palace church was modeled on the St. Vital Church in Ravenna, with a basic layout and structure. It maintains the characteristics of Saint Vital, but the internal treatment is not as lively as Saint Vital and focuses more on unity and wholeness, appearing solemn and solemn. Nonetheless, it still reflects Charlemagne's longing for ancient Rome. In fact, it is not easy to build such a church in Northern Europe. The columns and bronze railings come from distant Italy. This church also uses square columns and arches from Roman architecture.
This actually played a preliminary historical role in protecting and inheriting ancient culture at that time. Similarly, he did not completely deny the Greek and Roman culture without explanation, but transformed and utilized it, and put forward a new concept of treating ancient Greek and Roman culture. John Scotus Eriugena (about 810-880) was the last representative figure of the Carolingian Renaissance. Erigena was an Irishman who was educated in a monastery in his early years and was proficient in Greek. In 845, Charles the Bald, grandson of Charlemagne and King of the Franks, asked him to be the principal of the palace school. After the death of Charles the Bald in 877, he returned to England. His major works include "On the Predestination of God" written in 851 and "The Division of Nature" written around 865. But it was his translation of Dionysius that truly established his reputation as a great polymath.
The "Book of Dionysius" was originally in Greek. When Erigena translated this work at the order of Charles the Bald in 858, he also elaborated on his own views. He discussed the mysterious connection between the real world and the divine will of heaven, that is, the harmonious and eternal divine will of the heavenly prototype expresses itself through secular images, so the world is very much like a metaphor and symbol of the heavenly ontology. Applying this idea to art, then, in Erigina's view, it means that although works of art are material objects, their origin lies in God. The prototype of the artistic concept is the "Logos" of God, and the "Logos" reaches down to the soul of the artist, and then from the soul to matter. Therefore, in the eyes of Erigena, art is the same as nature, and its beauty lies in the manifestation of divine order. In this way, in Erigena's thoughts, we can see that the focus of art has shifted from the ancient Greek and Roman view that art is an imitation of reality, to the imitation of divine prototypes. Classical artistic thought and Christian thought were truly integrated. It should be said that this view is basically a summary of the artistic characteristics of the Carolingian Renaissance, and also basically summarizes the artistic theoretical characteristics of the Carolingian Renaissance. In addition, Einhard was a famous scholar who emerged during the Carolingian Renaissance. His biographical work "The Life of Charlemagne", which records the deeds of Charlemagne, was of a relatively high level in terms of the social and cultural conditions at that time. In this biographical work, although he beautified Charlemagne in many aspects, and the writing is more than dull and not lively enough, it is still one of the most valuable historical biographical materials of Charlemagne's era.