Mohammed and Charlemagne Revisited: The History of a Controversy (14 page)

Thus the patterns of urban settlement did not, well into the early seventh century, differ significantly from that which pertained under the Caesars. The archaeology speaks, contrary to the impression put forward by Hodges, Whitehouse and Ward-Perkins, of continuity and growth.
[29]
The same period was to witness an explosion of church-building. Although the great majority of these have now disappeared, enough have survived to bear witness to the splendor that once was. It is estimated that, altogether, there were around 4,000 houses of worship in Gaul by the middle of the seventh century. In the words of one historian, “What astonishes us today is the great number of churches in Merovingian towns, few of which are thought to have had more than a few thousand inhabitants: as many as 35 churches are known or suspected from Paris, for instance.”
[30]
Again, “the sixth and seventh centuries were clearly a great age of Gallic church-building,” and “as far as the [ethnically] Frankish north-east was concerned, that process accelerated with the foundation of monasteries.”
[31]

From the few (generally small) Merovingian churches that survive, we know that they were heavily influenced by those of contemporary Byzantium. Indeed, it is likely many of them were executed by Greek or Italian craftsmen, for the Franks were long-standing allies of the Emperor. Several of the most opulent of these basilicas were described in detail by Gregory of Tours, and we can only regret the disappearance of these monuments – some destroyed as recently as the French Revolution – with their marble columns, stained glass windows, richly-colored mosaics, and finely-wrought statuary. Here is Gregory’s take on the cathedral church of Clermont. It is, he says,

150 feet long and 60 feet wide across the nave and 50 feet high to the ceiling. It has a rounded apse, and on either side are elegantly made wings; the whole building is in the shape of a cross. There are 42 windows, 70 columns and eight doors. In it one is conscious of the fear of God and of a great brightness, and those at prayer are often aware of the most sweet and aromatic odour which is being wafted towards them. Round the sanctuary it has walls which are decorated with mosaics made of many varieties of marble.
[32]

Another outstanding structure was the Church of the Holy Cross and Saint Vincent, built by Childebert I in Paris. Around 1000 it was described in some detail:

It seems superfluous to describe the clever arrangement of windows, the precious marbles which support it, the gilded panels of the vault, the splendour of the walls which were covered with a sparkling gold colour and the beauty of the mosaic-covered pavements. The roof of the building is covered with gilded bronze and reflects the rays of the sun, shining so brightly that onlookers are dazzled, and call the church St. Germanus the Golden.
[33]

We know that the architectural ambitions of the Merovingians did not end with church and monastery-building. Great palaces once existed, and Chilperic I (reigned 561 – 584), in true Roman fashion, built circuses in both Paris and Soissons.
[34]

The overwhelming impression gained from both the written sources and the archaeology is of a vital and prospering late classical civilization extending into the mid-seventh century. Indeed, it was just at this time – the very period identified by the Hodges, Whitehouse and Ward-Perkins as marking the final death-throes of the Romanized Germanic kingdoms – that Merovingian Gaul began to experience its period of greatest prosperity and splendor. Even Hodges and Whitehouse, we saw, admitted the substantial flow of gold currency from the East through Provence during the first quarter of the seventh century; and it is agreed that the most frenetic period of church-construction and manufacture in general was precisely in the second half of the sixth century and the first half of the seventh. Patrick Geary remarked on the fact that from the late sixth century, “Products of artisanal workshops circulated regionally and even over great distances, although the mechanism of this circulation is uncertain. In the south, traditional Mediterranean pottery of late classical design continued to be produced into the eighth century; glass produced in the Ardennes and around Cologne found its way as far north as Frisia [northern Germany] and even Sweden; Frankish weapons, which enjoyed a great reputation across Europe, have been found throughout Francia and in Frisia and Scandinavia. Textiles also circulated between regions: Provence was particularly known for its inexpensive cloth as far away as Rome, Monte Cassino, and Spain.”
[35]

The reign of Chlothar II (584 – 629), who reunited the disparate territories of the Merovingian realms under his sole control, marked perhaps the apex of Merovingian prosperity. He was the first ruler of the Franks to issue coins bearing his own image, rather than that of the Emperor in Constantinople. According to Geary, the final twenty-five years of his reign (604 – 629), as well as that of his son Dagobert I, “would be the most peaceful, prosperous, and significant period[s] of Frankish history since the reign of Clovis.”
The reign of Chlothar II (584 – 629), who reunited the disparate territories of the Merovingian realms under his sole control, marked perhaps the apex of Merovingian prosperity. He was the first ruler of the Franks to issue coins bearing his own image, rather than that of the Emperor in Constantinople. According to Geary, the final twenty-five years of his reign (604 – 629), as well as that of his son Dagobert I, “would be the most peaceful, prosperous, and significant period[s] of Frankish history since the reign of Clovis.”
[36]
Gold circulated freely and new structures in stone were erected throughout Gaul. We hear that from around 600, gold coins minted by the Frisians in imitation of Merovingian coins have been found in southeast England, on the western coast of Denmark from the mouth of the Elbe to Limfjord, and up the Rhine as far as Coblenz and even Lake Constance.
[37]
The reign of Chlothar II (584 – 629), who reunited the disparate territories of the Merovingian realms under his sole control, marked perhaps the apex of Merovingian prosperity. He was the first ruler of the Franks to issue coins bearing his own image, rather than that of the Emperor in Constantinople. According to Geary, the final twenty-five years of his reign (604 – 629), as well as that of his son Dagobert I, “would be the most peaceful, prosperous, and significant period[s] of Frankish history since the reign of Clovis.” Gold circulated freely and new structures in stone were erected throughout Gaul. We hear that from around 600, gold coins minted by the Frisians in imitation of Merovingian coins have been found in southeast England, on the western coast of Denmark from the mouth of the Elbe to Limfjord, and up the Rhine as far as Coblenz and even Lake Constance. The reign of Chlothar II (584 – 629), who reunited the disparate territories of the Merovingian realms under his sole control, marked perhaps the apex of Merovingian prosperity. He was the first ruler of the Franks to issue coins bearing his own image, rather than that of the Emperor in Constantinople. According to Geary, the final twenty-five years of his reign (604 – 629), as well as that of his son Dagobert I, “would be the most peaceful, prosperous, and significant period[s] of Frankish history since the reign of Clovis.” Gold circulated freely and new structures in stone were erected throughout Gaul. We hear that from around 600, gold coins minted by the Frisians in imitation of Merovingian coins have been found in southeast England, on the western coast of Denmark from the mouth of the Elbe to Limfjord, and up the Rhine as far as Coblenz and even Lake Constance. The reign of Chlothar II (584 – 629), who reunited the disparate territories of the Merovingian realms under his sole control, marked perhaps the apex of Merovingian prosperity. He was the first ruler of the Franks to issue coins bearing his own image, rather than that of the Emperor in Constantinople. According to Geary, the final twenty-five years of his reign (604 – 629), as well as that of his son Dagobert I, “would be the most peaceful, prosperous, and significant period[s] of Frankish history since the reign of Clovis.” Gold circulated freely and new structures in stone were erected throughout Gaul. We hear that from around 600, gold coins minted by the Frisians in imitation of Merovingian coins have been found in southeast England, on the western coast of Denmark from the mouth of the Elbe to Limfjord, and up the Rhine as far as Coblenz and even Lake Constance.

After the time of Chlothar II and (possibly) his son Dagobert I, towards the middle of the seventh century, the Merovingian world went into terminal decline. Indeed, it is impossible to look into the history of this period without being reminded forcefully of Pirenne: For it is precisely in the third decade of the seventh century – the very point at which Islam began to impact on the eastern Mediterranean – that the decay began. We are told that “Chlothar II’s son Dagobert (622-38) is often seen as the last of the great Frankish kings of the Merovingian dynasty.

After him came
les rois fainéants
, the ‘Do-Nothing Kings’, who peter off into obscurity in the eighth century ...”
[38]
In the words of Sidney Painter, “If one is to call any period the ‘Dark Ages,’ the later Merovingian period [after Dagobert I] is the one to choose.”
[39]
From about 640 onwards material remains from the Frankish regions become scarce in the extreme. This applies as much to small things as large. Church-building, for example, previously such a prominent feature of Merovingian civilization, all but ceases. Glass-production too, which had earlier displayed a progressively advancing refinement and sophistication, now declines, and what remains is degraded. And we should note that it is widely accepted that the decline of glass manufacture was primarily due to the unavailability of vital raw materials such as soda, which had hitherto been imported from the eastern Mediterranean. With regard to glass however it is interesting to note the schematic diagram produced by Kurt Böhner, and reproduced here (fig. 10). Like everyone else, Böhner sees a rich late classical civilization, with sophisticated glass and pottery, until the seventh century, at which point we see a marked decline. But, as I have stressed elsewhere, the very division of historical periods into centuries is of course little more than a literary construct, a terminology of convenience used by historians to indicate immense generalities. The fact that what we (or Böhner) describe as “seventh century” begins with the year 600, tells us little or nothing about the actual historical processes at work at the time: all the evidence indicates that the real watershed was around 625 or perhaps 630. Thus the degraded material Böhner describes as “seventh century” is in fact material from circa 625 or 630 onwards (after the reign of Chlothar II), whilst the high quality material described by him as “sixth century” is in fact material of the sixth century and the first quarter of the seventh.

The downward course of Merovingian culture continues into the middle of the eighth century, at which point historians talk of a “renaissance” of the Frankish realms under the Carolingians. Yet the progress of scholarly investigation has shown that almost all of the material remains hitherto regarded as “Carolingian,” need to be reassigned to the late tenth and eleventh centuries. This goes for both small artifacts and major structures. And so the supposedly Carolingian churches, which have hitherto generally been dated to the eighth and ninth centuries, such as the so-called Chapel of Charlemagne at Aachen, reveal themselves, on closer inspection, to be products of the late tenth or eleventh centuries.
[40]
When church architecture actually reappears, in the early Romanesque of the mid-tenth century, there is a pronounced impoverishment when compared to the work of the last of the Merovingians in the seventh century. The Romanesque churches are smaller and simpler, and less rich in decoration. Gone are the marble columns and colorful mosaics of the sixth and seventh centuries, to be replaced by duller sandstone and granite, with simple wall-painting replacing mosaic. The Romanesque of the tenth century does show striking continuity with the Merovingian, but it is an altogether poorer cousin.

The disappearance of archaeology, from the middle of the seventh century, is a feature we shall encounter throughout Europe and the Middle East.

So much for Gaul: The evidence gleaned thus far from excavation has tended to fully confirm what Gregory of Tours said. Frankish Gaul did not share the decline of central Italy during the fifth and sixth centuries; it was a vigorous society with a stable or even perhaps growing population. Trade prospered and Graeco-Roman civilization, far from being in decline, was spreading into the Frankish territories east of the Rhine. But if Gaul presents a picture of growth and prosperity during the late sixth and early seventh centuries, other regions did to an even greater degree.