Carolingian Renaissance, the revival of classical learning and the refinement of contemporary clerical and scholarly practices pursued under the Carolingian rulers of western Europe from the mid-8th to the 9th century. The exact end date of the Carolingian Renaissance is disputed, though there is scholarly consensus that it began under the rule of the Carolingian monarch Charlemagne (747?–814).

After taking control of the entire Frankish empire of western Europe upon the death of his brother and coruler, Carloman (751–771), Charlemagne sought to consolidate his rule by strengthening the administrative state and the established church. In so doing, he faced a problem, however, as there were few educated people available to serve in his court, and many church officials within his realm lacked basic Latin literacy and other scholarly skills necessary to serve the populace adequately. During this period, church and state were seen as deeply interconnected, and, therefore, maintaining order and creating the Civitas Dei (Latin: “City of God”) that Charlemagne envisioned required an educated clergy.

To this end, Charlemagne funded, encouraged, and personally participated in a campaign to revive classical learning and expand and improve the educational infrastructure of his empire. A key early advancement in this organized renaissance was Charlemagne’s gathering of leading scholars from across western Europe at his royal residence in Aachen (now in western Germany). The most influential member of this group was the English cleric and educator Alcuin (c. 732–804), whom Charlemagne had met in Italy in 781. Alcuin headed the palatine (palace) school at Aachen, where Charlemagne and his family and friends were taught. The school became a lively center of discussion and exchange of knowledge. Alcuin introduced the methods of English learning into Frankish schools, systematized their curriculum, raised the standards of scholarship, and encouraged the study of liberal arts for the better understanding of spiritual doctrine. In 796 he left Charlemagne’s court to become abbot of the Abbey of St. Martin at Tours.

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classical scholarship: The Carolingian Renaissance

Literary culture is generally considered to be the area in which the Carolingian Renaissance had the most significant impact. Educational officials, including Alcuin, sponsored the reproduction of large numbers of classical Latin texts, and scholars believe that, without these reproductions, most of the texts would have been lost permanently. To aid in this effort, Carolingian monks developed a writing form called Carolingian minuscule, a clear and manageable script that increased the reproducibility and readability of texts. A version of this script was eventually adopted by the Roman Catholic Church, and it became the basis of present-day roman upper- and lowercase type.

A key priority of the Carolingian Renaissance was to record an official Latin grammar, as the language was beginning to undergo linguistic drift. Carolingian scholars created a standardized grammar that could be taught to clergy, and they augmented and adapted the Latin vocabulary to meet contemporary needs.

The educational reforms spearheaded by Alcuin also helped to create an intellectual milieu from which Christian rationalism, or the systematic philosophical understanding of Christian doctrine, would eventually emerge (see Scholasticism). During the Carolingian Renaissance, monasteries and other religious institutions came to incorporate schools and centers of scholarly research, thus systematizing education to a certain degree.

The diffuse impact of the Carolingian Renaissance is thought to have been significant, as it created conditions in which nearly every intellectual and artistic pursuit could be expanded or refined, even if the intense religiosity of the movement limited its impact to some extent. The movement’s relatively short time period and its top-down implementation have led some scholars to question whether it should properly be considered a “renaissance” comparable to the European Renaissance of the 15th and 16th centuries. Whatever the terminology used, however, the developments of the Carolingian Renaissance are considered essential precursors to later scholarly, literary, and artistic movements in Europe.

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