Charlemagne and his language
Which language did Charlemagne use? A question that can apparently be answered with a single word. What sounds simple is in fact a very interesting historical chapter that reveals a lot about one of the most powerful post-Roman emperors.
The language of the Franks
- The exact place of birth of Charlemagne is not known. However, there are indications that this is the (now Belgian) municipality of Herstal. In the 40s of the eighth century this area belonged to the Franconian Empire, which is why, of course, Old Franconian was spoken there. A different mother tongue Charles would have seemed a bit strange, since he was king of the Franconian Empire from 768 on.
- The old Franconian is not to be confused with the old French. There were points of contact between the two languages; while Old French, however, is Romance language Franconian belongs to the Germanic language family.
- Under Karl, the old Franconian received the official name "theodisca lingua", which means something like the "language of the people". The word "German" is derived from this term. (A forerunner of the term can be found in the fourth century.)
Charlemagne and Latin
- Charlemagne was also able to speak Latin. He had to be there too Latin for the many people of different origins at his court, the only possibility was to communicate with one another.
- Karl was an unusually educated ruler who was keen to give other people the opportunity to gain further education. In 789, for example, he passed a decree that obliged all monasteries in the empire to set up Latin schools. In this way, Charlemagne was largely responsible for the importance of Latin in the later Middle Ages. Ironically, Karl himself was unable to write Latin because he was illiterate throughout his life.
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