Charlemagne and Desiderata _Frontispiece_ Charlemagne, Charles Martel, Clovis, Pepin the Short 26 Wittekind’s Submission 56 Charlemagne and Alcuin 78 Otto the Third in the Crypt of Charlemagne 96
It was at Ingelheim[1] on the Rhine that Charlemagne usually established his court during the middle period of his reign. An obelisk upon one of the adjacent heights, erected in 1807, bears the inscription, “Charlemagne’s highway.” The erection of his palace at this spot shows his keen appreciation of its natural beauty. The view from these heights toward the Rhine, Johannisberg,[2] and the Rheingau,[3] taking in a blooming, fruitful valley, is incomparably fine. In one of the descriptions of the vicinity, it is related that Charlemagne was the first Frankish ruler who built in the grand style. It says:
“A great admirer of the monuments of Greek and Roman architecture, Charlemagne was not satisfied with the simplicity of his ancestors, and sought to combine the useful and the beautiful, the comfortable and the artistic. He built not merely as the owner, but like a king. He selected one of the most beautiful spots on the heights of Rheingau for the palace of Ingelheim. The broad river, enclosing numerous islands in its strong arms, is visible throughout its entire course from the bend where it enters Rheingau, below Mainz, to the point where it plunges into the dark abyss of Bingerloch. The smiling meadows along its banks at the foot of vine-clad hillsides spread out like a charming panorama.”
The palace itself is described by contemporaries as a wonder of art, transplanted as if by magic from the Italian Ravenna to the banks of the Rhine. Charlemagne secured the hundred marble and granite columns upon which the structure rests, as well as the mural decorations of the interior, through the favor of the Pope. Barbarian opulence in buildings was usually displayed in the lavish use of gold and silver, and artistic effect was sought for in brilliant metallic shimmer. But Charlemagne employed gold and silver only for the decoration of that beautiful work of art—the reproduction of the old palace at Ravenna upon the Ingelheim heights—a conspicuous evidence of that great change in times and customs by which not only the abode, but eventually the title and sceptre, of the Cæsars came into the possession of a German sovereign.