Finistère may have disappeared from the Shipping Forecast, but Finistère, Department 29, France, is very much with us.  This most westerly region of Brittany in mainland France should be a ‘must’ on any visitor’s list of places to see.  Brittany (formerly Bretagne) is an ancient Celtic country that maintained its independence from France until the end of the fifteenth century.  Today the inhabitants of Brittany are fiercely proud of their Breton culture and nowhere is this more evident than in Finistère...

France and England have been inextricably linked almost from time immemorial and  most of us are aware of the main French personalities who have played a part in shaping their country’s fortunes.  Other leaders of France rate barely in line in our history books. There is one King, almost unknown outside of France, who was instrumental in shaping the futures of France and England for many centuries and by his action created the longest war in our histories...

Driving down to the south of France, across the wonderfully varied countryside, the sun’s warmth working its magic after the cold of winter, it is not easy to think of this region of France as being home to bloodthirsty deeds.

However, between the years 1012 and 1020 what appeared to be a new religion emerged in the Limousin region of France and, gaining strength, spread southwards to the Languedoc, a province famed for its tolerance and liberalism. This was the beginning of a sad period in French history...

 Charlemagne

Charlemagne’s life is a jumble of fact and fiction. A great king, he was known throughout the western world from the epic poems recounting his noble deeds, some exaggerated or even invented. While legend tells of his heroic exploits bringing Christianity to all four corners of his empire, he was a ruler whose true story and legacy to Europe were probably even more impressive than the romantic myths surrounding him and his knights. Was he, in fact, a thoroughly modern European?

Nothing has been recorded about his birth and early boyhood, though it is generally thought he was born in 742AD, probably on the borders between Germany and France. When his father died, Charlemagne and his brother shared their inherited empire, but within 3 years his brother had died, and Charlemagne at the age of 29 became ruler of a vast realm. He was King of the Franks, and it was the Franks who gave their name to France, despite the Romans having previously conquered Gaul.

Charlemagne became the ruler of western Europe “by the sword and the cross.” During his lifetime of 71 years, he waged ferocious campaigns across Europe to subdue the infidels and enforce Christianity. At the height of his power,  his empire extended across Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and part of Italy as well as most of France. It was only the French, however, who took Charlemagne to their hearts and he has become inextricably linked with the French nationality. Today most other Europeans know little of him and the debt modern Europe owes him.   

It took  around 30 years and over 53 campaigns to subdue the Saxons. Time after time the Saxons returned to their pagan ways, and encroached on Charlemagne’s territory, and time after time Charlemagne summoned his knights and their armies to fight. At one point, after offering his enemies the choice between baptism and death, 4500 were put to death. He could be ruthless.

He divided his vast kingdom into districts where counts and dukes were expected to uphold the rule of law. Intermittently he would send messengers out into his realm to verify the integrity of his representatives. When insurrection loomed, he would summon his knights and barons with their armies to join him and it was his supreme organisational skills that enabled him to wage campaigns as far apart as Lombardy, Spain, northern Germany and Holland. His often rapid marches across large stretches of country meant he rarely stayed in any place for a long time. His court was based at Aix-La-Chapelle, at that time part of Gaul, almost at the centre of his empire. He became the benefactor and protector of many places in France. In 725,  Lyons had been ravaged by the Saracens, when Charlemagne came to its aid. After driving the enemy away, he resurrected the town, established a rich library in the monastery of Ile Barbe, and so was able to restore learning in Lyons. In Brittany, the ancient abbey of St. Meen, near Cancale, fearing attack, requested his protection which he duly granted. After one of his few defeats, Charlemagne set about building a new church in a small town, St Denis, 4 miles north of Paris where he had been christened. This site had long been a famous place of pilgrimage and, by the efforts of Charlemagne, it became one of the most impressive abbeys in the whole of France, where kings and princes were buried.

During one of his campaigns against the Saxons, he established a summer camp and built a villa at Casseneuil in the Lot et Garonne. Although no evidence of the villa remains, his son, Louis the Pious, his successor, was born there and often stayed  with his mother whilst Charlemagne was away fighting.

In his prime he was a majestic figure, 6 ft 4ins tall with bright eyes, flowing hair and a grizzly beard. He gathered around him a great number of intellectuals and his court became a beacon for men of learning. Although a warrior, he was also a learned man, able to converse in old Teutonic, read Latin and understand Greek but though he tried, particularly in old age, he never mastered the art of writing. He encouraged the arts and devised the system of pounds, shillings and pence that was used throughout Europe in the middle ages and in the UK until 1971.

At the end of 800 AD Charlemagne summoned his armies once more and marched to Rome to defend the new Pope Leo III, who had many enemies. Shortly before the start of the New Year, Leo recognising the debt owed to Charlemagne by the Christian Church, proclaimed him Emperor, King of the Holy Roman Empire, the first Christian to be so crowned. This was the summit of his career. During his final years his health began to suffer and finally in 814 AD Charlemagne died of pleurisy.

Through his Herculean efforts Europe was truly united for the first time. It had a cohesive administrative structure, a universal monetary system, the arts flourished, and the quest for knowledge was encouraged. But of course it didn’t last. Charlemagne had been the driving force in Europe for almost half a century but his successors eventually quarrelled and once again the region was torn apart. That is until the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957 and the new European Union came into being.

They came from out of the mists of ancient times, quietly and peacefully at first, integrating easily to the way of life of the existing population. But hard on their heels came their more aggressive brothers, who battled their way across Europe and finally, finding their place in the sun, settled in France. These people, whose origins remain unclear, had come down from Bohemia and afterwards dominated Europe for over 1,000 years.