ABSTRACT
Classical cultur e had never entirel y disappeared fro m Europe, thanks to the protection afforded to ancient manuscript s by monastery librarie s after the divisio n and disintegratio n of the Roman empir e in the fift h century A D . Afte r Charlemagne was crowned i n Rome on Christmas Day 800, however , he attempted to restore the Roman empir e in the west by stimulatin g a widespread reviva l of Roman literature , art and architecture, as wel l as of politica l institutions . This is what is called the firs t importan t classical 'renewal ' or renovatio in the eighth and nint h centuries. Classical texts were studied criticall y and collated by scholars lik e Lupu s of Ferrieres. They were then copied in manuscripts that were decorated wit h illustration s modelled on classical drawing s and writte n in a clear, roun d hand that fifteenth-centur y humanist s later imitated , thinkin g it was ancient - thanks to who m the printe d typ e we now read today is i n fact Carolingia n i n origi n rather than genuinely classical. Literar y biographies such as Einhard' s Life of Charlemagne were writte n on the model of Suetonius's Lives of the Emperors and in new palace schools the classical curriculu m was taught again by scholars lik e Alcuin , who m Charlemagne brough t fro m York to instruc t his household. Alcui n hoped to combine 'Plato's academy in the seven liberal arts' wit h 'the teachings of our Lor d Jesus Christ ' to create a new Athen s i n the imperia l court [122 p. 15]. There was an architectural revival , too, wit h Vitruvius' s Treatise on Architecture, as wel l as survivin g Roman buildings , providin g the model for Charlemagne's palace at Aachen. The reviva l was widespread , and althoug h it was followe d by another period of devastation and politica l disorder , i t di d serve to keep aliv e classical models that migh t otherwis e have disappeared durin g continuin g barbarian invasions.
