It is interesting to note that, when modern historians (those from the late 18th c. on) hearken back to an example of a unified Europe, it is the Carolingian Empire, not the Roman one, to which they turn. Even in the case of the much-maligned Euro, the Carolingian example has been raised. Whether the Carolingian Empire lasted (or, it could be argued, ever really existed as an Empire per se) in a geographical or political sense is immaterial. The model of several individual kingdoms (or regna, to give them their proper names) under one rule clearly resonantes today. It may be argued that the divisions of Verdun still provide the general borders of Germany, France, and Italy, but it would be ill-considered to suppose that they provide any clear cultural divide. They cannot divide the Germanic-Roman Christian Legacy begun by the Carolingians. |
It is interesting to note that, when modern historians (those from the late 18th c. on) hearken back to an example of a unified Europe, it is the Carolingian Empire, not the Roman one, to which they turn. Even in the case of the much-maligned Euro, the Carolingian example has been raised. Whether the Carolingian Empire lasted (or, it could be argued, ever really existed as an Empire per se) in a geographical or political sense is immaterial. The model of several individual kingdoms (or regna, to give them their proper names) under one rule clearly resonantes today. It may be argued that the divisions of Verdun still provide the general borders of Germany, France, and Italy, but it would be ill-considered to suppose that they provide any clear cultural divide. They cannot divide the Germanic-Roman Christian Legacy begun by the Carolingians. |