How to Change the Culture, According to Charlemagne
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ม.ค. 2025
- Most cultural movements aren’t grass-roots-they’re top-down. Charlemagne’s cultural rebirth, the “Carolingian renaissance,” proved how real cultural change is accomplished through a concerted effort by society’s elites…
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A unified culture is only possible through some form of social hegemony. Charlemagne and his royal court were that hegemony. However, it's a double edged sword. The same way the elites can promote cultural uniformity, they can also promote societal collapse. This is why most societies share the idea of the "philosopher king": someone who holds all the power but is wise.
Dynastic autocracies (primarily monarchies, particularly absolutist ones) are _ALWAYS_ superior to oligarchies (like aristocracies comparable to the one you're describing) in establishing unity and continuity. Be it warrior-king or philosopher king, only a singular sovereign who rules unilaterally can hope to give a society a consistent purpose and direction.
@@Mr.Ambrose_Dyer_Armitage_Esq.Optimally, at a microstate level. Whether it be direct democracy or direct autocracy, the more local the rule, meaning, of course, smaller the territory, the easier said rule becomes.
@@Fact-fiend_1000ASMR.
Agreed, and that's typically an element of feudal monarchies, which I favor, where kings have their royal courts of trusted men whom they devolve responsibility to appoint mid-level noblemen who then, in turn, appoint local aristocrats and so on. But, that's something that governance shares with charity. The shorter the distance between giver and receiver, the more gratitude and goodly shame (for having to rely on it, thereby motivating them to better themselves and emerge from poverty to not be a burden) of the recipient, and the more heartfelt and willing the joy of the donor...which is why inner city people don't care what they squander just as we're indifferent to our current leaders and their claims to legitimacy. Why bother caring? It's a monolithic and soulless institution obsessed with power and micromanagement of our existence, callous to our particular needs and circumstances.
@@Mr.Ambrose_Dyer_Armitage_Esq. Liechtenstein is probably the closest to my ideal state. Small, sovereign monarchal state ruled by a benevolent Prince. I would only make a few changes, then it will be perfect.
@@Fact-fiend_1000ASMR.
I suppose that's fair; I've always favored the Holy Roman Empire but, Liechtenstein is wonderful place, at least, so tell the Germans I've spoken with about their travels. It's a shame Switzerland doesn't have a king; it'd be an ideal feudal confederation.
Every movement is always top-down
All culture is always engineered top-down
Our modern culture is an example
Dont be anti-semetic
@@Reinhard_Erlik Must not forget the Holobunga
depends, ours is rampant with oligarchies or aristocratic rich families
And they are mostly barbarians. No culture to speak of.
Peasant rebellions technically weren't top down
Anyone who would be top must be a servant to all. Jesus said that.
For real!!! Politicians and rulers must live according to this concept
Pssh they would like you to think that…. nothing special about a politician
@@inyomoufizaWabbit This politicians compared to aristocrats and monarchs is like the difference between a life long partner and a prostitute.
One important notice: While most old cultures built culture top down, the lack of average folks education is heavily felt in the modern day. It's not that the average british or indian lost their culture, it was never bestowed to them fully from above, so when the ruling class weakened, so did their culture. The approach to try and provide culture to the masses is hard, but important.
Most cultures are bottom up.
@@Mbrace818No, it’s not.
@dapperbunch5029 Yes it is.
@@Mbrace818 Proof?
@@dapperbunch5029 Think about how most genres of music form.
Christianity was the social fabric that united all of the different classes and borders of the Empire. This kind of cultural change can ONLY be a good one if the fundamentals of the building (Christianity in this case) is good enough, otherwise it will downspire very quickly.
And slavery, don't forget.
@@edwinblake hmm, interesting 🤔
Culture tends to form due to a belief system either intentionally or unintentionally for example in my country (Indonesia) there's this shadow puppet art called wayang that's heavily influenced by hindu, Buddhist, and Islamic culture.
Would you like to elaborate?
@@edwinblakeWho sold these slaves? Then who made slavery illegal? Followed by who continued this slave trade?
Debt slavery nowadays, nothings really changed.
Yet if you interpreted the Bible even slightly differently, you were unalived. This doesn't sound very unifying.
This is great! We need a new Renaissance in the west!
I agree, but we're not gonna get one with the way society is unfolding before our very eyes.
The renaissance was what took us away from these kinds of people.
Western elites are very self indulgent elite and are more connected to elites of other nations than general popluation of their home country. We need new elites like ford, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt who are above the rest but care about the country as well.
@@Siegfried5846Not clear. What did the reneassciance take you away from ?
Oh my magnificient elite highness, go and build your "renaissance".
Friendly critique: its a good presentation, but it doesn't really support the title or the thumbnail. I agree, change is led by elites, but you didn't talk about that. A much longer version would be very interesting to me.
Some culture is established from the top and some from the bottom. Often we consider culture to mean art, and we only consider high art to be art. Culture also includes language, religion, and fashion. High art and high fashion is always sponsored and established by a society's elites. They have the finances to patronize the most talented artists, artisans, and architects, that set the bar. In the middle ages the Church served as the civil service. It takes the political elite to establish forms by which state documents, legal documents, and international correspondence is conducted. Charlemagne standardized both the language and the script to be used in these documents. These continued in use long after he was gone. Cathedrals, castles, and palaces are called monumental architecture. To the extent that they were public buildings, they would influence the masses as to what such buildings are to look like, and what messages they convey. This is the culture that is established from the top.
Yet, folk traditions will persist. Most clothes were hand made. Village women would teach each other how to spin, weave, knit, sew, cut patterns, and adorn their families' clothes. And there is the time-honored tradition of girls doing each others' hair. Archeologists in Meso-America learned that pre-Columbian Indians constructed their homes very similarly to how the local Indians build their homes today. The court can establish an official language but the peasants will speak as they will. Consider how Old English survived the Norman conquest as a strictly oral language to re-emerge as Middle English and the official language in England. And then, American and English political and business elites made Modern English a new Lingua Franca for science and trade.
ALL pre-modern societies were bottom up. That was how the social order worked, things like culture, religion, marriage and clan are all organic bottom up institutions and societal forces.
This channel is goldmine for history lovers
Early af gang checking in
🫡
Reporting for duty
Thanks for enlightening tutorial video As a avid reader of history this was very helpful I ll watch your other videos
Waq
Pakistan
Why would ANYONE Even Pretending to be Free Want Someone Else Ruling Over them calling themselves elite?!?!?!?
It's cute how you think you're free.
@@prestonjones1653 its cute how you think your side will win
A great video to start musing “what if…” Although most of today’s American elites aim to destroy rather than build, I am very grateful for those attempting to reclaim our Western greatness.
We, the bataknese from indonesia, also being christianized like the idea in this video, started by ruling elites accept christianity, and then the rest are history, thank God we are being Christian. ❤
May the true God bless you brother.
Yeah but you still had to accept it
@@ardshielcomplex8917 yes Allah
@@Saber23 i'm proud christian,, ✝️
@@2timo314 and I care why?
Architecture is a critical component of civilization
Hello! Do you think you could share a list of music you use in your videos? Sometimes the music catches my ear and I ache to know how to find it.
Commenting to also be notified.
why are you showing images of the palatine chapel as it looks today when its completely built after Charlemagne?
I am here. 7:33 am
It’s 12:52??
I am unbeleiveably proud to simply belong to the same race and cultural tradition as this man. I must live up to his legacy and promote the blood
You do realise that, chances are, your ancestors were some of the very many slaves on which this culture was based and from which it got its wealth?
@@edwinblakeslavery was normal back then.
Based. I did a genealogy and discovered Charlemagne is a distant ancestor. We have a powerful heritage on the verge of being destroyed by multiculturalism
@rcb6ocs414 if you do the calculations and if you are European then you are, probability 1, related to every single person alive then.
Population estimates then about 30 million, let's say that was 50 generations ago, so that is about 100 trillion ancestors possible. Of course they couldn't all have been unique!
Wait, if your profile is the reverse of the three arrows, does that make you a monarcho-fascist communist?
Bl. Charlemagne pray for us.
It sounds like the education system is vital to cultural change.
And commies understand that very well.
@@VideaVice25 yes we support full and free education, now go open a real book instead of losing your poor intellect to a Peterson video
What you have presented here speaks to me more of the transformative impact of the Gospel to bear good fruit, rather than the sucsess of top down aproaches.
The same story was told 3000 years earlier in China, before the dead hippie on a stick was even born.
@@prestonjones1653 Chris is risen.
@@prestonjones1653now go say something underlines like that to Jews and see how well you stand hypocrite which I doudt you will
Such a "good fruit" that Rome fell once it became Christian XD
If you wish to make the claim that *most* cultural movements are top-down, you really need to give more than ONE example.
Kings, the court, and the noble aristocracy. Now also the capitalist class of which they should be part as rulers of free private cities
Movies, media, rock n roll, public education, same sx marriage, bee ell em, people changing their gender, atheism, volunteering for the army, the baptism of the Kievan Rus, which started by Prince Vladimir accepting Christianity in 988 AD and converting his empire. The American revolution was managed by small elite factions and on and on
Sexual revolution, fabricated by the jews
Have you seen the current cultural landscape? Completely artificial and top-down from the media elite.
I'll give you an example from my country (Indonesia) so in the past we were "colonized" by the VOC and our top government officials corrupted the money given by the VOC...
Guess who's the most corrupt nation in the world 😂?
Also, lay people here do some form of corruption 😅
It's actually one of the debate here (in Indonesian intellectual discussion)
5:36 those arches were moved as is from Theodoric’s palace in Ravenna. Fact.
You can look up other contemporaneous buildings in Ravenna and see it.
Charlemagne was careful about incorporating elements from most of the cultures of the men that made up his armies. If you check out the ceiling of this part of the Aachen cathedral, you’ll notice very similar ribbed vaulting to that used in both Theodoric’s Mausoleum and one of the major churches in Ravenna.
hey great vid! though quite a bit of suggestion, could you add your references and sources in the description or the end of the video next time in your videos? some people (i included) would love to check out the readings, journals, or books you used for the video in helping gathering the data. thank you!
An honest question, during this modern era, can we apply this inculturation of thr masses while avoinding the type of inculturation similar to that of totalitarian regimes? (Fascism, Nazism, Communism...)
Nope.
Where do you think your "culture" is coming from? XD You live in a totalitarian regime without having a clue about it.
Charlemagne was a warrior conquerer, he relied on his army to affect the change he wished to see. He slaughtered thousands of high ranking nobles at the massacre of Verden in the Saxon wars. Once you control a huge empire, it’s amazing how people will hang on your every word. It’s fortunate that he valued learning and the accomplishments of the past, but it hardly explains what people want, as opposed to what is imposed on them.
The Saxons were stupid and kept poking the bear. You can revolt, raid Christian lands, then surrender and feign submission only to revolt again, only so many times.
Don’t follow the will of the people, follow God’s. Yes, Charlemagne wasn’t perfect and his lows were low but his highs were as high as the angelic choirs. So, all in all his legacy was lasting and good. I hope he made it lad.
@@ripbeni6198 It was God's will to conquer Europe? His legacy crumbled a couple of generations later as brother set against brother after the empire was divided
I see charlie mag ne ( Stupid Name) as just another cowardly thug who had people killed and reaped the benefits. He didn't want to be killed himself ( none of them do). But wanted Power over people
People Wake Up and stop looking up to Murderous Thugs! Please
@@JoeBeThere idk what your point is. He helped turn Europe from a backwater into something better.
I went all the way to Aachen to visit the Dom, but didn't get to see Charlemagne's throne! Ugh!
ahh noo! If you looked up to the balcony in the original part of the Dom, you might have caught a glimpse of it. I was there recently and realized you needed to take the guided tour in order to see the upper level, choir, and the throne. Well worth the few euros it costs and very informative.
@@RevantuZ thanks for that. Yeah, I'll have to visit Aachen again, just to see the throne. Hopefully there'll be other historic things nearby.
Name of the music in the back? 🔥🔥
What years are you covering?
man it sure is interesting to know about the medieval western society
I would say that elites play an important role in the culture, but when they become detached from the rest of the populace then that is when grassroots efforts can prevail. Although there are multiple caveats and exceptions to this rule.
Provide some counter examples as well.
A mention of Alfred the Great and his reign during the latter half of the 9th century would have been appropriate. He initiated numerous and successful top-down efforts to enculturate his subjects. No distinction was made between secular and spiritual authority, in complete contrast to how society and culture are practiced today.
Another truly evil man.
Charlemagne
I see everyone in the comments imagines themselves as Carolingian aristocrats or their descendants. In actuality most would be descendants of the slaves they traded!
That throw away statement that Charlemagne grew his wealth from slave trading was an eye opener! Puts the whole idea of his Christian revival in a new perspective.
Less then you’d think. Most people are descendants of royalty/nobility as throughout history they tended to have more kids & their kids tended to survive longer. This was especially true from plagues. You’re statistically very likely to hold royal/noble blood.
Further, Charlemagne was over 1200 years ago. Assuming a average of 25 years between generations birth. That would have 48 generations, or over 281,474,976,710,656 ancestors. Of course there wasn’t that many due to distant family inbreeding. (if there’s only 50 people in a village genes have moved around). The point is it is very safe to assume you have both if you are in any way European descended.
Additionally, don’t copy-paste the same reply on every comment. It is annoying and if you want people to listen to you then it’s not a good idea to annoy them. If you are gonna reply “you don’t care what others think and you are only speaking the truth” then you are communication is useless. Because the point of communication is to communicate with others, not boost our ego. It is possible to convince others without annoying them.
These guys are useful idiots.
@@baumholderh8425 It doesn't matter if you hail from a king. If you are unlucky, you can still become a slave. All of us hail from both kings and slaves. If these social structures came back, you may be very unlucky.
Also, if you don't understand that Christianity is bad and you call yourself White positive, then there's really no hope for you.
Christian revivalists have no clue. They do not understand the Judaic books they keep lending credit to.
I knew it's a top down approach
This is one of the things that scares me about the current culture in the political class in America.
culture is like anything, you need lots of very intentional investment to get it to thrive. regular people never have any money, and so cant really invest in anything more grand than their immediate wants or needs.
In 800, Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III. Although historians debate the coronation's significance, the title represented the height of his prestige and authority. Charlemagne's position as the first emperor in the West in over 300 years brought him into conflict with the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople. Through his 👉assumption 👈of the imperial title, he is considered the forerunner to the line of Holy Roman Emperors, which persisted into the nineteenth century.
There was already a Roman Empire in Byzantium but never let that stop non romans calling themselves emperor in rome and crowned by whom , pretender popes and their forgeries. The west has no honour as some say i agree 10 gzillion percent.
So change can come from the top down. Only the rich and powerful have a say in the future of countries, according to this account.
Yeah, mostly ancient rotten thinking
Keep sleeping if you think otherwise.
Yes, hierarchy is necessary for any system to function. But it doesn't have to be static. Guaranteed outcomes are anathema to enduring dynamics, whether they be guaranteed equality or guaranteed inequality. The system should be dynamic and there should be constant vertical turnover. The higher you are up the hill, the harder it should be to stay there.
well, wasn’t really that lastingly positive in hindsight, was it?
America is the only civilization that's gone from barbarism to decadence WITHOUT an
intervening period of high culture -- H.L. Mencken / 20th cent writer and journalist
America has influence all over the world. Barbarians can hardly done such a feat.
All good but for One error that i think i found in the premise: i knew that charlemagne (deeply catholic) banned slavery in all his empire so i find quite unlikely for his empire to be fueled by the slave trade
Slavery was only banned if you were a Christian. Slaves could be pagan, Jewish, Muslims, or whatever else with zero qualms from the Church.
Talking about pre-technological cultures when we have electronics everywhere makes no sense.
*Daemon & Freedom* by Daniel Suarez
Says the clueless who uses tech owned by the elite XD
Imgaine that ypur life is literally that of an ikasai protagonist:
Just because we can recognize that there’s a top down element doesn’t mean that we can agree that Christianity is what should be shouted from the top down. I think this is the modern dilemma. Christianity created the modern west and that’s not to say all aspects of it are rotten, but we need a path forward that don’t cause a runaway obsession with victims, social Justice and egalitarianism.
I’m more in favor of a society that is less dogmatic. Dogmatism stunts intellectual and cultural flourishing. This is a huge problem in the West on both sides of the isle. And it contributes to our inability to agree on even the most basic things.
The highest type of culture isn’t one that has a need for religion and dogma, rather it is one that thrives in its absence. It has no need for fairy tales and myths to help cope with life, because it loves life as it is. This points to some sort of neopaganism in my view.
Neither religion or philosophy represent cultural greatness, but a sort of reliance on external truths and systems to flourish. I think the west is far too stupid to ever consider ridding itself of religion and dogma because our people are too dependent on systems since they are intellectually and physically weak.
Spirituality.
The Abrahamic religions have always been a political tool. Constantine kept saying "one god in heaven, one emperor on earth". Cultivating a variety of deities wasn't conducive to absolute, universal power. Fortunately that drive was mitigated in the middle ages by the localised nature of feudalism. Today with globalisation we feel the full brunt of tyranny.
Charlemagne: "I will to unify Europe"
Venice: "I don't think so"
Chadlemagne
Hence the importance of social classes.
Yes, but the right people need to be in the right positions, which they currently aren't.
Great video.
All of these small minded people crying and womp womping about “muh top down is immoral”. My brother in Christ, every meaningful revolution or change in the world became normalized because the elites adopted it, this includes Christianity.
Nonsense.
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is for all nations and all peoples.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 ESV
[1] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, [2] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. [3] This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, [4] who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Left out the bits in favour of slavery! And how slaves need to be obedient to their masters. Unlike you Charlemagne obviously didn't neglect that either.
@@edwinblake the Bible also says the debtor is the slave to the lender. Do you have any outstanding debts? 🤔
Oh no slavery exists! God must not be real 😅
@@sercabie oh no the "holy" bible supports slavery, it cannot be moral.
@@edwinblakedocumenting events is not the same as endorsing them. The Bible also records people who murder or commit adultery, it does not at all suggest they are good or should be practiced. When 99% of the world at the time practiced some form of slavery, God told them how to manage their slaves, to treat them as their own family, and to let them go after so many years anyways. A slave was a social class. God simply told them how to take care of the slaves they already had, and the whole point of Exodus was to free the Hebrew slaves from the oppressive tyranny of Egypt. Many verses in both OT and NT are against slavery.
The Bible calls debt more than anything a form of slavery. Do you think students in 100k debt in a failing economy living in crowded apartments to save on rent are not in every way a slave to their system? After already being for ed to give 40% of their earnings to the government that gives nothing back?
Read the text you are criticizing before making uneducated or low IQ remarks. Being a slave to finances, pornagraphy, lust, lifestyles, status, etc. is not a good thing either, which is what Christ came to deliver us from. And there is real physical slavery still today, more slaves alive today than ever before in history, mainly in Islamic countries, but people seem to prefer bashing a book out if context from something that happened thousands of years ago rather than true and evil brutality happening today that actually needs your voice and advocacy.
😮
Great video
Culture need elites and elites need culture. When elites become decedent and tyrannical, society crumbles. Sad times we live in.
Current Nigeria in a nutshell 💀💀💀💀
Yes, societies need humanistic and truly wise leaders to prosper (like they have in El Salvador)
No one needs So called elites Ruling over them. Hand them a Shovel and Say get to Work!
The people need education, not leaders. As a French I'm always surprised to witness how much the world is in a state of political infancy.
Grow up.
Renascence before it was cringe (pagan)
The Renaissance was prompted by a renewed interest in Hebrew and Greek so as to better understand scripture in its original language. A lot of what came out of the Renaissance was Christian
Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael. Titian, Bernini were all pagans!😉
@@silverghost5752 More like gnostic christians
@@Melkorleo103 Gnosticism was declared as heresy from the time of Augustine.
The origins of Christianity by their own standards today are pagan
LONG LIVE THE MEMORY OF CHARLEMAGNE, THE FIRST AND ONLY HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who savagely imposed religion to acquire more power.
Charlemagne was an illiterate
But he wasn't dumb, tho. He knew what to do.
He literally had a unique signature that included his Latin initials. He also was educated to learn Latin, and he obviously would've known his native language as well. Additionally, he introduced reforms like the Admonitio Generalis, which I've no idea how he would do that if he was illiterate. [Addendum: I believe I was right.]
But with a great regard for education. Generals don’t usually fight; they can still lead great armies.
All the more impressive though. Highly educated "leaders" can only push degeneracy and nonsense with x100,000 the resources.
@koderamerikaner5147 one of his courtiers, "secretary?" wrote his authoritative biography. That composes most of what we know about him. Wikipedia accurately reflects and references the source. (Forgot Latin name).
He liked to practice spelling and the alphabet but never became proficient as he only started in middle age and had little need for it. He was highly intellectually gifted, a genius, way smarter than most famous professors even.
Charlamagne Tha God
soy
Lol
Top down is morally wrong, especially from the perspective of Christianity. Jesus repeatedly took the side of the poor and warned the rich of the peril coming to them for being rich.
Sssssshhhhhhh
Ah yes, this is the traditional interpretation supported by all the great scholars.
I jest. Gary North wrote 31 volumes of economic commentary on the Bible, summarized it in four editions of a book, wrote another massive theoretical work on the hermeneutics, and published about 20 other books as appendices. He called it "Christian Economics." He is the world authority on what the Bible has to say about economics. All of this is free on his website, obvious domain.
If you want to refute him, you need to read at least 10,000 pages of his work and write at least a tenth of that. His interpretation is orthodox and straightforward, just what you would get from nearly any other teacher on the subject.
If you want to apply that rebuttal to social theory, you need to read his also large social theory and that of his colleagues, including R.J. Rushdoony, who have nearly all been just as prolific.
Wealth is a service to God in his kingdom on earth, and the King rules as his holy magistrate. Democracy, republicanism, and socialism are demonic and pagan ideologies condemned by scripture. Charity is supported.
No, not merely for being rich, but those who have "the love of money," and for abusing their wealth and the downtrodden. Apparently you missed all of his parables about righteous kings and vineyard owners, or all of the Old Testament stories of the righteous patriarchs and kings, all of whom were very wealthy. I suggest you _not_ read the Holy Scriptures through Marxist lenses.
@@HickoryDickory86 All thats BS. Jesus literally said its harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle then a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Not a certain type of rich man, a RICH MAN. Period. Again, Jesus said to the young rich man who asked him what must he do to have eternal life and Jesus straight up said, "Sell everything you have and give it to the poor. Then come follow me." Not, some of your riches, not be righteous and rich. SELL EVERYTHING and give it to the poor.
God allowed for divorce and polygamy in the OT because we wouldn't listen to him otherwise. But the new covenant of Jesus holds us to a higher standard and for the rich that means you can't be rich and saved. Pick one because it cannot be both anymore.
@@MasterKeyMagic lmao, you're a freaking fundamentalist. Your types is what causes the citizenry to hate and despise religion, and the bureaucracy to persecute it.
Very true. For this reason let us pray that King Charles return to the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
You must be as thick as double cream.
Culture need philanthropy not monarchy
Keep dreaming while we go extinct.
unsubscribed.
Just because you wrote this, I'll subscribe on 5 of my alt accounts and let this video autoplay in the background on all of them
It's not an airport, and you're not a plane, you don't need to announce your departure.