Bones of an Emperor
What did Charlemagne look like? A recent
scientific examination of one of his legbones have brought us a bit closer.
Already in the year AD 1000, Otto the III went to Aachen and opened the grave of Charlemagne.
According to chronicles it took place during the night and in the presence of only a few. Later in 1165
Frederic Barbarossa had the emperor declared saint. At this time his bones were lifted out of the grave
and placed in a wooden reliquary. Later in 1182 the bones were once more lifted up and placed in the
magnificent Karlsschrein. However, at that point in the story the bones were already in the process of
being shattered. In 1165 the bone of an arm had been placed in the standing arm-reliquary, in 1350 the
top of his skull was placed in the Bust of Charlemagne and the bone of a leg was placed in the gothic
reliquary from 1370 -80.
In 2009 this reliquary had to undergo restoration and a team of pathologists and anthropologists under
the direction of Pro. Dr. Frank Rühli from Zürich had the opportunity to study the legbone. Using X-rays
and computed tomography they found that Charlemagne had indeed been tall.
The
Bones
of
Charlemagne 1988
Foto: Domschatzkammer
Aachen/dpa
By working together with the anthropologist Joachim Schleifring, who was responsible for the
pathological examination in 1988 of the bones kept in the Karlsschrein, the team has been able to be
rather precise about his bodily stature.
According to these researchers, Charlemagne was 1.84 metres, which in a modern context (where
everybody on average is higher) corresponds to a 1.95 metre. He must have towered over 98 out of a 100
persons in his time.
Further they found, judging from relation between the length and the width of the tibula, that he must
have been a slender and probably a gracile person, perhaps with a weight around 78 kg. As far as could
be detected, he did not suffer from any serious illnesses. However, the team in 1988 found some
calcification in his knee and in his heel, signs of old age. He might have limped in the end, something,
which his first biographer told about him (Einhard – see below); also Thegan, who wrote about his final
days mentioned his need to lean on the arm of his son during the coronation of the latter.
Unfortunately the team have not had the opportunity to do a stable isotope analysis as this would involve
invasive procedures, which have not been allowed. This might have yielded information of where he grew
up plus not least information about his culinary habits. Some samples must have been taken, though,
since a press release from the Domschatzkammer tells us that DNA has been secured in order to make it
possible to compare it at a later stage with “relatives”, buried elsewhere. Exactly how this was done is
currently not known, as the scientific results are still waiting to be published. However the DNA results
show that the bones in the different reliquaries without doubt have belonged to the same elderly man.
Perhaps this DNA has been taken from some teeth, which were kept in the same reliquary as the tibia.
And samples might be reused for and Isotope-analysis.
Finally – just to lay any wild dreams at rest – the inventory of the contents of the Karlsschrein in 1988,
tells us that apart from the top of his skull, which is preserved in the Bust of Charlemagne, nothing
further is left of his skull. Thus, there is no reason to dream of a proper reconstruction of his looks as has
been done in connection with for instance Richard III and others.
Hopefully the full results will soon be published.
READ MORE:
Press release 29.01.2014
Charlemagne was very tall, but not robust.
By Frank J. Rühli, Bernhard Blümich and Maciej Henneberg
In: Economics and Human Biology 2010, vol 8, pp. 289 -290
“In diesem Grab ruht Karl…”. Rekognoszierung der Gebeine Karls der Grossen in Aachen.
By Joachim H. Schleifring.
In: Das Rheinische Landesmuseum, Bonn. Berichte aus der Arbeit des Museums 1989/6 pp.
Karl der Grosse: Aachens dienstbare Leiche.
By Werner Tschacher
In: Die dienstbare Leiche. Der tote Körper als medizinische, soziokulturelle und ökonomische Ressource.
Studien des Aachener Kompetenzzentrums für Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Vol 5, p. 29 -35. Kassel
University Press 2010
ISBN Print 978-3-89958-664-0
ISBN Online 978-3-89958 -665-7
Einhard’s description of Charlemagne’s personal appearance
“Charles was large and strong, and of lofty stature, though not disproportionately tall (his height is well
known to have been seven times the length of his foot); the upper part of his head was round, his eyes
very large and animated, nose a little long, hair fair, and face laughing and merry. Thus his appearance
was always stately and dignified, whether he was standing or sitting; although his neck was thick and
somewhat short, and his belly rather prominent; but the symmetry of the rest of his body concealed these
defects. His gait was firm, his whole carriage manly, and his voice clear, but not so strong as his size led
one to expect. His health was excellent, except during the four years preceding his death, when he was
subject to frequent fevers; at the last he even limped a little with one foot. Even in those years he
consulted rather his own inclinations than the advice of physicians, who were almost hateful to him,
because they wanted him to give up roasts, to which he was accustomed, and to eat boiled meat instead.
In accordance with the national custom, he took frequent exercise on horseback and in the chase,
accomplishments in which scarcely any people in the world can equal the Franks. He enjoyed the
exhalations from natural warm springs, and often practised swimming, in which he was such an adept
that none could surpass him; and hence it was that he built his palace at Aixla-Chapelle, and lived there
constantly during his latter years until his death. He used not only to invite his sons to his bath, but his
nobles and friends, and now and then a troop of his retinue or body guard, so that a hundred or more
persons sometimes bathed with him.” ( From Einhard: The Life of Charlemagne, translated by Samuel
Epes Turner , New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880)