The personal appearance of Charles is thus described by Einhard:--"Big
and robust in frame, he was tall, but not excessively so, measuring
about seven of his own feet in height. His eyes were large and lustrous,
his nose rather long and his countenance bright and cheerful." He had a
commanding presence, a clear but somewhat feeble voice, and in later
life became rather corpulent. His health was uniformly good, owing
perhaps to his moderation in eating and drinking, and to his love for
hunting and swimming. He was an affectionate father, and loved to pass
his time in the company of his children, to whose education he paid the
closest attention. His sons were trained for war and the chase, and his
daughters instructed in the spinning of wool and other feminine arts.
His ideas of sexual morality were primitive. Many concubines are spoken
of, he had several illegitimate children, and the morals of his
daughters were very loose. He was a regular observer of religious rites,
took great pains to secure decorum in the services of the church, and
was generous in almsgiving both within his empire and without. He
reformed the Frankish liturgy, and brought singers from Rome to improve
the services of the church. He had considerable knowledge of theology,
took a prominent part in the theological controversies of the time, and
was responsible for the addition of the clause _filioque_ to the Nicene
Creed. The most attractive feature of his character, however, was his
love of learning. In addition to his native tongue he could read Latin
and understood Greek, but he was unable to write, and Einhard gives an
account of his futile efforts to learn this art in later life. He loved
the reading of histories and astronomy, and by questioning travellers
gained some knowledge of distant parts of the earth. He attended
lectures on grammar, and his favourite work was St Augustine's _De
civitate Dei_. He caused Frankish sagas to be collected, began a grammar
of his native tongue, and spent some of his last hours in correcting a
text of the Vulgate. He delighted in the society of scholars--Alcuin,
Angilbert, Paul the Lombard, Peter of Pisa and others, and in this
company the trappings of rank were laid aside and the emperor was known
simply as David. Under his patronage Alcuin organized the school of the
palace, where the royal children were taught in the company of others,
and founded a school at Tours which became the model for many other
establi