Our Name: Charlemagne
Charlemagne may be an unusual name for a Protestant college, but we have our reasons.
Charlemagne (c. 742–814), or Charles the Great, was one of the most influential rulers in European history and a central figure in the formation of medieval Christendom. As King of the Franks and later crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day in 800, Charlemagne united much of Western and Central Europe under a single rule for the first time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire: “Today a wide variety of indicators lead us to perceive the Carolingian age as the basis for the demographic and economic recovery that became clear around 1000 A.D. and from which modern Europe was born with all its overwhelming vitality” (Alessandro Barbero, Charlemagne: Father of a Continent, 4.).
Charlemagne is most widely known for the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of cultural renewal marked by the establishment of schools, increased literacy and writing, and the preservation of classical and Christian texts.
“The Carolingian ‘renaissance,’ as this revival of learning has sometimes been called, was remarkable for one more thing: the development of the style of lettering which we use today…. In the time of the Carolingians a particularly legible style of lettering was invented and widely adopted. Modern typefaces are all descended from this ‘Carolingian miniscule.’”
– William H. McNeill, History of Western Civilization: A Handbook, 229.
Charlemagne made known “his desire to ‘repair the workshop of learning’ (literarum officina) in the empire, ‘which now lies almost ruined by the laziness of our predecessors, and to summon to thorough knowledge of the liberal arts whomsoever we can, even by our own example’” (Guelzo and Hankins, The Golden Thread: A History of the Western Tradition, Vol. I, 839). We also recognize the ruin of education in our own day and seek to redeem it by restoring the classical traditions shaped by the wisdom of experience in the nature and order of things.
Charlemagne therefore represents Christian and classical learning, cultural renewal, and the preservation of the Western intellectual tradition.
Our Motto: Renascentia Christiana
Charlemagne College exists to further the renaissance spirit of Charlemagne. In this light, we have adopted the motto: Renascentia Christiana (Christian Renaissance or Re-birth). This motto has the double meaning of spiritual rebirth through the gospel and cultural rebirth through the liberal arts and humanities.
Our Logo: Battlement Shield with Cross
Our logo symbolizes central truths of the Christian faith: the cross, representing the crucifixion (and resurrection) of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and the battlement shield, signifying his kingly reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Our Colors: Blood Orange and White
Blood orange (#BC3823) is our main color, which symbolizes the blood of Christ and the fruit that it produces. White is our secondary color, symbolizing the purity of Christ’s Church through faith in the work of Christ.
(Charlemagne photo by Johann Nepomuk Zwerger, 12 August 2006, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1044157.)