Western Culture Global Presents The Top 100 Heroes of Western Culture These individuals have most contributed to replacing ignorance with knowledge, savagery with civilization, disease with health, tyranny with liberty, poverty with abundance, and despair with happiness. #19: Charlemagne (747-814) Charlemagne was King of the Franks and, for a relatively brief time, the undisputed ruler of Western Europe. More importantly, however, he was a promoter of civilization in an age of darkness. Before Charlemagne, most of Europe was in state of near anarchy and had all but forgotten the value of education. Charlemagne established a central government over Western Europe, thereby restoring much of the unity and order of the old Roman Empire. In addition, he restored at least some emphasis on learning and intellectuality. Without the heroic, largely single-handed efforts of Charlemagne, civilization in Europe may have entirely vanished, and the continent would have likely plunged into an abyss from which it would never recover. In other words, his efforts were crucial in keeping the classical Greco-Roman heritage alive, the same heritage that centuries later would give birth to the Renaissance, a revival from which virtually all of advanced civilization would grow. Go to #20: Euclid Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — Home Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — by Numerical Order Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — by Century Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — by Category
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