Imperial deputies, or _missi_, lay and ecclesiastical together, visited all parts of the kingdom to examine and report as to their condition, to hold courts, and to redress wrongs. There were appeals from them to the imperial tribunal, over which the _Palsgrave_ presided. Twice in the year great _Assemblies_ were held of the chiefs and people, to give advice as to the framing of laws. The enactments of these assemblies are collected in the _Capitularies_ of the Frank kings. In the Church, Charlemagne tried to secure order, which had sadly fallen away, and had given place to confusion and worldliness. He himself exercised high ecclesiastical prerogatives, especially after he became emperor. LEARNING AND CULTURE.--One of the chief distinctions of Charlemagne is the encouragement which he gave to learning. In his own palace at _Aachen_ (_Aix_), he collected scholars from different quarters. Of these the most eminent is _Alcuin_, from the school of York in England. He was familiar with many of the Latin writers, and while at the head of the school in the palace, and later, when abbot of St. Martin in _Tours_, exerted a strong influence in promoting study. _Charlemagne_ himself spoke Latin with facility, but not until late in life did he try to learn to write. It was his custom to be read to while he sat at meals. Augustine's _City of God_ was one of the books of which he was fond. In the great sees and monasteries, schools were founded, the benefits of which were very soon felt. CHARLES'S PERSONAL TRAITS.--Charlemagne was seven feet in height, and of noble presence. His eyes were large and animated, and his voice clear, but not so strong as his frame would have led one to expect. His bearing was manly and dignified. He was exceedingly fond of riding, hunting, and of swimming. _Eginhard_, his friend and biographer, says of him, "In all his undertakings and enterprises, there was nothing he shrank from because of the toil, and nothing that he feared because of the danger." He died, at the age of seventy, on Jan. 28, 814. He had built at _Aix la Chapelle_ a stately church, the columns and marbles of which were brought from Ravenna and Rome. Beneath its floor, under the dome, was his tomb. There he was placed in a sitting posture, in his royal robes, with the crown on his head, and his horn, sword, and book of the Gospels on his knee. In this posture his majestic figure was found when his tomb was opened by _Otto III_., near the end of the tenth century. The marble chair in which the dead monarch sat is still in the cathedral at _Aix_: the other relics are at _Vienna_. The splendor of Charlemagne's reign made it a favorite theme of romance among the poets of Italy: a mass of poetic legends gathered about it.