The ablest monarchs of Europe, both in the Middle Ages and in modern times, from Otto III to Napoleon, including Frederic Barbarossa and Louis XIV, all have felt the power of his personality. Napoleon speaks of him as his illustrious predecessor. Yet, as a politician, Charles was inferior to his father, Pippin, whose shrewdness in arranging momentous political combinations he did not inherit, and on the field of battle he was not the equal of his grandfather, Charles Martel. He never won a battle such as Poictiers, and with one or two exceptions the narrative of his campaigns shows nothing of the skilful and spectacular generalship of Belisarius. In his wars no unusual gifts of strategy were required; no great mastery of tactics was necessary. But he was what one of his contemporaries declared, “the powerful fighter who smote the Saxons and humbled the hearts of the Franks and Barbarians, who had been able to resist the might of the Romans.” His campaigns attest energy and obstinacy, a clear-sighted ability to see when and where a decisive blow must be delivered. He never lost his head in a dangerous position, and so he was able to take in a military problem in its various aspects, and while resting at one stage of a conflict, he could quietly prepare to overcome his adversaries in a second move. His mind was well balanced, it worked logically and with a large vision, and he aimed at acting in such a way that the innumerable details of his work as ruler would be explicable and could harmonize as parts of a well-considered whole. He was general-in-chief, and he also realized as we have seen, Constantine’s description of himself in relation to the Church, as “chief bishop for its external affairs.” As a judge, Charles was the supreme court of appeal, and was in this capacity remarkable for his severity and unsparing attitude to the guilty. Though he was not a genius as an administrator, he showed industry and judgment in using and in improving such organs of government as were known in his day in Western Europe. As we have pointed out, his capitularies show him to us as a great landlord, familiar with agricultural methods, able to measure the economic needs of a large estate, and to act accordingly, possessing an extraordinary amount of practical energy and versatility.