By: Julie Toeniskoetter
Hair is one of the many features we can use today to distinguish ourselves from one another. The color and texture help define who we are in terms of ethnicity, and how we style our hair allows us to be individuals. However hair used to have a much more symbolic purpose. From the time of the barbarians until the time of Charlemagne, hair was used to establish status. Different hairstyles represented different occupations and the status one had in society.
During the Late Antiquity hair was symbolic of age. Tacitus described the act of the Germans growing their hair from the time of maturity until they have made their first kill. Only then are they allowed to shave their beard and cut their hair. He also described them as having red hair rather than the traditional blond. This could be because the blood of their enemies dyed it red. According to Tacitus, the Germanic tribes were mostly interested in warfare. Germanic men piled hair on top of their heads to make themselves seem bigger and scarier. It is similar to a dog that would raise it’s fur when it felt threatened. To keep their hair up, they would cover the many knots with butter to help them stick. In this case, hair was mostly used as a prop to enhance the image of a fierce warrior and symbolize young men’s arrival into the military lifestyle.
From these Germanic tribes rose the Merovingian Dynasty. These German kings distinguished themselves with their long flowing hair. They began growing it from birth and never cut it, nor was anyone else allowed to cut it. The Merovingians established a hierarchical system based on the length of one’s hair. The king often had hair down his back. Free men who were below the king had hair, but it did not touch their shoulders. Slaves had shaved heads. It was a grave offense to offer a slave a wig so that he could pass for a free man. During this time hair meant that you were a free man, so to forcibly shave someone was a big deal. Kings often used shearing to get rid of political rivals. Many sons, cousins, and nephews were forcibly sheared to keep them out of the way. By cutting their long hair they were reduced in rank and could not claim the throne. Foreign enemies were also sheared as a sign of submission to the Merovingian king.
The tonsure was also another way to get rid of political enemies. The tonsure is the hairstyle of monks, characterized by a ring of hair surrounding a mostly bald head. The tonsure symbolized one’s submission to God and was thought to be a reminder of his “enslavement” to God (Dutton 14). While many monks chose to be tonsured, many members of the royal or aristocratic families were tonsured against their will. This was far more drastic than cutting the hair short because it forced people into the monastery. Many of the Merovingian king’s sons were often tonsured and sent to the monastery to avoid a struggle for the throne. However, some of the royal family actually chose to be tonsured. Chlodovald (also known as Saint Cloud), the grandson of King Childebert I famously gave up his claim for power by entering the church (Dutton 15). Later Carloman, Pepin’s brother, also gave up his kingdom as well.
It is clear that the Merovingians viewed hair as a symbol of power and rank. To them, the ultimate humiliation was losing their hair. However, many who were shorn hid away in a monastery or small town and simply waited for their hair to grow back. This worked for some, like the merchant Euphronius and Theuderic III. However stories tell of others who weren’t so lucky. Chararic, the Salian king, and his son were captured by Clovis I and were tonsured. However they openly defied him by threatening to grow their hair back and return to power. Upon hearing this Clovis had their heads chopped off. He was forced by their defiance to choose the more permanent solution (Dutton 13).
Eventually the Merovingians were deposed by the mayors of the palace. Ironically, Pepin the Short followed the Merovingian tradition by having King Childeric III sheared and put into a monastery. What better way to show your power by taking it the way the old regime did. Einhard portrays the Merovingians as a figureheads who did nothing but sit on their throne growing their hair. He felt the Carolingians had a right to depose the old monarchs and take power.
Unlike the Merovingian kings with their long flowing curls, the Carolingians kept their hair short and only in some cases did they grow short beards on their faces. This is considered a reaction to the long hair that the Merovingians prided themselves for. Charlemagne in particular is only described as having short hair and a mustache. The short hair was a very roman style, and it went along with the other Roman elements that he was trying to bring back to his empire. Religion also played a role in the transition from long hair to short because long hair represented the pagan Germanic style, whereas short hair was more Christian.
During the Carolingian period, hair began to lose its significance in the royal household. Short hair was simply more Christian and Roman; it was not used to define a free man or a man of rank. The practices of shearing and tonsuring one’s enemies had mostly disappeared, though Charlemagne and Louis the Pious did use it occasionally to get rid of their rivals as the Merovingians did. Overall, rather than focusing on hair, Charlemagne focused on bringing the empire together and reorganizing the education and monastic systems.
One distinguishing feature about the Carolingians was that many wore mustaches. Charlemagne, Louis the Pious, Lothar, and Charles the Bald were all at some point depicted with mustaches. This was the new dominant royal hairstyle. They could not grow their beards or their hair, because that would be too reminiscent of the old regime. It is thought that Charlemagne may have mimicked the mustache of Theoderic the Great, a Roman Emperor whom he admired.
| By the end of the Carolingian period, hair had lost much of the symbolism and power it had had. Hair had gone from big knots piled on top of one’s head, to long flowing curls, to short and defiant. The only hairstyle that had lasted was the tonsure of the monks. The bald head with a ring of hair around it stayed significant and unchanging throughout both the Merovingian and Carolingian periods.
Works Cited
Fanning, William. "Tonsure." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1912. 30 Jun. 2008
Dutton, Paul M. Charlemagne's Mustache. Palgrave MacMillan, 2004. 1-42.
Einhard: The Life of Charlemagne, translated by Samuel Epes Turner, (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880)
Tacitus: The Agricola and Germania, A. J. Church and W. J. Brodribb, trans., (London: Macmillan, 1877), pp. 87ff
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