Charlemagne (French: Charlemagne, German: Karl der Gro ß e, English: Charles the Great; April 2, 742 - January 28, 814), or Charlemagne ("Man" means the Great Emperor). King of the Carolingian Empire of the Frankish Kingdom (reigned from 768 to January 28, 814), founder of the Charlemagne Empire.
In 768, after the death of his father Piping, a dwarf, Charlemagne and his brother Kaloman were crowned kings and divided the Frankish Kingdom. After the death of Carolman in 771, Charlemagne merged all the territory of Frank. In 774, Charlemagne, in the name of assisting Pope Hadrian, sent troops to destroy the Lombardy Kingdom, expanding his power to the north and central Italy. From 772 to 804, he launched many wars against the Saxons, conquered Bavaria, defeated Slavs and Avals, and made the Charlemagne Empire reach north to the Baltic Sea and south to the western part of Eastern Europe in the Adriatic Sea. In 800, he was crowned "Emperor of the Romans" by Pope Leo III. In 806, Charlemagne made a will to divide the empire equally among his three sons, Charlie, Pippin and devout Louis. In 814, Charlemagne died in Aachen at the age of 72.
Charlemagne made outstanding achievements in administration, justice, military system and economic production, and vigorously developed cultural and educational undertakings. It was he who introduced European civilization and transferred the cultural focus from the Mediterranean Greece to the Rhine River in Europe. Later generations considered him one of the most important rulers in European history and enjoyed the honor of "Pater Europae".

Family background and succession
Bust of Charles the Great, Aachen Cathedral
In 741, Charlemagne (the first translation of Charles the Great and Carl the Great, "Man" means "great" in French, that is, the Great Emperor) was probably born in what is now Helstad, Belgium. His father was Piping (Piping III), a palace dwarf in the Frankish Kingdom. Grandfather Charlie Matt won the Battle of Tours in 732 [41], crushing the plan of the Arab Empire to conquer France. In 751, Pippin declared himself the King of Frank, ending the rule of the Merovian Dynasty and establishing a new dynasty, now called the Carolingian Dynasty, named after Charlemagne's grandfather, Charles Martel.
On September 24, 768, the dwarf Piping died in Saint Denis. On his deathbed, he still divided the land of the Frankish Kingdom equally among his two sons according to the tradition of the Merovian Dynasty: Charlemagne shared Ostracia, Newstria and the north of Aquitan, and his brother Kaloman shared southern Aquitan, Burgundy, Provence and Septimania. [6] [34] In October, Charlemagne and Kaloman were crowned kings in Nuwayong and Suwason respectively. [1]
At the beginning, the brothers got along well, but when the Aquitan uprising took place, Kaloman refused to help Charlemagne suppress the uprising (he said that he was late after the chaos subsided). [34] Through similar events, the contradiction between the two became more and more. But in 771, Kaloman died suddenly. This accident made Charlemagne, 29, merge the whole country and become the only monarch of the Frankish Kingdom. [2] [7] [8]
Einhard, the biographer of Charlemagne, described him as a tall man, nearly 7 feet tall, with big and bright eyes, a slightly long nose, a ruddy face and a happy expression. Charlemagne's private life habits are not all good, but he strictly abides by religious ceremonies, and is very concerned about the missionaries and schools held by the church. Although he never learned to write, he knew German and Latin, and could understand Greek, although he did not speak it well. Charlemagne admired learned people very much and did a lot of work to encourage learning research.

Lombardy Conquest
Head of Charles the Great on silver coins in the early 9th century
At the time of Charlemagne's accession to the throne, the Frankish Kingdom mainly included many regions of today's France, Belgium and Switzerland, as well as today's Netherlands and Germany. With the further development of the feudal system, military and ecclesiastical nobles urgently demanded to expand outward to seize land and labor. In this situation, Charlemagne commanded the Frankish army to start large-scale campaigns for several years. [2]
After the death of Kaloman, his widow and two sons had taken refuge in the Lombardy Kingdom in northern Italy. In 773, Dishidrius, the last king of Lombardiliut Prand dynasty, sent troops to attack Hadrian I, the Pope who did not obey his orders, and arrived at Rome. Charlemagne, after divorce from his Lombardy wife Tisaidrata, had no scruples and decided to send troops to Italy. In 774, Charlemagne, in the name of assisting the pope, led the army to cross the Alps and attack Lombardy Kingdom after receiving the appeal from the Holy See. He adopted the tactics of surprise attack, siege and forced landing, captured all the territory of Lombardy, captured Desiderius, and became the king of Lombardy. [2] [27] [37] Carolman's widow and children fell into Charlemagne's hands and never showed up again. [35]
On Easter Day in 774, when the war was still going on, Charlemagne went to Rome and reiterated to the Pope the promise made by his father Piping in 756 (see the entry Piping offered soil), that is, to dedicate central Italy to the Pope. He was awarded the title of "Roman Elder" by the Pope. Since then, northern and central Italy has been under Charlemagne's control. [2]
In 776, Adelcis, the son of Desiderius, launched a rebellion with the support of Arecis, the Duke of Benevento in the south of Italy. Charlemagne therefore invaded Italy again in 780, pacified the rebellion, took the Principality of Benevento as a vassal, and established his 5-year-old son Piping as the king of Italy. [31] [37]
In the western part of the Frankish Kingdom, Charlemagne pacified the resistance of the Aquitan nobles after three wars, and in 778, made his son Louis (namely the devout Louis) king of Aquitan.

Eastern expansion
Saxony mire
Main Term: Saxony War
In 785, Charlemagne (the horseman) accepted the surrender of the Saxons
The largest military operation in Charlemagne's military career was the conquest of the Saxons. [34]
Saxons live between the lower reaches of the Rhine River and the Elbe River. In the 8th century, the fashion was in the disintegration stage of the primitive commune, and they believed in primitive polytheism. In order to bring Saxony into the territory of the Frankish Kingdom, from 772 to 804, Charlemagne launched several attacks in the name of spreading Christianity. Saxons resisted the invasion and enslavement of the Franks tenaciously. The war lasted until 804, and the total number of attacks was no less than 18. Sometimes Charlemagne led the troops personally, and sometimes sent nobles to lead the attacks. Although it paid a great price, it never won a complete victory, nor was it able to gain a firm foothold in the area where Saxons live. [2] [3]
With the war going on, Saxony's social structure and political power were divided. The weakened nobles surrendered to Charlemagne and regained their land as vassals. The free peasants in Saxony, dissatisfied with being dependent peasants of vassals, launched an uprising in 792 to oppose the land annexation conducted by the Franks and the Saxon nobles who had already surrendered. In 803, Charlemagne held a meeting in Regensburg, clearly demarcating Saxony as the border of the east of Frankfurt. In 804, the free people's uprising that lasted more than ten years was completely suppressed, and Saxony was completely included in the territory of Charlemagne Empire. [3]
In the war, Charlemagne took a cruel means of repression, slaughtered a large number of Saxons and forced them to migrate. For example, during the Battle of Verdun in 782, Charlemagne executed 4500 Saxon hostages in one day, and later forced 10000 Saxons to move to Gaul and Flanders to prevent rebellion. [34] However, he paid more attention to the use of the Christian Church as a means of consolidating conquest, established a large number of churches in Saxony, forced all Saxons to believe in Christianity, and stipulated that those who violated churches and priests, did not believe in Christianity, did not abide by religious rules, and retained pagan habits could be executed. Residents everywhere must provide the church with land, houses, labor and tithes. [2] In the course of these forced conversion movements, it is estimated that as many as a quarter of Saxons were killed. [35]
Charlemagne pushed the feudal system of Western Europe to Saxony and the vast areas of central Europe through conquest. [2]
Occupy Bavaria
While fighting with the Saxons, Charlemagne also went to southern Germany and southwestern France to consolidate his control over these areas. In 787, he sent troops to Bavaria on the south bank of the upper reaches of the Danube, deposed the Duke of Bavaria, and divided Bavaria into several count districts, which were governed by the count appointed by him.

War with Slav and Aval
Charlemagne in European Copperplate in the 16th Century
In order to ensure the security of the empire and the eastern border area, Charlemagne fought with the Slavs who lived on the east bank of the Elbe River to make some tribes surrender. [2]
From 788 to 796, Charlie lived with the Aval people in the Pannonia area in the middle reaches of the Danube River and fought a large-scale war. The Awar Khanate is a country established by the Rouran people, a nomadic tribe in Asia, who moved to Europe. In 791, Charlemagne was enraged by the support of the Awar people for the Bavarian uprising, and personally led the army to defeat Chakan, the leader of the Awar people, and fought from the Enshe River to the Labu River. In 796, the Frankish army led by Pippin of Italy captured the circular barrier surrounded by earth and wood fences, which the Alvars claimed to be impregnable, and captured a large amount of wealth that the Alvars had plundered for a long time. The Awar Khanate was gradually disintegrated after the continuous attacks of the Frankish army in the west and the Bogar Khanate in the east. [12] From 799 to 803, the Awar people launched an uprising against the rule of the Franks, but it ended in failure. [2] [13] [37] Charlemagne established the Pannonia Mark ("Mark" means "border area") in this area to strengthen control. [34]
Although the countries east of Saxony and Bavaria were not occupied by the Franks, the countries in a wide area from the east of Germany to Dalmatia recognized the sovereignty of Franks. After several wars, the influence of the Frankish Kingdom extended to the Baltic Sea in the north, the Adriatic Sea in the south, and the Danube Plain in the east. The influence of Christianity was also spread in these areas. [2] [37]
Iberian War
Main term: Battle of the pass of Ronce Swayers
The statue of Charlemagne beside Notre Dame in Paris, photographed by Larry Johnson
Charlemagne also tried to secure his southern frontier. In 777, he led his troops across the Pyrenees to attack the Islamic Caliphate of Cordoba on the Iberian Peninsula, and went straight to the city of Zaragoza, but failed for a long time. Later, the Saxons decided to withdraw and return home because of another incident. On August 15, 778, the Basques ambushed the Franks' defenders at the pass of Lonceswayes in the Pyrenees. Charlemagne's nephew Roland fought bravely until he died. [29] This story was compiled into the famous epic "Song of Roland". [2]
After this defeat, Charlemagne went on another expedition in 793, defeating the Basques and Cordoba Emir Hisham I one after another, and driving the Moors to the south of the Ebro River. In order to consolidate the frontier, Charlemagne established the Spanish Mark in the conquered areas in 795. In 801, after a long siege, the Franks again occupied Barcelona, which was the capital of the Spanish border area. [2] [28-29]
At the same time, Charlemagne's fleet defeated the Moors in the Mediterranean and occupied Corsica and Sardinia. On the Atlantic coast, Charlie launched expeditions twice in 786 and 799 to subdue the Brittany people on the Brittany Peninsula and annexed part of the land on the peninsula. During this period, he took control of Frisian and fought against the Norman invasion. [2] [34]
Thanks to Charlemagne's many victories in the war (the Franks made 54 expeditions during his 45 year rule), most of Western Europe was successfully under his unified leadership. His empire actually reached to include most of today's France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the lowlands, as well as one region and many border regions of Italy. Since the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe has not had such a vast territory controlled by a single country. [34] [35]
Crowned emperor
Charlemagne tried his best to safeguard and improve the rights and interests of the Roman Church with the attitude of protecting people. [14] In the heyday, only having the title of barbarian king could not meet the needs of Charlemagne's rule. The Pope, who always used Charlemagne's power to expand the church, solved this problem for him. [2]
In 795, Leo III ascended the throne of the pope by means of conspiracy, which was opposed by some great nobles in Rome. Leo sent messengers to ask Charlemagne for help, and presented the key of Peter's Hall and the flag of Rome to Charlemagne to show obedience and loyalty. He was supported by Charlemagne, so as to maintain his position. [14]
In April 799, the Roman nobles launched a coup and imprisoned Leo III under the pretext of his dissolute life and misconduct. Leo III escaped luckily and went straight to the front line of Saxony to ask Charlemagne for help. However, Charlemagne was in a fierce battle with the Saxons and had no time to get out of the war. After a slight turn in the war, he personally led the army south in the summer of 800, forcing the Roman nobles to release Leo III. In November, Leo III, who was grateful to him, visited Rome for tens of miles in person, connecting Charlemagne to Rome. On Christmas Day, December 25, Charlemagne was celebrating mass in the rectangular hall of St. Peter's Cathedral. Leo III suddenly put a crown on Charlemagne's head and declared him "the emperor of the Romans". [9] [7] [3] [15] From the main point of view, it means that Charlemagne became the heir of the ancient Roman Empire, the protector of the Christian world, and the legitimate heir of Augustus Caesar. From then on, the system of the Holy See and the royal court's dual rule over Western Europe was established.

In 802, Charles issued a decree at the imperial conference held in Aachen, requiring all vassals, secular or church, to swear allegiance to him again in the name of "Caesar" (Nomen Caesaris). [3]
charlemagne
charlemagne
However, Charlemagne Empire is not the Roman Empire, but just a continuation of its glory. First, the scope of the two empires is quite different. The Charlemagne Empire in its heyday was about half the size of the Western Roman Empire. The two empires successively ruled the same regions including Belgium, France, Switzerland and northern Italy. But Britain, Spain, southern Italy and northern Africa, which together formed part of the Roman Empire, were not under Charlemagne's control; Germany, which formed an important part of his territory, was never under Roman rule. Second, Charlemagne was not a Roman in any respect, in terms of blood, appearance and upbringing. Franks are a Teutonic tribe. Charlemagne's mother tongue is an ancient Germanic dialect, although he learned to speak Latin. Charlemagne spent most of his life in northern Europe, especially in Germany. He has only paid four visits to Italy. The capital of his empire was not Rome but Aachen. Moreover, after being crowned emperor, Charlemagne did not give up his original title of king. His full title was "Charles Augustus, the great and peaceful emperor crowned by God, who ruled the Roman Empire and was favored by God as the king of Franks and Lombards". [7] [35]
Charlie's talents and achievements were not limited to military conquest. He carried out a series of measures in administrative, judicial and military systems, economic production and management systems, church organization rules, culture and education, which to a large extent established the development model of the feudal society in Western Europe. [2] The characteristics of these policies are reflected in the famous Charlemagne Collection of Acts. In fact, these are not laws in the true sense, but a compilation of decrees, rulings and instructions involving various civil, religious, public and domestic affairs. [27]
Charlemagne's sword
Charlemagne's sword
However, under the prosperity, Charlemagne's personal insurmountable crisis lurked in the empire itself. There are many tribes and tribes in the huge empire. Their cultural and social development levels are different. There is no unified economic foundation between regions and there is no necessary economic and cultural connection. In the process of imperial expansion, the religious feudal lords became more powerful than ever before, and their economic and political dominance was also greatly consolidated. They no longer needed strong kingship, but became its opponents. Charlemagne took many measures in the later period of his rule to fight for economic and political control with feudal lords everywhere. However, under the social conditions where natural economy was dominant at that time, the central government did not maintain a long-term unified socio-economic foundation and strength. [2] The History of France, edited by French scholar George Duby, believes that "in the last 13 years of Charlemagne's rule, the empire has moved towards disintegration: the land border is unclear, the sea border is threatened, and the management of huge territory is powerless. More importantly, the concept of national unity is not firmly based." [7]
Old age and death
The coffin made for Charlemagne in the period of Frederick II
The coffin made for Charlemagne in the period of Frederick II [16]
In 806, Charlemagne made a will to divide the empire equally among three legitimate legitimate children: Charles, Piping (known as "Italian Piping") and the devout Louis the Pious. According to his decision, the eldest son, Charlie, acquired all the Gaul territories in the northern part of the empire and north of the Loire River, the second son, Pi, shared equally Bavaria and Alamania, and the youngest son, Louis, shared equally the southern part of Gaul. This decision was broken by the death of Charles and Pippin in 810 and 811 respectively, and finally the devout Louis alone obtained the inheritance right of the entire empire. [7]
In 813, Charlemagne crowned Louis in Aachen. In the same winter, when the weather was extremely cold, Charlemagne insisted on going out hunting and contracted wind chill (Einhard believed that he died of chest pain and high fever [32] and pleuritis [17]), and finally died in the Aachen Palace on January 28, 814 at the age of 72. He was buried in Aachen Cathedral after his death. [40] His son Louis succeeded to the throne. [2] [27]
Shortly after Charlemagne's death, the empire split. In 843, according to the Treaty of Verdun (French: Le trait é de Verdun), his three grandchildren were kings, and the empire was divided into three parts: Charles the Bald ruled the kingdom of West France, which was the embryonic form of France; Louis ruled the Eastern Frankish Kingdom, which was later Germany; The region between the east and the west became the later Italy, which was ruled by the last grandson, Lothai. The language of the Franks also appeared obvious differentiation, forming the national languages of French, German and other Western European countries.

Half a century after the death of Charlemagne, various legends about him were widely spread first in West France and then in East France. More and more legends gradually sanctified the image of Charlemagne, and some fictitious martial arts and fabricated myths, or such as "the apostle of Saxony" and "the defender of the Holy City of Jerusalem", were attributed to him. After the 12th century, Charlemagne became a saint. [23] In 1165, Pope Alexander III honored Charles as the "Pater Europae" according to the instructions of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I.