General Notes

Name: Charles I Holy Roman Emperor
Reference Number: 8024
Sex: M
Birth: 2 APR 0742 in Aix la Chapelle, Austrasia
Death: 28 JAN 813/14 in Aachen, Austrasia
Event: BET. 768 - 814 King of the Franks
Event: 0774 King of the Lombards
Event: BET. 800 - 814 Holy Roman Emperor
Event: BET. 774 - 804 united most of Western Europe by 804
Event: 0788 incorporated the Duchy of Bavaria
Event: BET. 791 - 796 Defeated the Avars, Bulgarians and Slavs
Event: 0810 Defended a Danish attack
Event: 25 DEC 0800 Crowned Charlemagne by Pope Leo III
Event: 0768 King of Franks
ALIA: /Charlemagne/
Note: Note: Mainz

Note: Charlemagne was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (France, Germany & Aquitaine).

In Latin, he is called Carolus Magnus. To the Germans, he is Karl der Grosse. But most of us know him by his French name, Charlemagne.
No matter what he is called, Charles the Great was the founder of the First Reich, the Holy Roman Empire, and the model of every king
who reigned after him until the Renaissance. The first truly great king of the dynasty named for him ("Carolingian"), his successful campaigns gave him an empire that included most of Europe. His initially successful attack on the heathen lands of Saxony led to a war of
more than thirty years. His attack on Spain was unsccessful, and as they pulled out, one of his commanders, Roland, was slain, an event which became the center of one of the most important pieces of medieval literature, The Song of Roland. He fought against the kings of Lombardy and Bavaria, eventually subduing them. But it was his loyalty to the Church that led to his coronation as the first Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, 800 AD. But Karl der Grosse's reign was not all about warfare. He was a great advocate of education; he himself was tutored by the legendary Alcuin of York. His capital at Aachen became the cultural center of Europe. But, when he died, his empire was partitioned by three of his sons; it would not be reunited until the reign of Otto I. There has been a great deal of dispute about the nationality of Charlemagne. The stories about him compose the "Matter of France," but the Germans claim him for their own. And, given the relationship between France and Germany, neither is willing to share him with the other. The truth, though neither may want to admit it, is that Charlemagne came from a time when there was no distinction between the French and German peoples, when both were considered barbarian
tribes. And it was Charlemagne's rule that brought the first glimmer of civilization back to them.