General Notes

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.

Charlemagne



(Charles the Great or Charles I) (shär´lmn) () [O.Fr.,=Charles the great], 742?–814, emperor of the West (800–814), Carolingian king of the Franks (768–814).    1

King of the Franks
Elder son of Pepin the Short and a grandson of Charles Martel , Charlemagne shared with his brother Carloman  in the succession to his father’s kingdom. At Carloman’s death (771), young Charlemagne annexed his brother’s lands, disinheriting Carloman’s two young sons, who fled with their mother to the court of Desiderius </65/de/Desiderius.html>, king of the Lombards. When Desiderius conquered part of the papal lands and attempted to force Pope Adrian I to recognize Carloman’s sons, Charlemagne intervened (773) on the side of the pope and defeated the Lombards. At Rome, Charlemagne was received by Adrian as patrician of the Romans (a title he had received with his father in 754), and he confirmed his father’s donation to the Holy See. Shortly afterward he took Pavia, the Lombard capital, and assumed the iron crown of the Lombard kings of Italy.    2
In 778 he invaded Spain, hoping to take advantage of civil war among the Muslim rulers of that kingdom, but was repulsed at Zaragoza. In later campaigns conducted by local counts, Barcelona was captured (801) and a frontier established beyond the Pyrenees. Charlemagne’s struggle with the pagan Saxons, whose greatest leader was Widukind </65/wi/Widknd-kng.html>, lasted from 772 until 804. By dint of forced conversions, wholesale massacres, and the transportation of thousands of Saxons to the interior of the Frankish kingdom, Charlemagne made his domination over Saxony complete. In 788 he annexed the semi-independent duchy of Bavaria, after deposing its duke, Tassilo. He also warred successfully against the Avars and the Slavs, establishing a frontier south of the Danube.    3

Emperor of the West
In 799 the new pope, Leo III , threatened with deposition by the Romans, appealed to Charlemagne. Charlemagne hastened to Rome to support Leo, and on Christmas Day, 800, was crowned emperor by the pope. His coronation legitimized Charlemagne’s rule over the former Roman empire in W Europe and finalized the split between the Byzantine and Roman empires. After years of negotiation and war, Charlemagne received recognition from the Byzantine emperor Michael I in 812; in return Charlemagne renounced his claims to Istria, Venice, and Dalmatia, which he had held briefly. The end of Charlemagne’s reign was troubled by the raids of Norse and Danes (see Norsemen ), so Charlemagne took vigorous measures for the construction of a fleet, which his successors neglected. His land frontiers he had already protected by the creation of marches. In 813, Charlemagne designated his son Louis I  as co-emperor and his successor and crowned him at Aachen     4

Achievements of His Reign
In his government Charlemagne continued and systematized the administrative machinery of his predecessors. He permitted conquered peoples to retain their own laws, which he codified when possible, and he issued many capitularies </65/ca/capitula.html> (gathered in the Monumenta Germaniae historica </65/mo/Monument.html>). A noteworthy achievement was the creation of a system by which he could supervise his administrators in even the most distant lands; his missi dominici were personal representatives with wide powers who regularly inspected their assigned districts. He strove to educate the clergy and exercised more direct control over the appointment of bishops and he acted as arbiter in theological disputes by summoning councils, notably that at Frankfurt (794), where adoptionism  was rejected and some of the decrees of the Second Council of Nicaea (see Nicaea, Second Council of ) were condemned. He stimulated foreign trade and entertained friendly relations with England and with Harun al-Rashid . In 813, Charlemagne designated his son Louis I as co-emperor and his successor and crowned him at Aachen .    5
Charlemagne’s court at Aachen was the center of an intellectual renaissance. The palace school, under the leadership of Alcuin , became famous; numerous schools for children of all classes were also established throughout the empire during Charlemagne’s reign. The preservation of classical literature was aided by his initiatives. Prominent figures of the Carolingian renaissance included Paul the Deacon  and Einhard .    6

Character and Influence
In his daily life Charlemagne affected the simple manners of his Frankish forebears, wore Frankish clothes, and led a frugal existence. He was beatified after his death and in some churches has been honored as a saint. Surrounded by his legendary 12 paladins, he became the central figure of a cycle of romance. At first, legend pictured him as the champion of Christendom; later he appeared as a vacillating old man, almost a comic figure. His characterization in the Chanson de Roland (see Roland </65/ro/Roland.html>) has impressed itself indelibly on the imagination of the Western world. The vogue of the Charlemagne epic ebbed somewhat after the Renaissance but was revived again in the 19th cent. by Victor Hugo and other members of the Romantic school. Charlemagne’s creation (or re-creation) of an empire was the basis of the theory of the Holy Roman Empire ; it was his example that Napoleon I had in mind when he tried to assume his succession in 1804.    7

Bibliography
Einhard wrote a contemporary biography of Charlemagne. See also H. Fichtenau, The Carolingian Empire (1949, tr. 1957); D. Bullough, The Age of Charlemagne (1966); J. Boussard, The Civilization of Charlemagne (tr. 1968). For the literary aspect, see J. L. Weston, The Romance Cycle of Charlemagne and His Peers (1901).    8

Data Sources:
     Royal 92 Gedcom
          King of Franks
          Birth date given as April 02, 742

     Brøderbund World Family Tree #8, Pedigree #2216
     Brøderbund World Family Tree #4, Pedigree #3982

     Brøderbund World Family Tree #8, Pedigree #1525
          King of the Franks

     Brøderbund World Family Tree #8, Pedigree #1725
          King of France; Holy Roman Emperor

     Gedcom  G419
          Submitted to Broderbund by:
               Robert W. McGahuey
               203 Willowbrook Court
               Winchester, VA  22602
               (540) 723-8974

     Churchyard/Orr Family Museum - Chart of Lineal Ancestors
     of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault

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Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, CAROLINGIAN king of the FRANKS, came to rule over most of Europe and assumed (800) the title of Roman emperor. He is sometimes regarded as the founder of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. In 768 he and his brother Carloman inherited the Frankish kingdom (most of present-day France and a part of western Germany) from their father PEPIN THE SHORT. The entire kingdom passed to Charlemagne when Carloman died in 771. He inherited great wealth and a strong military organization from his father and brother. He used these assets to double the territory under Carolingian control. In 772 he opened his offensive against the SAXONS, and for more than three decades he pursued a ruthless policy aimed at subjugating them and converting them to Christianity. Almost every year Charlemagne attacked one or another region of Saxon territory. --4,500 Saxons were executed on a single day in 782--and deportations were used to discourage the stubborn. The Saxons proved to be a far more difficult enemy than any of the other peoples subjugated by Charlemagne. For example, the LOMBARDS were conquered in a single extended campaign 773-74), after which Charlemagne assumed the title "king of the Lombards." In 788 he absorbed the duchy of Bavaria, and soon thereafter he launched an offensive against the AVAR empire. The Avars succumbed within a decade, yielding Charlemagne a vast hoard of gold and silver. After one disastrous campaign (778) against the Muslims in Spain, Charlemagne left the southwestern front to his son Louis, (later Emperor LOUIS I) who, with the help of local Christian rulers, conquered Barcelona in 801 and controlled much of Catalonia by 814. On Christmas Day, 800, Charlemagne accepted the title of emperor and was crowned by Pope LEO III. For several years after he regarded the imperial title of being of little value. Moreover, he intended to divide his lands and titles among his sons, as was the Frankish custom. At his death on Jan. 28, 814, however, only one son, Louis, survived; Louis therefore assumed control of the entire Frankish empire.