General Notes

Alias:<ALIA> Carolus /Magnus/,Charles the Great,Karl der Grosse
Note: According to THE GENEALOGIST'S ENCYCLOPEDIA, Leslie G. Pine, 1969:
"No families, not even the Royal Houses, can make a sound claim to bridge
the chasm of the Dark Ages and establish a proven connection with the
period of the later Roman Empire.  Efforts made to give Charlemagne a
late Roman ancestor are not substantiated."
"Charlemagne" is Old French for "Charles-le-magne" or "Charles the
Great". In German, he is referred to as "Karl der Grobe".  In Latin, this
is Carolus Magnus.  He is counted as King Charles I of France and as Holy
Roman Emperor Charles (or Karl) I.
According to Linda Coate Dudick
(www.ancestrees.com/ancestor/d6/i0002379.htm): "A very religious man, he
was the first to be called the Holy Roman Emperor.  He dearly loved his
children, and would not even allow his daughters to marry out of court. 
He built a palace swimming pool and loved to hunt.  He valued learning
and brought in many artists and scholars as well as opened schools.  Most
classical literature was preserved during this period thanks to him.
Charles had four wives resulting in sixteen children and two mistresses:
Adalind who had son Theodric and an unknown mistress who had son Richbod,
Abbott of St.-Riquier.  He died on Jan. 28,813/814 in Aachen, Rhine,
Prussia and was buried at the Cathedral of Aachen known as
Aix-la-Chapelle in France (now Germany).  His palace and home were in
Aix-la-Chapelle as well.  A traditional story about Charlemagne's
gravesite is that in the year 1000, Otto III opened Charlemagne's Tomb
and found him seated in a marble chair.  He removed the marble throne and
it was used for the coronation of the Emperor's for hundreds of years
after."
Some sources list his birth on 2 April 747.
According to "Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists (7th Ed) by
Frederick lewis Weis, Th.D. F.A.S.G.:
"Charlemagne was tall, powerful, and tireless.  His secretary, Eginhard,
wrote that Charlemagne had fair hair and a "face laughing and merry...his
appearance was always stately and dignified."  He had a ready with, but
could be stern.  His tatstes were simple and moderate.  He delighted in
hunting, riding, and swimming.  He wore the Frankish dress linen shirt
and breeches, a silk-fringed tunic, hose wrapped with bands, and, in
winter, a tight coate of otter or marten skins.  Over all these garments
"he flung a blue cloak, and he always had a sword girt about him."