Charlemagne Carolingian
Duke of Bavaria, King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, Holy Roman Emperor, born on 2 April 747 in Herstal, Belgium to Pepin the Short (714-768) and Bertrada of Laon (720-783) and died 28 January 814 in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany of unspecified causes.
He married Desiderata of the Lombards (c744-) 770 JL . He married Hildegard (758-783) 771 JL . He married Fastrada of Ingelheim (765-794) 784. He married Luitgard of Alamannia (c770-800) 794 JL.
Charlemagne (Latin: Carolus Magnus, meaning Charles the Great) was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans (Imperator Romanorum) from 800 to his death.
“This Title belongs to the Merovingian Kings and their Bloodline”
He expanded the Frankish kingdom into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800 which temporarily made him a rival of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople.
When his father, King Pepin, died in 768, Charles and his younger brother Carloman became joint rulers (sharing a kingship) over the Franks, continuing a tradition that began with their ancestor, Charles Martel (686-741). The latter got on badly with Charlemagne, but war was prevented by the sudden death of Carloman in 771.
769 Aquataine Rebellion
The first major crisis of his reign is when the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony (located in the southern part of France) attempted a revolt from the Frankish Kingdom in April 769, led by Hunald II, Duke of Aquitaine. Charlemagne’s effectiveness in putting it down significantly helped to strengthen his power base and reputation. Charles went to war, leading an army to Bordeaux, where he set up a fort at Fronsac. Hunald was forced to flee to the court of Duke Lupus II of Gascony. Lupus, fearing Charles, turned Hunald over in exchange for peace, and was put in a monastery. Gascon lords also surrendered, and Aquitaine and Gascony were finally and fully subdued by the Franks.
Conquering Lombardy (770-774)
Charles’ interests then turned to Northern Italy, seat of both the Catholic pope and also the Kingdom of Lombardy. These two entities hotly strived with each other for political power in the region. The brothers, Charles and Carloman, still ruling as co-regents, maintained lukewarm relations with the assistance of their mother Bertrada, but in 770 Charles signed a treaty with Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria and married a Lombard Princess (commonly known today as Desiderata, the daughter of King Desiderius, to surround Carloman with his own allies. Though Pope Stephen III first opposed the marriage with the Lombard princess, he found little to fear from a Frankish-Lombard alliance.
Less than a year after his marriage, Charlemagne repudiated Desiderata and married a 13-year-old Swabian named Hildegard. The repudiated Desiderata returned to her father’s court at Pavia. Her father’s wrath was now aroused, and he would have gladly allied with Carloman to defeat Charles. Before any open hostilities could be declared, however, Carloman died on 5 December 771, apparently of natural causes. Carloman’s widow Gerberga of Pavia (c750-) fled to Desiderius’ court in Lombardy with her sons for protection.
At his succession in 772, Pope Adrian I demanded the return of certain cities from the Italians. Charlemagne sided with the papal authority and helped to seize several cities from the Lombard kingdom. Charlemagne and his uncle Bernard crossed the Alps in 773 and chased the Lombards back to Pavia, which they then laid siege to the city for a year before the Lombard princes submitted to his rule.
Charlemagne saw opportunities to restore the southwest corner to Christian rule. In Hispania, the struggle against the Moors continued unabated throughout the latter half of his reign. Louis was in charge of the Spanish border. In 785, his men captured Girona permanently and extended Frankish control into the Catalan littoral for the duration of Charlemagne’s reign (the area remained nominally Frankish until the Treaty of Corbeil in 1258). The Muslim chiefs in the northeast of Islamic Spain were constantly rebelling against Cordovan authority, and they often turned to the Franks for help. The Frankish border was slowly extended until 795, when Girona, Cardona, Ausona and Urgell were united into the new Spanish March, within the old duchy of Septimania.
In the Mediterranean Sea, the Franks fought against the Saracen pirates and conquered Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Islands. The islands were often attacked by Saracen pirates, but the counts of Genoa and Tuscany (Boniface) controlled them with large fleets until the end of Charlemagne’s reign.
Charlemagne even had contact with the caliphal court in Baghdad. In 797 (or possibly 801), the caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid, presented Charlemagne with an Asian elephant named Abul-Abbas and a clock.
Eastern Campaigns
Charlemagne was engaged in almost constant warfare on the Eastern Front throughout his reign, often at the head of his elite scara bodyguard squadrons. There were numerous battles against the Saxons, Bavarians and Avars. By forcibly converting them to Christianity, he integrated them into his realm and thus paved the way for the later dynasties.
In the Saxon Wars, spanning thirty years and eighteen battles, he conquered Saxonia and proceeded to convert it to Christianity, himself leading many mass baptisms. Following his subjugation of the Dukes of Friuli and Spoleto, Charlemagne returned rapidly to Saxony in 776, where a rebellion had destroyed his fortress at Eresburg. The Saxons were once again defeated, but their main leader, Widukind, escaped to Denmark, his wife’s home. Charlemagne built a new camp at Karlstadt. In 777, he called a national diet at Paderborn to integrate Saxony fully into the Frankish kingdom. Many Saxons were baptised as Christians.
Imperial Coronation
Europe in 814 at the end of Charlemagne’s reign. Note the split of the Western Empire and Eastern (Byzantine) Empire.
In 799, Pope Leo III had been bullied by the Romans, who tried to put out his eyes and tear out his tongue. Leo escaped and fled to Charlemagne at Paderborn. Charlemagne escorted the Pope back to Rome in November 800 and restored him to power. At Mass, on Christmas Day (25 December), when Charlemagne knelt at the altar to pray, the Pope crowned him Imperator Romanorum (“Emperor of the Romans”) in Saint Peter’s Basilica. In so doing, the Pope effectively nullified the legitimacy of Empress Irene of Constantinople.
Charlemagne’s coronation as Emperor, though intended to represent the continuation of the unbroken line of Emperors from Augustus to Constantine VI, had the effect of setting up two separate (and often opposing) Empires and two separate claims to imperial authority. For centuries to come, the Emperors of both West and East would make competing claims of sovereignty over the whole. This imperial power struggle would also lead to the schism of the Church creating the Catholic Church (based in Rome) and the Orthodox Church (based in Constantinople).