Upon Charles Martel’s death, the power passed to his two sons Pippin the Younger (714-768) and Carloman (706-754), who ruled conjointly over Francia until 747, when Carloman withdrew to monastic life. In 751, the last Merovingian puppet king, Childeric III, was deposed, and Pippin was elected King of the Franks with the blessing of the Pope, and anointed in Soissons.

Pippin’s son, Charles (768-814) would extend the Frankish empire to Saxony (see Paderborn), Northern Italy, Croatia, and Catalonia, and become known as Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus in Latin, i.e. “Charles the Great”). In 800, he was crowned emperor by the Pope in Rome, declaring himself heir of the Roman Empire, with his capital in Aachen, 40 km away from his native Liège. His empire was to last over 1000 years (until Napoleon dissolved it in 1806). From 962 it became known under the name of Holy Roman Empire and Holy Roman Emperors were crowned in Rome, stressing the continuity with the original Roman Empire.

Founders of Western civilisation.

The Frankish influence over Europe was so important from the Merovingian period onwards that the term for ‘European’ or ‘non-Muslim’ became (and remains up to this day) Faranji in Arabic and Farangi in Persian, a derivative of the word “Frank”. The term became used in the Indian subcontinent as well after the Muslim conquest. Firang or Farang are also used in South Asia (the latter in Thailand as well) to refer to Westerners.

Since Charlemagne, Emperor of the Occident, became the symbol of the unified Christian Europe in the Muslim world, the Franks have become associated with the image of Westerners in most of Southern Asia for over 1000 years. It could be said in a way that the Franks laid the foundations of Western society and culture.

On a side note, understanding history makes it only natural for the modern capital of Europe, Brussels, to be located at the very heart of the old Frankish homeland. In fact, Brussels was the historic capital of the Duchy of Brabant, which was the official heir of Lotharingia, the Kingdom of Charlemagne’s eldest grandson, who was supposed to rule over his undivided empire (his brothers did not see it that way). Therefore, symbolically, Lotharingia remained for centuries the “senior” principality within the empire, and Brussels has inherited the rightful claim of being the symbolic capital of Europe’s sole historical empire from 800 to 1806.

From the 1100s, the powerful Knights Templars and their cathedrals posed an enormous threat to the male-only Church by bringing the heritage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene to the fore in the public domain. The cardinals knew that their whole establishment would tumble if the Messianic descendants gained the upper hand. They had to be crushed – and so the brutal Inquisition was implemented: a hideous persecution of all who dissented from the rule of the bishops.

It all began in 1209, when Pope Innocent III sent 30,000 soldiers into the Languedoc region of southern France. This was the home of the Cathars (the Pure Ones), who were said to be the guardians of a great and sacred treasure -a mysterious secret which could overturn orthodox Christianity. The Pope’s so-called Albigensian Crusade lasted for thirty-six years, during which time tens of thousands of innocent people were slaughtered – but the treasure was never found. In 1231, the main thrust of the Inquisition (or Holy Office as it was called) was instituted by Pope Gregory IX during the course of the Languedoc massacre, and it was set against anyone who supported the Grail heresy. By 1252 the torture of victims was formally authorized, along with execution by burning.

Heresy was a wonderful charge to level against captives, because only the Church could define it. The victims were tortured until they confessed and, having confessed, they were executed. If they did not confess, then the torture continued until they died anyway.

Undaunted by the Inquisition, the Nazarene movement pursued its own course, and the story of the bloodline was perpetuated in literature such as the Grand Saint Grail and the High History of the Holy Grail. These writings were largely sponsored by the Grail courts of France (the courts of Champagne, Anjou and others) and also by the Knights Templars and the Desposyni.