Portal:Middle Ages/Selected article/10
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charlemagne (En: [ˈʃa(ɹ).lə.meɪn]; Fr: [ʃaʀ.lə.ˈmaɲ]; Latin: Carolus Magnus, meaning Charles the Great) (742/747 – 28 January 814) was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms 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, in an attempted revival of the Roman Empire in the West. Through his foreign conquests and internal reforms, Charlemagne helped define Western Europe and the Middle Ages. His rule is also associated with the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture.
His original name in the Old Frankish language was never recorded, but early instances of his name in Latin read "Carolus" or "Karol's". The son of King Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, he succeeded his father and co-ruled with his brother Carloman until the latter's death in 771. Charlemagne continued the policy of his father towards the papacy and became its protector, removing the Lombards from power in Italy, and waging war on the Saracens, who menaced his realm from Spain. It was during one of these campaigns that Charlemagne experienced the worst defeat of his life, at Roncesvalles (778). He also campaigned against the peoples to his east, especially the Saxons, and after a protracted war subjected them to his rule. By converting them to Christianity, he integrated them into his realm and thus paved the way for the later Ottonian Dynasty.
Today regarded by some as the founding father of both France and Germany and sometimes as the Father of Europe, he was the first ruler of a Western European empire since the fall of the Roman Empire. H. G. Wells said in his Short History of the World:
| “ | Charlemagne, who began to reign in 768, found himself lord of a realm so large that he could think of reviving the title of Latin Emperor. He conquered North Italy and made himself master of Rome.[1] | ” |
By the 6th century, the Franks were Christianised, and the Frankish Empire ruled by the Merovingians had become the most powerful of the kingdoms which succeeded the Western Roman Empire. But following the Battle of Tertry, the Merovingians declined into a state of powerlessness, for which they have been dubbed do-nothing kings (French: rois fainéants). Almost all government powers of any consequence were exercised by their chief officer, the mayor of the palace or major domus. (read more . . . )
