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Charlemagne

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Charlemagne, also called Charles the Great, was king of the Franks from 768 to 814.[1][2][3] On Christmas Day 800 he was crowned emperor in St Peter's in Rome.[4]

Family and early reign

Charles's father, Pippin III, became king around 750, after a mission to Pope Zacharias.[5] Charles succeeded his father in 768.[2] According to Thompson, he inherited Austrasia and part of Aquitaine,[6] and when his brother Carloman died in 771 he took his brother's throne as well, with the agreement of his nobles.[6]

King of the Lombards

In 773 Charles received a call for help from the new pope, Hadrian I.[7] "Charles himself took the title of king of the Lombards."[7] The historian Roger Collins describes it as a more remarkable act for a king of the Franks to declare himself king of the Lombards.[3] In 781 Charles went to Italy, where the pope crowned his sons Pippin as king of the Lombards and Louis as king of the Aquitanians.[8]

Wars

Charles fought many campaigns. Thompson, writing in 1931, counted fifty-four in all.[9] At Paderborn in 777, a number of Saxons came to be baptised as Christians.[10] In 778 Charles led an expedition into the Ebro valley in Spain, which Collins thinks was probably badly planned. The rear of his army was attacked by Basques in the Pyrenees.[11] Thompson wrote that Charles conquered the Avars in six campaigns between 788 and 805.[12]

Emperor

In the summer of 800, Pope Leo III was returned to Rome, and Charles arrived in the city that November.[13] "Two days later, in the course of the celebration of the Mass of Christmas, he crowned Charles as emperor."[13] According to Collins, using a crown at such a ceremony was something new.[4] Collins argues that the Church of Rome was able to make Charles emperor because the throne in Constantinople was, in theory, empty.[14] In 812 the Emperor Michael I recognised Charles only as Imperator Francorum, meaning Emperor of the Franks.[15]

Government

According to Thompson, Charlemagne introduced the sworn inquest, in which information was given under oath.[16] He also described the capitulare de villis, which Charles issued as, instructions for the stewards who ran his estates.[16]

Death and legacy

Charles died in 814 and was succeeded by his son Louis.[17] His life was written by Einhard, probably in the mid-820s, in a work called the Vita Karoli ("Life of Charles").[4]

See also


References

  1. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 280. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 281. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 284. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  5. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Thompson, James Westfall (2016) [1931]. History of the Middle Ages, 300–1500. Routledge Revivals. Routledge. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-138-65906-3.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 283. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  8. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  9. ↑ Thompson, James Westfall (2016) [1931]. History of the Middle Ages, 300–1500. Routledge Revivals. Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-138-65906-3.
  10. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  11. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 285. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  12. ↑ Thompson, James Westfall (2016) [1931]. History of the Middle Ages, 300–1500. Routledge Revivals. Routledge. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-138-65906-3.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  14. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 293. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  15. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Thompson, James Westfall (2016) [1931]. History of the Middle Ages, 300–1500. Routledge Revivals. Routledge. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-138-65906-3.
  17. ↑ Collins, Roger (2010). Early Medieval Europe 300–1000 (3rd ed.). Red Globe Press. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-230-00673-7.
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