Charlemagne, the greatest king of the dark ages, shaped the standards of Europe and influenced the people for thousands of years, solidifying the idea that the dark ages weren’t so dark. After the death of his father, Frankish king Pippin III, in 768, the realm was divided into two sections. Charlemagne and his brother, Carloman, both received the sections, and a feud started almost immediately. When Carloman died in 771, Charlemagne took control of both sections in hopes of reuniting the Frankish realm. He was king to the Franks from 768-814, and he was also the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 800-814 (Frassetto). Because of his generosity, attractive personality, and need for knowledge, Charlemagne was a very respectable leader. During his reign, he was able to conquer and gain control over almost all of the mainland of Europe. Though it took over 50 battles to do so, he was able to unite a large portion of the continent. Charlemagne made trading much easier by putting Europe on a common silver currency. Because of this king’s love and interest in learning, he encouraged an education for everyone. Charlemagne also had a very religious presence in society and aided in the spread of Christianity over Europe. Pope Leo III even pronounced him as the first emperor of Europe since the fall of the Rome because of his many achievements with religion (Whipps). After Charlemagne’s death in 814, Europe slowly began to fall apart again, but at the time, he
The subject of this report is the book Becoming Charlemagne: Europe, Baghdad, and the Empires of A.D. 800. While reading this book, it seemed as if the author was quite biased towards Charlemagne, and he wanted him to look better than he really was. Also this book was written as if it were a novel, so it did not come across as a nonfiction book, even though the entire story was based on facts. The author’s main purpose of this book was to better Charlemagne’s image in history by, his portrayal of Charlemagne’s accomplishments, how well the author believes Charlemagne handled the problems that his empire faced, and the writing style that the author chose for this particular
Known as The King of the Franks, Charlemagne inherited half of his father’s kingdom at his death in AD 768 and took over the other half at his brother’s death in AD 771. In keeping with the tradition of his predecessors, Charlemagne’s reign was characterized by three decades of military campaigns. During his reign, Charlemagne led campaigns against the Saxons, the Lombards, Spain and Bavaria. His empire extended from Saxony in the North to the Spanish March in the South and Italy in the West. Charlemagne was officially named as the first Roman Emperor by the Pope in late AD 800. He remained emperor until AD 814.
Charlemagne was a well known great king during the middle ages. He was a good leader in war and peace, conquering and uniting, much of Europe. He encouraged education, culture, and art.
While this was all going, vikings were raiding from the North. Their homeland in Scandinavia was cold and barren and they needed to supplement their food storage, so they would travel South along the maze of rivers and invade villages in Medieval Europe, adding to the poverty of the area. Art, much like education, also became an item that only religious institutions possessed. Art was deemed nonessential by most people in the area and was not made by most people. After a period of inorder, a new civilization emerged for a short period of time, the Carolingian Empire. Charlemagne, the second ruler of the empire, was the most ambitious ruler and the most well-known. His political changes that he made caused many cultural changes to be made. Charlemagne established control over what modern day France, Italy, and Germany would be today. He was a genius military leader and conquered a lot of land. However, at the end of his reign, the Treaty of Verdun was made, splitting the empire into three sections: a Western region, a ‘middle’ region, and the Eastern region thus dividing their cultures further. This would later have a more profound difference on their cultures as they develop separately from each other.
The two lives of Charlemagne as told by Einhard and Notker are two medieval sources about the accounts of the life Charlemagne. Modern sources by Matthew Innes and Rosamond Mckitterick discuss how history was recorded during the medieval period and how it was suppose to be viewed in the early ages. Observing each of these sources helps get an understanding of how the writing of history is important in recorded history and how it affected how the history of Charlemagne was recorded.
Charlemagne in the historical context made many contributions to the modern world as well as the Carolingian dynasty during his reign. After his father passed away, he united the Franks and went to several conquest to expand his kingdom in 768 (Coffin, 176). Charlemagne was believed to be a very serious Christian king. In one of the longest conquest in Saxon, which lasted about 20 years, he had forced conversion to all the people who
Charlemagne, also known as Charles the great was a ruler in times of turmoil in Europe during the middle ages. Charlemagne came from a powerful family tree which made a huge impact on why he rose to power. His family history and their backgrounds is what prepared him to take on the task of becoming King of the Frankish Empire and protecting it from intruders. Charlemagne accomplished much during his reign. He focused on bringing education back into medieval Europe but, also discovered a more efficient way to govern his people. His conquests against the adversaries of the Holy Roman Empire is what lead to his expansion and spreading his Empire across most of Europe which he eventually established the Carolingian Empire in the later years of his supremacy. This also led to strong relationships with the Catholic Church and the State. Charlemagne’s goal was to spread Christianity throughout all of Europe and was willing to fight for his religion. One group in particular he fought with the most was the Saxons who he nearly eliminated their whole population.
After having read both versions of the life of Charlemagne there is no doubt that they differ greatly in the sense of style, audience, and emotion. By reading these two descriptions of Charlemagne's life we are able to decipher somewhat of the life he led as a shaper of early medieval European history. However, both of these versions possess the admiration of a noble man who they believe is worthy enough to be noted in history to some degree.
The two lives of Charlemagne as told by Einhard and Notker the Stammerer are very different accounts of the life of the great Emperor. Einhard gives us a historical overview of the life of Charlemagne who lived from 742 to 814 A.D. Charlemagne was also known as Charles the Great and the King of the Franks.Charles was one of four children born to Pepin the Short, A Mayor of the Palace of the Carolingian Empire. He had one brother, Carloman and two sisters, Gisela and Pepin.Since women at the time didn’t inherit power, when Pepin the Short died, the kingship of the Carolingian Empire was divided and shared by Charlemagne and his brother, Carloman. Unfortunately, Carloman died early and unexpectedly as a young man and
Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great and Charles I, was not only a king of France, but a commanding historical figure. Charlemagne is believed to have been born sometime around the year 742. He became King of the Franks in 768 and went on to become the Emperor of the Carolingian Empire in 800, before his death in 814.
During the years of St. Augustine, the Roman Empire fell in the west. It was being replaced by regional barbarian kingdoms, and was entering what some historians call the dark ages. It was a traditional, authoritative empire, with vast free-trade and a centralized government. It transformed into a Europe of economic localism, and filled with a minority of educated people. It was now a Christian Europe. A very important person during this new Europe was the Frankish king Charlemagne. His rule was known throughout the world, and Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne the "Emperor of the Romans." On top of this title, he still held all of his other titles. Charlemagne made tons of contributions during this time in Europe. He had
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, reigned during a time of much turmoil and upheaval in Europe during middle ages. Charlemagne’s background and family history contributed much to his rise to power. The triumphs of his past lineage prepared him to take on the task of governing the Frankish Empire, and defending it from invaders. Charlemagne accomplished much during his supremacy. He not only brought education back into medieval Europe, but also invented an efficient way to govern his people. His conquests against the many adversaries of the Holy Roman Empire expanded his empire across the majority of Europe. His conquests also formed strong ties between the Catholic Church and the State. Charlemagne’s drive to convert Europe’s primitive
Charlemagne was the king of the Franks and emperor of the Romans from 800-814. During his reign Charlemagne built a kingdom that included almost all of western and central Europe and he started Carolingian Renaissance. His empire had two main territories, East and west Francia that is now the major parts of two important European entities. West Francia is modern-day France, and East Francia became first the Holy Roman Empire and then the modern state of Germany.
By the Cross and the Sword : Charlemagne’s Impact on the West. “He who ordains the fate of kingdoms in the march of the centuries, the all-powerful Disposer of events, having destroyed one extraordinary image, that of the Romans, which had, it was true, feet of iron, or even feet of clay, then raised up, among the Franks, the golden head of a second image, equally remarkable, in the person of the illustrious Charlemagne. Notker the Stammerer, the monk of St. Gall, wrote these words in AD 844 to describe the reign of the most influential Frankish king Charlemagne ( Lectures 1). Charlemagne, son of Pepin the Short, ruled the Franks for 47 years (Koeller 1). The Carolingian Dynasty, of which Charlemagne was a member, was
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was a powerful king who reunited most of Western Europe through his conquests. He was an able administrator and brought about economic reforms to bring prosperity in his kingdom. Charlemagne is famous for his work towards the development of education like building of schools and standardization of curriculum. He ended the Dark Age in Western Europe by initiating the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of cultural enhancement. Charlemagne also took several steps to spread Christianity in his vast empire, paving the way for making it the dominant religion in Europe. Here are the 10 major accomplishments and achievements of Charlemagne, who is called the Father of Europe due to his immense contribution in the development of the continent.