Factors For The Fall Of The Carolingian Empire

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

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.

The fall of Western Roman Empire in late 5th century led to its vast territory being divided in numerous kingdoms without any central authority. Charlemagne became the King of the Franks in 768. He then successfully led a series of campaigns throughout his reign to unite most of Western Europe under a sole emperor for the first time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The expanded Frankish state Charlemagne founded was called the Carolingian Empire.

The threat of the custom of the Carolingian rulers to divide Frankish lands a number of the participants of the Carolingian dynasty, usually valid male descendants that brought about the

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 of 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 respected 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

Many events played large roles in the middle ages. The fall of the Western Roman Empire occurred when the invading army named the Visigoths invaded Rome. For three days, they destroyed everything in their paths. Western Rome did not have effective royal progression. They set up officers as rulers, who were immediately removed by adversary petitioners. The reasons why Western Rome fell includes multiple invasions by Barbarian tribes, economic hardship, being too reliant on slave labor, government corruption and political instability, and lastly Christianity became popular and the traditional values of Rome were lost. Another important event was whenever Charlemagne became an emperor in Western Rome. In his quest of becoming an emperor, he became King of the

Charlemagne played a pivotal rule in western Europe after the collapse of the Roman empire. Europe was going through a period of time known as the dark ages. This period is from the fall of Roman to the beginning of the Middle ages (“the dark age”). Charlemagne also known as Charles the Great provided a turning point to this era and was able to slow down the cultural and political crumbling of the Middle ages. In order to secure these two important aspects of the new empire he relied on numerous resources (Charlemagne).

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.

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

Upon his father, Pepin the Younger’s death on the 24th of September, 768, the Frankish kingdom was divided between him and his younger brother Carloman. Carloman and Charlemagne despite being brothers did not see eye to eye due mostly to Carloman’s intense jealousy of his older brother. In the year 769, Carloman tried to undermine his brother

Charlemagne’s father, King Pepin (the short), officially put an end to the Merovingian line of kings to become King of the Franks, and willed that Francia be divided between both Charlemagne and his brother Carloman upon his death in 768. The divided rule was short lived, ○“Carloman had succumbed to disease after ruling two years in common with his brother, at his death Charles was unanimously elected King of the

The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the late fifth century plunged Europe into a long period of darkness and barbarism. This era until the dawn of the ‘age of discovery’ in the sixteenth century was later termed to be the ‘Middle Ages’. While this epoch of European history is labeled as ‘middle’ or even ‘dark’, it was during this time that many social, political and cultural developments took place. The obliteration of the great Roman Empire left Europe prey for disunity and continuous foreign invasion and migration. From Scotland to the alps of Sicily a prayer emerged in the ninth century, “Save us, O God, from the violence of the Northmen”. Now known as Vikings, these northmen were pagan Germanic people from Norway, Sweden and Denmark that often went on raids and harassed isolated monasteries and villages throughout the continent. Similarly peoples known as Magyars from central Europe looted settlements took captives and forced leaders to pay tribute to prevent further attacks. Muslims from North Africa already ruled most of Spain and continued northward towards central Italy and southern France. The expansion of Islam continued on into the tenth and eleven centuries during the times of the Fatimid Caliphate and the Seljuk Turks. The centuries before the first crusade were one of terror and chaos from a European or Christian perspective. People were frightened that their world was slowly coming to an end, overrun by pagans and Muslims. This fear combined with

Charles Martel, or Charles the Hammer, considered one of the greatest to hold the title “Mayor of the Palace”, succeeded the position in 732 (Abrams 186). He gained high admiration and respect from the Frankish people for his feats against the Muslims trying to gain passage into Europe (Abrams 186), and imparted much wisdom to an equally respected ruler, his grandson, Charlemagne. By this time, the Franks thought of the mayors more as kings instead of stewards considering that they had complete control over the empire and its people. Charlemagne’s Father, Pepin III, more commonly known as Pepin the Short, assumed the position of Mayor in 751 (Davis 54). During his reign, Pepin defended Rome against a barbarian tribe called the Lombards, which strengthened the relationship between the church and the state that later would contribute to Charlemagne’s sovereignty as Holy Roman Emperor (Davis 54). Pepin died in 768, dividing the now much larger Frankish empire between his two sons Charlemagne and Carolmen (Davis 54). Carolmen died in 771 and left Charlemagne as the sole ruler of the Frankish empire (Davis 54). The era when the mayors ruled the Franks up until Charlemagne’s death acquired the title “The Carolingian Dynasty” in Western Europe (Jenkins 123). From the passing of both his Father and brother, Charlemagne continued into his kingship over the Frankish Empire.

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

Pepin III also known as “Pepin the short” was the first carolingian king of franks. He was father of charlemagne who was a medieval emperor who ruled much of Western Europe from 768 to 814. In 771, Charlemagne became king of the Franks. He was the son of Charles Martel, who died at the royal palace and was buried at the abbey of St. Denis in 741. He divided the rule of the Frankish kingdom between Pepin and his elder brother, Carloman. Pepin III was born in 714 in Jupille. His surviving sons by his first wife, he was the ruler of Neustria, Burgundy and Provence. While his brother Carloman received Austrasia and what came to be Thuringia.He played an essential role in the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire and began the work of crushing the Saxons. In 743 the brothers chose Childeric III, a Merovingian, as nominal king of all the Franks. Childeric who had only the title of King but had no power and for that reason he was considered a joke by the people. After he retired in 747, Pepin wanted to be king, he cooperated with the pope. In support of the Church, Pepin agreed to fight the Lombards, who had invaded central Italy and threatened Rome. Pepin forced the Lombards to accept the independence of Rome, marking the beginning of the Papal State and finally conquered Aquitaine.Pepin was then elected King of the Franks by an assembly of Frankish leading-men, with a large portion of his army behind him. Pepin’s rising power fascinated Byzantine rulers and in an effort to forge