How Did Charlemagne Become Successful

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, was a man influenced in learning and education, in fact William the Conqueror made alterations to the English language dictionary. He incorporated various words from other languages such as French. Yet, stronger in education, Charlemagne was surrounded by scholars from different areas and he opened a palace school where he recruited the best teachers. Adding to this, both conquerors, incorporated religion in their skills of conquering. This means, faith was an important element on how they ruled and their actions. However, Charlemagne and William indeed were very different. In fact, Charlemagne’s rule was maintained by the strength of his personality, meaning a unified royal authority came first. While William the Conqueror was desperate on winning more lands and was brutal on battles, Charlemagne focused his reign on education and

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.

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.

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

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 and Augustus used their large militaries to expand their vast empires. Charlemagne was considered a warrior king. He would lead his army into all of their battles. During the thirty three year war (772- 804) with the Saxons he lead every battle except for two. Those two battles were at Detmold and at the bank of the river Hase. The enemy were so routed and overthrown in these two battles that they never afterwards ventured to take the offensive or to resist the attacks of the King, unless they were protected by a strong position. The Saxon war is the Frank 's most well known war. The Franks and Charlemagne also fought in other

The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family which managed to take control over the entirety of the Franks and form what is known as the Carolingian Empire. Being a Frankish noble family meant that they originally began as a Germanic tribe until 496 A.D when Clovis I, the first ruler of the Franks united all of the Frankish tribes underneath his rule. Charlemagne was born to Pepin the Younger, king of the Franks from the years 751-768 A.D who was also the first of the Carolingians to become King, and his wife, the Frankish queen, Bertrada of Laon. The day and month of his birth is agreed by scholars to be the 2nd of April but the year of his birth is a much discussed and debated topic amongst scholars since some sources claim that he was born in 742 (before the marriage of his parents meaning that he is a bastard not fit for the throne), 747 (his birthday would have fallen upon Easter day which would have been mentioned by historians at the time but was not) or more popularly the year of 748. The exact location of his birth is not known but is speculated to be either Aachen in Germany or Liege in Belgium amongst other cities.

We now leave this in-depth description of Charlemagne given by Einhars, and take a look at a new essay by Fichtenau entitled "A New Portrait of Charlemagne." Instead of describing Charlemagne as Einhard does, we find that Fichtenau's essay rather rebuilds Charlemagne. Fichtenau talks about how things like his personality were strung together in the wrong way by Einhard. He talks about how his personality is predictable, because all Emperors must have the same values. He talks of how in generosity, as Einhard's description showed as being out of the kindness of his heart, was actually a result of what actions would follow his generous jesters. Fichtenau uses his whole essay to rebuild Charlemagne to what kind of ruler he believes he is. He does say that without the great ruling and personality of Charlemagne, then it would have taken generations for this empire to reach its peak. "What remains is

This period has become known as the Carolingian Dynasty. The sense of renewal in a newly stabilized society was stimulated by an elite group of scholars gathered to Charlemagne’s court. During this time, there was a strong flourish of arts, literature, architecture, and religion.

These actions are what causes Charlemagne to be considered the symbol of a new Europe. It was his actions that caused him to go from the title of King of the Franks to Holy Roman Emperor and thus, become the first Emperor the West had seen since its collapse. Beginning with his rise to the Frankish throne in 768 AD, he accomplished a large amount in his first three decades as King. The Empire expanded greatly under his rule and by “791 his kingdom had broadened to include, southwest France, North Italy, North Germany, and Austria” (Kurlander 23). This is incredible considering the short amount of time it took to gain all the land and increase the size of the empire tenfold.

However, there would be a conflict between the division of the empire as Carloman received the wealthier and superior portion. Charlemagne received the less significant of the two, and his land ranged from the Loire to the Rhine (“Charlemagne”). As ruler of this northern Frankish territory, Charlemagne was obligated to continue the Aquitian War, which was originally started by his father. His father had been in constant war the Aquitanians, and he eventually died after one battle with them (“Pippin III”). Charlemagne's involvement was most likely due to the fact that his father's death was a result of the conflict. This in turn lead to the war between the Franks and Aquitanians. He propositioned his sibling for aid, and while he was denied support, he ended up succeeded in winning the war, which was a significant accomplishment for a young and inexperienced king. After this victory, his brother died, which caused Charlemagne to become the sole king of the Frankish empire (“Charlemagne”). His first major military campaign was a conflict between the Franks and Lombards. This conflict was conducted similar to the Aquitian War. Before Charlemagne's siege on the Lombards his father had a previous problems with the nation. He was more merciful by demanding hostages from King Astof and making him promise to not retake the regions Pepin had already captured. Charlemagne was stern towards the Lombards

Charlemagne was a very important person in the medieval time period. The first reason why he played an important role is because he was a great and strong leader. The next reason is that Charlemagne expanded his kingdom and unified Western Europe. Finally, Charlemagne spread Christianity and education amongst Europe.

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

The progression of the new Carolingian empire required innovative ways of government and administration. The history of the rise of the Carolingians is consequently the history of the development of new European identities, fundamentally innovative modes of government, and creative forms of royal legitimation . The Carolingians used a blend of Late Roman military organisation along with the incremental changes that occurred between the fifth and eighth centuries. Because of the defensive strategy the Romans had instigated during the Late Empire, the population had become militarised and were thus available for military use. The existence of the remaining Roman infrastructure that could be used for military purposes, such as roads and fortified cities meant that the rehabilitated strategies of the Late Romans would still be pertinent. This is important to the development of medieval history because without such a military organisation and without an ostentatious strategy, the Carolingians would not have successfully become kings of the Franks and the revival of the Roman Empire in the West is likely to have not occurred. By around 1000, the political map of Christian Europe was much as it would be for the rest of the Middle Ages. The leading state was the Holy Roman Empire which had been restored by the Carolingians. But the centralisation of the Carolingian state was not long a source of political stability in Western Europe in the early Middle Ages. In areas where the Carolingian Empire had little influence, and at times in the regions which were controlled by Carolingian rulers, individual safety and security were the key concerns for most members of society . In conditions that branded strong central government impossible, individual security was