How Do You Perceive the Historical Transformation from the Collapse of Rome to the Dawn of the Middle Ages

History, through the ages, has listed many kings, rulers, and military generals, all of whom together, fill volumes about the individual traits and strengths that made them, either individually or as a whole, noteworthy. One of the most notable of the early Middle Ages was Emperor Charlemagne, ruler of the Franks for forty-seven years, from 768 A.D. until his death in January 28, 814, according to Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne. The man was described as the epitome of a ruler's strengths - though he did include enough faults to give the man a few human weaknesses - who controlled his vast empire through military force, intelligence, a caring concern for others, and good Christian ethics.

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.

numerous factors contributed to the fall of the Carolingian Empire but the department of Frankish lands among male individuals of the Carolingian dynasty become one of the most important causes for its downfall because it led to fragmentation of Charlemagne’s empire. In reality, the creation of the Carolingian Empire become in a few quantity a end result of a fortunate accident. the primary Carolingian King of the Franks, Pepin the quick (751-768) turned into sole ruler because his brother Carloman renounced his role as Mayor of the Palace and went into monastery in 747. Charlemagne and his successor Louis the Pious, alternatively, ruled the whole Carolingian Empire due to premature loss of life in their brothers and co-rulers.

There were three kings named Clovis, Charlemagne, and Alfred. They were all successful during their reigns within Europe. However, King Charles was the best ruler according to the model of early medieval kingship. One may ask what the model of early medieval kingship is. Well, a ruler to be considered the best would have to be a great conqueror, warrior, and defender of Christianity. King Charles during his rule was able to ascertain all three of these prerequisites for being a great ruler. Therefore, I will compare and contrast him, and his reign, to Clovis and Alfred to support my statement. I will also touch on how audience’s perceptions may be misguided due to the king’s biographers. I will begin the next paragraph examining King Charles exploits and why he fits the criteria of the best ruler.

Born in about 742, Charlemagne was the son of King Pepin III (known as Pepin the Short). Pepin and his brother together ruled the Franks, whose kingdom included parts of present-day France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. Upon Pepin 's death in 768, Charlemagne and his brother Carloman inherited the kingdom. When Carloman died three years later, Charlemagne became the sole ruler.

He improved his countries monetary and government system. Charlemagne enforced Christianity all over his kingdom. He conquered the Saxons, and turned all of them into Christians. He gave money and land to the Christian church. On December 25, 800, Pope Leo crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne didn’t let his daughters marry until he was dead, due to how much he loved his children. Charlemagne loved to hear about St. Augustine’s writings, and about the City of God.

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

“Hence it was that he built the beautiful basilica at Aix-la-Chapelle […] He had the columns and marbles for this structure brought from Rome and Revenna.” This chapel was built as a form of power. It originally was used to describe an open Roman public court building. With implicating pieces of Rome into the empire, Charlemagne was able to take after Rome. After all, he had the marble and columns brought to him because nothing else resembled what he was looking for. He was inspired by the architecture of Rome and wanted to mirror that. Although, architectural buildings in the Carolingian empire were modeled after Rome, they did have their own taste of early Christian

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

These people believed him, because they may have gone through similar things through life. He gave them what they were looking for, rather it be food, comfort, or sex. These are something the weak and vulnerable people didn't have while growing up like Charles, but he understood and knew how to control that.

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

Charles made many mistakes during his reign, one of which was when the Scottish were rebelling against the king, Charles made a new tax to pay for the army and declared war on the Scots. This was an extremely foolish decision as he could have gone to parliament and asked for their help to deal with the Scots, so then the Scots were dealt with and Charles would have been re-united with parliament. Another bad decision that he made was in 1640 parliament offered him to re-join forces but instead he closed them down again.

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.

After Charles the second died his brother, James the second gained the throne in 1685. His main objective was to re-establish the Roman Catholic religion in England. The people of England were mostly of a Protestant religion and they did not want to change their ways. Oddly enough

As I became much less uptight, Charles began to set realistic goals for himself and had actual plans on how he would achieve them. This maturation process is largely responsible for the blossoming of a beautiful brotherhood.