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Charlemagne
Charlemagne was born around
742 in Aachen, a city in the
Frankish kingdom of Austrasia,
located in what is now
Germany. His real name was
Charles; he wasn't called
Charlemagne (from the Latin
"Carolus Magnus," or Charles
the Great) until long after
his death.
His father, Pepin or Pippin
III, was elected king of the
Frankish Empire when
Charlemagne was a child. The
king was nicknamed Pepin the
Short, while his wife,
Charlemagne's mother Bertrada,
was nicknamed Bertha of the
Big Foot, or Queen Goosefoot.
The inspiration for the name
"Mother Goose" may have come
from Bertha, although she had
nothing to do with the English
nursery rhymes now published
under that name.
Charlemagne was probably an
illegitimate child, but his
parents eventually tied the
knot and had two more
surviving children, Carloman
and Gisela. Pepin ruled the
Frankish empire for 15 years
or so before dying of dropsy
in 768. His kingdom was then
divided between Charlemagne
and Carloman.
Charlemagne was about 26 years
old when he became king.
Carloman was still in his
teens. In his Life of
Charlemagne, Frankish
historian Einhard, who knew
Charlemagne personally and
presented him in the best
possible light, says Carloman
treated Charlemagne with
"unfriendliness and jealousy,"
but Charlemagne endured this
"most patiently, and, to the
wonder of all, could not be
provoked to be angry with
him."
After just a few years,
Carloman died of natural
causes and Charlemagne became
the ruler of the entire
Frankish empire. He went on to
conquer much of what remained
of Western Europe, making the
Carolingian empire one of the
greatest empires in world
history.
An affectionate man,
Charlemagne got along very
well with his sister, Gisela,
and their mother, Bertrada,
treating both with great
respect. Gisela was a nun, so
she lived in a convent, but
Bertrada lived with
Charlemagne. It was Bertrada
who arranged for Charlemagne
to marry a daughter of King
Desiderius of the Lombards (a
Germanic tribe whose kingdom
was in Italy). But it seems
this wife was not to
Charlemagne's liking, because
he soon ended the marriage and
took a new wife named
Hildegarde, with whom he had
six children, according to
Einhard.
In 783, Charlemagne was twice
bereaved when both Hildegarde
and Bertrada died. Before long
he found a new wife, Fastrada.
Charlemagne's Children
Charlemagne was a devoted
father, and he had a large
family: three sons and three
daughters by Hildegarde, two
daughters by Fastrada, and at
least seven other children by
various women. "The more the
merrier" seems to have been
his motto toward children --
when one of his sons died
young, leaving five daughters,
Charlemagne took all five
girls into his household and
raised them as his own.
Despite the duties of
kingship, he found time to
personally supervise his
children's upbringing. He ate
all of his meals with his
children, and took them with
him wherever he traveled. In
fact, he was so fond of his
daughters that he didn't marry
them off for political
purposes, as most royal
fathers did, but kept them at
his court. It seems they
didn't lack for boyfriends; at
least two of the princesses
gave birth to illegitimate
children. Einhard says
Charlemagne pretended not to
know about his daughters' love
affairs.
Among the king's many children
was a son called Pepin the
Hunchback, whose mother,
Himiltrude, was either
Charlemagne's first wife or a
concubine. In 792, while
Charlemagne was away at war,
Pepin conspired with a group
of Frankish nobles to kill his
father and take the throne.
After learning about the plot,
Charlemagne sent Pepin to live
in a poor monastery.
According to a 9th century
writer known as the Monk of
Saint Gall (also called Notker
the Stammerer), Charlemagne
later discovered another plot
against his life. Reluctant to
punish the conspirators, he
sent messengers to ask Pepin
the Hunchback for advice. The
messengers found Pepin weeding
the monastery garden.
Grouchily he told them to go
back to his father and tell
him what he was doing:
"digging up useless weeds" to
make room for more valuable
plants.
The messengers weren't happy
with this reply, but
Charlemagne understood at once
that Pepin had given him good
advice. He decided to weed his
enemies out of his lands -- by
executing them. Then he
rewarded Pepin by letting him
"choose the manner of life
that most pleased him." Pepin
chose to move to "the most
noble monastery then in
existence."
This story probably isn't
true, but it does demonstrate
that, decades after his death,
Charlemagne was remembered as
a forgiving father and a wise
king. But why did his nobles
-- and even his own son --
plot against him? Einhard
blames Charlemagne's wife
Fastrada, saying her cruelty
caused the Frankish nobles to
turn against Charlemagne.
After Fastrada died in 794,
Charlemagne married his final
wife, Luitgard. They had no
children together. Luitgard
died in 800, and Charlemagne
did not remarry.
Holy Roman Emperor
Charlemagne, reigning over his
vast empire in West Europe,
was in many ways a successor
to the emperors of the Western
Roman Empire. When Pope Leo
III was violently attacked in
799, he fled to Charlemagne
for help. Charlemagne placed
the pope under his protection
and punished his enemies.
Meanwhile, the former Eastern
Roman empire, which we now
call the Byzantine Empire, was
ruled by an empress named
Irene, who had deposed her
son, Constantine VI, and had
his eyes put out. The emperors
of the Byzantine empire had
always considered themselves
to be the rightful successors
to the emperors of ancient
Rome, but the pope believed
that Irene could not legally
rule under Roman law because
she was a woman, so he decided
to give Charlemagne the title
of emperor.
At the end of 800, Charlemagne
went to Rome, and on Christmas
Day he was crowned emperor by
the pope. The Holy Roman
Empire was born.
(Some experts consider 10th
century German king Otto I to
be the first true Holy Roman
Emperor. Either way,
Charlemagne's coronation set
the precedent; he was first in
a line of emperors that
continued for the next one
thousand years.)
It is possible that
Charlemagne considered
marrying Empress Irene to
reunite the Eastern and
Western empires, but nothing
came of this plan. In 802
Irene was overthrown by her
own subjects; she died in 803.
A later Byzantine ruler,
Emperor Michael I, officially
recognized Charlemagne as
Emperor of the West.
The Greatness of Charlemagne
Charlemagne was a great -- and
sometimes brutal -- military
leader who expanded his empire
by conquering the Lombards,
the Saxons, and others. He was
also a great reformer and
administrator who governed his
sprawling empire very
effectively.
One of his most important
achievements was the
establishment of a school
system so that all boys
throughout his empire could be
educated. The emperor believed
in educating himself, too; as
an adult he studied grammar,
mathematics, and other
subjects. He was particularly
interested in astronomy and
foreign languages; he spoke
Latin fluently and understood
Greek. Like so many people at
that time, he could not write,
but he tried to learn, and
even kept writing tablets
under his pillow so he could
practice when he had time.
Charlemagne was a tall,
strong, active man. He ate
simply and preferred to dress
in the garb of ordinary
Frankish people. According to
Einhard, the emperor was
deeply religious and very
generous to both the church
and the poor.
In later centuries,
Charlemagne came to be viewed
as the ideal Christian king.
Legends arose in which
Charlemagne and his paladins
were portrayed as romantic
figures, like King Arthur and
his knights.
The real Charlemagne ruled for
more than 45 years. He died in
814 and was buried in Aachen
Cathedral (located in modern
Germany), where his tomb can
still be seen. The cathedral,
which Charlemagne founded, is
now a UNESCO World Heritage
Site.
The Empire After Charlemagne
Near the end of Charlemagne's
life, he had his only living
legitimate son, Louis I (Louis
the Pious), crowned as his
co-emperor. After
Charlemagne's death, pious
Louis packed his sisters off
to convents and jumped
vigorously into the business
of governing the empire.
But, like previous Frankish
kings, Louis faced trouble
from within his own family.
When his nephew Bernard
revolted against him, Louis
put down the rebellion, had
Bernard blinded (inadvertently
killing him in the process),
and sent Charlemagne's
illegitimate sons Drogo, Hugo,
and Theodoric to monasteries
so they couldn't rebel against
him too. Later three of the
emperor's own sons from his
first marriage -- Lothair,
Pippin, and Louis the German
-- rose up against him and
briefly deposed him.
Upon Louis I's death in 840,
the empire was divided between
Lothair, Louis the German, and
their half-brother Charles the
Bald. But Lothair, who had
been given the title emperor,
believed that his brothers
should bow to his authority,
and their refusal to do so led
to a war -- which Lothair
lost. Eventually Lothair
abdicated and became a monk.
His kingdom was divided
between his three sons, one of
whom had already been crowned
Emperor Louis II.
Louis II died in 875 and was
succeeded as emperor by his
uncle Charles the Bald
(Charles II), who spent his
short reign fighting Louis the
German's sons. The bald
emperor died in 877, and the
imperial title passed to Louis
the German's son Charles III,
nicknamed Charles the Fat.
This emperor had a chance to
reunite the Carolingian empire
-- not because he was a great
leader, but because his
brothers and cousins kept
dying and he kept inheriting
their kingdoms. Within a few
years, almost all of
Charlemagne's empire had
fallen into his fat hands.
But Charles III was not up to
ruling an empire, and in 887
he was deposed by his nephew
Arnulf, who became king of the
East Franks. Burgundy, Italy,
and the West Franks elected
other kings, and the
Carolingian empire fell
further into chaos.
In 891, Italian king Guido II
(Guy of Spoleto) forced Pope
Stephen V to crown him
emperor. Guy's son Lambert was
later crowned co-emperor. But
Guy died in 894, and in 896
Arnulf was crowned emperor by
Pope Formosus.
The dynamic Arnulf reminded
observers of his ancestor
Charlemagne, but any dreams he
had of restoring the empire
were dashed when, soon after
his imperial coronation in
Rome, the ailing emperor
became paralyzed. He returned
to Germany and spent several
years dying while his
fledgling empire fell apart.
Emperor Arnulf died in 899.
His successor to the imperial
title was Emperor Louis III,
son of King Boso of Provence
and his wife Irmingard,
daughter of Emperor Louis II.
(Emperor Louis III, later
called Louis the Blind, should
not be confused with Arnulf's
son Louis the Child, who
succeeded his father as king
of Germany but not as
emperor.) Emperor Louis III
engaged in a power struggle
with another of Charlemagne's
descendants, King Berengar I
of Italy -- a struggle which
Berengar won in 905, when he
blinded Louis and kicked him
out of Italy. Louis III went
back to Provence, where he
died in 928.
Berengar claimed the imperial
title in 915. By this time,
however, Charlemagne's empire
had evaporated, replaced by
many separate kingdoms, and
the title of emperor brought
Berengar little real power. He
was murdered in 924.
There is disagreement about
whether Charles the Fat,
Arnulf, or Louis the Blind
should be called the last
Carolingian emperor. In any
case, the Frankish empire came
to an end less than a century
after the death of its
founder, Charlemagne.
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Books About Charlemagne & the
Carolingians
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Book topics: Charlemagne,
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Charlemagne
Two Lives of Charlemagne by
Einhard and Notker the
Stammerer, edited by Lewis G.
M. Thorpe. Two medieval
biographies. Einhard knew
Charlemagne personally.
Charlemagne by Matthias
Becher, translated by David S.
Bachrach. This biography
describes Charlemagne's rise
to emperor, his reign, and his
posthumous fame.
Charlemagne: Father of a
Continent by Alessandro
Barbero, tranlated by Allan
Cameron. Brings Charlemagne to
life, recounts how he ruled
his empire, and describes
everyday life during
Charlemagne's reign.
Charlemagne by Roger Collins.
A biography that explains why
Charlemagne can be called "the
Father of Europe."
Charlemagne by Derek Wilson.
This biography provides a
lively account of
Charlemagne's life, character,
and accomplishments. A sage
ruler, he ordered executions
reminiscent of Caligula or
Nero. A devout Christian, he
considered himself above the
church and sired numerous
illegitimate children. With
military might he dominated
his world and forged Western
Christendom.
Mohammed, Charlemagne, and the
Origins of Europe by Richard
Hodges, photographs by David
Whitehouse.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ
ct/0140442138/ref=nosim/103-02
09349-7718202?n=283155
http://www.royalty.nu/history/
empires/Carolingian.html
http://www.historyguide.org/an
cient/lecture20b.html
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