IndexBackground context/Historical contextRise to powerMajor military campaignsHoly Roman EmperorNew administrationCarolingian RenaissancePersonal lifeLegacyDiscussionWorks cited“I am the successor not of Louis XVI, but of Charlemagne”. Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed it during his coronation as Emperor of France in 1804. This was a thousand years after Pope Leo crowned Charles I, commonly known as Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800, and this reveals the legacy lasting legacy that he left behind. It is easy to see this legacy in the titles his people often called him: Carolus Magnus (“Charlemagne) and Europae pater (“father of Europe”). Charlemagne greatly influenced generations to come through his military campaigns, administrative reforms, and cultural renaissance, which brought a period of unity and prosperity to the early Middle Ages, laying the foundation for modern Europe. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Context/Historical Context Charlemagne's father, Pepin III (the Short), was not always the king of France. Initially, the Merovingian dynasty held the Frankish throne, and Pepin III was only the mayor of the palace. Originally, the palace mayors were only meant to oversee the family and its vast holdings, but, as time passed, they came to have more power; the role became more like what a prime minister would do today. Power began to shift in 732 after Charles Martel, Charlemagne's grandfather, stopped the invading Muslim army from advancing further into Europe at the crucial Battle of Tours, earning the respect of the nobility and the people. When Charlemagne was born, the Merovingian king Childeric III was little more than a figurehead. In 751, any illusions about the power of the Merovingians vanished after Pepin III staged a coup and took the throne with the approval of Pope Zachery, who provided him with the legitimacy necessary for success. To secure the support and essential legitimacy of the pope, Pepin III accepted a forged copy of the Donation of Constantine, which essentially stated that the king received his power from the pope. Furthermore, in the Donation of Pepin, Pepin III donated large portions of land to the Papacy, establishing the foundation of the Papal States, and repelled the Lombards from their southern borders. Rise to Power Amid this political turmoil in 742, Charlemagne's mother, Bertrada of Laon, gave birth to Charlemagne. Surprisingly, historians don't know much about Charlemagne's childhood. Even Einhard, biographer and contemporary of Charlemagne, knew nothing about it. He wrote: "It would be madness, I think, to write a word concerning the birth and childhood of Charles, or even his childhood, for nothing has ever been written on the subject, and there is no one alive now who can furnish information about It." It can be hypothesized that he received military training to prepare him for his role as a warrior king, but there is no concrete evidence to support this. Despite the general lack of information available about Charlemagne's childhood, historians have recorded two specific events. The first event was the oath taken by Charlemagne when he was six years old, where he pledged to protect the papacy and Christianity, and the second was when he was 15 years old, where he reiterated his oath to the papacy and Christianity. The influence of these oaths is evident in his many military decisions and conquests, especially regarding his campaigns against the pagans of Saxony and his opposition to the Muslims. In 768 Pepin III died, leaving his kingdom divided between his two sons: Charlemagne and Carloman. Tension between the two brothers grewalmost immediately. The inciting incident, however, was the rebellion in the province of Aquitaine in 769, which Charlemagne's father had previously quelled. Charlemagne wanted to use the army to suppress the rebellion, but Charlemagne did not support this. Charlemagne nevertheless marched his troops towards Aquitaine, repressing the rebellion and conquering part of the nearby province of Gascony. Tensions increased further after Charlemagne repudiated and divorced the daughter of Desiderius, king of the Lombards. Enraged, Desiderius approached Carloman asking him to overthrow Charlemagne. A civil war was brewing when Carloman died mysteriously, leaving his kingdom to Charlemagne. Major Military Campaigns Charlemagne's military campaigns greatly expanded France, widening its borders to include modern France, northern Spain, northern Italy, and modern Germany. Charlemagne's first great military success was the conquest of the Lombard Kingdom. It all began around 771 when Pope Hadrian I used the papacy's status as a Frankish protectorate and appealed to Charlemagne for protection. Charlemagne led an expedition into Italy in 773, quickly overwhelming the Lombards and achieving victory in less than a year. The Lombard king Desiderius was banished for life and his son expelled from Italy. Charlemagne returned to Pope Hadrian I all the territories lost by the papacy and took the rest of the territory for himself, establishing his son Pepin Carloman as king of that subkingdom. Charlemagne's military expansion continued in 778, invading Umayyad rulers in northern Spain. This campaign, however, ended in total disaster and his army was forced to retreat. Ironically, the poets commemorated this defeat in the epic poem The Song of Orlando, ignoring Charlemagne's numerous victories. This defeat, however, did not discourage Charlemagne, who by 796 controlled Muslim territory from the Pyrenees to the Ebro River, creating a buffer zone between his kingdom and the Muslims called the Spanish March. Its most hard-won and contested territory, however, was the region of Saxony, which took 18 separate invasions and 30 years to fully conquer. Charlemagne's casus belli for the war with the Saxons was the burning of a church in Deventer (modern-day Holland) in 772. Interestingly, the Franks and the Saxons had good diplomatic relations and often traded with each other before the Deventer church fire. , leading some to believe that Charlemagne staged the raid to have a reason to invade. Many cite his intolerance towards pagan religions as a possible reason. In 772, Charlemagne burned the Saxons' sacred tree, Irminsul, in retaliation for burning the church. He then waged a campaign of burning, looting and massacres across the country. In response to this, in 777 the Saxons rallied behind the warrior leader Widukind as leader of their resistance, although he could do little against Charlemagne's army. He managed, however, to negotiate with the king of Denmark to allow Saxon refugees to enter his kingdom. The war came to a head in 782 with the Massacre of Verden, when Charlemagne beheaded 4,500 Saxons in an attempt to break the Saxons' will to fight; Despite this carnage, the Saxons fought on. Finally, around 784, Widukind extended an olive branch to Charlemagne and agreed to be baptized, and although it is documented that he was baptized, the war continued until 802. Holy Roman Emperor While Charlemagne's reign was having military success after military success, the Papacy was in turmoil. In 799, the Romans who held Pope Leo III guilty of tyranny and “misconductstaff” brutally attacked him, forcing him to flee to Charlemagne's court in search of protection. In response, Charlemagne sent his army to escort Leo to Rome, and then went to Rome himself to preside over Leo's trial in 800. Charlemagne had the charges against Leo dropped in exchange for Leo's public oath atoning him of all charges. against him. The next morning, Christmas Day of the year 800, Charlemagne was attending St. Peter's Basilica for mass when Pope Leo placed a crown on his head proclaiming "Charles Augustus crowned great and peaceful". Emperor of the Romans, life and victory!" Interestingly, Einhard states that Charlemagne “would never have set foot in the church that day…if he could have seen the Pope's plan.” Many historians, however, note that Charlemagne's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor was of great benefit to both parties and most likely planned. This new title gave Charlemagne the authority to punish those who acted against the church, officially recognized him as the guardian of Christianity, and placed him on an equal footing with other revered emperors such as Constantine. In return, the Pope strengthened his status as a protectorate of France, while at the same time creating the illusion of power since he was the one who crowned Charlemagne. Whether or not Charlemagne was aware of the Pope's plans to crown him, Charlemagne used and defended his new title to great effect, going so far as to declare war on Byzantium and cede most of his territory on the Dalmatian coast to be recognized by Byzantium as Emperor of the West. Charlemagne not only physically waged war against the Byzantines, but also engaged in theological warfare, influencing the icon controversy and objecting to the Eastern Orthodox version of the Nicene Creed. These actions and Charlemagne's position as emperor greatly increased tensions between Rome and Constantinople, eventually leading to a complete division of the church in 1054. The new administration Becoming Holy Roman Emperor caused Charlemagne to shift his attention away from constant campaigns military administration, diplomacy and religious reform. . Charlemagne retained his original government structure. This structure divided his kingdom into central regions, where his rule was strong and more direct, and outer regions, where each county was ruled by a trusted earl or earl. Furthermore, he maintained the Frankish tradition of annually summoning all local rulers from across the empire to Marchfield. Most of his new reforms and decrees came in the form of missi dominici, royal agents of Charlemagne who traveled around his empire enforcing and announcing his laws, as well as gathering information on local rulers to report to Charlemagne. With Charlemagne's newfound power as Holy Roman Emperor, these laws could now influence clergy and church officials, as well as secular leaders. Charlemagne's decrees were based on the creation of perfect Christianity, resulting in many laws as just and just as those of his Chapter General. for the Missis. For example, he charged church officials “not to oppress their subjects with harsh rule of tyranny, but to carefully guard with sincere love the flock entrusted to them with mercy and charity.” Furthermore, he instructed judges to “judge righteously according to the written law and not according to their own will.” In line with his desire to create the perfect Christianity, but in stark contrast to the sense of justice and fairness towards all that pervades his General Chapter for the Mississippians, Charlemagne has no tolerance towards those who do notthey convert to Christianity. It condemns anyone who has "formed a conspiracy with the pagans" and any Saxon who has not been baptized to death. Carolingian Renaissance While the Carolingian Renaissance extended beyond Charlemagne's reign and its influence is best seen posthumously, Charlemagne was the key figure in bringing it to fruition. The Carolingian Renaissance was the greatest revival of academia, literature, art, and architecture since the time of Rome. Charlemagne's desire to create a Christian identity in Europe, to resist the influence of Muslims, fueled this revival. Accordingly, Charlemagne gathered the best scholars in his capital at Aachen, which he centered around Alcuin of York, England, whom he appointed headmaster of his court's school. Scholarship also focused on monasteries where monks copied both classical and Christian manuscripts, preserving them for others to learn from, and greatly increased the amount of manuscripts available in surrounding libraries. Charlemagne's educational policies, which required all instruction to be in Latin, and the royal scriptorium, which created a new, simpler writing system, known as Carolingian minuscule, further promoted learning and cultural unity. These changes led to numerous advances in architecture (Palatine Chapel in Aachen), technology (iron horseshoe), and agriculture (triple crop rotation system). Furthermore, they lead to new poems, hymns, stories, musical treatises, and theological commentaries. Personal Life With all of Charlemagne's accomplishments, it is easy to forget his humanity. Einhard paints a vivid picture of him, however, describing him as looking “stately and dignified,” despite his “thick and somewhat short neck” and his “rather prominent” belly. Charlemagne rarely wore elegant clothes, preferring clothes that resembled those worn by common people. Not even the most beautiful foreign robes would have tempted Charlemagne; he only wore them twice (both times at the behest of the pope). Einhard adds that since Charlemagne was illiterate and could not read. He often listened to music or read while he ate, and was particularly fond of St. Augustine's books such as The City of God. Furthermore, Charlemagne's family was enormous, he had at least 18 children divided among his four wives and three mistresses. Charlemagne married his first wife, daughter of King Desiderius, for political advantage and at the insistence of his mother. Less than a year later, however, Charlemagne suddenly refused to associate with or even recognize her, and subsequently divorced her, much to the chagrin of his mother and King Desiderius. Then he married Hildegard. She was his most notable wife as she bore him nine children, five sons and four daughters, in their nine years of marriage before dying at the young age of 26. After Hildegard's death, he married Fastrada, daughter of an Austrian count. She bore Charlemagne two daughters, but died in 794, after only eleven years of marriage. In the same year Charlemagne remarried again, this time to Luitgarda of Alamannia. The court loved her and touted her as "good and devoted," but she too died without ever having children after just six years of marriage. Legacy In January 814, Charlemagne fell ill with fever and died after living 72 years and reigning 47. While Charlemagne decreed in 806 that his empire would be divided among his three sons upon his death, the line of succession was clear, since he had already given the imperial crown to his son Louis the Pious king in 813. Louis sought to fulfill his father's wishes and hold Charlemagne's empire together, but Charlemagne's own campaigns had already doomed him. The massacre of the people of Saxony destroyed the region and angered the.