127 Facts About Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and Emperor of what is known as the Carolingian Empire from 800, holding these titles until his death in 814.

Charlemagne united most of Western and Central Europe, and was the first recognised emperor to rule from the west after the fall of the Western Roman Empire approximately three centuries earlier.

Charlemagne's reign was marked by political and social changes that had lasting influence on Europe throughout the Middle Ages.

Charlemagne continued his father's policy of protecting the papacy and became its chief defender, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy in 774.

Charlemagne's reign saw a period of expansion that led to the conquests of Bavaria, Saxony, and northern Spain, as well as other campaigns that led Charlemagne to extend his rule over a large part of Europe.

Charlemagne spread Christianity to his new conquests, as seen at the Massacre of Verden against the Saxons.

Charlemagne sent envoys and initiated diplomatic contact with the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 790s, due to their mutual interest in Iberian affairs.

In 800, Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III.

Charlemagne died in 814 and was buried at Aachen Cathedral in Aachen, his imperial capital city.

Charlemagne was succeeded by his only surviving legitimate son, Louis the Pious.

Charlemagne is seen as a founding figure by multiple European states and a number of historical royal houses of Europe trace their lineage back to him.

Charlemagne has been the subject of artworks, monuments and literature during and after the medieval period.

Charlemagne made plans to divide the kingdom between his sons, Carloman and Pepin the Short, who succeeded him after his death in 741.

Charlemagne had at least two sons; the elder, Drogo, took his place.

The ninth-century biographer Einhard reports Charlemagne as being 72 years old at the time of his death; the Royal Frankish Annals imprecisely gives his age at death as about 71, and his original epitaph called him a septuagenarian.

Charlemagne spoke Latin and, according to Einhard, could understand and speak some Greek.

Charlemagne asserted his own education in the liberal arts in encouraging their study by his children and others, although it is unknown whether his study was as a child or at court during his later life.

The question of Charlemagne's literacy is debated, with little direct evidence from contemporary sources.

Charlemagne normally had texts read aloud to him and dictated responses and decrees, but this was not unusual even for a literate ruler at the time.

Historian Johannes Fried considers it likely that Charlemagne would have been able to read, but the medievalist Paul Dutton writes that "the evidence for his ability to read is circumstantial and inferential at best" and concludes that it is likely that he never properly mastered the skill.

Einhard makes no direct mention of Charlemagne reading, and recorded that he only attempted to learn to write later in life.

Charlemagne was sent to greet and escort the Pope, and he and his younger brother Carloman were anointed with their father.

Charlemagne began issuing charters in his own name in 760.

The Royal Frankish Annals report that Charlemagne ruled Austrasia and Carloman ruled Burgundy, Provence, Aquitaine, and Alamannia, with no mention made of which brother received Neustria.

The Lombard king Desiderius had interests in Roman affairs, and Charlemagne attempted to enlist him as an ally.

Desiderius already had alliances with Bavaria and Benevento through the marriages of his daughters to their dukes, and an alliance with Charlemagne would add to his influence.

Charlemagne had already had a relationship with the Frankish noblewoman Himiltrude, and they had a son in 769 named Pepin.

Pope Stephen's letter described the relationship as a legitimate marriage, but he had a vested interest in preventing Charlemagne from marrying Desiderius's daughter.

Charlemagne moved immediately to secure his hold on his brother's territory, forcing Carloman's widow Gerberga to flee to Desiderius's court in Lombardy with their children.

Charlemagne ended his marriage to Desiderius's daughter and married Hildegard, daughter of count Gerold, a powerful magnate in Carloman's kingdom.

Charlemagne's first campaigning season as sole king of the Franks was spent on the eastern frontier in his first war against the Saxons, who had been engaging in border raids on the Frankish kingdom when Charlemagne responded by destroying the pagan Irminsul at Eresburg and seizing their gold and silver.

Charlemagne first sought a diplomatic solution, offering gold to Desiderius in exchange for the return of the papal territories and his nephews.

Charlemagne's second son was born in 772, and Charlemagne brought the child and his wife to the camp at Pavia.

Charlemagne left Bernard to maintain the siege at Pavia while he took a force to capture Verona, where Desiderius's son Adalgis had taken Carloman's sons.

Charlemagne captured the city; no further record exists of his nephews or of Carloman's wife, and their fate is unknown.

Charlemagne placed a copy of the agreement in the chapel above St Peter's tomb as a symbol of his commitment, and left Rome to continue the siege.

Charlemagne deposed Desiderius and took the title of King of the Lombards.

Charlemagne secured the support of the Lombard nobles and Italian urban elites to seize power in a mainly-peaceful annexation.

Charlemagne soon returned to Francia with the Lombard royal treasury and with Desiderius and his family, who would be confined to a monastery for the rest of their lives.

Charlemagne was drawn back to Italy as Duke Hrodgaud of Friuli rebelled against him.

Charlemagne quickly crushed the rebellion, distributing Hrodgaud's lands to the Franks to consolidate his rule in Lombardy.

Charlemagne wintered in Italy, consolidating his power by issuing charters and legislation and taking Lombard hostages.

In 777, Charlemagne held an assembly at Paderborn with Frankish and Saxon men; many more Saxons came under his rule, but the Saxon magnate Widukind fled to Denmark to prepare for a new rebellion.

Charlemagne, seeing an opportunity to strengthen the security of the kingdom's southern frontier and extend his influence, agreed to intervene.

Charlemagne returned to Francia to greet his newborn twin sons, Louis and Lothair, who were born while he was in Spain; Lothair died in infancy.

Charlemagne sent an army to Saxony in 779 while he held assemblies, legislated, and addressed a famine in Francia.

Charlemagne returned to Saxony in 780, holding assemblies at which he received hostages from Saxon nobles and oversaw their baptism.

Charlemagne commissioned epitaphs for his wife and daughter, and arranged for a Mass to be said daily at Hildegard's tomb.

Charlemagne was remarried to Fastrada, daughter of the East Frankish count Radolf, by the end of the year.

Charlemagne defeated a Frankish army, possibly due to rivalry among the Frankish counts leading it.

Charlemagne came to Verden after learning of the defeat, but Widukind fled before his arrival.

Charlemagne summoned the Saxon magnates to an assembly and compelled them to turn prisoners over to him, since he regarded their previous acts as treachery.

The annals record that Charlemagne had 4,500 Saxon prisoners beheaded in the massacre of Verden.

Charlemagne's focus for the next several years would be on his attempt to complete the subjugation of the Saxons.

Unusually, Charlemagne campaigned through the winter instead of resting his army.

Charlemagne accepted his submission and hostages, who included Arechis's son Grimoald.

Empress Irene had called the 787 Second Council of Nicaea, but did not inform Charlemagne or invite any Frankish bishops.

Charlemagne sent Grimoald back to Benevento to serve as duke and return it to Frankish suzerainty.

Charlemagne gathered his forces to prepare for an invasion of Bavaria in 787.

Charlemagne was deposed and sent to a monastery, and Charlemagne absorbed Bavaria into his kingdom.

Charlemagne spent the next few years based in Regensburg, largely focused on consolidating his rule of Bavaria and warring against the Avars.

Charlemagne gave Charles the Younger rule of Maine in Neustria in 789, leaving Pepin the Hunchback his only son without lands.

Charlemagne summoned a council in Regensburg in 792 to address the theological controversy over the adoptionism doctrine in the Spanish church and formulate a response to the Second Council of Nicea.

Charlemagne gathered an army after the council of Frankfurt as Saxon resistance continued, beginning a series of annual campaigns which lasted through 799.

Charlemagne forcibly removed a large number of Saxons to Francia, installing Frankish elites and soldiers in their place.

Charlemagne's extended wars in Saxony led to his establishing his court in Aachen, which had easy access to the frontier.

Charlemagne built a large palace there, including a chapel which is part of the Aachen Cathedral.

Charlemagne worked to expand his influence through diplomatic means during the 790s wars, focusing on the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain.

Charlemagne refused the arrangement, and the marriage did not take place.

Charlemagne was the host and protector of several deposed English rulers who were later restored: Eadbehrt of Kent, Ecgberht, King of Wessex, and Eardwulf of Northumbria.

Nelson writes that Charlemagne treated the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms "like satellite states," establishing direct relations with English bishops.

Charlemagne forged an alliance with Alfonso II of Asturias, although Einhard calls Alfonso his "dependent".

Charlemagne presided over an assembly to hear the charges, but believed that no one could sit in judgement of the pope.

Historians differ about the intentions of the imperial coronation, the extent to which Charlemagne was aware of it or participated in its planning, and the significance of the events for those present and for Charlemagne's reign.

Collins writes that becoming emperor gave Charlemagne "the right to try to impose his rule over the whole of [Italy]", considering this a motivation for the coronation.

Charlemagne's coronation led to a centuries-long ideological conflict between his successors and Constantinople known as the problem of two emperors, which could be seen as a rejection or usurpation of the Byzantine emperors' claim to be the universal, preeminent rulers of Christendom.

However, the title of emperor gave Charlemagne enhanced prestige and ideological authority.

Charlemagne left Italy in the summer of 801 after adjudicating several ecclesiastical disputes in Rome and experiencing an earthquake in Spoleto.

The Franks continued to wage war, though these wars were defending and securing the empire's frontiers, and Charlemagne rarely led armies personally.

Charlemagne did not address the inheritance of the imperial title.

Charlemagne sent envoys to Constantinople in 810 to make peace, giving up his claims to Veneto.

Charlemagne soon issued the first Frankish coins bearing his imperial title, although papal coins minted in Rome had used the title as early as 800.

Charlemagne sent envoys and initiated diplomatic contact with the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid during the 790s, due to their mutual interest in Spanish affairs.

Unable to intervene directly, Charlemagne sent specially-minted coins and arms to the eastern Christians to defend and restore their churches and monasteries.

Charlemagne summoned a council at Aachen in 809 which defended the use of, and sent the decision to Rome.

Charlemagne commissioned two silver shields with the creed in Latin and Greek, which he hung in St Peter's Basilica.

Charlemagne engaged in his final campaign in Saxony in 804, seizing Saxon territory east of the Elbe, removing its Saxon population, and giving the land to his Obotrite allies.

The Danish king Gudfred, uneasy at the extension of Frankish power, offered to meet with Charlemagne to arrange peace and hand over Saxons who had fled to him; the talks were unsuccessful.

Charlemagne sent an army to secure Frisia while he led a force against Gudfred, who had reportedly challenged the emperor to face him in battle.

Charlemagne declared Pepin of Italy's son Bernard ruler of Italy and made his own only surviving son, Louis, heir to the rest of the empire.

Charlemagne made a new will detailing the disposal of his property at his death, with bequests to the church, his children, and his grandchildren.

Einhard says that Charlemagne viewed the deaths of his family members, his fall from a horse, astronomical phenomena, and the collapse of part of the palace in his last years as signs of his impending death.

Charlemagne continued to govern with energy during his final year, ordering bishops to assemble in five ecclesiastical councils.

Charlemagne became ill in the autumn of 813 and spent his last months praying, fasting, and studying the gospels.

Charlemagne's body was prepared and buried in the chapel at Aachen by his daughters and palace officials that day.

Charlemagne's remains were exhumed by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1165, and reinterred in a new casket by Frederick II in 1215.

The stability and peace of Charlemagne's reign did not long outlive him.

Charlemagne is often known as "the father of Europe" because of the influence of his reign and the legacy he left across the large area of the continent.

Charlemagne was an ancestor of several European ruling houses, including the Capetian dynasty, the Ottonian dynasty, the House of Luxembourg, and the House of Ivrea.

The Ottonians and Capetians, direct successors of the Carolingans, drew on the legacy of Charlemagne to bolster their legitimacy and prestige; the Ottonians and their successors held their German coronations in Aachen through the Middle Ages.

The marriage of Philip II of France to Isabella of Hainault was seen as a sign of increased legitimacy for their son, Louis VIII, and the French kings' association with Charlemagne's legacy was stressed until the monarchy's end.

German and French rulers, such as Frederick Barbarossa and Napoleon, cited the influence of Charlemagne and associated themselves with him.

Contacts with the wider Mediterranean world through Spain and Italy, the influx of foreign scholars at court, and the relative stability and length of Charlemagne's reign led to a cultural revival known as the Carolingian Renaissance.

Charlemagne promoted learning as a matter of policy and direct patronage, with the aim of creating a more effective clergy.

Charlemagne was a frequent subject of, and inspiration for, medieval writers after his death.

Charlemagne is the main figure of the medieval literary cycle known as the Matter of France.

Charlemagne was depicted as one of the Nine Worthies, a fixture in medieval literature and art as an exemplar of a Christian king.

Attention to Charlemagne became more scholarly in the early modern period as Eindhard's Vita and other sources began to be published.

Charlemagne gave much attention to religious and ecclesiastical affairs, holding 23 synods during his reign.

Charlemagne's synods were called to address specific issues at particular times, but generally dealt with church administration and organisation, education of the clergy, and the proper forms of liturgy and worship.

Charlemagne used the Christian faith as a unifying factor in the realm and, in turn, worked to impose unity on the church.

Charlemagne implemented an edited version of the Dionysio-Hadriana book of canon law acquired from Pope Adrian, required use of the Rule of St Benedict in monasteries throughout the empire, and promoted a standardised liturgy adapted from the rites of the Roman Church to conform with Frankish practices.

Charlemagne's policies encouraged preaching to the laity, particularly in vernacular languages they would understand.

Charlemagne believed it essential to be able to recite the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, and made efforts to ensure that the clergy taught them and other basics of Christian morality.

Since Paschal's acts were not considered valid, Charlemagne was not recognised as a saint by the Holy See.

Charlemagne drew attention from figures of the Protestant Reformation, with Martin Luther criticising his apparent subjugation to the papacy by accepting his coronation from Leo.

Charlemagne had at least twenty children with his wives and other partners.

Charlemagne was determined that all his children, including his daughters, should receive an education in the liberal arts.

Charlemagne's children were taught in accordance with their aristocratic status, which included training in riding and weaponry for his sons, and embroidery, spinning and weaving for his daughters.

Louis and Pepin of Italy married and had children during their father's lifetime, and Charlemagne brought Pepin's daughters into his household after Pepin's death.

None of Charlemagne's daughters married, although several had children with unmarried partners.

Charlemagne was heavily built, sturdy, and of considerable stature, although not exceptionally so, since his height was seven times the length of his own foot.

Charlemagne had a round head, large and lively eyes, a slightly larger nose than usual, white but still attractive hair, a bright and cheerful expression, a short and fat neck, and he enjoyed good health, except for the fevers that affected him in the last few years of his life.

Charlemagne's tomb was opened in 1861 by scientists who reconstructed his skeleton and measured it at 1.92 metres in length, roughly equivalent to Einhard's seven feet.

Charlemagne wore his hair short, abandoning the Merovingian tradition of long-haired monarchs.

Charlemagne had a moustache, in contrast with the bearded Merovingian kings; future Carolingian monarchs would adopt this style.

Later art and iconography of Charlemagne followed suit, generally depicting him in a later medieval style as bearded with longer hair.