King of the Franks 768-800
King of the Lombards 774-800
Frankish Emperor 800-814
When Pepin III died in 768, his sons Carloman and Charles I (called Charlemagne towards the end of his reign) succeeded as
Kings of the Franks. Carloman received the strong interior - Paris and Orleans, and Charlemagne received the rebellious states
and border lands in a NW crescent around Carloman's kingdom. Either Pepin did this because he favored Carloman, or because
he knew that Charlemagne was a better general and needed to be the one to face the rebellions.
In 769, Aquitaine rebelled and both brothers went to face the problem. Carloman marched back home without striking a blow,
leaving Charlemagne to subdue Aquitaine on his own, which he did. The hatred between the brothers was temporarily settled by
their mother, Bertrada. The Lombards were making many threats to Pope Hadrian, and so he called for the Frankish kings for
protection. Carloman was pro-Lombard, so Charlemagne was again on his own. In 771, the Lombard king Desiderius invaded
Rome and took much Papal land. At the end of that year, Carloman died, leaving Charlemagne the entire Frankish kingdom.
In 772, Charlemagne executed his first Saxon campaign, and while it was small it was a success. He planned for one the next
year, but in January Hadrian sent envoys to Charlemagne formally asking for help. In May he gathered all his forces at Geneva
and launched an Italian attack. He personally led the main force, and a smaller force was led by his uncle Bernard to attack the
flank of the Lombard army. In June of 774, Pavia fell and Lombardy was completely conquered by Charlemagne. He sent
Desiderius and his family to monasteries and took the crown for himself. Hadrian then crowned Pepin king of Lombardy with his
father.
In 778, Charlemagne invaded Muslim Spain, taking Barcelona, Pampelona, and Saragossa. However, Charlemagne's army was
ambushed and many generals were killed. In 781, after his defeat in Spain, Aquitaine was on the border of rebellion once again, so
he put his son Louis as king there. In 793, the Saracens invaded Aquitaine under their Caliph Hisham. Two years later the Spanish
March was created, with William as its Count. The next year King Louis and Count William secured the Spanish territories, and
William conquered Barcelona, the Balearics, and all of Navarre.
Since 772, Charlemagned campaigned in Saxony almost every year. After much fighting he finally converted their king Widukind
and incorperated Saxony into the Frankish empire, with Widukind as its first Duke. By gaining Saxony, Charlemagne received
many attacks from the Slavs, but was able to not only defeat them but take much of their land in modern Germany, Austria, and as
far east as Hungary.
On Christmas Day, 800, Charlemagne was in Rome for the crowning of his son Charles (designated to be his successor). The
Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne before mass, saying "Carolo augusto, a Deo coronato, magne et pacifico imperatore
romanorum, vita et victoria!" (To Charles, Augustus, crowned by God, great and peaceful Emperor, life and victory!) He then
"adored" Charlemagne in the Byzantine manner by prostrating himself and touching the ground with his forehead three times. This
Carolingian Empire did not last long, but it did lead to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages.
In 806, Charlemagne set up a will in which Charles, Pepin, and Louis would receive equal shares of the Empire on his death. In
July of 810, Pepin died, and he was followed by Charles in December of 811. In 813 Byzantine nobles came to greet Charlemagne
as Emperor. Louis was called from Aquitaine and crowned co-Emperor and designated successor to the imperial crown, then sent
back to Aquitaine. That year, Charlemagne spent the entire month of October hunting, and in January of the next year, at the age
of 70, died.
aka Charles the Great. Had two more mistresses:
Adalind, son Theodric (807-818) a cleric.
unknown, son Richbod (800-844) abbott of St-Riquier.
King of the Lombards 774. Holy Roman Emperor.Return to Charlemagne KAROLINGER
Emperor 875 Western Frankish King 843-877 Frankish Emperor 875-877 Louis the Pious became Frankish Emperor in 814 with no rivals to the throne. He had three sons, Lothar, Pepin, and Louis. In 817, Lothar was made co-Emperor with his father and King of Italy to replace Bernard, Pepin made King of Aquitaine, and Louis made King of Bavaria. In 823, Louis had another son, Charles, this one by a new wife (the mother of the 3 brothers had died). Louis tried desperately to work Charles in as a successor, but the three brothers fought him everytime he tried to reform his will. After much conflict, Emperor Louis dropped Lothar's imperial title in 829 and sent him off to Italy. The next year the brothers attacked, reinstated Lothar with his imperial title, and had Judith, the mother of Charles, sent off to a nunnery. By 831, Louis had regained his power, brought back his wife, and again dropped Lothar's titles, this time all of them, and refused him to return to court ever again without permission. That year Pepin revolted. In 832, Louis of Bavaria joined Pepin, and the Emperor Louis declaired Pepin deposed of all royal titles but he had no power to enforce this declairation, so Pepin continued to rule. In 833, the three again attacked with support from Louis's own generals and from Pope Gregory IV himself. They imprisoned their father and brother, and exiled Judith to Italy under watch of Lothar, and Louis and Pepin gained territory. The next year, however, Louis and Pepin released their father and brother, brought back his wife, and peace was made. In 835, Louis was re-crowned Emperor with great pomp. Pepin died in 838, and while Louis tried to have Charles crowned king in Aquitaine, the nobles crowned Pepin's son Pepin II. Neither had the authority to rule in the country. In 840, Louis the Pious died, and the three surviving brothers began a civil war for the division of the Empire. In 841, Charles and Louis of Bavaria ganged up on their brother Lothar, who had the support of Pepin II, who were defeated at Fontenay, France. In 842, Charles and Louis made a formal alliegance, and together put down a Saxon revolt that year and a revolt in Aquitaine under Pepin II. In 843, the Treaty of Verdun was made between the three brothers, by which Charles would rule the Western Frankish Kingdom (France), with Pepin's Aquitaine a subkindom under the ultimate authority of Charles, Lothar would rule the Middle Frankish Kingdom (Italy, Provence, and Lorraine) with the imperial title, and Louis would rule the EasternFrankish Kingdom (Germany). During his reign in France, Charles suffered the awesome attacks of the Danes, starting in 853. In 846, he ceded Brittany to its Breton inhabitants, and due to force he had to give to them the Breton March in 851 and Maine in 857. In 853 and 855, he was forced to allow Danish immigration into his kingdom. Another Danish army invaded in 856-9, destroying many French cities. In 858, Charles met with King Lothar II, who controlled the area near Denmark, to discuss a formal defense. Two years later, Louis the German invaded France on the invite of Pepin II and the Burgundian nobles, and Charles had so little authority that he couldn't even raise an army. The clergy finally pushed him out. In 868, Lothar died, and Louis the German and Charles the Bald divided up Lotharingia between them, just as they had done on the death of Charles of Provence in 863. 865-6 saw more Danish invasions into France. In 866, Charles finally bribed them to leave, and the East Frankish noble Hugh was made Duke to fight off the Norse. In 875, Emperor Louis II, died and on Christmas Day Pope John VIII crowned Charles Emperor in Rome. Two years later, Charles died and the French throne went to his son Louis II.
Return to Charles II the Bald KAROLINGER