Charlemagne is often regarded as the greatest ruler of the Middle Ages (500-1500). He had created an empire that stretched from the North Sea to Italy (Monroe 13). Louis the Pious was Charlemagne’s only surviving son. This made things easy, because when the time came, Louis the Pious would be the clear choice for an heir. Louis the Pious reigned from 814 to 840 (Macmillan). The year was 840 AD, when Louis the Pious had died (Barraclough 14). What would become of Charlemagne’s vast empire? During the Middle Ages, Europe was ruled by monarchs. A common issue was determining who would be the successor to the throne. There could have been either be no heirs fit to rule, or there could have been conflict over who became the next ruler. Louis the …show more content…
This made Lothair the ideal choice for emperor. Lothair was crowned emperor by his father Louis I in 817. He and his father co-ruled the empire until his father’s death in 840. After Louis the Pious’ death, Lothair kept the title of emperor by the Treaty of Verdun. In addition, the Treaty of Verdun also gave him the middle portion of the empire. This included Italy, and the territory north of the Alps, that came to be named after him, Lotharingia (Greer and Lewis 218). Modern Italy was formed from Lothair’s land. On many occasions, Lothair had led his full-brothers, Pepin I of Aquitaine, and Louis the German, in revolt against their father. Their father Louis the Pious, was attempting to make their half-brother, Charles the Bald, one of the heirs to the Frankish domains. Charles the Bald was far younger than the other brothers, and he was only related to them by one parent. For these reasons Lothair, Pepin I of Aquitaine, and Louis the German, saw Charles the Bald unfit. The struggles between the brothers led to the Treaty of Verdun, and ultimately the breakup of the Frankish empire. The struggles between the brothers also laid down the foundation for the development of modern France, Germany, and Italy (Williams 573). Lothair inherited the middle part of the kingdom, and the title of emperor. This caused the brothers to fight, triggering a civil war; leading to the development of France, Germany, and Italy. The lands of …show more content…
He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt. His elder brothers were already adults, and Louis I had assigned them their own subkingdoms or regna (Encyclopædia Britannica). Louis the Pious made attempts to assign Charles the Bald a kingdom, but Charles the Balds’ older brothers did not agree (Encyclopædia Britannica). Lothair led his full-brothers Pepin I of Aquitaine and Louis the German in revolt against their father to protest against attempts to make their half-brother Charles the Bald an heir to the Frankish domains (Monroe 14). Charles the Bald was the youngest brother, and he was only related to his older brothers by one parent (Louis the Pious), because of these two reasons, Charles the Bald had to face the most adversity out of the three brothers. He still succeeded because he joined forces with his brother Louis the German against Lothair. This happened right after Louis the Pious died. Charles the Bald and Louis the German teaming up on Lothair triggered the three year civil war that preceded the Treaty of Verdun (Heer 20). The Treaty of Verdun was created to put an end to the fighting. It was Charles the Balds’ revolt, with his brother Louis the German, against Lothair, that caused the Treaty of
In the Frankish empire, there were numerous different cultures which inhabited it. A cultural dividing line can be draw down the Rhine River. On the left bank of the Rhine, you had the lands of Christian, Romanised Gaul, while on the right bank of the Rhine resided pagan Germania.* Culturally, linguistically and religiously, these two cultures could not have been more different from each other. In Gaul, the people had become Romanised and Christianised over the centuries by their roman overlords. Gaul was also heavily settled by the Franks, since they were feodrati for Rome. When the Western Roman Empire fell, it was easy for the Franks to move in and assume control over the territory. With the Franks conversion to Christianity in 496 The Franks were able to mix well with the Gallo-Roman land owners and peasants, leading Gaul to slowly transform itself into Francia.* The coronation of Charlemagne further enhanced his authority over his Gallic dominions by linking himself with the old Western Roman Empire.* This allowed him to be seen as a legitimate successor to the emperors of old, instead of a chieftain of a conquering
... left France bankrupt. Louis had to compromise—he and his heirs could never combine the Spanish and French crowns, but his grandson would be king.
The most famous work about Charlemagne is a book entitled The Two Lives of Charlemagne which consists of two separate biographies published into one book and tells the story of Charlemagne's life as two different people experienced it. Apart from this, there are many other places you can turn to learn more about the life of the king of the Franks, including letters, capitularies, inventories, annals, and more. However, each of these sources seem to paint a different picture of Charlemagne. In one, he seems to be a very average guy; in another, a mythical being, almost god-like; and a strong and firm political leader in yet another. It is because of this of this that we will never really know exactly who Charlemagne was or what he was like, but we do have an idea of what he did and how he lived thanks to those who decided to preserve it.
The blessing of the church helped to unify and strengthen the resolve of the Frankish people as they withstood or conquered the heathen Viking and eastern Germanic tribes. The fact that Charles was Christian and was backed by the Catholic church must have certainly helped keep other christian powers from allying with these barbarians. For Rome, there were suddenly new peoples to convert, and keep from direct opposition to the The Great Christian Emperor.
Charlemagne’s father, Pepin, died of dropsy on 24 September, 768 and left his two sons, Charlemagne and Carloman, with William, the Duke of Aquitania. After Pepin died, the whole kingdom was divided evenly between the two sons. It was split in such a way that Charlemagne would govern the part that belonged ...
Charlemagne once said, “Right action is better than knowledge, but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right” (historymedren.com). Charlemagne proved himself to be a successful leader, and he was an inspiration to others who desired to rule Europe. He was born in 742, and very little information is known about his adolescence. Europe was trapped in its fourth century of the “dark ages” when Charlemagne was born but this quickly changed after Charlemagne became the ruler of Europe and exhibited his strong leadership skills. (livescience.com).He put a large emphasis on education and revealed that he was an inquisitive individual as he studied and spoke in many different languages. Charlemagne’s desire for success, his emphasis of culture, and his quest for knowledge ended Europe’s unproductiveness and led to great prosperity.
“The apprenticeship of a King” describes how Charlemagne gained power through conquest and diplomacy. In 768, King Pippin died and his kingdom was divided between his two sons. Charles, the elder, and the younger was Carloman. The author says that little is known of Charles’ boyhood. When he was of the right age, it is recorded that he worked eagerly at riding and hunting. It was the custom of the Franks to ride and be practiced in the use of arms and ways of hunting. We may reasonably infer that acquiring these skills formed a major part of his early education. Charles was not a “man of letters” and the author makes no attempt at explaining this other than to point out that literacy was considered unimportant at that time for anyone other than the clergy and Charles didn’t become interested in “letters” until later in life. Bullough explains a number of experiences in public duties and responsibilities, which were assigned to Charles by his father, thus, giving him an apprenticeship to rule the kingdom. For some reason tension between Charles and his brother began shortly after their accession. The author explains a number of conflicts. The younger brother died however, at the end of 771 and a number of prominent people in his kingdom offered allegiance to Charles. Bullough names and explains those subjects. The result was the re-uniting of those territories, which helped to establish the kingdom of the Franks.
Charlemagne Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, became the undisputed ruler of Western Europe, “By the sword and the cross.” (Compton’s 346) As Western Europe was deteriorating Charlemagne was crowned the privilege of being joint king of the Franks in 768 A.D. People of Western Europe, excluding the church followers, had all but forgotten the great gifts of education and arts that they had possessed at one time. Charlemagne solidly defeated barbarians and kings in identical fashion during his reign. Using the re-establishment of education and order, Charlemagne was able to save many political rights and restore culture in Western Europe.
Throughout the middle ages, many empires were working on expanding their territory, but it was not always a success unless they had the appropriate leadership to guide them in the right direction. The main empire that grew to extraordinary lengths is that of the Roman Empire. Through many conquests and battles and with an amicable government, it attained its fortune. However, on the other hand, there was another government that shared similarities with that of Rome; this was the empire of Charlemagne, otherwise known as the Carolingian Empire, but it failed to have a prosperous eternity.
Charlemagne was born between 742 and 748, and died on January 28th 814 at age 71. His father was Pepin the Short who had become King of the Franks in 751. After the death of his father, Charlemagne became King of the Franks himself, with his brother Carloman, splitting the empire in half. The brothers were not fond of having to split the empire in half for three years. The way they would communicate would be through their mother. Carloman mysteriously died one day, and to this day in history, no one knows for sure whether or not Charlemagne was involved with it. Once his brother died, Charlemagne would take over the whole empire in 771 at age 24. He was now the emperor of the largest single kingdom in Europe.
When the Hundred Years’ War began in 1337, the strength of the French empire declined and the English possessed most of France. Although the war began in 1337, tensions between France and England started centuries earlier. In 1066, William of Normandy, duke of France, defeated the English and became king of England. A century later, conflict arose when Henry II, a great grandson of William, came into power in 1154 and wanted to add to his empire, known as the Angevin Empire, by taking over French territories. Friction mounted as the fighting between Angevin and French territories continued. Finally, King Edward III of England claimed the throne of France in 1328 but was refused, causing war to break out in 1337. The French suffered huge losses in the first period of the Hundred Years’ War. The French cavalry was decimated at Crecy in 1347, the fortress of Calais was lost in 1347, the French army was crushed at Poitiers in 1356, and King John II handed over ⅓ of the French kingdom to the English by the Treaty of Bretigny. Although the French drove out the English b...
There was however some reaction against Charles’ activities. Ferdinand of Aragon decreed that since Naples was subject to the papacy, that the Popes honour had been attacked. He formed the League of Venice. His main intentions were to expel Charles and become the ruler of a united Naples, Sicily and Aragon. Charles began to withdraw to France and although he won a battle at Fornovo, his outnumbered garrisons couldn’t retain Naples.
Spanish America as well as multiple other kingdoms. The death of Ferdinand II opened the door for Charles V to become King Carlos I of Spain in 1516. In 1519 when Maximilian I died, Charles V was left with the Hapsburg domains and was elected Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (11). With all of the nations he inherited combined, his domain was estimated at four millio...
He was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. He defeated King Harold in the battle of Hastings. Emperor Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, united most of Western Europe during the middle Ages and laid the foundations for modern France. During his reign he brought together most of Western Europe His rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a time of intellectual activity within the church.