How Did Charlemagne Influence The Rise Of Western Europe During The Dark Ages

Europe during the darkest part of the dark ages was a chaotic time that was filled with disease and death. One man rose to change this dark time, and this man’s name was Charlemagne. The Holy Roman Empire was ruled by Charlemagne, he tried to restore order and peace throughout the empire by conquering lands and converting his subjects to christianity. The Holy Roman Empire used its land and geography to its advantage, conquered and converted different lands to christianity, promoted education and the building of schools, and created an organized government structure.

The Holy Roman Empire was located and expanded into many places. The Holy Roman empire spans from central Europe between the kingdom of france to the west and the kingdoms of

hungary and Poland to the east. In the North, the empire was bordered by the North and baltic seas. The Holy Roman Empire itself was located on the italian peninsula and in what we call today, Germany. The Italian peninsula is said to be one of the best peninsulas of three in southern Europe. The other two peninsulas is the Iberian peninsula which is to the west and the Balkan peninsula which is to the east. Along with the Italian peninsula comes the seas that are next to it. On the east lies the adriatic sea, the west the Ligurian and the tyrrhenian seas, and to the south lies the Ionian sea. A big advantage for the Holy Roman Empire was being located on the Mediterranean Sea which enhanced trade with the nations and civilizations around them. Much of the trade and communication that was developed originated on the fearsome rivers within the empires. These rivers were called the Danube, The Main, The Rhine, and the Elbe. The empire was located at the crossroads of Europe which helped them create their culture. The Holy Roman Empire was originally set into place when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne in 800 (newworldencyclopedia, 2017)
Charlemagne’s rise into being the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire started with Charlemagne’s father, King Pepin the Short.

As Charlemagne was growing up, King Pepin was the ruler of the Franks. To train Charlemagne to be a leader, Charlemagne would often participate in political, social, and military activities in his father’s court.. As King Pepin’s death was soon, the decision was made for the empire to be divided between two of King Pepin’s sons. Charlemagne and Carloman. Charlemagne was given Pepin’s first share as mayor which is the outer parts of the kingdom which bordered the sea. These places are the northern parts of Austrasia and western Aquitaine. As for Carloman, he got his uncle’s share which is the inner parts. The Inner parts consist of southern australia, eastern aquitaine, burgundy, septimania, swabia, provence, and lands bordering italy. Over three years, Charlemagne and Carloman ruled very awkwardly together. Because the two rulers ruled very uneasily together, a rivalry was formed, which became a threat to the peace of the empire. In order for Charlemagne to gain an advantage over his brother, he formed an alliance with desiderius. Desiderius is the king of the lombards. After forming the alliance Charlemagne made Desiderius’ daughter, Desiderata of the Lombards, his wife. In 771, Carloman died (brondou, 2017) Due to Carloman death, Charlemagne became the only ruler of the Frankish Kingdom by the name of Charles I. Then, in 800, charlemagne was crowned the

“emperor of the romans” (boundless, 2017). Charlemagne’s coronation sparked the creation of the “carolingian” empire which later was known as the holy roman empire.
During Charlemagne’s reign, one of his biggest accomplishments was spreading christianity around Europe.

Christianity originated from Jerusalem and Jesus founded Christianity. The Key beliefs of Christianity are the 10 commandments, monotheism, and heaven. Charlemagne was a strong supporter of the Christian religion. One of the reasons why Charlemagne ultimately grew a love for the church and christianity was because his father defended the church in Rome (hamilton, 2014). Charlemagne wanted to expand his empire, so he converted his subjects to christianity. When Charlemagne invaded an empire and successfully conquered it, he’d convert the subjects of wherever he conquered to christianity. For Charlemagne to succeed in his mission, he devoted a lot of his time into doing military campaigns (history.com, 2017). Charlemagne also had many religious reforms and with those religious reforms he strengthened the church’s power. Another thing that Charlemagne did was he improved the clergy’s skills and educated them. Clergy’s were people who had the ability to read the bible and they were very influential and important to the church and society. Overall, Charlemagne converted many people to christianity and he spread it to northern Europe and

beyond.
One of Charlemagne’s biggest accomplishments while he was ruler was promoting education. Charlemagne was one of the first emperors to order the creation of schools. Charlemagne brought some of the best scholars in Europe to the palace school in Aachen. The Palace school in Aachen was chosen by CHarlemagne to be the center of power in the Carolingian Empire. The school was located in the North of the city Aachen (LLC revolvy, 2017). In order for Charlemagne to keep order in the school, he brought a scholar named Alcuin to direct the school. One of the things that Alcuin did was create a curriculum that included rhetoric, logic arithmetic, geometry, music, grammar, and astronomy. This system became the educational model for medieval Europe. Along with the system he created, Alcuin hired scholars that would copy ancient manuscripts which would preserve knowledge from the past for the future generations. Charlemagne also revived latin. Due to Charlemagne's orders to create schools, it led to a large expansion of an educational system. Charlemagne was often considered a “champion” in education and knowledge. Charlemagne brought about scholars from far away and close to come to his court and he ordered his village priests and monasteries to educate children in reading and writing. Although not every one of Charlemagne’s subjects became iliterate, teaching some of his subjects enhanced the amount of people in the empire who could read and write. Charlemagne thought of education as a way to revive his kingdom. During CHarlemagne’s reign, he made the choice to bring back education and create schools which led to the development of an educational system that became the model for medieval europe.
For the first time since the Roman Empire, Charlemagne united almost all of Western Europe and expanded into many places. The places that Charlemagne expanded to are (present day) france, luxembourg, switzerland, belgium, northern spain, and northern italy. To conquer land, Charlemagne spent most of his time doing military campaigns. Military Campaigns are a strategic plan that incorporates inter-related military operations or battles. Due to Charlemagne's excellence in the military, Charlemagne and his military defeated almost all of the areas they invaded. The conquest of Lombardy is one of the places that charlemagne conquered. The Conquest of Lombardy occured from 773-774 (History Guy Media, 2016). During King Pepin’s reign, he had battled the lombards to defend the pope in 754 to 756 (History Guy Media, 2016). This battle forced the Lombards to give up land to the frankish kingdom and the pope’s rule. The lands that were claimed by the Pope became base for the Papal states. Later on, during Charlemagne’s reign, Desiderius the lombard king wanted the land back. Angering Charlemagne he sent his wife, desiderious’ daughter back to the Lombard kingdom and later set out to invade lombardy. After conquering the land, Charlemagne declared himself the new king of Lombardy. Charlemagne was very skilled in military and expanding to different places. This skill led to Charlemane conquering many lands and expanding his empire into many places.