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Europe in the 8th century -

Over 300 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, Europe in the 8th century was caught in the turmoil of warring tribes, kingdoms, and states. With the Byzantine Empire still thriving in the East and the Catholic papacy wielding as much influence as ever, the world of states and politics consisted mostly of smaller states with constantly shifting boundaries.

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The Franks -

Particularly powerful among these cultures in the early Middle Ages was the Germanic state of Francia, home of the Franks. The Frankish states gradually rose to prominence after the fall of the Roman Empire, and often claimed to be direct descendants of the once great civilization.

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Pepin the Short -

Charlemagne didn't come from a long line of kings and rulers. His father, Pepin the Short, was born the son of a prince and served as Mayor of the Palace under Frankish King Childeric III.

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First King of the Franks -

In the middle of the 8th century, the position of King of the Franks had limited actual power; it was the Mayor of the Palace who held true authority regarding matters of the kingdom. In 751, Pepin the Short appealed to Pope Zachary for his support in deposing Childeric III in order to assume the title of King of the Franks while retaining the power he held as Mayor of the Palace. The overthrow of Childeric III and the rise of Pepin the Short to total power marked the end of the centuries-old Merovingian dynasty and the beginning of the Carolingian dynasty.

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Charlemagne and Carloman -

Pepin the short had two sons: Charles, who the world knows today as Charlemagne, was born on April 2, 747. Charlemagne's younger brother, Carloman, was born in 751, the same year their father became King of the Franks.

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The death of Carloman -

After the death of Pepin the Short in 768, the kingship of Francia was passed down to Charlemagne and Carloman, who ruled the Franks together. However, this co-kingship was short-lived. Carloman died suddenly in 771, of what seem to be natural causes. Some, however, speculate that the young Charlemagne may have had a hand in his brother's death.

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The reign of Charlemagne begins -

The death of Carloman left Charlemagne alone on the throne of Francia. At the young age of 24, Charlemagne found himself in a position of immense power and possibility.

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The marriage of Desiderata -

Charlemagne's life of political conquest can be said to have started with his marriage to Desiderata, a Lombardian princess, in 770. This marriage formed a tentative legal alliance between the kingdoms of Francia and Lombardy. The marriage, however, did not last very long.

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Hildegard of Vinzgau -

After less than a year of marriage, Charlemagne dismissed the Lombardian princess in favor of Hildegard of Vinzgau. A fellow Frank, Hildegard had nine children with Charlemagne.

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The conquest of Lombard -

Charlemagne's sudden divorce from Desiderata not only put an end to his kingdom's legal alliance with Lombardy, but also put him in the ill graces of Tassilo III, Desiderata's father and King of Lombardy. Charlemagne turned his allegiance at this time toward the newly chosen Pope Adrian I and led an army of Frankish troops into the land of Lombardy, in the north of present-day Italy. In the summer of 774, Charlemagne successfully captured the Lombard capital of Pavia and was crowned King of Lombardy by Pope Adrian.

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The Saxon Wars -

The longest and most influential campaigns led by Charlemagne were the Saxons Wars, which stretched in some form or another for the better part of three decades. The rivalry between the Franks and the Saxons was centuries old, but Charlemagne's lust for power sparked it anew.

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The Saxon Wars -

The Franks, who had been aligned with the Catholic Church since the conversion of King Clovis I in 496, waged a war of not only political power but also of spiritual influence. The Saxons, who had held on fiercely to their own indigenous beliefs since the rise of Christianity, were subjected to intense and unforgiving punishment, pillaging, and conquest at the hands of Charlemagne. With every territory captured, Charlemagne made sure that the Saxons were forcibly converted to Christianity and baptized.

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Conquering Spain -

In the 8th century, Spain was securely under Muslim influence, with numerous city-states tied up in battle with the Umayyad Caliphate who were threatening the security of their territories from south of the Iberian Peninsula. Promising loyalty in exchange for military support, the rulers of Moorish Spain welcomed Charlemagne and his armies in 778. Somewhat naively, Charlemagne attempted to conquer all of Spain and was initially sorely beat by the Moors and the Basques.

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Conquering Spain -

After regrouping, Charlemagne established the Kingdom of Aquitaine under the rule of his three-year-old son, Louis, in 781. Soon after, Frankish forces successfully conquered and secured most of the upper Iberian Peninsula.

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Charlemagne in the Mediterranean -

While Charlemagne controlled most of the Italian coast of the Mediterranean Sea for almost all of his life, any Mediterranean territories further east steadfastly alluded him. Most Mediterranean waters were controlled by Saracen pirates, who kept the Frankish armies on land.

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Taking Bavaria -

Charlemagne set his sights on Eastern Europe soon after securing the Iberian Peninsula and the vast majority of Western and Southern Europe. The Duchy of Bavaria fell to Frankish forces in 789, after which it became an annexed region of Francia.

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Charlemagne in the East -

After Bavaria, Charlemagne was again met with Pagan powers and territories. The Eastern and Slavic campaigns of the 790s proved, however, to be just about as effortless. Many Eastern European cultures, from the Slavs to the Serbs, with the notable exception of the Croats who never fell under direct Frankish control, surrendered and accepted Christian conversion without much of a fight.

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Charlemagne's empire -

By the final years of the 8th century, Charlemagne's Frankish Empire and its dependent states stretched from the western Atlantic coast all the way to the Slavic states of the East. It was the largest territory under the authority of a single ruler in Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

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Charlemagne and Pope Leo III -

By the end of the 8th century, there was only one person in Europe more powerful than Charlemagne: Pope Leo III. Leo III, who was losing influence over a united Christian world to the emperors of the Byzantine Empire, was attacked by a group of dissenting Catholics in Rome in 799; the attackers succeeded in wounding the Pope's eye and tearing out his hair. Pope Leo III, whose home of Rome was under the protection of the Frankish Empire, fled to Charlemagne, a loyal Christian, for protection.

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The coronation of Charlemagne -

Charlemagne helped Leo III return to Rome and restored order in the Papal States of Italy through delicate diplomacy. On December 25, 800 CE, Charlemagne attended mass in St. Peter's Basilica, where Pope Leo III crowned him, in the name of God and with witness of the Roman papal authorities, as Emperor of the Romans.

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A new era in Europe -

Documents of the time suggest that Charlemagne was unaware of what was meant to take place in St. Peter's that day, but later historians find that doubtful. Surely the naming of Charlemagne as the first Roman emperor since Romulus Augustus was a decision made between Leo III and Charlemagne himself. 

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A unified Europe -

The old claim of the Franks as the only true descendants of the Roman Empire was now given new life, and was largely accepted by the peoples under Charlemagne's rule. For years before Charlemagne's coronation, talk of a new brand of unification, an imperium Christianum, or a Christian empire, was spread throughout the Christian nations of Europe, those newly converted and those who had followed Christ for centuries alike.

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The birth of the Holy Roman Empire -

With a new brand of Roman and Christian hegemony successfully established, the Holy Roman Empire was born, with Charlemagne as its first Holy Roman Emperor.

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Charlemagne's legacy -

The establishment of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 CE was a major turning point in European history. For the first time in centuries, the political and spiritual powers of Western Europe could stand as a worthy opponent to the eastern powers of the Byzantines. Furthermore, it was only through the conquests of Charlemagne that a picture of the largely and traditionally Roman Catholic Europe that we know today began to take shape.

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Sweeping reforms -

Charlemagne's military conquests slowed down after the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, but his actions on the field continued to send echoes throughout society. Many social and structural reforms were put in place during the first years of the 9th century, most focusing on the standardization of the law and commerce.

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The many children of Charlemagne -

Charlemagne was a notoriously active father; he fathered no less than 18 children with seven partners, four of whom he was married to. Only one son born in wedlock, Louis the Pious, survived to take Charlemagne's place as Holy Roman Emperor after the great unifier of Europe's death in 814.

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Prestigious progeny -

The life of Charlemagne marked a new era in Europe not only politically and spiritually, but genealogically as well. It is said that nearly every single house of European nobility established after Charlemagne's reign can trace their ancestry back to him, including the infamous and immensely influential House of Hapsburg.

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Prestigious progeny -

Another notable family that counts Charlemagne among their ancestors is the Capetian dynasty, one of the oldest and most resilient noble houses in European history. Also known as the House of France, the Capetians ruled France from 987 to 1792, and again from 1814 to 1848. Innumerable offshoots and cadet families have branched off the Capetian line over the centuries, including the Bourbon-Anjou family that includes the royal family of Spain to this day.

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Every tyrant's idol -

Charlemagne, whose legacy is eternally intertwined with ideas of European unification, cultural hegemony, and religious purity, has unsurprisingly been the role model for many of Europe's more recent imperial and hegemonic hopefuls, from Napoleon Bonaparte to Adolf Hitler.

Sources: (History) (Britannica) (Mental Floss)

See also: History's most ruthless warriors

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