(Charlemagne being crowned at Old Saint Peter's Basilica, photographed
by Jean Fouquet, [Public Domain] via goodfreephotos.com)
The Franks were a powerhouse
of the Middle Ages, and few of those Frankish kings were as impressive as
Charles the Great (r. 768-814), better known as Charlemagne. Under Charlemagne,
the Carolingian Empire of the Franks absorbed the Lombards of northern Italy
(in 774), and invaded the lands of the Saxons (in 772). Brittany and Aquitaine
fell to armies of the Carolingian Empire, and the latter was set aside by
Charlemagne as a kingdom for his son, Louis. He also moved into Bavaria,
Pannonia and Austria (in the 790s). Charlemagne would later invade Spain and
establish a buffer zone (called the Spanish March) along the Spanish side of
the Pyrenees to protect his empire in 801.
Despite all of his conquests,
another event that happened to Charlemagne may have been seen by his
contemporaries to be even more impressive and important than the
rest—Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans (Holy Roman Emperor) by Pope Leo III, on Christmas
day, in the year 800. The title of Holy Roman Emperor would continue to live on in
Europe until 1806, when Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire after he suffered
military defeats at the hands of the military genius, Napoleon.
Sources:
- Introduction to Medieval Europe, 300-1500 (Second Edition) by Wim Blockmans and Peter Hoppenbrouwers. New York: Routledge, 2014.
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charlemagne
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