Charlemagne
...September 30, 1996
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, King of the Franks (742-814), was a strong
leader who unified Western Europe through military power and the blessing of the
Church. His belief in the need for education among the Frankish people was to
bring about religious, political, and educational reforms that would change the
history of Europe.
Charlemagne was born in 742 at Aachen, the son of Pepin(or Pippin) the Short and
grandson of Charles Martel. His grandfather, Charles, had begun the process of
unifying western Europe, in the belief that all people should be Christian.
Charlemagne's father, Pepin, continued this process throughout his rule and
passed his beliefs on to Charlemagne. All three, in addition to the political
unification, believed that the church should be reformed and reorganized under
the Pope, which helped their rise to power as the Carolingian Dynasty. (Holmes
74)
Upon Pepin's death in 768, Charlemagne and his brother, Carloman, each inherited
half of the Frankish kingdom. Pepin, in the Merovingian tradition of the time,
split his kingdom between his two sons. Three years later Carloman died and
Charlemagne took control of the entire kingdom. He inherited great wealth and a
powerful army, built by his father and grandfather. Charlemagne used the army
and his own skillful planning to more than double the size of the Frankish
Kingdom. (Halsall 15)
The world of Charlemagne was a heathen one, with many warring tribes or kingdoms.
Many of these tribes were conquered by Charlemagne, among them the Aquitanians,
the Lombards, the Saxons, the Bretons, the Bavarians, the Huns, and the Danes.
The longest of these battles was against the Saxons, lasting thirty-three years.
Charlemagne actually defeated them many times, but due to their faithlessness
and their propensity to return to their pagan lifestyle, the Saxons lost many...
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