Charlemagne

CHARLEMAGNE 742-814:

CHARLEMAGNE 742-814 King of the Franks and E mperorof the Holy Roman Empire

THE ORIGINS:

THE ORIGINS Charles was the eldersonofPippin the Short, kingof the franks , and Bertha or Bertrada , daughterofCharibert , countofLaon . The placeofhis birth isunknown and its date uncertain , altough some authoritiesgiveitas the and ofApril 742; doubtshavebeen cast uponhislegitimacy and itispossiblethat the marriageofPippin and Berthatookplacesubsequentto the Birth oftheirelderson .

VARIOUS CORONATION:

VARIOUS CORONATION

FIRST CORONATION:

FIRST CORONATION WhenPippinwascrownedkingof the Franks at St Denis on the 28 ° ofJuly 754 by Pope Stephen II, Charles and hisbrotherCarlomanwereanointedby the Pope as a signoftheirkinglyrank . In 761 Charles accompainedhisfather on a campaign in Aquitane and in 763 undertook the governmentofseveralcounties . In 768 Pippindividedhisdominiosbetweenhistwosons and on hisdeathsoon afterwards Charles became the rulerof the nortjernsportoinof the Frankish Kingdom and wascrowned at Noyon on the 9 ° ofOctober 768 . But bad feeling had existed for some time between Charles and Carloman …

KING OF THE FRANKS:

KING OF THE FRANKS Bertha , havingeffected a temporaryreconciliationbetweenhersons , overcame the repugnancewithwhich Pope Stephen III regardedanalliancebetween Frank and Lombard and broughtabout a marriagebetween Charles and a daughterofDesiderius , kingof the Lombards . Charles hadprvoiuslycontracted a union , probablyofanirregular nature, with a Frankish lady namedHilmiltrude , whohadbornehim a son , Pippin the “ Hunchback ”. The peacewith the Lombards , in which the BavariansasalliesofDesideriousjoined , was , however , soonbroken . Charles thereuponrepudiatedhisLombardwifeErmengarde and married in 771 a princessof the AlamanninamedHildegarde . Carlomandied in December 771 and Charldwas at once recognized at Corbenyas sole King of the Franks .

KING OF THE LOMBARDS:

KING OF THE LOMBARDS Charles witnessed the yieldof Pavia in June 774 and the captureofDesiderius , qhowas sent into a monastery . Henowtook the title “King of the Lombards ” towhichheadded the dignityof “ Patricianof the Romans ” whichhadbeengrantedtohisfather . Adalgis , the sonofDesiderius , whowasresiding at Constantinople , hoped the emperor Leo IV wuold assist him in recoveringhisfather ’ skingdom ; but a coalitionformesforthipurposewasineffectual and a rising led byhisallyRothgaud , dukeof Friuli, waseasilycrushedby Charles in 776

EMPEROR OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE:

EMPEROR OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE On Christmas Dayof 800 during the liturgy in the St. Peter’ s Basilica in Rome , Charles wascrownedby Pope Leo III and proclamied “ Emperorof the Romans ”

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE:

THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE Itwas a realmthatexistedforabout a millenium in CentralEurope , ruledby a Holy Roman Emperor . Itscharacterchangedduring the Middle Ages and the EarlyModernperiod , when the powerof the emperorgraduallyweakened in favourof the princes . In its last centuries , itscharacterbecamequitecloseto a unoinofterritories .

DEATH:

DEATH In 813, Charlemagnecalled Louis the Pious , King ofAquitaine , hisonlysurvivinglegitimateson , tohis court. ThereCharlemagnecrownedhissonwithhisownhandsasco-emperor and sent him back toAquitaine . Hethenspent the autmnhuntingbeforereturiningtoAachen on 1November . In January , hefellillwithpleurisy . In deepdepression ( mostlybecausemanyofhisplanswerenotyetrealized ), hetooktohisbed on 21 January and asEinhardtellsit :_ HediedJanuarytwenty-eighth , the seventhdayfrom the timethathetooktohis , at nine o’clock in the morning , afterpartakingof the HolyCommunion , in hteseventy-secondyearofhisage and the forty-seventhofhisreign .