An army of Moors from Spain (& originally from north Africa) crossed the Pyrenees. They raided into the interior of the realm, relatively unhindered in the south, where a faction of nobility & the bishop of Bordeaux had allowed them free passage. The Moorish/Islamic army was enormous, and wrought havoc, wherever it went. It fell to the "Mayor of the Royal Palace", Charles "the Hammer" Martel, to do something about it. He mustered as much of the Frankish army as he could, & met the Moors in battle, near Tours, in 722. Miraculously, he won the day, & from that time on, was the de facto ruler of the Franks.
Charles was succeeded as Mayor of the Palace by his son, Pepin "the Short," who later was crowned king of the Franks. The Merovingian dynasty had ended (officially; it had long since died, in actuality), & the Carolingian dynasty had begun.
Carloman died in 771, leaving Charlemagne the sole king of the Franks. He had a great deal of work ahead of him. While his grandfather & father had done much to shore up Frankish defenses, & rebuilt parts of the land, the land was still ravaged at times by Saxons & Avars. Charlemagne continued the work of his forebears.
Charlemagne is known as a capable military leader, & for a reason. To put an end to the raiding, he undertook many successful campaigns. When he began a campaign, he plotted it well in advance, accounting even for supplies, reserves, etc. His forces moved quickly, not only because Charlemagne had a good sense of geography & the readiest way to get from one place to another, but because he often sent messages ahead to his vassals in an area, telling them to be ready to go in a certain place & at a certain time. He would then rendezvous with these local forces, & proceed from there. Sometimes his planning was so intricate that his own generals didn't understand it until the various "wings" of his army linked up — & often they were amazed at how Charlemagne's planning fell into place.
His campaigns were devastating enough to drive the Saxons east — at least, those whom he did not Christianize & absorb into his own realm. He broke the Avar coalition, and opened the way for the retaking of the Danube valley. He also ventured into Spain, to keep the Moors at bay, & controlled the northern end of Spain (north of the Ebro River). (Ever since the Battle of Tours, the Franks had been concerned about another Islamic invasion. Charles Martel had been lucky to win that battle; to have to face another such invasion was a frightening prospect.)
Each district had a chief vassal, a count (English), comte (French) or graf (German) and a bishop, both located in a central city. The courts of the counts & bishops were visited on a regular basis by his agents, the missi dominici ("representatives of the ruler"). The missi went out in pairs — one a noble, the other from the clergy — with the tasks of ensuring that taxes were properly collected & forwarded to the royal treasury, and that royal decrees were followed. The Merovingian dynasty had been undermined by the politicking of wayward vassals & bishops; the missi dominici helped him keep a firmer hand on them, & by pairing them up as he did, they kept an eye on each other, ensuring their loyalty & honesty.
Charlemagne also established a number of schools, devoted to the task of educating the sons of nobility (and in many cases, the sons of peasants who could afford it). He also built churches & monasteries. He made a particular effort to send clergy into conquered territory, & encouraged them to missionize, particularly among the pagan Saxons. Conversion to Christianity had a civilizing effect on marauding Germanic pagans, & this policy helped to integrate them into his kingdom.
Thus, on Christmas Day in the year 800, Charlemagne had arrived in Rome. While kneeling in prayer, as the story goes, Pope Leo picked up a crown & set it on Charlemagne's head, declaring him "Emperor of Rome in the West." The story goes on to say that Charlemagne was surprised by this & claimed that such a coronation was not his wish.
While interesting, & certainly dramatic, this story probably isn't true. The concept of the "unwilling king" (or other official) is a common theme in much medieval literature. Such immodesty was expected of anyone with a reputation for righteousness. What's much more likely is that Leo & Charlemagne planned this coronation in advance. For the Pope to have done such a thing, without his prior permission, or at least without an understanding that it would be acceptable, is simply not believable. The two enjoyed good relations — not only as representatives of the Frankish kingdom & the Church, but as individuals, as well.
The truth is that this coronation was probably planned, perhaps for quite some time. By it, both parties enhanced their prestige. Charlemagne, already the de facto ruler of western Europe, acquired an explicit endorsement of the Church, thus enhancing his reputation both at home & abroad. By it he became the "Champion of Christianity" & his authority was enhanced, his word more respected (if that was even possible). The Pope, by crowning him "Emperor of Rome in the West" was setting himself up as the spiritual master of Europe, in competition with the eastern Church, which was drifting further away from papal control. (In fact, the eastern Church had never truly accepted papal authority — this would lead, some 250 years later, to the Schism between the Catholic & Orthodox Churches.) This act also made the alliance between the Frankish kingdom & the papacy more explicit; Charlemagne's reputation was known, in the east, & having declared him the papacy's defender, the papacy was considered more formidable. Lastly, implicit in Charlemagne's coronation is that the Pope could make kings (& Emperors); it was taken by some as a tacit declaration of the Church's primacy over secular authority.
When Louis died, his three sons quarreled over the succession, each with his own faction of Frankish nobility. Eventually they settled on a partition of the massive Frankish kingdom; the western part, most of modern France, went to Charles; the middle strip, from modern Belgium & Holland, down through the Rhine valley, over the Alps & into northern Italy, went to Lothar; & the eastern part, most of modern Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic, went to Louis. This division would stand ever after. The empire of Charlemagne would never be whole again.
Within a few generations, the line of Lothar had been displaced, & the region of "Lotharingia" had been partitioned. Most of it, including all of northern Italy, went to the eastern, German side. But that region remained a zone of contention, sporadically, for centuries.
Later on, however, it would have more of an effect. The elected king of East Francia, a Saxon by birth, Otto "the Great" was crowned "Holy Roman Emperor" in 962, effectively reviving Charlemagne's title. This title would not be retired until 1812, when Napoleon conquered Germany.
The coronation also led to contention between the papacy and the emperors. This was most apparent in the "investiture controversy" a dispute over whether the emperor or the Pope had the authority to appoint bishops, as well as the legal jurisdiction of the clergy — could they be tried in secular courts, or only in ecclesiastical courts? This issue would finally be settled, when Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV was forced to capitulate to Pope Gregory VII, & was put in writing in the Concordat of Worms, ratified by Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, in 1122.
The vestiges of his rulership lived on in France & Germany, although no one quite managed to govern quite as well as he had, & the use of the missi dominici vanished after a short time. The districts he laid out live on in modern France & Germany, in places.
Of some note is that Charlemagne's Spanish conquests, known as "the Spanish march," fell out of control of the Frankish kingdom, fairly soon after his death. It became an independent Christian kingdom, known as Navarre, & was the first of several Christian states that appeared in Spain. Thus, Charlemagne had started the reconquista, or the restoration of Spain to Christian control. This was another of Charlemagne's lasting legacies.
For example, the Song of Roland (French Chanson de Roland, German Rolandslied) tells the story of Charlemagne's vassal & companion, Count Roland of Brittany, at the Battle of Roncevalle (in the Pyrenees). Charlemagne's army had just crushed the Saracens. In cowardly fashion, the Saracens ambushed Charlemagne's rear-guard, commanded by Roland. The hero of the story fought bravely but vainly, & died; but he had saved the rest of the Frankish army.
In point of fact, Count Roland did perish at the Battle of Roncevalle, & his rear-guard did fight a heroic battle against forces which outnumbered them, in order to save the rest of the army; but in the Song, Charlemagne is impossibly old (200 years old, to be exact!) & a grandfatherly figure. This is entirely inaccurate, of course.
Such storytelling is natural & to be expected, for a figure as great as Charlemagne. His coronation as "Emperor of Rome in the West" only served to make him seem impossibly great, to later generations. And although he was, indeed, a remarkable leader — one of the greatest rulers in all of history — nothing helped more to establish him as the stuff of legend, than his coronation by the Pope.
Back up to Dennis's Home Page.