Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, King of the Franks :: Medieval Europe European History

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, King of the FranksCharlemagne, or Charles the Great, King of the Franks (742-814), was a strongleader who unified Western Europe through soldiery world power and the blessing of thechurch building. His belief in the need for education among the Frankish people was tobring about religious, semipolitical, and educational reforms that would change thehistory of Europe.Charlemagne was innate(p) in 742 at Aachen, the son of Pepin(or Pippin) the Short andgrandson of Charles Martel. His grandfather, Charles, had begun the regale ofunifying western Europe, in the belief that all people should be Christian.Charlemagnes father, Pepin, continued this process throughout his rule andpassed his beliefs on to Charlemagne. All three, in addition to the politicalunification, believed that the church should be reformed and reorganized underthe Pope, which helped their rise to power as the Carolingian Dynasty. (Holmes74)Upon Pepins death in 768, Charlemagne and hi s brother, Carloman, separately inherited half of the Frankish kingdom. Pepin, in the Merovingian tradition of the time,split his kingdom amid his two sons. Three years later Carloman died andCharlemagne took control of the entire kingdom. He inherited great wealth and apowerful army, built by his father and grandfather. Charlemagne used the armyand his own skillful planning to much than double the size of the FrankishKingdom. (Halsall 15)The world of Charlemagne was a heathen one, with umteen 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 33 years.Charlemagne actually defeated them many times, but due to their faithlessnessand their desire to return to their pagan lifestyle, the Saxons lost manylives in the prolonged battles with the Franks. With each conquest the Frankishkingdom g rew, and with growth came additional power and state forCharlemagne. In each area of Europe that was taken over by Charlemagne, heremoved the leaders if they would not diversify to Christianity and appointed overboldones, usually someone with high position in the Church. Those people whorefused to convert or be baptized in the church were put to death. (Holmes 75)The Church compriseed a vital role in the kingdom of Charlemagne. It gave a senseof stability to Charlemagnes rule, and he in turn provided stability in theChurch. The people conquered by Charlemagne, after being converted toChristianity, were taught through the word of honor a unified code of right and wrong.It was necessary for the Church to play a role in this education of the people,