| Notes |
- King of the Franks 768-800
King of the Lombards 774-800
Frankish Emperor 800-814
When Pepin III died in 768, his sons Carloman and Charles I (called Charlemagne towards the end of his reign) succeeded as Kings of the Franks. Carloman received the strong interior - Paris and Orleans, and Charlemagne received the rebellious states and border lands in a NW crescent around Carloman's kingdom. Either Pepin did this because he favored Carloman, or because he knew that Charlemagne was a better general and needed to be the one to face the rebellions.
In 769, Aquitaine rebelled and both brothers went to face the problem. Carloman marched back home without striking a blow, leaving Charlemagne to subdue Aquitaine on his own, which he did. The hatred between the brothers was temporarily settled by their mother, Bertrada. The Lombards were making many threats to Pope Hadrian, and so he called for the Frankish kings for protection. Carloman was pro-Lombard, so Charlemagne was again on his own. In 771, the Lombard king Desiderius invaded Rome and took much Papal land. At the end of that year, Carloman died, leaving Charlemagne the entire Frankish kingdom.
In 772, Charlemagne executed his first Saxon campaign, and while it was small it was a success. He planned for one the next year, but in January Hadrian sent envoys to Charlemagne formally asking for help. In May he gathered all his forces at Geneva and launched an Italian attack. He personally led the main force, and a smaller force was led by his uncle Bernard to attack the flank of the Lombard army. In June of 774, Pavia fell and Lombardy was completely conquered by Charlemagne. He sent Desiderius and his family to monasteries and took the crown for himself. Hadrian then crowned Pepin king of Lombardy with his father.
In 778, Charlemagne invaded Muslim Spain, taking Barcelona, Pampelona, and Saragossa. However, Charlemagne's army was ambushed and many generals were killed. In 781, after his defeat in Spain, Aquitaine was on the border of rebellion once again, so he put his son Louis as king there. In 793, the Saracens invaded Aquitaine under their Caliph Hisham. Two years later the Spanish March was created, with William as its Count. The next year King Louis and Count William secured the Spanish territories, and William conquered Barcelona, the Balearics, and all of Navarre.
Since 772, Charlemagned campaigned in Saxony almost every year. After much fighting he finally converted their king Widukind and incorperated Saxony into the Frankish empire, with Widukind as its first Duke. By gaining Saxony, Charlemagne received many attacks from the Slavs, but was able to not only defeat them but take much of their land in modern Germany, Austria, and as far east as Hungary.
On Christmas Day, 800, Charlemagne was in Rome for the crowning of his son Charles (designated to be his successor). The Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne before mass, saying "Carolo augusto, a Deo coronato, magne et pacifico imperatore romanorum, vita et victoria!" (To Charles, Augustus, crowned by God, great and peaceful Emperor, life and victory!) He then "adored" Charlemagne in the Byzantine manner by prostrating himself and touching the ground with his forehead three times. This Carolingian Empire did not last long, but it did lead to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages.
In 806, Charlemagne set up a will in which Charles, Pepin, and Louis would receive equal shares of the Empire on his death. In July of 810, Pepin died, and he was followed by Charles in December of 811. In 813 Byzantine nobles came to greet Charlemagne as Emperor. Louis was called from Aquitaine and crowned co-Emperor and designated successor to the imperial crown, then sent back to Aquitaine. That year, Charlemagne spent the entire month of October hunting, and in January of the next year, at the age of 70, died.
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e-mail Joe Shetler at: shetler@ghgcorp.com
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748 - 814 (65 years)