Charlemagne

Charlemagne also known as Karl and Charles the Great, was a medieval emperor who ruled much of Western Europe from 768 to 814. In 771, Charlemagne became king of the Franks, a Germanic tribe inpresent-day Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and western Germany. He embarked on a mission to unite all Germanic peoples into one kingdom, and convert his subjects to Christianity. A skilledmilitary strategist, he spent much of his reign engaged in warfare in order to accomplish his goals. In 800, Pope Leo III (750-816) crowned Charlemagne emperor of the Romans. In this role, he encouragedthe Carolingian Renaissance, a cultural and intellectual revival in Europe. When he died in 814, Charlemagne’s empire encompassed much of Western Europe, and he had also ensured the survival ofChristianity in the West. Today, Charlemagne is referred to by some as the father of Europe.
During the government of Charles Martel important changes appear to have been made in the internaladministration. Under him began the great assemblies of nobles known as the champs de Mars. To attach his leudes Charles had to give them church lands as precarium, and this had a very great influence in thedevelopment of the feudal system. It was from the precarium, or ecclesiastical benefice, that the feudal fief originated. Vassalage too, acquired a greater consistency at this period, and its rules beganto crystallize. Under Charles occurred the first attempt at reconciliation between the papacy and the Franks. Pope Gregory III, menaced by the Lombards, invoked the aid of Charles in 739, sent him adeputation with the keys of the Holy Sepulchre and the chains of St. Peter, and offered to break with the emperor and Constantinople, and to give Charles the Roman consulate (ut a partibus imperatorisrecederet et Romanum consulatum Carolo sanciret). This proposal, though unsuccessful, was the starting point of a new papal policy. Since the death of Theuderich IV in 737 there had been no king of...