Born on 2 Apr 747. Died on 28 Jan 813/14 in Aachen, Rhineland, Prussia. Title: King of France (768-814); Holy Roman Emperor.Charlemagne shared with his brother Carloman in the succession to his father's kingdom. At Carloman's death (771), young Charlemagne annexed his brother's lands, disinheriting Carloman's two young sons, who fled with their mother to the court of Desiderius, king of the Lombards. When Desiderius conquered part of the papal lands and attempted to force Pope Adrian I to recognize Carloman's sons, Charlemagne intervened (773) on the side of the pope and defeated the Lombards. At Rome, Charlemagne was received by Adrian as patrician of the Romans (a title he had received with his father in 754), and he confirmed his father's donation to the Holy See. Shortly afterward he took Pavia, the Lombard capital, and assumed the iron crown of the Lombard kings of Italy.
In 778 he invaded Spain, hoping to take advantage of civil war among the Muslim rulers of that kingdom, but was repulsed at Zaragoza. In later campaigns conducted by local counts, Barcelona was captured (801) and a frontier established beyond the Pyrenees. Charlemagne's struggle with the pagan Saxons, whose greatest leader was Widukind, lasted from 772 until 804. By dint of forced conversions, wholesale massacres, and the transportation of thousands of Saxons to the interior of the Frankish kingdom, Charlemagne made his domination over Saxony complete. In 788 he annexed the semi-independent duchy of Bavaria, after deposing its duke, Tassilo. He also warred successfully against the Avars and the Slavs, establishing a frontier south of the Danube.
In 799 the new pope, Leo III, threatened with deposition by the Romans, appealed to Charlemagne. Charlemagne hastened to Rome to support Leo, and on Christmas Day, 800, was crowned emperor by the pope. His coronation legitimized Charlemagne's rule over the former Roman empire in W Europe and finalized the split between the Byzantine and Roman empires. After years of negotiation and war, Charlemagne received recognition from the Byzantine emperor Michael I in 812; in return Charlemagne renounced his claims to Istria, Venice, and Dalmatia, which he had held briefly. The end of Charlemagne's reign was troubled by the raids of Norse and Danes, so Charlemagne took vigorous measures for the construction of a fleet, which his successors neglected. His land frontiers he had already protected by the creation of marches. In 813, Charlemagne designated his son Louis I as co-emperor and his successor and crowned him at Aachen.
In his government Charlemagne continued and systematized the administrative machinery of his predecessors. He permitted conquered peoples to retain their own laws, which he codified when possible, and he issued many capitularies (gathered in the Monumenta Germaniae historica). A noteworthy achievement was the creation of a system by which he could supervise his administrators in even the most distant lands; his missi dominici were personal representatives with wide powers who regularly inspected their assigned districts. He strove to educate the clergy and exercised more direct control over the appointment of bishops and he acted as arbiter in theological disputes by summoning councils, notably that at Frankfurt (794), where adoptionism was rejected and some of the decrees of the Second Council of Nicaea were condemned. He stimulated foreign trade and entertained friendly relations with England and with Harun al-Rashid. In 813, Charlemagne designated his son Louis I as co-emperor and his successor and crowned him at Aachen.
Charlemagne's court at Aachen was the center of an intellectual renaissance. The palace school, under the leadership of Alcuin, became famous; numerous schools for children of all classes were also established throughout the empire during Charlemagne's reign. The preservation of classical literature was aided by his initiatives. Prominent figures of the Carolingian renaissance included Paul the Deacon and Einhard.
In his daily life Charlemagne affected the simple manners of his Frankish forebears, wore Frankish clothes, and led a frugal existence. He was beatified after his death and in some churches has been honored as a saint. Surrounded by his legendary 12 paladins, he became the central figure of a cycle of romance. At first, legend pictured him as the champion of Christendom; later he appeared as a vacillating old man, almost a comic figure. His characterization in the Chanson de Roland has impressed itself indelibly on the imagination of the Western world. The vogue of the Charlemagne epic ebbed somewhat after the Renaissance but was revived again in the 19th cent. by Victor Hugo and other members of the Romantic school. Charlemagne's creation (or re-creation) of an empire was the basis of the theory of the Holy Roman Empire; it was his example that Napoleon I had in mind when he tried to assume his succession in 1804.
He married Hildegarde of Vinzgau, abt 771.
They had the following children:
| 191260560160 | i. | Pepin (0773-0810) | |
| 95630280076 | ii. | Louis I (0778-0840) |
191260560153 Hildegarde of Vinzgau.
Born in 758. Died on 30 Apr 783. Title: Countess of Vinzgau.191260560154 Welf I of Bavaria. Title: Duke of Bavaria.
Child:
| 95630280077 | i. | Judith (-843) |
191260560160 Pepin of Lombardy.
Born in Apr 773. Baptized on 12 Apr 781 in Rome, Italy. Died on 8 Jun 810 in Milan, Italy. Title: King of Italy (781-810); King of Lombards.He married UNNAMED.
They had one child:
| 95630280080 | i. | Bernard (797-818) |
191260560161 UNNAMED.
191260560176 Rutpert II.
Born bef 770. Died aft 807. Title: Count in the Upper Rhine and Wormgau.He married Theoderata.
They had one child:
| 95630280088 | i. | Rutpert III (<812-~834) |
191260560177 Theoderata. Died bef 789.
191260560180 Luitfride II of Alsace.
Died in 780. Title: Count of Alsace.He married Hiltrude.
They had one child:
| 95630280090 | i. | Hugh III (-~839) |
191260560181 Hiltrude.
191260560192 Welf of Bavaria. Died abt 825.
He married Eigilwich.
They had one child:
| 95630280096 | i. | Conrad I (-863) |
191260560193 Eigilwich. Died aft 833.
Also known as Heilwig.
191260560200 Richard of Amiens. Title: Count of Amiens.
Child:
| 95630280100 | i. | Buwin |
191260560232 Æthelwulf.
Died on 13 Jan 857/58. Buried in Winchester Cathedral, London, England. Title: King of England (839-856; abdicated), Under-king of Kent (825-839 and 856-858).Also known as Ethelwild. He assumed the throne of Wessex upon his father's death in 839. His reign is characterized by the usual Viking invasions and repulsions common to all English rulers of the time, but the making of war was not his chief claim to fame. Æthelwulf is remembered, however dimly, as a highly religious man who cared about the establishment and preservation of the church. He was also a wealthy man and controlled vast resources. Out of these resources, he gave generously, to Rome and to religious houses that were in need.
He was an only child, but had fathered five sons, by his first wife, Osburga. He recognized that there could be difficulties with contention over the succession. He devised a scheme which would guarantee (insofar as it was possible to do so) that each child would have his turn on the throne without having to worry about rival claims from his siblings. Æthelwulf provided that the oldest living child would succeed to the throne and would control all the resources of the crown, without having them divided among the others, so that he would have adequate resources to rule. That he was able to provide for the continuation of his dynasty is a matter of record, but he was not able to guarantee familial harmony with his plan. This is proved by what we know of the foul plottings of his son, Æthelbald, while Æthelwulf was on pilgrimage to Rome in 855.
Æthelwulf was a wise and capable ruler, whose vision made possible the beneficial reign of his youngest son, Alfred the Great.
He married Osburh.
They had one child:
| 95630280116 | i. | Alfred (849-899) |
191260560233 Osburh.
Also known as Osburga.She is often confused with St. Osburga who founded Coventry Abbey.
191260560234 Earl Aethelred of Mercia. Title: Earl of Mercia and Eadburgh.
He married Eadburh.
They had one child:
| 95630280117 | i. | Ealhswith (-902) |
191260560235 Eadburh.
191260560338 Louis II.
Born in 823. Died on 12 Aug 855. Title: Holy Roman Emperor (855).He married Engelberg of Alsace.
They had one child:
| 95630280169 | i. | Ermengarde (~855-897) |
191260560339 Engelberg of Alsace. Died abt 900.
191260560341 Eudocia Ingerina. Born abt 840. Died in 882/3.
Mistress of Michael III, Emperor of Byzantium (842-867) and wife of Michael's successor, Basil I, Emperor of Byzantium (867-886, founder of the "Macedonian" family). It is uncertain whether Leo was the son of Michael or of Basil.
Child:
| 95630280170 | i. | Leo VI (866-912) |
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