Charlemagne, i.e. Charles the Great, king of the Franks (768-814), and Roman emperor (800-14), was born on 2d April 742, perhaps at Aix-la-Chapelle, and was the eldest son of Pepin the Short, the first Carolingian (q.v.) king of the Franks, and grandson of Charles Martel. On Pepin's death in 768, Charles and his brother Carloman jointly succeeded to the throne; and by Carloman's death, and the exclusion of both his sons from the throne, the former became sole king in 771. In 772 it was resolved in the Diet at Worms to make war against the Saxons, for the security of the frontiers, which they continually threatened, and for the extension of the Christian religion. Charlemagne advanced as far as the Weser in 772, securing his conquests by castles and garrisons. Pope Adrian I. now called him to his aid against Desiderius, king of the Lombards. Charlemagne had married the daughter of Desiderius, and had sent her back to her father because she bore him no children, and married Hildegarde, daughter of the Swabian duke, Godfrey. Desiderius had sought revenge by urging the pope to crown the sons of Carloman, and on the pope's refusal had laid waste the papal territory. Charlemagne crossed the Alps from Geneva, with two armies, by the Great St Bernard and Mont Cenis, in 773, and overthrew the kingdom of the Lombards in 774. The Lombard dukes acknowledged him as their king, and he secured the pope's favour by confirming the gift which Pepin had made to the papal see of the exarchate of Ravenna. In 775 he was again employed in the most northerly part of his dominions, reducing the Saxons to subjection; in 776 he suppressed an insurrection in Italy; in 777 he so completed his victory over the Saxons that their nobles generally acknowledged him as their sovereign in an assembly at Paderborn. Being now invited to interpose in the wars of the Arabs and Moors in Spain, he hastened to that country in 778, and added to his dominions the region between the Pyrenees and the Ebro. From Spain he was summoned in haste by a new insurrection of part of the Saxons, who had advanced almost to Cologne, but whom he drove back to the Elbe. In 781 he went to Italy, where the pope crowned his second son, Pepin, king of Italy, and his third son, Louis, a child three years old, king of Aquitaine. The Saxons, once more rising in arms, defeated and destroyed a Frankish army in 782, which Charlemagne, after a new victory, fearfully avenged by causing no fewer than 4500 prisoners to be executed as rebels in a single day. A more general rising of the Saxons followed, but in 783-785 the Frankish monarch succeeded in reducing them completely to subjection, and in persuading their principal chiefs to submit to baptism and to become his faithful vassals. In 788 Bavaria was absorbed in the empire of Charlemagne, an event which brought the Franks into contact with the Avars. They, too, were now subdued, and the Frankish dominions extended to the Raab. The eastern 'mark,' the nucleus of the Austrian empire, was established to defend the frontier in that direction (798).
In 800 Charlemagne undertook an Italian campaign which was attended with the most momentous consequences. Its immediate purpose was to support Pope Leo III. against the rebellious Romans. When Charlemagne, on Christmas Day 800, was worshipping in St Peter's Church, the pope unexpectedly, as it appeared, set a crown upon his head, and, amidst the acclamations of the people, saluted him as Carolus Augustus, emperor of the Romans. Although this added nothing directly to his power, yet it greatly confirmed and increased the respect entertained for him, such was still the lustre of a title with which were associated recollections of all the greatness of the Roman empire. A scheme for the union of the newly revived Western Empire with the Empire of the East by Charlemagne's marriage with Irene (q.v.), the Byzantine empress, failed by reason of Irene's overthrow. The remaining years of his reign were spent in further consolidating his vast empire, which extended from the Ebro to the Elbe. Bishoprics were founded in the Saxon country, many of the Slavs beyond the Elbe were brought into dependence on the empire, and the Eider was recognised as the boundary between the Frankish dominions and Denmark. The empire was divided into districts ruled by counts; counts specially called markgrafen, or counts of the marches, defended the frontiers against attack; and the unity of rule was maintained by officers, the missi dominici, who were sent out in all directions as the organs of the imperial will. This organisation was promoted also by a great annual military muster and by an annual assemblage of the high officials of the empire. Charlemagne zealously endeavoured to promote education, agriculture, arts, manufactures, and commerce. He projected great national works, one of which was a canal to connect the Rhine and the Danube; but he deemed nothing beneath his attention which concerned the interests of his empire or of his subjects. He required his subjects to plant certain kinds of fruit-trees, the cultivation of which was thus extended northward in Europe. His own domains were an example of superior cultivation. He had a school in his palace for the sons of his servants. He built sumptuous palaces, particularly at his favourite residences, Aix-la-Chapelle and Ingelheim—for he had no fixed capital—and many churches. Learned men were encouraged to come to his court. He himself possessed an amount of learning unusual in his age; he could speak Latin and read Greek. He attempted to draw up a grammar of his own language. Charlemagne was of more than ordinary stature, and of a noble and commanding presence. He was fond of manly exercises, particularly of hunting. His fame spread to all parts of the world: in 798 Haroun Al-Raschid sent ambassadors to salute him. He enjoyed good health till shortly before his death, 28th January 814. He was buried at Aix-la-Chapelle (q.v.), in a church which he had built there. The greatness of his dynasty terminated with his own life. The rule of Charlemagne was a noble attempt to consolidate order and Christian culture among the nations of the West. It was a mighty task which could have been continued and consummated only by a succession of sovereigns of like energy and sagacity with himself. As his successors were weaklings, his empire fell to pieces; yet in many ways he has had a permanent influence on European history. He established much of what were destined to be the beginnings of a new order. Besides his Capitularies (q.v.), there are extant letters and Latin poems ascribed to him. His life was written in Latin by his secretary, Eginhard (q.v.), the best editions being by Jaffé (1876) and Holder (1882). See works by Cutts (1882), Mounbert (1889), Hodgkin (1897), and Wells (1898); also CHANSONS DE GESTES AND ROMANCES.