Charlemagne

Charlemagne (742-814 AD), emperor.

Charlemagne, whose name means 'Charles the Great', became king of the Franks at the age of twenty-six.

His kingdom included present-day France and parts of Germany and the Netherlands.

Charlemagne was a brave soldier who often fought at the head of his armies.

For thirty years he waged war against enemy tribes on the borders of his kingdom and added their lands to his own.

Charlemagne was a Christian. The Pope asked for his help against the Lombards in Italy, and he crossed the Alps with an immense army and defeated them.

Later, in 800 AD, the Pope crowned Charlemagne in St Peter's Cathedral, Rome, as Emperor of all the kingdoms and states he held. These came to be called the Holy Roman Empire. They covered a large part of Europe.

Charlemagne was a wise and strong ruler. He sent his agents to all parts of the empire to see that the laws were properly obeyed and he kept its frontiers guarded.

He also founded many schools and helped the spread of learning. The best scholars in Europe met at a school in his palace at Aachen (in present-day Germany). Scribes in his empire made the earliest copies of many great books written in Latin.

See Alessandro Barbero Charlemagne