Charles the Great [Charlemagne]

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Charles the GreatCharlemagne
TimelineCharlemagne
2000 A.D.
1500 A.D.
1000 A.D.
500 A.D.
B.C. A.D.
500 B.C.
1000 B.C.
1500 B.C.
2000 B.C.
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Charles the GreatCharlemagne

• Quick facts about Charlemagne
• He was born in 742.
• He was about 6 4 tall.
• His ancestors were Germanic.
• He became King at age 29 upon the death of his
  father.
• In 773 Pope Hadrian called for Charlemagne to
  defend the Vatican. This gave him the chance to
  set himself up as defender of Christianity.

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Charles the GreatCharlemagne

• Quick facts about Charlemagne
• Through a series of battles across Europe he
  became the first king since the fall of Rome to
  establish a united Europe.
• Through his administration of Court he allowed
  input into his decision making from lords. This
  was unusual for a king.

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Charles the GreatCharlemagne

• Quick facts about Charlemagne
• He gathered learned men and judges of every sort
  in a kind of educational and arts training
  institute at his court in Aachen.
• He despised the fact that so few people could
  read - it was pretty much limited to the clergy.

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Charles the GreatCharlemagne

• Quick facts about Charlemagne
• He brought in scholars from as far away as
  Ireland to teach reading and languages. This was
  the root of the university system in Europe.
• He had no reservations about telling the bishops
  and priests how to run the Church and telling
  them change practices he saw as corrupt.

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Charles the GreatCharlemagne

• Quick facts about Charlemagne
• He brought in ideas such as poetry and tithed -
  or taxed 1/10 of the nobles property to support
  the Church.
• Because of his great support for the Church at
  Rome he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on
  Christmas Day, 800 by Pope Leo. The congregation
  at the Church hailed him as Charles Augustus.

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Charles the GreatCharlemagne

• The idea that the Roman Empire had returned was
  popular but wrong. Most of the old Roman Empire
  was now in Byzantium under the growing control of
  Muslim leaders but Charlemagne managed the idea
  that the glory of Rome had returned in Europe.
  His empire included most lands from the Baltic to
  the Mediterranean and east to what is now
  Austria.

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Charles the GreatCharlemagne

• Probably the greatest contributions of
  Charlemagne to the development of the humanities
  were his dedication to some levels of human
  rights among his subjects (his enemies had none),
  his expanded system of learning, and preserving
  the power of the Church at Rome at a time when it
  may have been destroyed otherwise.

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Charles the GreatCharlemagne

• After he was crowned Emperor, Charlemagne was
  able to negotiate peace with Byzantium. It took
  some work and concessions but he was able to
  avoid what would have been a huge and costly war.
• Because he wove the Church and his government
  together, Charlemagne also served to develop the
  idea of the Divine Right of Kings still guides
  European monarchies today.

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Charles the GreatCharlemagne

• He had a deep love for learning of every kind and
  his example served to create interest in the
  entire Holy Roman Empire.
• Interesting fact
• His palace at Aachen survived until World War II
  - 1100 years.