Charlemagne: Great in every sense

Charlemagne: Great in every sense

The name given by later generations to Charles, King of the Franks, first sovereign of the Christian Empire of the West; born 2 April, 742; died at Aachen, 28 January, 814.
At the time of Charles’ birth, his father, Pepin the Short, Mayor of the Palace, of the line of Arnulf, was, theoretically, only the first subject of Childeric III, the last Merovinigian King of the Franks; but this modest title implied that real power, military, civil, and even ecclesiastical, of which Childeric’s crown was only the symbol. It is not certain that Bertrada (or Bertha), the mother of Charlemagne, a daughter of Charibert, Count of Laon, was legally married to Pepin until some years later than either 742 or 745.

Charlemagne: Great in every sense

Charlemagne: Great in every sense

SOURCE

The name given by later generations to Charles, King of the Franks, first sovereign of the Christian Empire of the West; born 2 April, 742; died at Aachen, 28 January, 814.
At the time of Charles’ birth, his father, Pepin the Short, Mayor of the Palace, of the line of Arnulf, was, theoretically, only the first subject of Childeric III, the last Merovinigian King of the Franks; but this modest title implied that real power, military, civil, and even ecclesiastical, of which Childeric’s crown was only the symbol. It is not certain that Bertrada (or Bertha), the mother of Charlemagne, a daughter of Charibert, Count of Laon, was legally married to Pepin until some years later than either 742 or 745.

DARK AGES ELITE: CABALLARII OF CHARLEMAGNE

Barry Jacobsen 

This is the fourth part of our series on Elite Warriors of the Dark Ages. As Charles the Great, king of the Franks, created the first great European empire after the Fall of Rome, he surrounded himself with elite mounted warriors: in Latin, caballarii!

Charlemagne ‘Father of Europe’: A European Icon in the Making

Charlemagne ‘Father of Europe’: A European Icon in the Making

By Marianne Ailes

Introduction: Along with the legendary King Arthur and the crusading conqueror of Jerusalem, Godefroy of Bouillon, Charlemagne was one of the three secular ‘chivalric’ Worthies of the later Middle Ages. Arthur and Charlemagne shared the status of legendary Christian kings belonging to a pervious age, but there were major differences between them.

Charlemagne, Great in Every Sense

Charlemagne, Great in Every Sense

(French for Charles the Great, Carolus Magnus, or Carlus Magnus; German Karl der Grosse).

Nobility.org

Charlemagne, painted by Albrecht Dürer

The name given by later generations to Charles, King of the Franks, first sovereign of the Christian Empire of the West; born 2 April, 742; died at Aachen, 28 January, 814.
At the time of Charles’ birth, his father, Pepin the Short, Mayor of the Palace, of the line of Arnulf, was, theoretically, only the first subject of Childeric III, the last Merovinigian King of the Franks; but this modest title implied that real power, military, civil, and even ecclesiastical, of which Childeric’s crown was only the symbol. It is not certain that Bertrada (or Bertha), the mother of Charlemagne, a daughter of Charibert, Count of Laon, was legally married to Pepin until some years later than either 742 or 745.