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Charlemagne: Wars and Kingdom

Introduction

"Have the Frank for your friend, but not for your neighbor" (Einhard, 1960, pp.41)

An old Greek proverb truly describes the persona of Charlemagne of Franks who not lived as a king but a great emperor. Charlemagne, also known as the Charles I and Charles the Great, was King of the Franks from 768 to 814. He is considered to be the First Holy Roman Emperor and Father of Europe for his kingdom was stretched from France to the Western Europe. Christianity, education and innovations were promoted under his rule.

After the death of his father, Charles inherited the Western part of the Frankish Empire while his brother Carloman gained the part of kingdom ruled by his uncle. The peace between them was maintained with great difficulty because of Carloman's people disruption caused to Charles. Soon after the death of Carloman, about three years after being affirmed a king, Charles was unanimously declared as King of whole kingdom .

Once being elected as a sole ruler of Franks, he started expanding his kingdom through wars and conquests. He occupied Lombard, conquered Bavaria and also had battles in Spain and Hungary. He also restrained the Saxons and Austria through wars. Charles' role as an emperor expanded when he aided Pope Leo of Rome and was crowned as a king by the pope after being succeeded. He was called Holy Roman Emperor because he was a devout Christian. He liberated church and provided support to churches on his own expenses. He was fond of liberal arts despite of being a warrior and a king. He made many efforts to provide education and learning to common people. He reformed the minting process of currency and introduced single coinage system across his kingdom. His time of rule is filled with important and brief accounts of war. Right from becoming a king to his death, he fought and conquered many parts of the world.

Discussion

When Childeric from Merovingian family was deposed of his kingdom of Frank under the command of Roman Pontiff Stephen (II), father of King Charlemagne, Pepin was the Mayor of the Palace. Through the verdict of Roman Pontiff he was raised to the position of King from the Mayor of the Palace. He ruled over Franks for more than fifteen years. After his death, in 768, his sons Charles and Carloman were declared as kings according to the regulations of Franks in which kingdom was always divided equally into male heirs rather declaring the elder son as a sole king. After the death of Carloman, Charles was elected as the only King of Franks unanimously and by the time of his own death he was ruling Frankish Empire, coastal strip of southwest France, Netherland, Germany and Italy along with few campaigns at the other parts of the world.

His military responsibilities were started with the war of Aquitania in 770 A.D. The war started by his father but could not come to an end because of his death. Once indulged ...