Charlemagne ('Charles the Great'), Latin Carolus Magnus 747-814
King of the Franks and Christian Emperor of the West

Charlemagne was the grandson of Charles Martel and the eldest son of Pepin III, the Short. On Pepin's death in 768 the Frankish kingdom was divided between Charlemagne and his younger brother Carloman; three years later, on Carloman's death, he became sole ruler.

The first years of his reign were spent in strenuous campaigns to subdue and Christianize neighbouring kingdoms, particularly the Saxons to the north-east (772-77) and the Lombards of northern Italy (773), where he was crowned King of Lombardy, and the Moors in Spain (778). In Spain, the celebrated rearguard action at Roncesvalles in which Roland, his chief paladin, is said to have been overwhelmed, inspired the heroic literature of the Chanson de Roland.

In 782 the Saxons rose again in rebellion and destroyed a Frankish army at S�ntelberg, which Charlemagne avenged by beheading 4,500 Saxons, but it was not until 785 that the Saxon leader, Widukind, submitted and accepted baptism; he then became a loyal vassal.

Between 780 and 800, Charlemagne added Bohemia to his empire; subdued the Avars (Turko-Finnish nomads) in the middle Danube basin (795-96) to create an eastern 'March' to buttress his frontiers; created the 'Spanish March' on the southern side of the Pyrenees (795); and entered Italy (800) to support Pope Leo III against the rebellious Romans. There on Christmas Day in St Peter's Church, the pope crowned him Emperor of the Romans as 'Carolus Augustus'.

The remaining years of his reign were spent in consolidating his vast empire which reached from the Ebro in northern Spain to the Elbe. Bishoprics were founded in the Saxon country; many of the Slavs east of the Elbe were subjugated. The emperor established his capital and principal court at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), where he built a magnificent palace and founded an academy to which many of the greatest scholars of the age, like Alcuin of York, were invited. He himself could speak Latin and read Greek, and letters and Latin poems ascribed to him are still extant.

In a reign which has become known as the Carolingian Renaissance, Charlemagne zealously promoted education, architecture, book-making and the arts, created stable administrations and good laws, and encouraged agriculture, industry and commerce. He fostered good relations with the east, and in 798 Harun al-Rashid, the caliph of Baghdad, sent ambassadors and a gift of a white elephant. His reign was a noble attempt to consolidate order and Christian culture among the nations of the west, but his empire did not long survive his death, for his sons lacked both his vision and authority. He was buried at Aachen.

Bibliography: Related epics: La Chanson de Roland (c.11th century); Matteo Maria Boiardo, Orlando Innamorato (1486, 'Orlando in Love'); Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516, 'Orlando Enraged'). See also Friedrich Heer, Charlemagne and His World (1975); Donald A Bullough, The Age of Charlemagne (2nd edn, 1973); Einhard, Vita Karoli Magni: The Life of Charlemagne, translated from Latin by Evelyn Scherabon Firchow and Edwin H Zeydel (1972).