How to Build an Empire
The Life of Charlemagne and the Beginning of the Holy Roman Empire
Written by Brandon Foster
Deep within the mountains and forests of Central Europe, giants emerged. At least that is how the Romans saw them. Their garments were strange, their languages lacked the poetic sound of civilized Latin, and their fierce, independent nature posed a threat to the empire. Centuries would pass, and the giants would morph into confederacies and then into kingdoms. One kingdom emerged out of the mist as the greatest of them all. Francia, the kingdom of the Franks, originated around the Rhine as a collection of tribes and would become a unified kingdom under the reign of Clovis I in the 6th century. He founded the Merovingian dynasty, which would rule Francia for the next two centuries.
In the 8th century, the Merovingians were eclipsed by a new dynasty. Starting as local palace mayors, the Carolingians would usurp their lords and rule for nearly three centuries. It all began with Pepin III, also called the Short, who was mayor of the palace alongside his brother Carloman. Pepin oversaw Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence. Carloman would take Austrasia, Thuringia, and Alemania. At the beginning of their mayorship, there was no king on the throne, but they chose to place Childerich III (the last of the Merovingians) on the throne. By 745 CE, Carloman decided he was done with the ways of the world and chose to become a monk. Thus, the chronicler of the Royal Frankish Annals writes that Pepin was the sole mayor of Francia. Childerich’s rule would not last long, as in 750 Pepin would take the throne from him, naming himself the King of the Franks. To cement his rule, Pepin received the blessing of Pope Zachary of Rome. Now, as the anointed king, Pepin had the support of God and many Frankish nobles, meaning that he did not have to worry about his dukes overthrowing him. With his reign secured, Pepin could move on to expanding Francia and establishing his two sons as rulers.
Pepin the Short would die in 768. The Royal Frankish Annalist records that the transition of power took place on September 24 with the ascension of Charles, known as Charlemagne, and Carloman to the throne. However, to fully understand how Charlemagne ascended to the throne of a regional kingdom and expanded it into nearly a continental empire, we must first examine his beginnings.
Charlemagne inflicting Baptism upon the Saxons by Alphonse de Neuville, 1883. Wikimedia Commons
Charlemagne, who would one day be known as the Great, was born in 748. He was the older brother of Carloman, who served as co-regent with Charlemagne until his death from disease on December 4, 771. As sole ruler, Charlemagne would embark on three separate paths that would earn him the title “Father of Europe.” The first path would be his military expeditions against the Saxons, Lombards, and Avars. He would conquer most Saxon lands, adding them to his growing territory. The Lombards would transition from a threat to the Italian states, especially Rome, to become a part of the Frankish kingdom. The most catastrophic conquest waged by Charlemagne and his knights was that of the Avars. After Charlemagne conquered their lands, they would slowly fade from history, never to be mentioned again.
The second path was Charlemagne’s dedication to education. Especially that of the clergy’s education. The clergy were mainly illiterate, and education had nearly died out during the last few centuries. Starting in the 790s, Charlemagne would encourage educational reforms that invigorated writing and reading. Charlemagne would sponsor education, and the monks of his day would produce masterful copies of classical literature—some of which we have only because of his reforms and their work.
Lastly, Charlemagne would be crowned emperor by Leo III of what some call the Carolingian Empire, or more classically, the Holy Roman Empire. This empire would last for a thousand years, only to be toppled by Napoleon in 1806. It would at times encompass most of Europe and be the continent's most significant political force. But now, it is time to see how the small king of Francia became the mighty emperor of Europe.
The Path of the Warrior
The longest war Charlemagne waged was with the Saxons. He battled them off and on from 772 until 804. It was customary to campaign from late spring into summer and return during autumn and winter. Thus, warfare was not a year-round activity, but rather a seasonal one. Additionally, it is worth noting that not all men participated in the war. Charlemagne would summon his nobles, who would in turn summon fighting men.
The war began with Charles Martel (which means “The Hammer”) in 715-724. It would continue through his sons, Pepin and Carloman, concluding with a brief period of peace. Charlemagne’s war would begin in 772 when he invaded Saxony. Einhard (a friend of the king who wrote the Life of Charlemagne) wrote that “For our boundaries and theirs touch almost everywhere on the open plain, except where in a few places large forests or ranges of mountains are interposed to separate the territories of the two nations by a definite frontier.” Therefore, this was a territorial war with subtle religious undertones. The last thing Einhard had to say on the matter was “[B]oth sides murder, robbery, and arson were of constant occurrence.” In 772, Charlemagne banded his lords together and captured the castle of Eresburg. After he had secured this stronghold, Charles proceeded further into Saxony and destroyed the Irminsul (a sacred tree or post). The Royal Annalist also mentioned that gold and silver were found. Thus, the campaign was successful in all regards.
At this point, Charlemagne broke from his war with the Saxons, potentially believing his strike to be sufficient, and moved against the Lombards. The Lombards' antagonism towards Rome sparked this war. The war began as Charlemagne wintered in Thionville when a messenger arrived from Pope Hadrian requesting immediate help. He claimed that the Lombards were attacking his lands. Charles spent the winter deliberating with his advisers about how best to liberate the Romans. When the time came, Charlemagne assembled his men at Geneva, where he launched a two-prong attack. The first host, led by himself, would go through Mont Cenis, while the other host, led by Charlemagne’s uncle Bernard, would go through the Great St. Bernard Pass. Once through the Alps, Charlemagne and Bernard met back up in a mountain valley. A detachment was sent through the mountains, which caused the king of the Lombards, Desiderius, to flee to his capital, Pavia.
It was at Pavia that Desiderius set himself up for a siege. With no resistance in sight, Charles marched his army and surrounded Pavia. Unlike most campaigns, Charles decided to besiege Pavia through the winter, celebrating Christmas in his camp. After nine months, Desiderius surrendered, and Charlemagne crowned himself the King of the Lombards.
Unfortunately, the Saxons had taken this opportunity to revolt. This would become the pattern for the next 30-odd years. Revolt, destruction, pacification, rinse and repeat. Charlemagne would not know peace with the Saxons until around 804.
Charlemagne at Paderborn by Ary Schefferr, 1835. Wikimedia Commons
However, there is one more major group with which Charlemagne would engage. Besides the Saxons and Lombards, Charlemagne would attack and conquer the Avars. The Avars were a loose collection of “nomads, raiders, and horse breeders.” The Franks called them “Huni,” believing they were descendants of the Huns who invaded during the Roman period. A khagan ruled them, and they had been raiding Frankish lands for generations. However, raids were not what caused the Frankish invasion, but the disobedience of a noble.
Tassilo, the duke of Bavaria, who had sworn fealty to both Pepin and then Charlemagne, started seeking protection from King Desidarius (before he lost his kingdom). Pope Hadrian wrote him to stop and then asked Charlemagne to intercede. The king did so threateningly. Duke Tassilo did not obey the pope or the king until the last minute when he saw that Charlemagne was preparing for war. Things escalated the following year when Tassilo’s dukes accused him of siding with the Avars to start a war with the Franks. As punishment, Charlemagne sentenced him to live in a monastery. Charlemagne took control of Bavaria and demanded a redrawn border between Francia and the Avars. The khagan did not agree, thus prompting war.
In the summer of 791, Charlemagne gathered his host and invaded the Avars before they could attack first. He met no official resistance and laid waste to the land before heading back to Francia. Things went south for the khagan quickly. In 795, an Avar noble approached Charlemagne, asking to swear fealty and be baptized if he could keep his land under Frankish rule. The following year, the khagan was assassinated, and Duke Erich of Friuli led an expedition against the Avars, which resulted in the sack of their capital. Then King Pepin (Charlemagne’s son and king of Italy) invaded, and the new khagan met him but was unable to stop another sacking.
The campaign against the Avars made the Franks rich. They had been receiving tribute from the Byzantine Empire for years, in addition to the treasure they had collected from Frankish raids. The gold gained from this invasion paid for the vast development that began in the mid-790s and continued until Charlemagne died in 814.
Rebirth!
By the mid-780s, Charlemagne gradually transitioned from being a warrior king to a more administrative role. By now, he was in his 40s or 50s, and the sources indicate that he began to slow down and consider ways to secure his family's future. One of the ways he did this was by encouraging intellectual development. Charlemagne would recruit great minds across Europe, including Alcuin of England and Theodulf the Goth, who arrived around 782; Paul the Deacon, who came to Charlemagne around 776 after the conquest of the Lombards; and Peter of Pisa, who also arrived in 776. These men, especially Alcuin, who is considered the greatest mind among them, developed schools (such as the Palace School), reformed the curriculum by reintroducing classical learning, and created and then disseminated a new form of writing now known as “Carolingian Minuscule.”
It was through their minds that the stagnant minds of the Franks became sculpted and finely crafted. Just by looking at the Royal Frankish Annals, we can see the early texts and how dry and basic they are compared to those toward the end, which are more detailed and refined. Men like Einhard and Angilbert, who were taught by Alcuin and the others in their youth, went on to become masters themselves and trained others. The Carolingian Renaissance may not have developed much in the ways of “new” material, but it set the foundation needed for intellectual development in Europe.
Emperor and Beyond
December 25, 800, is one of those few days mentioned in every text about Charlemagne. Standing before a congregation in Rome, Pope Leo III placed a crown on Charlemagne’s head and then bowed, proclaiming him Emperor of the Romans. This marked the beginning of what would eventually be known as the Holy Roman Empire. King Charles, a man who began his reign in 768 as a co-regent with his brother, fought his way through wars and reform to become the recognized leader of the Western world. His fame and power extended far beyond Byzantium into the lands of the Abbasid palace and across the Mediterranean. His territory stretched from that same sea to the North Sea, and from the English Channel to the eastern plains of Europe. King Charles, who has been rightly named Charles the Great or Charlemagne, was a man of ambition, determination, ruthlessness, mercy, curiosity, and intelligence. He took half of the kingdom that his father gave him, and he formed an empire.
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