Charles I 'the Great' CHARLEMAGNE, King of the Franks

Notes:

Charlemagne, in Latin is Carlous Magnus (Charles the Great), King of the Franks (768-814), and Emperor of the Romans (800-814), who led his Frankish armies to victory over numerous other people and established his rule in most of western and central Europe. He was the best-known and most influential king in Europe in the Middle Ages.

Charlemagne, Charles the Great. With the consent of the great nobles, Charlemagne, Charles the Great, became King of France and Holy Roman Emperor of the West from 771 to 814, following the death of his brother. He was born April 2, 742, probably at Aix-La-Chapelle. When only twelve years old we find him commissioned to receive and welcome the pontiff who came to implore his father's aid against the barbarians that threatened Rome. He probably accompanied his father in his campaigns at an early age, but the first time that we really see him in the field, is on the renewal of the war with the rebellious Duke of Aquitaine.

Upon the death of Pepin, in 768, Charlemagne and his younger brother Carloman succeeded to equal portions of one of the most powerful of European kingdoms, bounded by the Pyrenees, the Alps, Mediterranean, and the ocean. But this would hardly enabled the monarchs, even had they been united, to resist successfully the incursions of the barbarous tribes on the German frontiers of France, which had commenced with the first establishment of the Frankish dominion in Gaul; and which were kept alive by the constant pouring forth of fresh hordes from the overpopulated north. The situation of Charlemagne was rendered yet more perilous by the massive enmity of his brother, and the rebellion of Hunald, the turbulent Duke of Aquitaine. But fortunately Charlemagne had a genius equal to the difficulties of his situation; though his brother refused to aid him, he defeated Huald; and no less illustrious by his clemency than by his valor and military skill, he forgave the vanquished rebel.

Desiderius, the King of Lombardy, had made large encroachments upon the states of the Roman Pontiff, whose cause was taken up by Charlemagne. This led to feuds, which Bertha, his mother, endeavored to appease by arranging a marriage between her son and the daughter of the Lombard. But Charlemagne soon took a disgust to the wife thus imposed upon him, and repudiated her, that he might marry Hildegarde, the daughter of a noble family in Swabia. Thus he married Hildegarde of Swabia (Linzgau), Countess, born in 757/758, died April 30, 782/3.

In 771 Carloman died, and Charlemagne was elected to the vacant throne, to the exclusion of his nephews, whose extreme youth made then incapable of wearing the crown in such troubled times. Gilberge, the widow of Carloman, immediately fled, and sought refuse with Desiderius, the common retreat for all who were hostile to the Frankish monarch.

From that time, sole ruler during a reign of forty-three years, he waged incessant wars on all his borders, subduing rebellions, extending his domains and at the same time advancing Christianity. In 772 he began a thirty-year war with the determined Saxons, after the successful opening of Charlemagne was called to the assistance of Pope Hadrian I. against Desiderius, King of the Lombards. Charlemagne marched two armies over the Alps and conquered Lombardy in 774; returned and beat the Saxons again and hastened into Spain, in 778, to help the Arabian rulers of that country against the Osman Caliph of Cordova. It was in this war that Roland, the hero of romance, fell in the pass of Roncesvalles.

In 799 the Romans revolted against Pope Leo III., and were again brought into subjection by Charlemagne. In return, while he was praying on the steps of St. Peter's Church, he was crowned by Leo with the iron crown of the Western Empire, successor of the Roman Caesars, unexpectedly to him, as he pretended, on Christmas Day, 800, amidst the popular acclamations, "Long life and victory to Charles Augustus, crowned by God, great and pacific Emperor of the Romans!"

The extensive domain of Charlemagne was rendered secure only by ceaseless vigilance and warfare. The short intervals of peace which ere allowed him, he employed in endeavoring to educate and civilize his people. He made a tour through his dominions, causing local and general improvement, reforming laws, advancing knowledge, and building churches and monasteries. Christianity being one of the chief means to which he trusted for the attainment of his grand objects. In this he was no less successful than he had before been in war. With exception of the Eastern empire, France was now the most cultivated nation in Europe, even Rome herself sending thither for skillful workmen, while commerce, roads, and mechanics must have been much advanced, as we may infer from the facility with which marble columns and immense stone crosses were often carried through the whole extent of France upon carriages of native construction. Luxury, too, with its attendant arts had made considerable strides. Vases of gold and silver richly carved, silver tables highly wrought, bracelets, rings, and table cloths of fine linen, might be seen in the houses of the nobles. The people must have been dexterous in working iron, for their superiority in this respect is shown by the severe laws forbidding the exportation of arms.

Charlemagne drove back the Arabs, reduced the Huns, and effectually protected his long line of coast from the attempted invasion of the Northmen. It is said, that upon one occasion he arrived at a certain port just as the pirates were preparing to land; but the moment they learned of the presence of the monarch, they immediately fled in great terror at the mere mention of his name.

It was always an object of first importance with Charlemagne to support the papal authority, as holding out the only means of spreading Christianity, which he justly considered the most effectual instrument he could employ to enlighten and civilize the world.

Charlemagne securely laid the foundations of his empire. He was vigilant, judicious, and energetic, both as a ruler and commander. He fostered agriculture, trade, arts, and letters with untiring zeal, clearing forests, draining swamps, founding monasteries and schools, building cities, constructing splendid palaces, as at Aix, Worms, and Ingelheim, and drawing to his court scholars and poets from all nations, being himself proficient in science, as well as all hardy accomplishments.

Charlemagne was tall and a commanding presence, and could speak and write Latin as well as his native German. He fostered all learning and the fine arts, studying rhetoric and astronomy. He reigned over France, half of Germany, and four-fifths of Italy. The Caliph Haroun-al-Rashid sent an embassy to the court of Charlemagne with gifts in token of good will. Attacked with pleurisy he died after a short illness, in the seventy-second year of age, and the forty-seventh of his reign, on January 28, 814. Some years later Charlemagne was canonized by the church.

Charles married Princess Hildegarde OF SAVOY in 771 in Aachen, Rhineland, Germany. Hildegarde (daughter of Duke Gerold I COUNT DE VINGOU and Emma 'Mother of Kings' OF ALLEMAINIA) was born in 758 in Aachen, Rhineland, Germany; died on 30 Apr 783. [Group Sheet]

Charles married Regina. [Group Sheet]

Pippin married Mistress. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Louis I was born a twin of Lothair, who died on 8 Feb 779. Louis was crowned King of Quitaine in 781 and remained so until the death of his father in 814, when he became King of France. Following the birth of an illegitimate daughter (Alpais or Elpheid), he married twice and had four sons and two daughters.

Soource:
1. Pedigrees of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendant's.
2. Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England Between 1623 and 1690, 6th Edition,
Weiss.
3. The Platagenet Ancestry, Moriarty, p. 5.
4. The Platagenet Ancestry, Turton, p. 171.

Louis married Ermentrude DE HESBAYE about 798 in France. Ermentrude was born about 778 in Hesbaye, Leige, Belgium; died on 3 Oct 813 in Angers, Maine-Et-Loire, France. [Group Sheet]

Louis married Judith OF BAVARIA in Feb 818/19. Judith was born about 805 in Altdorf, Bavaria; and died. [Group Sheet]

Bertha married Governor Angilbert OF PONTHIEU. [Group Sheet]

Hugues married Regina DE FRANCE. Regina was born about 800; and died. [Group Sheet]

Bernard married Cunigunda de Laon DE PARMA. Cunigunda (daughter of Guibour OF HORNBACH) was born in 797; and died. [Group Sheet]

Aupais married Begue DE PARIS. Begue (son of Girard DE PARIS and Rotrou) was born about 757; died in 816. [Group Sheet]

Lothair married Ermengarde DE HESBAYE. Ermengarde (daughter of Ingerman, Count of HESBAYE) was born about 800 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France; died on 20 Mar 851 in Abbaye D'Erstein, Strasborg, Alsace-Lorraine, France. [Group Sheet]

Hildegard married Gerard D'AUVERGNE. Gerard was born about 795; died on 25 Jun 841. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Became king of Italy in 839, taking up his residence in that country was crowned king at Rome by Pope Sergins II on June 15, 844. He married his cousin Engelberga, a daughterof King Louis the German, and undertook the independent governmnet of Italy. He took the field against the Saracens; quashed some accusations against Pope Leo; and on the death of his father in September 855 becamse sole emperor. In 857 he allied himself with Louis the German against his own brother Lothair, King of Lotharingia, and King Charles the Bald. But after Louis had secured the election of Pope Nicholas I in 858, he became reconciled with his brother, and received some lands south of the Jura mountains in return for assistance given to Lothair in his efforts to obtain a divorce from his wife, Teutberga. In 863, on the death of his brother Charles, Louis received the kingdom of Provence, and in 864 came into collision with Pope Nicholas I over his brother's divorce. The archbishops, who had been deposed by Nicholas for proclaiming this marriage invalid, obtained the suport of the emperor, who reached Rome with an army in February 864; but, having been seized with fever, he made peace with the pope and left the city. In his efforts to restore order in Italy, Louis met with considerable success both against the turbulent princes of the peninsula and against the Saracens who were ravaging southern Italy. In 866 he routed these invaders, but could not follow up his successes owing to the lack of a fleet. So in 869, he made an alliance with the eaastern emperor, Basil I, who sent him some ships to assist in the capture of Ban, the headquarters of the Saracens, which succombed in 871. Meanwhile, his brother Lothair had died in 869, and owing to his detention in southern Italy, Louis failed to prevent the partition of Lotharingia between Louis the German and Charles the Bald. Some jealousy between Louis and Basil followed the victory at Ban, and in reply to an insult from the eastern emperor Louis attempted to justify his right to the title "Emperor of the Roman". He had withdrawn into Benevento to prepare for a further campaign when he was treacherously attacked in his palace, robbed and imprisoned by Adeichis, prince of Benevento, in August 871. the landing of fresh bands of Saracens compelled Adeichis to release his prisoner a month later, and Louis was forced to swear he would take no revenge for this injury, nor ever enter Benevento with an army. Returning to Rome, he was released from his oath, and was crowned a second time as emperor by Pope Adrian II on May 18, 872. then Louis won further successes against the Saracens, who were driven from Capua, but the attempts of the emperor to punish Adeichis were not very successful. Returning to northern Italy, he died somewhere in the province of Brescia on August 12, 875, and was buried in the church of St. Ambrose at Milan, having named as his successor in Italy his cousin Carloman, son of Louis the German.

Adelaide married Conrad I DE AUXERRE. Conrad was born about 800; died about 863. [Group Sheet]

Gisela married Eberhard OF FRIULI. Eberhard (son of Hunrochli DE FRIULI and Engeltrude DE PARIS) was born in 820; and died. [Group Sheet]

Charles married Countess Ermentrude OF ORLEANS. Ermentrude (daughter of Count Odo DE ORLEANS and Engeltrude OF PARIS) was born on 27 Sep 830; died on 6 Oct 869. [Group Sheet]

Charles married Richaut OF METZ. Richaut (daughter of Budwine Graf VON METZ and Richilda DE ARLES) was born about 826 in Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France; died after 910. [Group Sheet]

Nithard married . Unknown [Group Sheet]

Petronilla married Count Terulle D'ANJOU. Terulle (son of Tourquat Tortulft DE RENNES) was born about 821 in Rennes, Anjou, Normandy, France; and died. [Group Sheet]

Pepin married Rothaide DE BOBBIO. Rothaide (daughter of Walla DE BOBBIO and Rotlinde DE GELLIONE) was born about 820 in France; died in 858. [Group Sheet]

Leutaud married . Unknown [Group Sheet]

Engeltrude married Hunrochli DE FRIULI. Hunrochli was born about 770; and died. [Group Sheet]

Lothair married Teutberga D'ARLES. Teutberga (daughter of Boso "the Elder", Frank and Engeltrude) was born in 884; and died. [Group Sheet]

Lothair married Valrade. Valrade was born before 850; died after 9 Apr 868. [Group Sheet]

Lothair married Engelberge OF ALSACE. Engelberge (daughter of Count Erchanger I OF ALSACE) died on 25 Nov 875. [Group Sheet]

Ranulf married Unknown of MAINE. Unknown was born about 825; and died. [Group Sheet]

Conrad married Waldrade VAUDRIE. Waldrade was born about 827; died on 9 Apr 868. [Group Sheet]

Ingeltrude married Heinrich OF THURINGIA. Heinrich (son of Seigneur Pepin II de Peronne OF VERMANDOIS and Rothaide DE BOBBIO) was born in 830; died on 28 Oct 886. [Group Sheet]

Berengar married Bertilla OF SPOLETO. Bertilla (daughter of Duke of Spoleto Count of Camerino SUPPO II, Duke of Spoleto Count of Camerino and BERTA) was born about 850; died in Dec 915. [Group Sheet]

Heilwich married de SENLIS. [Group Sheet]

Judith married Count Baldwin I "Iron Arm" OF FLANDERS in Auxerre, Yonne, Bourgogne, France. Baldwin (son of Audacerl 1ST COUNT OF FLANDERS) died in 879. [Group Sheet]

Judith married Ethelbald KING OF ENGLAND after Feb 858. Ethelbald (son of Ethelwulf KING OF WESSEX and Osburga Oslad OF WESSEX) was born about 834; died on 20 Dec 860. [Group Sheet]

Judith married Ethelwulf KING OF WESSEX on 1 Oct 856 in Verberie sur Oise, France. Ethelwulf (son of Egbert III KING OF WESSEX and Redburga OF WESSEX) was born about 795 in Wessex, England; died on 13 Jan 858; was buried in Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire, England. [Group Sheet]

Helgaud married . Unknown [Group Sheet]

Ingelger married Countess Aelinde DE AMBOISE. Aelinde (daughter of Geoffrey D'ORLEANS) was born about 844 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France; and died. [Group Sheet]