742 - 814 (71 years)
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Name |
Charlemagne "Charles the Great" |
Suffix |
King of Franks |
Nickname |
Charles the Great |
Birth |
2 Apr 742 |
Ingelheim, , Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany |
Gender |
Male |
Occupation |
Emperor of Holy Roman Empire |
Death |
28 Jan 814 |
Aachen, Kaln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany |
Burial |
Aachen Cathedral |
Person ID |
I1428 |
Main |
Last Modified |
30 Sep 2009 |
Father |
Pepin (Pippin) III "The Short", King of the Franks, b. 714, Austrasia d. 24 Sep 768, St. Denis, Paris, , , France (Age 54 years) |
Mother |
Bertrada, Duchess of Laon, b. Abt 720, Laon, Aisne, France d. 12 Jul 783, Choisy, Haute-Savoi, France (Age ~ 63 years) |
Family ID |
F618 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Family |
Regina, b. Abt 770, Aachen, Germany. Also Named Reginopycrha d. Yes, date unknown |
Children |
+ | 1. Hugo "L'abbe", b. 794, Aachen, Germany d. 7 Jun 844 (Age 50 years) |
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Family ID |
F617 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Last Modified |
30 Sep 2009 |
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Notes |
- Charlemagne (742 - January 28, 814), Karl der Grosse or Charles the Great (Carolus Magnus in Latin, and hence the adjective form 'Carolingian'), king of the Franks (771-814), nominally King of the Lombards and Roman Emperor. Arguably the founder of a Frankish Empire in Western Europe. Charlemagne was the elder son of Pippin the Short, and on the death of Pippin in 768 the kingdom was divided between Charlemagne and his brother Carloman. Carloman died in 771, leaving Charlemagne with a reunified Frankish kingdom.
In 800 at Mass on Christmas day in Rome, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, a title that had been out of use in the West since the abdication of Romulus Augustulus in 476. He was succeeded by his only son to survive him, Louis the Pious, after whose reign the empire was divided between his surviving sons according to Frankish tradition.
It is difficult to understand Charlemagne's attitude toward his daughters. None of them contracted a sacramental marriage. This may have been an attempt to control the number of potential alliances. After his death the surviving daughters entered or were forced to enter monasteries. At least one of them, Bertha, had a recognized relationship, if not a marriage, with Angilbert, a member of Charlemagne's court circle.
Cultural significance
Charlemagne's reign is often referred to as the Carolingian Renaissance because of the flowering of scholarship, literature, art and architecture. Most of the surviving works of classical Latin were copied and preserved by Carolingian scholars. The pan-European nature of Charlemagne's influence is indicated by the origins of many of the men who worked for him: Alcuin, an Anglo-Saxon; Theodulf, a Visigoth; Paul the Deacon, a Lombard; and Angilbert and Einhard, Franks.
Charlemagne enjoyed an important afterlife in European culture. One of the great medieval literature cycles, the Charlemagne cycle centers around the deeds of Charlemagne's historical commander of the Breton border, Roland. Charlemagne himself was accorded sainthood inside the Holy Roman Empire after the 12th Century.
Unification legacy
The greatest European unifiers: Frederick Barbarossa, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Jean Monnet, and present leaders such as Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schröder have all mentioned Charlemagne's name in the context of unification. [4]
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Sources |
- [S2] John S. Howell, Jr., JSH Feb 13 2003 gedcom.
- [S1053] Daniel Holdt, Daniel Holdt, (http://www.american-pictures.com/genealogy/persons/).
- [SAuth] John Spencer Howell, Jr., John Spencer Howell, Jr., (http://www.jhowell.com/ jhowell@jhowell.com).
- [S792] Wikipedia.
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