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Christoffer Alsn
Professor K. Campbell
FND 102
3 December 2013

The Impact of Charlemagne on Europe

Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, is mostly recognized for uniting
Western Europe for the first time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Even though
the Carolingian Empire became the strongest force in Europe, it did not last much longer after
Charlemagne died. However, as divided Europe may have seemed a while after the reign of
Charlemagne, new authorities and regimes legitimized their claims to power in the name of
Charlemagne; Europe was still united through culture, beliefs, morals and the new states all
claimed Charles as their founding father.
Before the era of Charlemagne, Charles father, Peppin the Short, was made king
by the pope because there was not yet any real connection between State and religion as there
was in Constantinople in the East between the emperor and the patriarch. Unfortunately, even
though Peppin was crowned by the pope, his reach as king was not close to the power of the
emperor in the Constantinople. After the death of Peppin in the year 768, Charles and his
brother Carloman became joint kings of the Franks. Charles inherited the western parts of the
Frankish Empire, bordering the Atlantic, while his brother inherited the inner parts, bordering
Italy. The Franks never settled on what would happen to their kingdom if one of the two
brothers would die, but when Carloman died three years later, Charles takes control over his

land anyway. However, it took much longer for Charles to be crowned king by the pope, like
his father was.
The eastern Roman Empire was still seen as the highest power by western
Europe at the early stages of Charlemagnes period of influence. As Matthias Becher says,
Charlemagne challenged the Byzantine Empire, which considered itself to be continuing the
old Imperium Romanum without interruption. [] No Frankish, Lombard, or Gothic king had
ever seriously contested this leading position (8). Without the imperial title, Charlemagne
came in second after the patriarch and the emperor in the East. Charles was not satisfied by
remaining in the second rank, so in alliance with the pope he decided to conquer northern
Italy. After only two invasions he was successful in expanding his kingdom further and
becoming king of the Lombards in 774. It was seen as his first great accomplishment which
helped him in his attempts to become the greatest emperor in Europe. However, since he had
not been crowned by the pope yet he was still not as powerful as the emperor of the Byzantine
Empire.
Charles continued on his quest of becoming known as the holder of the highest
secular office. He easily conquered Bavaria which is geographically today a part of Germany,
but his main focus was on the Saxons in Germany. The Saxons consisted of Germanic tribes
who lived in northern Germany and conquered large parts of Great Britain, resulting in the
combined people called Anglo-Saxons. They were pagans who believed in gods very similar
to those of Norse mythology, but their beliefs vary too much to claim they were the same. In
this Saxon mythology there were sacred pillars called Irminsul which they believed were to
connect heaven and earth and support the universe. In 772, Charlemagne started his campaign

to convert all the Saxons to Christianity by cutting one of them down close to the Eresburg
stronghold. The Saxons had during a long time raided forest sanctuaries which were on
Frankish territories. Charlemagne might not have been as aggressive in his attempts to convert
the Saxons if it was not for the raids. However, Charlemagne was also very disrupted by their
pagan practices, since they were not the ways of a Christian. Charles declared that anyone
who would not adjust to the Christian traditions and get baptized would be executed. For
example, in 782, Charlemagne supposedly ordered the slaughter of about 4,500 Saxons which
became known as the Massacre of Verden (Becher 67). It took over 30 years of battle to
weaken the Saxons enough into becoming followers of Christianity within his empire. Why
did it take so long to defeat the Saxons even though the Franks won every battle against them?
Becher replies to this question, There was no central power with which the Franks could
have negotiated a lasting treaty (77). Since the Germanic tribes were so split up, the Franks
had to defeat each of them to gain power in those regions. Another one of Charles methods
was to plant missionary outposts, most often in the form of bishoprics, around Saxony to
convert the Saxons gradually rather than just giving them an ultimatum from the start. At the
year of 804, the Saxons were now a part of the Frankish empire and more or less devoted
Christians.
Charlemagne was however not always successful in his campaigns. In 778, he
attempted to liberate northern Spain from the Muslims, because some Muslims were in
conflict with caliph in Cordoba. Charlemagne and his men marched south and first conquered
the town of Pamplona, but they failed in their attempt to take over Saragossa. Charlemagne
became very frustrated by not achieving what he wanted, so he retreats back north. In their
retreat, they also were not careful enough because they got attacked from behind and lost even

more men. In the fantasy story Chanson de Roland, this failure became the most definitive
moment in the career of Charlemagne. Charlemagne never put any more effort in the battle for
northern Spain. He preferred to focus on converting the Saxons which he actually
accomplished.
In 799, the pope, Leo III, was attacked by his enemies on the streets of Rome
because they wanted to elect another pope. The attackers explicitly said they wanted to cut out
his tongue and blind him to make him incapable of office. The people who attacked Leo III
did not want to upset Charlemagne, because they knew Charlemagne had assisted the pope
earlier. Therefore, they did not go through with their threats until they had heard
Charlemagnes opinion first. Leo III traveled through the Alps to Paderborn so he could ask
for Charlemagnes assistance. The following year, Charlemagne traveled to Rome to support
Leo III. On Christmas day during a ceremony in Saint Peters Basilica the pope is supposed to
anoint Charlemagnes son as the emperor of the new Holy Roman Empire. Oddly enough, the
pope changed his mind in the last second and placed the crown on Charlemagnes head
making him the emperor. Charles was not happy with the decision, but still accepted the honor
and responsibilities. His displeasure was perhaps due to diplomatic reasons, since the legal
emperor was undeniably still seated in Constantinople. On the other hand, that public alliance
between the pope and the emperor reflected a strong political power in the west for the first
time since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This is also how the concept of the Holy
Roman Empire began to form, which came to play a large role later in the Middle Ages. The
Holy Roman Empire was not formally founded until a decade later, but without Charlemagne
being crowned emperor by the pope there would not have been a Holy Roman Empire.

As the new emperor, Charlemagne built a new church in Aachen, which is also
where people assume he was born. This new church was very influenced by Justinians church
in Ravenna called San Vitale. The chapel of the church was octagonal, just as the emperors
chapel in Constantinople, because Charles must have thought that the greatest emperors were
supposed to have their churches built with a centralized plan. Another reason why
Charlemagne chose Aachen to build his church is because it was very far away from the seat
of the pope in Rome. Therefore, Charles and the pope did not have to compete with each other
over who is more powerful. Also, Aachen lied tactically in the middle of the east and west
Frankish kingdoms which today is where Germany borders to Belgium and the Netherlands.
This was where Charlemagne crowned his son, Louis, the new emperor in 813. Charles died
the year after leaving the kingdom in his sons hands. Louis did not succeed in holding the
empire together, which led to the Europe dissolving into new states and regimes over time.
How did Europe still manage to reflect a sense of unity between states after
dividing itself on a local and national level? Even though the Germans separated themselves
from the French, they both still viewed Charlemagne as their founding father. This was
because Charles had united Europe through religion, architecture, art and by structuring the
political hierarchy well. Therefore, even after the empire dissolved people in Europe were still
connected; they were divided yet united.
Sources

Becher, Matthias. Charlemagne. [Place of Publication Not Identified]: Yale UP,

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Morrissey, Robert. Charlemagne & France: A Thousand Years of Mythology. Notre
Dame, IN:
University of Notre Dame, 2003. Print.

"Charlemagne." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.