Charlemagne (pronounced Chaarlmayne) or Charles the Great is a long forgotten hero in the annals of history. This larger-than-life warrior king of the eighth century is regarded as the Father of Europe. Much later, he is believed to have inspired Napoleon and Hitler in their vision of ruling a unified Europe.
Carolus (Charlemagne) was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon and was born near Leige in present-day Belgium in 742 AD. He had an imposing physical presence, extraordinary energy, courage and an iron will. His father was the mayor but virtually played the role of a king of Franks, a Germanic tribe in present-day Belgium. Carloman was another son of Pepin and so both Carolus and Carloman came to the throne when their father died. As luck would have it, Carloman died three years later and Charlemagne became sole ruler. He reigned for more than four decades, but military campaigns marked 30 years of his life.
Charlemagne invaded Saxony in 772, and northern Spain — which was then controlled by the Moors — in 778. He later added Bohemia to his empire, besides subduing the Avars in the middle Danube basin. His style was to ride at the head of his men surrounded by his heavily-armed bodyguards, brandishing his famous sword, Joyeuse.
Coronation
In return for a favour, Pope Leo III crowned him Emperor of the Roman empire on Christmas Day in 800 AD in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome. Legend will have us believe that Charlemagne did not know about it as he knelt at the altar to pray!
The Emperor loved hunting, horse riding and swimming. He had four wives, one of whom was Desiderata of the Lombards.
He had palaces in different cities but his favourite was in Aachen. Charlemagne did much for the cause of education. His palace included a school where the best teachers in the empire were recruited and brought in. Credit goes to him for a standardised form of writing that later became a basis for modern European printed alphabets. He established a new library of Christian and classical works.
While at table, he would have people reading to him or playing music. The subjects of the reading were the stories and deeds of olden days — he was fond, too, of St. Augustine’s books, especially The City of God . He promoted cultural revival known as the Carolingian Renaissance. He took great efforts to consolidate Christianity. He standardised weights, measures and customs dues.
In 813, he crowned his youngest son, Louis the Pious, co-Emperor and co-King of the Franks, granting him a half-share of the empire and the rest on his own death.
Fading away
Charlemagne was unwell the last four years of his life and disliked his physicians urging him to shun meat eating. He died in 814, having ruled as Emperor for almost 14 years and as king of the Lombards for about 42 years. He was laid to rest in the Cathedral precincts of his imperial capital city of Aachen.
A 1000 years later, Napoleon would compare himself to Charlemagne, and David’s famous painting of him on horseback bears the name Karolus Magnus inscribed on a rock in the foreground.
He was truly a warrior king in a way that is almost unmatched before or since, spending almost the best part of his reign at war.
There is a famous statue of Charlemagne by Agostino Cornacchini (1725) at the Vatican.
