this video is brought to you by captivating history charlemagne also known as charles the great was one of the most significant rulers in european history he was the first unifier of western and central europe after the fall of the western roman empire almost 300 years earlier after the western roman empire collapsed and in the region of gaul especially western europe had been split into much smaller factions and there was no one to pick up the pieces until charlemagne a common misconception about charlemagne is that he was a great king of france that's an extreme understatement
charlemagne ruled much much more than france and in fact preceded the country itself charlemagne was a frank and the franks have a long history beginning before rome itself the romans gave them their name we know them by now the franks which means ferocious and ferocious they were indeed for charlemagne to have conquered and flourished the way he did he would have needed to embody that tradition his own grandfather was charles martell a very notable military genius best known for his victory in the battle of tours charlotte maine's family line of franks had been ruling the
smaller pieces left of rome after the fall of the dynasty of miravindians they were no strangers to power and the cultivation of it charlemagne united western europe and his rule extended over to what is now france northern italy germany austria spain the netherlands poland and many others this level of unification hadn't been seen for centuries and is why some consider him to be the father of europe the peter europe his name became so synonymous with victory kingship and leadership that many words for king in western european languages derive from his name charlemagne the polish crow
the czech crawl the latvian corrales and more this sort of international linguistic recognition put charlemagne on par with julius caesar for whom the russian word for king czar comes from to unify western and central europe wasn't an easy job charlemagne needed victory after victory his battles with the saxons lombards saracens aquitaines moors bavarians and the slavs were all carefully planned and his battle is mostly won it was the basques those hardy people living in the pyrenees whose language is older than latin greek and sanskrit people whose unique and total knowledge of the mountains and their
passes finally created a defeat for charlemagne that did not stop him for long he continued onto hispaniola and battled the moors successfully adding what is now spain into his kingdom it wasn't just enough for him to rule such a kingdom despite its ever-growing territories and despite it being one of the largest kingdoms in centuries charlemagne wanted an empire and to do that he needed to be crowned emperor by the pope himself charlemagne had been a staunch ally to pope adrian the first since his assistance with his victory against the lombards which had helped maintain prosperity
and peace in rome the pope was quite happy with the arrangement no one would dare attack rome with charlemagne as a friend and ally they had had a good relationship over two decades charlemagne had been maintaining a good relationship with the eastern roman empire and working in tandem with pope adrian to do so but because of pope adrian's independence whenever they disagreed it made the pope nervous after all charlemagne ruled over a significant portion of italy which is today's lombardi region unfortunately by the time charlemagne had decided that he wanted to be crowned emperor adrian
had passed and pope leo iii sat in the vatican pope leo iii wanted to maintain cordial relations with charlemagne since this had helped pope adrian the first maintain rome and ensure its safety plus it would be vitally important for his image to maintain charlemagne's help and goodwill however it was challenging to gain that level of trust pope adrian had befriended him a few years after charlemagne's father passed and charlemagne grew to see him as a father figure it would not be easy to build a friendship on the same level as the previous pope and people
knew it pope leo was attacked and left to die in the streets of rome so he fled to charlemagne for help charlemagne assisted him and so strengthened their bond a year later on christmas day pope leo consecrated charlemagne as the emperor of rome the whole roman empire the eastern roman empire otherwise known as the byzantine empire still existed and was ruled by empress irene of athens relations were tense between the two rulers as their borders were very close especially around venice charlemagne had delegated many of his military tasks to his sons and turned his mind
toward his less militant matters embracing more cultured artistic inclinations this would lead to one of the first great medieval renaissances during the middle ages along with founding the carolingian empire charlemagne also helped spur along one of the first of three great medieval renaissances in the church the carolingian renaissance a vital contributor to the substantial increase in literature writing and other forms of art he modeled this renaissance against rome's the ancient classical row not the deteriorating western rome of 300 years ago and one of his first acts was to standardize the currency based on roman currency
this would become a precursor to the british pound shillings and pennies but his focus would lie more in education and literature starting a great school for noble folk in akin he delegated to his dear friend and influential scholar al quinn the task of creating a standardized curriculum so that all of his subjects could learn to read alquin also established a library that showcased the value of books in a time before printing presses soon with the advent of higher literacy many scholars began clamoring for their own libraries a goal that charlemagne was more than happy to
support he even standardized capital letters and certain forms of topography part of his reasoning for promoting literacy was bringing the bible to more people it was translated so that all of his linguistically diverse subjects could study and read it the carolingian renaissance was also responsible for preserving many latin texts before printing presses monks had to laboriously hand copy every single letter page manuscript and book for hundreds of these texts it's safe to say without this enormous task the efforts of latin scholars would have been long lost to history perhaps on par with the tragedy of
the library of alexandria because of his efforts we have marcus aurelius's meditations and virgil's aeneid without charlemagne's dedication we'd also be deprived of the history of the roman empire by tacitus or julius caesar's personal account of his conquests of gaul we'd have no cicero or plini's natural history ironically enough charlemagne never learned how to write though he could read this may be why he prized the written word so much he could appreciate the talents of others and wanted to share them with his empire at 71 charlemagne developed pleurisy contracted a fever and died on january
21 8 14. some say having lost nearly all of his legitimate sons within the last few years may have played a part in his death along with his tendency to push himself to the brink of everything he put his mind to living to 71 was a feat in itself for that period given the average lifespan was much shorter he had ruled francio for nearly 50 years created an empire and started a renaissance charlemagne's legacy can still be felt today in fact in a standard deck of playing cards the king of hearts is modeled after him
his military conquests are legendary his unification came at a bloody price but ultimately those became the first paving stones towards what is now modern europe librarians bibliophiles and classic scholars have much to thank him for he started as the king of the franks then the king of the franks and the lombards then many conquests later he became the emperor of rome and the emperor of the carolingian empire it isn't easy to comprehend the magnitude of all that he's done or imagine our current world without his impact but one thing is for sure we won't forget
his history or his legacy and his story will live on to learn more about charlemagne check out our book charlemagne a captivating guide to the greatest monarch of the carolingian empire and how he ruled over the franks lombards and romans it's available as an ebook paperback and audiobook also grab your free mythology bundle ebook while it's still available all links are in the description if you enjoyed the video please hit the like button and subscribe for more videos like this
