Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance

Charlemagne left a huge impact on European civilization. From his great and successful military conquests to his educational and political reforms, Charlemagne had a lasting effect that continued on even after the downfall of the Carolingian dynasty. He was born in 748 A.D. (Collins 32) in the midst of rough times. Because of the influences brought upon him by his father and earlier rulers, Charlemagne became a symbol in cultural revival and changed the fate of education and religion for the next centuries. Although before we can get to get to understand how Charlemagne came to power, we must first examine how his father came up and even before that how the Carolingian dynasty began.

Towards the end of the 5th century, the Roman Empire began to disband and the Franks saw this as a perfect time to make an emergence. After the final collapse of the Roman Empire in the year 476, many Frankish kingdoms began to sprout. Out of these kingdoms, two dynasties ruled for about 500 years. It began with the Merovingian dynasty and its founder Clovis. He conquered much of France and then later his four sons continued the conquest expanding into Italy and Germany (Collins 44-46). As the years past, the economy is declining and power is being lost. Invasions were starting and the people were worried. Due to this, a new dynasty began to rise: the Carolingian. Elected by the people, successor of the Merovingian dynasty, Charles Martel was able to fend off all threats of invasion. He earned great respect from the Christians and led the Frankish people. After Charles Martel’s death, his two sons, Carloman and Pepin III, took power and expanded the empire even more. With great blessings from the church and the strength of the Franks, Pepin III went into Germany and took over. The Carolingian dynasty was now thriving and truly under the ruling of Charlemagne, the Roman Empire was being brought back (Fichtenau 18).

Charlemagne’s ruling began with his brother, Carloman. They had split the Empire in two and although many people enticed them to wage war on one and other, the remained peaceful. Carloman died quite early on in the year 771 (Fichtenau 17-20). This gave an opening to Charlemagne and he became the sole ruler of the Frankish Empire. With great intellect and huge ambition, Charlemagne began to expand the Empire rapidly. Throughout his entire ruling, war was quite dominant, but this was due to his territorial expansions. He cannot be compared to the likeness of military minds such as Alexander the Great; however he did have very successful campaigns (Fichtenau 32).

When Charlemagne came to power, he brought with him some political changes. First off, he believed very much in the importance of the Church in everyday life and in politics. Also, he had full control over the army and utilized this power very much over his long reign. Continuing what his father had begun; Charlemagne took it upon himself to conquer the Lombards. They had wanted the land that Pepin III had taken back but Charlemagne refused and proceeded to conquer Lombardy. (Collins 58-59). Charlemagne also made it a military goal to convert the Saxons to Christianity. What began in 771 and ended in 804, came to be known as the Saxon Wars. Charlemagne imposed his ruling in Saxony and due to this there were many revolts. The number of Frankish peoples was rising as the numbers of Saxon peoples were lowering. In the end, he held a hold on the people and converted many from Paganism to Christianity (Collins 43-47). Charlemagne fought many more wars, extending his Empire through modern France, Spain, Italy and Germany (Wilson 39).

Charlemagne is not only remembered for his military campaigns, on the contrary. He had a huge influence on education in Europe. With a strong catholic influence, he made it a goal to reform the educational system. Charlemagne was quite illiterate although was still a very intelligent man and