An outline, era by era

Frankish kingdoms and Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire

Medieval / Post-Classical Era · ~500 – ~1500 CE

The Franks were a group of Germanic peoples who settled in northern Gaul as the Roman Empire faded in the west. From the late 400s the Merovingian dynasty ruled Frankish kingdoms across much of what is now France, Belgium and western Germany. In time real power passed to the palace officials called mayors of the palace, and from them rose the Carolingian family, who took the crown in 751.

Charlemagne, king of the Franks from 768, expanded the realm through long wars against the Lombards, Saxons and others, until it covered most of western and central Europe. On Christmas Day 800 the pope crowned him emperor in Rome. His court encouraged a revival of learning, writing and church reform, often called the Carolingian Renaissance. After the death of his son Louis the Pious, the empire was divided by the Treaty of Verdun in 843, and its pieces shaped later France and Germany.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Clovis unites the Franks and is baptised

    Event

    What happened

    Around 481 Clovis becomes king of the Salian Franks. In 486 he defeats the Roman commander Syagrius near Soissons, and in 507 he defeats the Visigothic king Alaric II at Vouillé. At some point around 496 to 508 he is baptised as a Catholic Christian, a date still debated.

    The rest is history

    Clovis's conquests made the Franks the strongest power in Gaul, and his Catholic faith won him the support of the Gallo-Roman bishops, which many historians see as a key to the lasting Frankish state. His Merovingian dynasty ruled for about 250 years. On his death in 511 the kingdom was divided among his four sons, a custom of partition that shaped Frankish politics for centuries. Gregory of Tours wrote the main account of his reign around 590.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryGregory of Tours. Decem Libri Historiarum (Histories). Latin chronicle, c. 575-594.Main narrative source for Clovis, written decades after his death.
    2. BookWood, Ian. The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751. London: Longman, 1994.
    3. BookGeary, Patrick J. Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

  2. Charles Martel and the rise of the Carolingians

    Event

    What happened

    In the early 700s the Merovingian kings hold the title but little power, and the mayors of the palace rule. Charles Martel, mayor from 718 or 719, wins control of the Frankish lands by war. In 732 or 733 he defeats a Muslim raiding army between Tours and Poitiers. His son Pepin the Short is elected king in 751 with the pope's approval, and the last Merovingian is sent to a monastery.

    The rest is history

    Pepin's coronation began the Carolingian dynasty, named after Charles. In 754 Pope Stephen II came to Francia and anointed Pepin and his sons, and in return Pepin defeated the Lombards and gave the pope lands in Italy, the base of the later Papal States. The battle of Tours is now seen by most historians as a raid defeated rather than a decisive turning point of civilisation. Pepin's son Charles, later called Charlemagne, inherited the throne in 768.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryRoyal Frankish Annals (Annales regni Francorum). Latin annals, late 8th to early 9th century.Court account of Pepin's kingship and Charlemagne's reign.
    2. BookFouracre, Paul. The Age of Charles Martel. Harlow: Longman, 2000.
    3. BookMcKitterick, Rosamond. The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751-987. London: Longman, 1983.

  3. Charlemagne conquers the Lombards and the Saxons

    Event

    What happened

    In 773 to 774 Charlemagne invades Italy at the pope's request, takes Pavia and becomes king of the Lombards. From 772 he also begins a long war against the pagan Saxons, which lasts about thirty years. He forces them to accept baptism and Frankish rule, and he campaigns in Spain, Bavaria and against the Avars.

    The rest is history

    These wars roughly doubled the Frankish realm. The Saxon campaigns were harsh, and the Royal Frankish Annals record the executions at Verden in 782, though the numbers and details are debated. Capitularies imposed severe penalties on Saxons who rejected Christianity. By about 800 the Franks ruled most of western and central Europe, which set the stage for the imperial coronation.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryRoyal Frankish Annals (Annales regni Francorum). Latin annals, c. 741-829.Year-by-year record of Charlemagne's campaigns.
    2. BookCollins, Roger. Charlemagne. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.
    3. BookFried, Johannes. Charlemagne. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016.

  4. The imperial coronation of 800

    Event

    What happened

    In 799 Pope Leo III is attacked in Rome by opponents and flees to Charlemagne. Charlemagne comes to Rome in late 800 and hears the charges against the pope, who swears an oath of innocence. On Christmas Day 800, in St Peter's, Leo places a crown on Charlemagne's head and the crowd acclaims him emperor.

    The rest is history

    The coronation gave the Frankish king an imperial title in the west, while the Byzantine emperors still claimed to rule Rome's heritage. Einhard wrote that Charlemagne would not have entered the church had he known what the pope planned, and historians still debate how far this was planned in advance. Byzantium recognised his title in 812. The imperial idea outlived him and later fed into the Holy Roman Empire, crowned in 962.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryEinhard. Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charlemagne). Latin biography, c. 817-836.Gives the account of the coronation and the king's reaction.
    2. BookNelson, Janet L. King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne. London: Allen Lane, 2019.
    3. BookMcKitterick, Rosamond. Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

  5. The Treaty of Verdun divides the empire

    Event

    What happened

    Louis the Pious dies in 840, and his sons Lothar, Louis and Charles the Bald fight over the inheritance. In 842 Louis and Charles swear the Oaths of Strasbourg against Lothar, in early forms of German and French. In August 843 the three brothers agree the Treaty of Verdun, dividing the empire into west, middle and east parts.

    The rest is history

    Charles received the western lands, roughly the basis of France, and Louis the eastern lands, the basis of Germany, while Lothar held a middle strip from the Low Countries to Italy with the imperial title. The middle kingdom soon split further, and its borderlands were disputed for centuries. The Carolingian line faded out in the east in 911 and in the west in 987, when the Capetians took the French throne.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryNithard. Historiae (Histories). Latin chronicle, c. 841-843.Eyewitness account of the civil war and the Oaths of Strasbourg.
    2. BookNelson, Janet L. Charles the Bald. London: Longman, 1992.
    3. BookMcKitterick, Rosamond. The Frankish Kingdoms under the Carolingians, 751-987. London: Longman, 1983.

  6. Clovis and the vase of Soissons

    Folk tale

    The legend

    After a battle, Clovis asks that a precious vase from a church be returned to the bishop. One soldier refuses and smashes it with his axe, saying the king should take only his lot. A year later, at a review of the troops, Clovis notices the soldier's poorly kept weapons, throws his axe to the ground, and splits the man's head, saying this is what he did to the vase at Soissons.

    The rest is history

    The story comes from Gregory of Tours, writing about a century after Clovis's death. It shows the king keeping the church's favour and also the Frankish custom that booty was shared by lot and the warband had a say. Historians accept that Gregory's tale may contain a core of truth but is shaped to make a point, and it cannot be checked against other sources. Soissons itself was the real centre of Syagrius's domain, taken by Clovis in 486.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryGregory of Tours. Decem Libri Historiarum (Histories), book 2, chapter 27. Latin chronicle, c. 590.
    2. BookThorpe, Lewis, trans. Gregory of Tours: The History of the Franks. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974.
    3. BookWood, Ian. The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751. London: Longman, 1994.

  7. The do-nothing kings

    Popular belief

    The legend

    The last Merovingian kings are said to be idle puppets, the rois fainéants. They are shown with long hair, riding in an ox-cart to the assembly, doing nothing while the mayor of the palace governs.

    The rest is history

    This picture comes from Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, written for the dynasty that replaced them, which had good reason to belittle the old line. Many Merovingian kings did die young, and real power did lie with mayors of the palace. But some historians now argue the kings, and queens such as Balthild, still mattered, and the image was largely Carolingian propaganda. Long hair was a real royal mark among the Merovingians.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryEinhard. Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charlemagne), chapter 1. Latin biography, c. 817-836.
    2. BookWood, Ian. The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751. London: Longman, 1994.
    3. BookFouracre, Paul. The Age of Charles Martel. Harlow: Longman, 2000.

  8. Roland at Roncesvalles

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    In The Song of Roland, Charlemagne's army is returning from seven years of war in Spain when the rearguard, led by the hero Roland, is betrayed by Ganelon and ambushed by a huge Saracen army in the Pyrenees. Roland refuses to blow his horn for help until too late, and dies after fighting to the last. Charlemagne then avenges him.

    The rest is history

    The real event was a minor defeat in 778. After a failed campaign in Spain, the Frankish rearguard was attacked in the Pyrenees by Basques, not Muslims, and the Royal Frankish Annals and Einhard name Hruodlandus, prefect of the Breton march, among the dead. The epic poem Chanson de Roland took its surviving form around 1100, more than three centuries later, and recasts the story as a crusading clash. The oldest manuscript is the Oxford copy.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLa Chanson de Roland. Old French epic poem, Oxford, Bodleian MS Digby 23, c. 1100.
    2. PrimaryEinhard. Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charlemagne), chapter 9. Latin biography, c. 817-836.Names Roland among the dead of 778.
    3. BookCollins, Roger. Charlemagne. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.

  9. Charlemagne the sleeping emperor

    Folk tale

    The legend

    Charlemagne is not dead but sleeps in a mountain, sitting on a throne with his crown on and his sword at his side. His beard has grown through the table before him. He will wake in the hour of Germany's or Christendom's greatest need.

    The rest is history

    Versions of the tale, set at the Untersberg near Salzburg and elsewhere, are recorded in German folklore from the later Middle Ages and collected by the Brothers Grimm in the early 1800s. The same story was later told of Frederick Barbarossa and other rulers, and the Barbarossa version became the better known. Charlemagne actually died on 28 January 814 and was buried in his chapel at Aachen. His marble throne can still be seen there.

    Sources

    1. BookGrimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Deutsche Sagen. Berlin: Nicolaische Buchhandlung, 1816-1818.
    2. PrimaryEinhard. Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charlemagne), chapter 30-31. Latin biography, c. 817-836.Account of his death and burial at Aachen.
    3. BookFolz, Robert. Le souvenir et la légende de Charlemagne dans l'Empire germanique médiéval. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1950.

  10. Charlemagne could not write

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Charlemagne, the great patron of learning, is said to have been illiterate and unable to sign his own name, using a monogram instead. Some retellings say he was a rough warrior who could barely read.

    The rest is history

    Einhard says Charlemagne learned Latin well, understood some Greek, and studied rhetoric, logic and astronomy with the scholar Alcuin. He kept tablets under his pillow to practise writing letters, but, Einhard adds, he began too late and made little progress at writing. So he could probably read but wrote poorly. Charlemagne's monogram, with only the central stroke added by hand, was a standard form for royal documents.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryEinhard. Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charlemagne), chapter 25. Latin biography, c. 817-836.
    2. BookNelson, Janet L. King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne. London: Allen Lane, 2019.
    3. BookMcKitterick, Rosamond. Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

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