Download the Carolingian Empire - Hempfield Area School District

After the fall of the Roman Empire, local kings, bishops, and aristocrats ruled
Europe. King Clovis of the Franks provided enough political power to begin
the creation of an empire. Although this Frankish (later the Carolingian
Empire) was a shadow of the Roman Empire, it did give Europe stability
comparable to that provided by Rome.
The End of the Merovingian Empire
When King Clovis died in 511, the Frankish kingdom was divided among his
four sons, as was the Germanic custom. This division of power quickly
created weaknesses and prevented any single king from establishing effective
control. As a result, Clovis’s sons were politically feeble and frequently
fought among themselves for control over the Frankish kingdom. With
the exception of Dagobert I, the heirs of Clovis’s sons were incompetents;
the “longhaired” kings became synonymous with “do-nothing” kings.
King Clovis
The Do Nothing Kings
Under the do-nothing kings, the local nobles or aristocrats took control of many of the lands and ignored
most of the commands of the kings. As a result, during the seventh and eighth centuries, the weakened
Merovingian kings turned over more of the political powers to officials called the mayors of the palace.
These officials traced their title and position back to nobles who once were honored by caring for the
horses and stables of the Merovingian kings.
The Mayors of the Palace
After some time, the mayor of the palace became the power behind the throne, and by the eighth century
one family, the Carolingians, had that position locked up. The family passed the position of mayor of the
palace from father to son, but always kept the Merovingian king on the throne because old Germanic
customs and beliefs in the sacredness of the king still ran deep. For the Carolingians, to end the
Merovingian line could spell doom for the Frankish lands; at least that is what the people thought, and
that counted to the Carolingians.
The Hammer
One of the most successful mayors of the palace was Charles Martel (714741), also known as Charles “the Hammer.” Charles consolidated Frankish
political power over new territories. Although officially only a mayor of the
palace, he granted church and political offices at will and ruled effectively
without having to establish a puppet longhaired Merovingian king.
Charles drew on the treasury of the church to equip a new Frankish army to
help consolidate his power. Of course, this act did not make him any friends
with the church. To pay his warriors, he gave out land titles conditional upon
the loyalty of the warrior. The end result of Charles’s labors was an efficient
and reliable mounted army.
With his new and improved army, Charles defeated a superior invasion force of Muslims at the Battle of
the Tours in 732. Traditionally, the Battle of Tours has been seen as Christianity’s greatest victory,
sparing Europe an Islamic invasion and takeover. Like any smart politician, Charles Martel claimed the
title as Savior of Christendom and set up his son to be the first Carolingian king of the Franks.
Pepin the Short
Charles Martel’s heirs crafted a new course for the Frankish kingdom,
creating the Carolingian Empire, which generated greater stability for
Europe and shaped many of the events of the middle ages.
In 741, after Charles the Hammer, Pepin the Younger (or the Short) became
the mayor of the palace (751–768). Like most of the mayors of the palace,
Pepin though the do-nothing king (King Childeric III) was incompetent. But
unlike his forbearers, Pepin plotted to become king himself. Around 750,
Pepin sent a church official Rome to ask the Pope, Zacharias, if it was
possible that, since Pepin acted as the king of the Franks, perhaps he should
in fact BE the king of the Franks.
Because the Pope needed protection against the Lombards who were continually threatening papal lands,
he responded quite positively to the abbot’s inquiry. With church approval, in 751, Pepin convinced the
Frankish nobles to back his claim as king. Pepin was anointed with holy oil and made the king of the
Franks. The former King Childeric III had his hair cut and was shipped off to a monastery to become a
monk. Then Pepin assembled a Frankish army and defeated the Lombards for the pope, and forced them
to give up territory in central Italy, thereafter known as the Donation of Pepin.
Charlemagne
Pepin’s son, Charles, succeeded him in 768, and Charles impressed so many
by his actions that he became known as Charles the Great or Charlemagne (r.
768-814). During his rule, which lasted almost 50 years, Charlemagne
created an empire that stretched from the Iberian peninsula in the west to
present day Germany in the east.
Charlemagne the Warrior
Charlemagne was a man’s man – tall, athletic, and charismatic. Although he
was never able to read or write himself, Charlemagne was well spoken. (The
story goes that he slept with a book under his pillow in the hopes of acquiring
the ability to read!) He married five times and refused to allow his daughters
to marry lest it create problems of succession to the throne.
Charlemagne’s goal as king was to unite all the small Germanic kingdoms into the Frankish Empire, now
called the Carolingian Empire, and he embarked on over 50 military campaigns including the following:
 Defeated the Lombards when they invaded papal territories
 Crossed the Pyrenees Mountains to fight the Muslims for control of northern Spain
 Moved the Frankish Empire into northern and central Europe
 Campaigned against the Saxon tribes that lived between the Rhine and the Elbe rivers
 Invaded Bavaria and drove out the Slavic tribes
When the smoke cleared, Charlemagne controlled the area of present day France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and northern Italy.
Charlemagne the Churchman
Like many rulers of the medieval world, Charlemagne allied himself very closely with the church. In 799
when a mob drove Pope Leo III from Rome, he came to the court of Charlemagne, who quickly assembled
a force that went to Rome and restored the pope. As a result, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne “Holy
Roman Emperor” on Christmas Day in 800 in Rome.
Charlemagne the Administrator
Beyond his military achievements, Charlemagne was a highly efficient administrator who chose able
people to help him run his empire. When Charlemagne delegated authority, he demanded results. As
part of his administrative plan, he divided the Carolingian empire into 300 districts or counties. In each
county, a court administered the secular business; a duke directed military affairs; and a bishop took care
of church matters.
Charlemagne closely monitored all the counties through messengers who acted as royal inspectors. They
supervise the administration of the counties and punished those who did not follow orders.
The laws of Charlemagne were based on the principles of Germanic law, but since the Franks were
Christian rather than pagan, they got rid of many of the pagan elements. The laws dealt with both secular
and religious affairs, helping to unify the empire and also merge the interests of church and state.
The Carolingian Renaissance
Charlemagne was not only concerned with the creation of a strong and efficient empire, but also with the
learning and culture of his lands and the lack of education among the clergy, many of whom did not know
Greek or even Latin, the language of the church mass. So Charlemagne established schools to train the
clergy.
The Decline of the Carolingian Empire
When Charlemagne’s health started to fail, he desperately tried to teach his only living son, Louis, how to
rule the vast empire effectively. But, sadly leadership can sometimes be neither inherited nor taught.
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious (r. 815 – 840), Charlemagne’s son, inherited a
very large empire. But as his nickname implied, Louis was
more interested in worshipping God than ruling an empire.
After a few years on the throne, he lost both the support of
the Frankish nobles and the clergy. As Louis became
politically weak, the nobles began taking more power for
themselves.
Louis spent the last years of his reign watching his sons fight
over the territories of the empire. Still, when he died, Louis
left the Carolingian Empire to his three sons, as was the
custom. He divided the empire into three regions, spelled
Charlemagne
out shortly before his death in the Treaty of Verdun in 843.
instructing Louis
Charles the Bald (yes, he was bald) received the western
the Pious
region, which later turned into France. Louis the German
(yes, he spoke German) got the eastern portion, which
became Germany. And finally, Lothair (no, he didn’t have a
nickname) acquired the strip of land between the two other brothers. The Germans and the French have
fought over this narrow corridor known as Lotharii Regnum, Lotharginia, and the Lorrain, ever since.
As the saying goes, “United we stand, divided we fall.”
With the division of the Carolingian empire, its political
and military power weakened.
Carolingian Legacy
Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire made a
lasting impact on the history and culture of Europe.
First, it provided a brief period of peace and stability for
much of Europe, initiating an intellectual and cultural
renaissance whose influence spanned the rest of the
Middle Ages. In addition, Charlemagne provided a
contemporary Germanic model of a ruler and an
empire. Many of the kings of the Middle Ages looked to
Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire as a standard
to match.