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Charlemagne WHI In the last years of Roman control of Gaul, several "barbarian" tribes migrated there. One was the Franks, from whom the name France comes. Though all of these tribes were tough fighters, the Franks were the most successful. Between 486 and 507 AD, a Frankish king named Clovis defeated the rival groups and established his capital at Paris. His successors were weak rulers. But in 732, a strong Frankish leader named Charles Martel came forward to meet the threat of Muslim invasion. The Franks won the Battle of Tours, stopping the spread of Islam into Western Europe. Charles Martel's grandson was Charlemagne, Charles the Great. It was under Charlemagne that the Frankish kings, known as the Carolingians, had their greatest successes. Charlemagne continued an alliance with the pope that his father had started, and in 800 the pope crowned him "great and peace-giving emperor of the Romans." The pope wanted this to show that popes had the authority to crown secular/political leaders and that church and state should work together. Charlemagne w as not interested in the Romans, or, at first, in peace, but he did become a powerful emperor. He made himself the military, political, and religious leader of the Franks and the other Germanic tribes. At its height, the Carolingian empire included all of Gaul and parts of both Germany and Italy. Serious efforts were made to create order and stimulate learning throughout the empire, including the creation of many new monasteries to preserve (save) ancient manuscripts. Under the patronage of Charlemagne (742-814), the great Frankish emperor, a revival of classical Greek and Roman learning and the visual arts occurred. Charlemagne realized that his great empire could not be effectively governed without a group of literate (able to read) clergy and administrators. To educate the leaders of the Frankish empire, Charlemagne sponsored a number of reformers designed to improve the schools and the quality of literacy and learning in his realm. At court, he completely reformed the school conducted for the children of his family and his courtiers and recruited the best scholars in Western Europe to staff it. They aimed at restoring classical learning to serve the needs of the new Christian culture. The Carolingian empire was short lived, however, After Charlemagne died in 814, his children fought one another for power. The Treaty of Verdun in 843, which established western and central European boundaries much as they remain today, was an attempt by Charlemagne's three grandsons to end a civil war that had been going on since 830. The grandsons divided the Carolingian empire into three approximately equal parts, only to have each of the parts divided again and again. Thus, the peace did not last very long. In the eastern part of the Carolingian empire, the German kings of the 10th century took up the idea of a Christian European empire. Under Emperor Otto I (crowned in 936), the German and Italian monarchies (kingdoms) were united. His empire was not as large of Charlemagne's because it did not include the French lands. But it was still the most powerful empire in Europe, and it came to be called the Holy Roman Empire after Otto's death. Over time, the Germans and French continued to separate from each other despite the efforts of Otto's grandson, Emperor Otto III. When he died, Otto was buried next to Charlemagne. In the French part of the former Carolingian empire, the unifying effect of Charlemagne's rule never completely disappeared, and he has remained an important figure in French history and culture. Frederick and Frederick II tried to take control of the independent city-states in northern Italy but were defeated. These costly wars meant Germany was left in the hands of powerful nobles who increased their own power and refused to listen to the emperor. This prevented both Germany and Italy from uniting for 800 years. Graphic Organizer Charlemagne vs. Holy Roman Empire Carolingian Empire Holy Roman Empire Year Started Places Conquered Famous Leaders and Accomplishments