You’ve probably heard him called Charlemagne. That’s the name that usually sticks in history books, but if we’re being precise, he was Charles the Great King of the Franks, a man who basically spent forty years trying to glue Europe back together after the Roman Empire shattered into a million pieces. He wasn't just some dusty figure in a crown. He was a giant—literally, he was roughly six-foot-three in an era when most guys were lucky to hit five-foot-five—who somehow managed to be a warlord, a literacy advocate, and a reformer all at once.
It’s honestly wild when you look at the map. Before Charles took over, Europe was a mess of small, bickering tribes. By the time he was done, he had carved out an empire that covered most of modern France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and parts of Italy and Spain.
He did it through sheer, relentless force of will.
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The Bloody Path to the Imperial Crown
Most people want to think of him as this enlightened philosopher-king. And he was, eventually. But he started as a conqueror. You don't become the Charles the Great King of the Franks by asking nicely. He spent decades fighting the Saxons in the north. This wasn't a clean war. It was brutal, seasonal, and deeply personal.
In 782, Charles ordered the execution of 4,500 Saxons in what’s known as the Massacre of Verden. He was tired of them rebelling. He was tired of them breaking treaties. So, he made a point. It’s a dark stain on his legacy, one that historians like Alessandro Barbero have parsed in detail to understand the medieval mindset of "holy war." To Charles, spreading Christianity and expanding his borders were the exact same task. If you weren't with the Frankish church, you were a threat to the Frankish state.
He was a man of contrasts.
While he was busy smashing pagan idols, he was also obsessed with education. He realized that if his empire was going to survive, he needed people who could actually read and write. He brought in Alcuin of York, the smartest guy in Europe at the time, to run his palace school. Charles himself tried to learn to write, reportedly keeping wax tablets under his pillow so he could practice his letters in the middle of the night.
He never quite mastered it. His hands were too used to gripping a sword pommel to handle a delicate quill.
The Christmas Day Surprise in Rome
The year 800 changed everything. Charles was in Rome to help out Pope Leo III, who had been attacked by his enemies. On Christmas Day, while Charles was kneeling in prayer at St. Peter's, the Pope walked up and dropped a crown on his head.
Suddenly, he wasn't just Charles the Great King of the Franks. He was the Emperor of the Romans.
Was he surprised? Einhard, his friend and biographer, claimed Charles said he wouldn't have entered the church that day if he knew what the Pope was planning. Most modern historians don't buy that for a second. It was a calculated political move. It gave Charles the ultimate "street cred" and signaled to the world that the West was back. It also deeply annoyed the Byzantines over in Constantinople, who thought they were the only real Romans left.
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Fixing the Daily Grind
Beyond the battles, Charles was a massive micromanager. He issued things called capitularies—basically executive orders. These covered everything from how many chickens a royal farm should have to how the local courts should handle thieves. He hated corruption. He sent out pairs of inspectors called missi dominici (the Lord's envoys) to make sure local counts weren't bullying the peasants or taking bribes.
He even standardized the way people wrote.
Before him, handwriting was a disaster. If you lived in one part of France, you might not be able to read a letter from someone fifty miles away because the scripts were so messy and different. His scholars developed "Carolingian Minuscule." It introduced lowercase letters and spaces between words.
Think about that. You’re reading this right now because of a system he championed.
He also tried to fix the economy. He ditched the messy gold standard, which was failing because gold was scarce, and switched to a silver currency based on the denarius. It was stable. It worked. It actually helped jumpstart trade in a way Europe hadn't seen in centuries.
The Complexity of the Man
He had five wives and numerous concubines. He loved his daughters so much he allegedly refused to let them get married while he was alive, keeping them close to his court in Aachen. He was a guy who loved roasted meat but hated being drunk. He loved swimming in the natural hot springs of Aachen, often inviting a hundred people to jump in with him.
He wasn't a saint. He was a pragmatic, often violent, but incredibly visionary leader.
Why the Myth Persists
Why do we still talk about Charles the Great King of the Franks? Because he created the blueprint for Western Europe. The borders he drew are roughly the borders we see today. The schools he started preserved the Latin classics that would have otherwise been lost to time.
He failed in the end, sort of. After he died in 814, his empire didn't last three generations before his grandsons tore it apart. The Vikings started showing up, and the centralized power he built evaporated. But the idea of Europe stayed.
Actionable Takeaways from the Carolingian Era
If you want to understand the roots of Western culture, you have to look at the Carolingian Renaissance. Here is how to actually engage with this history today:
- Visit Aachen Cathedral: This is the heart of his empire in Germany. You can still see his octagonal Palatine Chapel and his stone throne. It is one of the oldest cathedrals in Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- Study the Script: Look up Carolingian Minuscule. If you are a designer or a typography nerd, you’ll see the direct lineage to the fonts we use on our screens today.
- Read the Primary Sources: Skip the textbooks for a minute and read The Life of Charlemagne by Einhard. It’s short, biased as heck, and fascinating. It gives you the "vibe" of the 9th century better than any modern summary.
- Trace the Currency: The silver-based system he started eventually led to the British "pounds, shillings, and pence" system (LSD - Librae, Solidi, Denarii) which lasted until 1971.
The legacy of Charles isn't just in books. It’s in the way we write, the way we structure our laws, and the very concept of a unified European identity. He was the "Father of Europe," not because he was perfect, but because he was the first person in the Middle Ages to think big enough to try and build something that lasted.