Pop quiz: What do Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler have in common?
While their lifetimes were six decades apart, they were both bloodthirsty tyrants who set
their sights on controlling Europe.
But did you know that they were inspired by a much earlier ruler?
That ruler was Charlemagne.
Also known as Charles the Great and even “The Father of Europe” to some, Charlemagne was
one of the most prolific conquerors of Western and Central Europe.
He ruled the Franks, then the Lombards, and also pretty much anything he set his sights
upon.
But as we’ve asked of Alexander the Great before, just how great a conqueror was Charlemagne-
especially since he had a grand total of zero instagram followers?
Unlike a lot of iconic rulers, not a great deal was definitively recorded about Charlemagne’s
early years.
Nobody knows exactly where or even when Charlemagne was born.
Modern historians speculate that he could have been born in what is now Aachen in modern
Germany, or Liege in Belgium, sometime during the 740s.
Not exactly born to humble beginnings, he was the grandson of legendary statesman Charles
Martel, also known as “The Hammer” for his skills as a military leader and a warrior.
He was one of two children to Frankish King Pepin the Short and Frankish Queen Bertrada
of Laon, making him the heir to the impressive Carolingian Dynasty from birth.
While he was born Carolus, like many other rulers – such as Caesar and Caligula – he
became synonymous with his moniker.
A name that would soon inspire either love or fear all across Europe.
Charlemagne’s resume truly began around 768 A.D., with the death of his father.
This passed the kingdom to him and his younger brother, Carloman.
However, there was friction between the two brothers from the outset.
This was only deepened when the two of them were forced to quell a rebellion during the
brief bit of anarchy after King Pepin’s death.
While Charlemagne handled the rebellion well for such a new ruler, Carloman’s fumbling
of the conflict often actively undermined his brother’s efforts.
By the end of the brief war, Charlemagne had destroyed the rebellion.
Carloman, however, had taken a major reputational hit.
He’d become a liability for the Carolingian dynasty.
The rift between the two royal brothers eventually got so bad that their mother, Queen Bertrada,
had to step in.
However, Bertrada wasn’t an impartial figure here – she strongly favoured Charlemagne’s
control over the kingdom, giving him diplomatic assistance in gaining a foothold over Carloman.
During this period of brotherly feuding, Charlemagne was also consolidating power across the region
with a political marriage to Desiderata, one of the daughters of Desiderius, King of the
Lombards.
This effectively fused the Franks and the Lombards for a time, further cutting Carloman
out of the picture.
Sadly for him, what Carloman is perhaps best known for is dying abruptly in 771 A.D. from
what historians believe was a severe nosebleed.
This prevented a civil war from breaking out among the Carolingians.
It also allowed Charlemagne to fully consolidate his power over the Franks and curry favour
with the Pope, beginning what is arguably his true reign.
The Carolingians were devout Roman Catholics, and a great deal of their influence came from
their relationship with the Pope.
It was also Charlemagne’s faith that set the tone for many of his bloody conquests
across Europe.
He faced one of his first challenges as sole king in 772 A.D., when his ally – Pope Adrian
– was under attack from the Lombards.
Charlemagne’s political marriage to Desiderata had fallen through a year earlier with his
brother’s death, and along with it, their political alliance.
However, Charlemagne wasn’t the kind of ruler who’d take an attack on his allies
sitting down.
Problems he couldn’t solve with diplomacy or political strategy, he’d happily solve
with the sword.
And this isn’t just a metaphor, either.
Charlemagne, from the very beginning, was a hands-on, battle-ready warrior-king.
Charlemagne lead from the front, surrounded by heavily armoured bodyguards, wielding Joyeuse
– his iconic sword.
The sword’s name translates directly to “joyous” from its original French, but
joyous would be the last thing his enemies would feel as they saw Charlemagne charging
towards them.
Even in the early days of his rule, his record of military victory was so impressive that
even his presence would strike terror into the hearts of his foes.
Charlemagne headed off the Lombards in the Alps, a notoriously difficult terrain.
However, in his mind, the best defence was a good offence.
It wasn’t enough to just repel the enemies in their attack – after securing a decisive
victory in the Alps, Charlemagne launched a brutal siege on the Lombardy region of Pavia.
The Carolingian Army outnumbered the Lombard forces four to one.
Using Charlemagne’s clever flanking techniques, they were able to surround fortified Pavia,
cutting off supply lines.
After ten months of siege, Lombardy King Desiderius finally surrendered to Charlemagne and his
forces.
This gave everyone’s favourite up-and-coming-French conqueror dominion over modern day Northern
Italy, and more.
In a particularly Game of Thrones move, he even had himself crowned with the legendary
Iron Crown of Lombardy.
But King Charlemagne was far from done on his debut European tour.
Charlemagne had an eye towards expanding his kingdom, and uniting the Germanic people of
Europe under two things: Christianity, and himself.
His next conquest was against the nomadic Avars, a diverse group that populated areas
ranging from modern Austria to Turkey.
Charlemagne’s brutal onslaught left the Avars in disarray, and even when he briefly
suspended his campaign against the Avars to fight the Saxons, they fell into civil war.
The remnants were practically handed to Charlemagne’s forces, and integrated into his ever-growing
empire.
The Saxons were one of Charlemagne’s most consistent foes.
He took issue with their Pagan belief system, and intended to enact his tried-and-tested
method of “conquer and convert.”
However, his war against the Saxons ended up being horrifically protracted – taking
over thirty years in total, and involving numerous bloody battles.
These were known as The Saxon Wars, and they took up a good portion of Charlemagne’s
time as king.
The Saxons largely inhabited North-Western Europe, and there was always tension along
the borders of Saxony and Charlemagne’s Frankish territory.
Some historians suggest that Charlemagne’s motivation for fully igniting conflict with
the Saxons was more than just religious, too.
They suggest that he may, in fact, have been playing the long game – usurping former
Roman territory to gain more Papal favour, and increase his chances of being declared
emperor of the west.
Whether this was truly on Charlemagne’s mind at the time, we may never know.
But what we do know is that his campaign into Saxony, while fought over a long period of
time, was particularly ruthless.
Charlemagne, hoping to provoke his enemies and make a point, destroyed a Saxon Irminsul
– a kind of holy pillar of great religious importance to the pagans in Saxony.
Charlemagne’s point was clear: It’s either my way, or destruction.
There was no middle ground.
And over those thirty years, the Frankish ruler was true to his ominous words.
In response to his sacrilege, the Saxons attempted to burn Christian churches.
The retribution from Charlemagne was swift and brutal.
He performed raids on Saxon territories in 774 A.D., and – according to the Royal Frankish
Annals – said in 775 A.D. that he would “wage war on the perfidious and treaty-breaking
people of the Saxons and to persevere with this until they had either been overcome and
subjected to the Christian religion or totally exterminated.”
Again, being a frightening man of his word, Charlemagne crossed the Rhine and raided Saxon
territories three times that very year, leaving death and destruction in his wake.
Conflict was only escalating over time, leaving thousands dead on both sides.
In the year 777 A.D., it seemed Charlemagne was only getting bolder in his subjugation
of the people of Saxony.
To demonstrate his power and confidence in his ability to win the war, he travelled to
Paderborn – a settlement in the heart of Saxony – to deliver a general assembly on
his intentions.
As always, Charlemagne was straightforward in his messaging: The Saxon people could accept
Baptism under Catholicism, or they could choose death.
It was up to them.
Tit-for-tat skirmishes would continue in the following years – different settlements
would be captured by the Franks and Saxons, and often recaptured not long after – but
things became noticeably bloodier in the 780s.
The year 782 A.D. brought with it the Battle of Süntel, a Saxon rebellion in the Weser
Uplands of Lower Saxony.
It was quelled by a detachment of Frankish troops on Charlemagne’s behalf.
However, the event that made this battle famous actually occurred afterwards, with the arrival
of Charlemagne himself.
In retribution for Saxon defiance, he offered his classic ultimatum to the rebel forces:
Conversion, or destruction.
Historians estimate that as many as four-thousand-five-hundred beheadings occurred that day, for the rebels
who refused to give in to Charlemagne’s demands.
This event is known by most as the Massacre of Verden.
The impact of this act of brutality echoed over a thousand years later, when even Nazi
Germany declared Charlemagne “Karl The Slaughterer” for his cruelty during the massacre.
However, Adolf Hitler – who, as mentioned before, was an admirer of Charlemagne – changed
the official line on this with the help of propagandist Joseph Goebbels.
It goes without saying, being admired by Adolf Hitler is never a positive thing.
This level of brutality, however, didn’t extend to Charlemagne’s personal life.
On his own terms, he was more of a lover than a fighter.
Throughout his life, he had at least four wives (that we know of) and sired many children.
He was also, despite being a brutal ruler, apparently a doting father who cared deeply
for his children.
He appointed his sons to positions of power in his kingdom, and didn’t allow his daughters
to be rushed into marriage.
One of Charlemagne’s contemporaries – Einhard, his official biographer – even offered a
description of what Charlemagne looked like.
In his definitive piece, “Life of Charles the Great”, published after Charlemagne’s
death, Einhard wrote that he was : “broad and strong in the form of his body and exceptionally
tall without, however, exceeding an appropriate measure…His appearance was impressive whether
he was sitting or standing despite having a neck that was fat and too short, and a large
belly.”
The strange and interesting reign of Charlemagne rose to another level in the final years of
the 700s.
If this isn’t clear enough by now, Charlemagne and his Carolingian kingdom were one of the
world’s staunchest supporters of the Catholic Church.
He paid his dividends to the Church through land, funding, and even fighting their battles
for them.
And eventually, this devotion paid off.
In 799 A.D., a rebellion in Rome left Pope Leo III embattled and in danger – of losing
power, and of death.
Supporters of Pope Adrian, who’d remained neutral in the conflict between Charlemagne
and the Byzantines, hadn’t taken kindly to Pope Leo’s unambiguous support of Charlemagne’s
ventures.
Rebels against Leo intended to mutilate him by removing his eyes and tongue, which would
disqualify him as Pope.
Leo fled to the Alps, where Charlemagne gave him sanctuary until the rebellion could be
resolved.
When Pope Leo was reinstalled, he rewarded Charlemagne handsomely – crowning him Emperor
of Rome in December of the year 800 A.D.
And thus, the Carolingian Holy Roman Empire was born.
Despite his reputation as a ruthless conqueror and religious zealot, the territories under
his reign did undergo several improvements thanks to his governance.
He established standardised weights, customs dues, and measurements that facilitated the
flow of commerce and economic reform.
Charlemagne encouraged scholarship and intellectualism, inviting scholars to his court to share findings
and information.
He also improved literacy and established libraries of classic works.
A new writing system, the Carolingian Miniscule, was introduced – laying the groundwork for
the modern European alphabet.
Historians refer to this period of art, writing, and intellectualism as the Carolingian Renaissance.
However, all stories must come to an end.
On the 28th of December, 814 A.D., Charlemagne passed away in his seventies, situated in
his possible birth town of Aachen.
After his death, his empire was succeeded by his son, Louis the Pious.
The cultural legacy of Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance persisted long after
his death.
While the Holy Roman Empire experienced decay, thanks to Charlemagne’s successors’ lacking
his extraordinary leadership skills, it wasn’t fully dissolved until almost a thousand years
later.
It was one of Charlemagne’s own admirers, the infamous Napoleon, that finally destroyed
Charlemagne’s empire in the process of making his own.
Charlemagne really knew how to attract a certain kind of fan.
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