der Große Karl I

Karl I, der Große (742-814, Aachen), equally well known in German and, as Charlemagne, in French history, was the founder of the Carolingian Empire, and ranks as Charles I of France. Karl was the son of King Pippin of the Franks. On Pippin's death he became king of the northern portion of the Frankish realm (768), and on the death of his brother Carloman (Karlmann) in 771 he seized the remainder. In 773 he intervened in Italy to protect the papal territories against the Langobards, whom he defeated and subdued, becoming King of the Langobards in 774. When the eastern frontier of the Frankish kingdom was threatened by the Saxons, Karl made successful war upon them in 772 and 775. Three years later they revolted, and in 780 were partially subdued. There followed a programme of forcible conversion to Christianity, in which refusal of baptism meant death. The formula of baptismal promises used for these occasions is preserved (see Taufgelöbnisse). Renewed Saxon revolts were ferociously put down by measures that included a massacre of hostages at Verden in 782. By 787 the areas south of the Elbe were conquered, and by 805 the conquest was complete. Bavaria, which had broken away from the Kingdom of the Franks, was reconquered in 788. Meanwhile Karl intervened in Spain against the Moors, and, after varied fortunes, including the defeat of Roncesvalles, conquered the country as far as the Ebro (803). Thus in some thirty years Karl created by conquest a vast Western Empire to rival the Byzantine Empire.

In 800 Karl was crowned by the Pope, and proclaimed Emperor of the Romans in 801. His anger over this ceremony, recorded by Einhard, is believed to have been directed at the Pope's implied assumption of power. Karl was buried in Aachen Cathedral.

Karl was an energetic and successful administrator, who ruled his empire by creating marches (Marken) ruled by dukes or counts (Markgrafen) as his delegates, and he maintained control over them by royal emissaries (missi dominici). Churchmen, as the literate social group, provided him with an administrative class. He actively furthered learning and education, employing Alcuin as his chief educational administrator. The active Latin culture of the age is often referred to as the Carolingian Renaissance. Karl's vigorous, alert, and tireless character dominated and upheld his empire, which did not long survive his death.

Karl's biography was written by his friend Einhard in Vita Caroli Magni. In the Middle Ages Karl became a legendary figure, an ideal Christian king; his exploits, notably the Spanish campaign, became a subject for poetry (see Rolandslied), and a vast cyclical collection of poems dealing with them is preserved in a 14th-c. MS. (see Karlmeinet).