Was Charlemagne the greatest leader of the middle ages?

Answer 1

I think we can say he was one of the greatest leaders. He became king at 29 years old and two years later he got an urgent appeal for aid against the Lombard Desiderius who was invading the papal states. Charlemagne besieged and took Pavia, took the crown of Lombardy, confirmed the Donation of Pepin and accepted the role of protector of the Church.

Upon his return to his capital at Aachen he began a series of 53 campaigns and in the process he Christianized Bavaria and Saxony, destroying the Avars, shielding Italy from the raiding Saracens and making Francia stronger against the expanding Moors of Spain. The Saxon on his eastern front were pagans and had burned down a Christian church and they would go into Gaul so Charlemagne for 18 more campaigns. He gave the conquered Saxons a choice between baptism and death and had 4500 Saxon rebels beheaded in one day. The next day he celebrated the nativity of Christ.

After 34 more years of war and at 63 years old he decided it was time for peace. He brought all the people under his rule from Vistula and the Atlantic, between the Baltic and Pyrenees, nearly all of Italy and much of the Balkans. He made military service a condition of owning more than a bit of property. Every freeman at the call of arms had to report in full equipment to the local count and every noble was responsible for the military fitness of his people. The structure of the state rested on this organized force. The sense of public participation in the government was added to by semiannual assemblies of armed property owners. The empire was divided into counties and governed in spiritual matters by a bishop or archbishop or count.

If the wars aren't taken into account he was the most just and enlightened government that Europe had known since Theodoric the Goth. The 65 capillaries that remain of his legislation are the most interesting bodies of medieval law. He also legislated for agriculture, industry, finance, education and religion as well as for government and morals.