I.

Introduction

Charlemagne (742?-814), in Latin Carolus Magnus (Charles the Great), king of the Franks (768-814) and emperor of the Romans (800-814). During his reign, Charlemagne built a kingdom that included almost all of western and central Europe and he presided over a cultural and legal revival that came to be known as the Carolingian Renaissance. His empire did not long survive his death, but its two main territories, East and West Francia, later became the major parts of two important European entities: West Francia became modern-day France, and East Francia became first the Holy Roman Empire and then the modern state of Germany. Charlemagne’s close alliance with the popes, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, also established a precedent for subsequent ties between medieval popes and kings.