Charlemagne.

He used the sword to build his empire--and spread Christianity.

In A.D. 800, Pope Leo III, head of the Roman Catholic Church, was in serious trouble. He had many powerful enemies who wanted to destroy him. During a religious procession in Rome, the pope's enemies brutally attacked him. They tried to cut out his tongue and gouge out his eyes.

After barely escaping with his life, the pope turned to Charlemagne (SHAR luh mayn) , king of the Franks, for help. Charlemagne, whose name means Charles the Great, easily defeated the pope's enemies and quickly restored order in Rome. In return, the grateful pope crowned him emperor of the Romans at St. Peter's Church on Christmas Day in 800.

People in the church shouted "Life and victory to Charles Augustus, crowned by God, the great and peaceful Emperor of the Romans." Charlemagne had become the most powerful ruler in Europe.

Christian Conqueror

Who was this new emperor of the Romans? The Roman Empire had collapsed four centuries earlier, the victim of invading Germanic tribes from the north and east.

The most powerful of these tribes--the Franks--seized control of what is now France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and part of western Germany.

In A.D. 771, Charlemagne became the sole ruler of this kingdom. A strong and energetic leader with piercing blue eyes, he used the sword to double the size of his empire (see map).

Charlemagne also spread the Christian faith. "It is for us," he said, "to defend by force of arms the Holy Church of Christ everywhere from the attack of pagans and the devastation of infidels [non-believers]."

Charlemagne forced conquered tribes to convert to Christianity. When one tribe refused, he rounded up 4,500 people and beheaded them all in one day.

Charlemagne also led campaigns against Muslims (members of the Islamic faith) in Spain and established the first Christian outpost there. One failed campaign in Spain inspired the first great epic poem in French literature, The Song of Roland.

Able Administrator

Charlemagne did more than just conquer territory. He worked hard to revive European culture, which had collapsed after the fall of the Roman Empire in A.D. 476.

In Charlemagne's time, there were few towns. Most people were poor farmers who lived in small isolated villages and grew barely enough to eat. Since there were few roads, long-distance trade had dried up.

To improve people's lives, Charlemagne introduced many reforms. He gave large estates to loyal nobles, who were required to provide military service and maintain roads and bridges on their land. This system of government, called feudalism, would dominate European society for the next 400 years.

To help people grow more food, Charlemagne introduced better farming methods. To stimulate trade, he coined silver money and encouraged towns to establish markets.

Charlemagne divided his kingdom into districts to make sure his plans were carried out. He then appointed two inspectors for each district to check on local affairs and report back.

Although Charlemagne never learned to write, he worked hard to improve education. He brought scholars from all over Europe to establish a school at his palace. The palace school educated church officials and trained people to teach in church schools throughout the empire.

By the time Charlemagne came to power, most of Europe's libraries had been destroyed. So he put monks to work collecting and copying ancient Roman manuscripts that would have otherwise been lost forever.

An Empire Crumbles

After Charlemagne died in 814, his empire fell apart. For more than a century, Europe was torn by invasions, wars, internal strife, and economic depression.

But the legend of Charlemagne lived on. Sometimes called the "Father of Europe," he laid the foundations for a dynamic European civilization that would emerge hundreds of years later.

Your Turn

1. What did Pope Leo III gain by crowning Charlemagne emperor of the Romans?

2. What was the relationship between church and state under Charlemagne?