60 Fun Facts About Charlemagne

Who was Charlemagne's father?

His mother was Bertrada of Laon, who later brokered a Lombard marriage for him.

Charlemagne was named after which grandfather, victor at Tours?

The name Charles is unattested before Charles Martel and Charlemagne.

What does the name Charlemagne mean, from the French?

In German he is Karl der Große and in Dutch Karel de Grote.

Charlemagne's Latin name became the word for 'king' in which language family?

Russian korol', Polish król and Slovak kráľ all descend from Karolus.

Which birth year for Charlemagne has scholarship favoured since the late 20th century?

An older tradition said 742; the biographer Einhard claimed he was 72 at his death, echoing Psalm 90's threescore and ten.

Which last Merovingian king did Charlemagne's father depose in 751 or 752 to take the throne himself?

Pope Stephen II anointed Pepin as king when he visited Francia in 754.

With which brother did Charlemagne share the Frankish kingdom from 768 until 771?

When the brother died suddenly, his widow fled with her children to the Lombard court.

Which Lombard king did Charlemagne depose in 774 after the siege of Pavia?

He had been Charlemagne's father-in-law until Charlemagne sent his daughter home.

What happened to Charlemagne's nephews, sons of his late brother, after he captured Verona in 774?

Janet Nelson compares them to the Princes in the Tower.

What pagan Saxon monument did Charlemagne destroy at Eresburg in 772?

It opened more than thirty years of near-continuous war with the Saxons.

Which Saxon leader fled to Denmark in 777 and resisted until his 785 baptism?

His baptism ended the first phase of the Saxon Wars.

How many Saxon prisoners do the annals say Charlemagne had beheaded in the Massacre of Verden in 782?

Alessandro Barbero calls it perhaps the greatest stain on his reputation.

What did the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae prescribe for pagan practices?

It amounted to a programme for the forced conversion of the Saxons.

At which pass in the Pyrenees was Charlemagne's rearguard ambushed by Basques in 778?

The defeat became the seed of the Song of Roland.

Which medieval epic poem grew out of the ambush of 778?

It belongs to the literary cycle known as the Matter of France, in which Charlemagne leads Christian knights against Muslims.

Which first cousin of Charlemagne, Duke of Bavaria, was deposed and sent to a monastery in 788?

He was accused of plotting with the Avars; Bavaria was absorbed into the kingdom.

Which sidelined son of Charlemagne plotted in 792 to assassinate his father and brothers?

His mother Himiltrude's relationship with the king was by then treated as illegitimate; he was sent to a monastery.

On what day was Charlemagne crowned emperor in St Peter's Basilica?

The pope prostrated himself before him after the coronation, in the manner of Roman ritual.

Which pope crowned Charlemagne emperor?

A year earlier the pope's enemies had tried to cut out his eyes and tongue, and he had fled to Charlemagne for help.

Charlemagne was the first reigning emperor in the West since the deposition of whom in 476?

His coronation started the centuries-long problem of two emperors with Constantinople.

According to his biographer, what did Charlemagne say about the coronation?

Historians disagree over whether that is truth or a literary device to show his humility.

Which Byzantine empress, who had blinded her own son, did Charlemagne reportedly propose to?

Theophanes says she was close to accepting before she was deposed by Nikephoros I.

Which Byzantine emperor finally recognised Charlemagne's imperial title, sending envoys to his court?

Charlemagne then issued the first Frankish coins bearing the imperial title.

Which Abbasid caliph exchanged envoys with Charlemagne in the 790s?

Their shared interest was Spain; the caliph also gave Charlemagne nominal rule of the Holy Sepulchre.

The caliph sent Charlemagne an animal named Abul-Abbas, which reached his court in 802. What was it?

Charlemagne had asked for it himself as an early sign of friendship.

Which Jerusalem shrine did the caliph grant Charlemagne nominal rule over?

His agents' work in Palestine is recorded in a document called the Basel roll.

Which Latin word for 'and the Son' did Charlemagne's council of 809 defend adding to the Creed?

The pope let the Franks keep it but hung silver shields in St Peter's with the creed omitting it.

Which city did Charlemagne make his imperial capital and burial place?

Its position gave easy access to the Saxon frontier; German kings were crowned there through the Middle Ages.

Which Northumbrian scholar dominated intellectual life at Charlemagne's court?

He described the realm as an Imperium Christianum before the imperial coronation.

Which script, developed under Charlemagne, went on to influence Renaissance and modern typefaces?

Monastic scriptoria produced an estimated 90,000 manuscripts in the 9th century.

What were the paired royal inspectors, one cleric and one layman, reformed in 802?

The same capitulary required every free man to swear loyalty to Charlemagne.

Which Frankish courtier wrote the Vita Karoli Magni, modelled on Suetonius?

Fried says it revived the defunct genre of secular biography.

According to his biographer, Charlemagne's height was how many times the length of his own foot?

Scientists who opened his tomb in 1861 measured the skeleton at 1.92 metres.

A 2010 estimate from a CT scan of his tibia put Charlemagne's height at about what?

That was in the 99th percentile for his time, when the average man stood 1.69 m.

How did Charlemagne's appearance break with Merovingian royal tradition?

Later Carolingians copied the style; only from the 12th century was he depicted bearded.

Which of Charlemagne's wives, mother of Louis and Pepin of Italy, died in 783 after her final pregnancy?

He had a Mass said daily at her tomb; his mother died ten weeks later.

At least how many children did Charlemagne father with his wives and other partners?

He insisted that his daughters, as well as his sons, be educated in the liberal arts.

How many of Charlemagne's daughters married?

Several had children with unmarried partners; Bertha's sons by the courtier Angilbert included the historian Nithard.

Which Mercian king agreed a formal peace with Charlemagne in 796 protecting trade and English pilgrims?

A double marriage between their children fell through when Offa demanded Charlemagne's daughter for his son.

Which Danish king, who had challenged Charlemagne to battle, was murdered by his own men in 810?

His successor immediately sued for peace, but the wars had set the stage for Viking raids.

Which city did Charlemagne's son Louis capture from the Emirate of Córdoba in 801?

It marked a major expansion of the Spanish March.

What was the Divisio Regnorum of 806?

It said nothing about who would inherit the imperial title.

Which only surviving son did Charlemagne crown co-emperor at his capital in September 813?

His two elder brothers had both died in 810–811, wrecking the earlier succession plan.

Which illness killed Charlemagne in January 814?

He was bedridden for seven days after months of prayer, fasting and reading the gospels.

What were Charlemagne's recorded last words?

They are recorded by Thegan, a biographer of his son Louis.

Which Holy Roman Emperor exhumed Charlemagne in 1165 and had an antipope declare him a saint?

The Holy See never accepted the canonisation because the antipope's acts were invalid.

Which 843 agreement divided Charlemagne's empire among his grandsons into West, East and Middle Francia?

East Francia became Germany and West Francia became France.

Which East Frankish king revived Charlemagne's empire as the Holy Roman Empire in 962?

That empire lasted until Napoleon dissolved it in 1806.

By what title is Charlemagne often known because of his influence across the continent?

After 1945 the label displaced the old French-versus-German quarrel over his nationality.

Which German romantic philosopher first cast Charlemagne as the continent's founding father?

Napoleon and German nationalists were meanwhile fighting over whether he was French or German.

Since 1949 Charlemagne's capital has awarded a prize named for him to people who promote what?

Winners include Winston Churchill and Alcide De Gasperi.

Charlemagne is counted among which group of exemplary heroes fixed in medieval art and literature?

Romances nevertheless often show him weak, passionate and at the mercy of treacherous counsellors.

How many synods did Charlemagne hold during his reign?

He required the Rule of St Benedict in every monastery and pushed a standardised Roman-Frankish liturgy.

Which Protestant reformer criticised Charlemagne for accepting his crown from the pope?

Calvin, by contrast, saw him as a forerunner of the Reformation for condemning image-worship in the Libri Carolini.

Which Enlightenment thinker saw Charlemagne as the first constitutional monarch?

German writers meanwhile fought over whether he was the butcher of the Saxons or a great German unifier.

A snub by which 787 gathering of bishops led Charlemagne to break off Rotrude's betrothal to Constantine VI?

His scholars answered with the Libri Carolini, a detailed attack on its canons.

Which of Charlemagne's cities became the first major German city taken by the Allies, in October 1944?

Hitler ordered a staunch defence because of its symbolic link to Charlemagne.

For which great-grandson of Charlemagne was Notker's anecdote-filled Gesta Karoli Magni written?

By then over a thousand legends had accumulated around him, according to Matthias Becher.

Which duke of Benevento fled to Salerno before offering Charlemagne his fealty in 787?

Charlemagne took hostages including the duke's son Grimoald, who was later sent back to rule the duchy.

Which two documents outline Charlemagne's policies and aims for education?

His court drew scholars such as Alcuin of York, Theodulf of Orleans and Peter of Pisa.