A member of the Carolingian family and king of the Franks. Charlemagne held great military power and increased both the size and power of the Carolingian kingdom. Pope Leo III called on him in when the Papal States were under attack from the Lombards. The Franks defeated the Lombards and he became king of the Lombards as well. The pope was grateful for his help, and his gratitude became even greater in the year 799 when Charlemagne had him escorted back to Rome after he was driven out by angry supporters of the previous pope. Leo thanked Charlemagne by naming him Emperor of the Roman People. This title implied two things; first, that Charlemagne had restored the glory of the Roman Empire in Europe, and second, that his rule had the full backing of the church and god.
Because Charlemagne's empire was so large, he made several changes to make his government both efficient and effective. One step was to select a center for his government he established a permanent capital at Aachen. Because Charlemagne stayed in Aachen, he appointed officials called counts to rule other parts of his empire.To keep tabs on his counts he hired inspectors.
Charlemagne was particularly interested in education. He ordered churches and monasteries to start schools staffed by educated priests and monks. To further encourage learning in his empire he invited noted scholars from all over Europe to Aachen. These scholars spent much of their time teaching. When they were not teaching they studied and copied ancient texts.
As emperor, Charlemagne worked closely with the church to create a unified Christian empire. During some military campaigns, he ordered those conquered to convert to Christianity, under penalty of death. He then sent monks to live among the conquered people to help Christianity take root.
Charlemagne honored the traditional laws of tribes he brought under his rule. Most of these laws had only existed in oral tradition. After Charlemagne became emperor, he had many of the tribal laws recorded, and he allowed tribal legal codes to maintain their separate existence. At the urging of the pope, he also issued many new laws that enforced Christian teachings.
Unfortunately, with Charlemagne's death in 814, the empire lost its center. Regional kings grew strong and, once again, disunity spread across western Europe. In 843 his grandsons agreed to divide the empire into three parts- a western, a middle, and an eastern kingdom.
