Carlos Magnus, Charlemagne, or the ‘Father of Europe’, was the first western Holy Roman Emperor after the collapse of the Roman Empire.

He is my 33 x great-grandfather.

This article is not meant to be an exhaustive description of the life and times of Charlemagne. If that’s what you’re looking for, consult a history book or encyclopedia. My intent here is to record the family ties to my family tree. I have also picked some events which are interesting because they link to other family-related stories.

He was born on 2 April of either 742^{1 2 3}, 744¹ or 747⁴, or 748⁴ in Aachen^{1 4}. He is the first⁴ son of Pippin III^{1 5}, also known as Pepin the Short^{3 4}, and Bertrada of Laon^{1 3 4}. He inherited the Carolingian dynasty from his father⁵.

Titles

On 9 October 768⁵, he became King of the Franks^{1 2} upon the death of his father⁵. The coronation was in Noyon, France⁴.

From 5 June 774⁵ he became King of the Lombards^{1 2 4}.

At the time, Rome was under threat as a centre of Christianity with the rise of Constantinople². Church elders branded Pope Leo III a heretic and accused him of adultery. Charlemagne held a council in Rome in November 800 which ruled in Leo’s favour^{2 6}. This led to a dangerous precedent – can a human ruler have authority over the Pope? Leo decided to reverse the balance of power by bestowing a title on Charlemagne⁶, and not any title either.

On 25 December 800 Pope Leo III crowned him Holy Roman Emperor^{1 2 4} in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome⁴. He became the first non-Roman Emperor in Europe⁷.

Family

Charlemagne married several times and had 20 children, some of whom were illegitimate².

Given his fecundity and given the 1 300 year gap, almost everyone European today can trace their ancestry back to Charlemagne.

In 766⁸ or 768, he had a concubine by the name of Himiltrude^{2 4} but some sources refer to her as a wife⁸. They had 1 son, Pippin the Hunchback^{4 8}.

He had 5 other known concubines⁴:

• An unnamed mistress, who gave birth to a daughter, Ruodhaidem.
• Madelgard, who gave birth to a daughter, Rothildis.
• Gerswinda, who gave birth to a daughter Adaltrud.
• Regina, who gave birth to 2 sons:
  • Drogo, born in 801.
  • Hugh, born in 802.
• Adelindis, who had one son Theodoric, born in 807.

I list the concubines in this order based on the known or likely dates of birth of their children. There is nothing to state that Charlemagne had only one concubine at a time, or that this is the specific order in which he had relations with them.

It’s worth noting that concubinage was not frowned upon at the time. Teutonic customs treated this sort of thing as normal, even if it was not approved by the Church⁹.

In 768⁸ or 769⁴ or 770 he married Desiderata^{2 3} who some sources called Gerperga, the daughter of Desiderius, King of the Lombards^{1 4}. This was a political move to secure the delicate equilibrium in Italian politics which was in place ever since Charlemagne’s father had allied himself with the papacy¹. His mother negotiated the marriage and brought her back home for Charlemagne⁴. He repudiated the marriage year later and sent Desiderata back to her father^{3 4} when he decided to attack the Lombards^{2 4}.

In 771⁴ he married the 13-year old Swabian⁴ Hildegard of Vinzgouw^{2 3}, also known as Hildegard of Savoy⁸. Their marriage lasted till 783⁴ or 784² till her death⁸. Together they had 9 children^{4 10}:

• Charles the Younger, born in 772 or 773, who became King of Neustria.
• Adelaide, born in Italy in 773 or 774 during the siege of Pavia. She died 11 months later.
• Rotrude, born sometime in 775.
• Carloman, born in 777, known as Pepin, and who became King of Italy.
• Louis I, born in 778, who became King of Aquitaine in 781, and later inherited the Empire.
• Lothair, who was a twin with Louis.
• Bertha, born in 779 or 780.
• Gisela, born in 781.
• Hildegarde, born in 783 and who died after 40 days.

In Worms⁴, Germany, in 783 he married Fastrada for 11 years^{2 3 4}. Together they had 2 children⁴:

• Theodrada, born in 785.
• Hiltrude, born in 787.

In 794^{2 3}, or the autumn of 796⁴ he married Luitgard for 6 years², and they never had children^{2 4}.

He never re-married after that.

He focused on educating his children and made sure his sons had appropriate titles and positions. He was mindful of any threats to the family from outsiders so he forbid his daughters from ever marrying^{2 10}. Some of them did marry but into the family; for example, Rotrude married Ranulf of Maine. This could have been to preserve family inheritance.

Notable events

History remembers Charlemagne for many deeds, including his conquests and expansion of the Frankish kingdom, and his efforts to promote education and culture⁷, despite being illiterate⁷. Historians sometimes call this cultural revolution the Carolingian Renaissance¹¹. At the time, he organized education into two streams¹¹:

• The Trivium of Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric.
• The Quadrivium of Maths, Geometry, Music and Astronomy.

Apart from education, the importance of culture means that people started to preserve more texts than ever before. Only 265 books existed before Charlemagne, but his support of the arts meant that scribes preserved and copied out 7 000 texts by the time he died¹¹. Indeed, many Roman books we still have only exist because Charlemagne’s world encouraged this preservation¹¹. A side effect of all this is a new standard for writing, which persists up till today, namely^{11 12}:

• Spacing between words
• Upper and lower case
• Punctuation

Politics

His renewal of the Roman Empire has been the basis for the ideology of a united Europe ever since⁷. We can also trace the histories of the modern-day nation states of France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands back to the division of his empire after his death.

It is also why he is called the “father of Europe.”

His military campaigns led to him being the greatest conqueror of his time². This was in part fueled by the need to conquer and plunder his victims, but there was a drive to spread Christianity throughout Europe². His methods were brutal, with many stories about the way he and his armies worked:

• The Massacre of Verdun where he assassinated thousands of Saxons over decades².
• He conquered the Lombards in 773⁴.
• The defence of Pope Leo III, and re-establishment of Leo as Pope in Rome⁴.
• He conquered Germanic Bavaria and Saxony, installing a military presence in these borderlands⁷.

It wasn’t all gory; his diplomatic efforts and peace treaties ensured his enemies along the frontiers of the Kingdom wouldn’t attack him². It went beyond Europe; he exchanged gifts with Caliph Haroon al-Rashid in Baghdad¹³. He knew when to wield the sword, and when to sit and talk.

Commemoration

Charlemagne and his accomplishments are commemorated by the city of Aachen, Germany awards the International Charlemagne Prize every year to whomever has done service towards European reunification.

In fiction and media

The strangest and funniest item I found was the wild conspiracy theory that Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves is immortal, and that he was Charlemagne. This is based on the above image of Charlemagne which does bear a slight resemblance to Mr Reeves.

Charlemagne is also in our hands more often than we think because he is the King of Hearts in a standard deck of playing cards¹⁴. He’s sometimes called the suicide king because the King of Hearts seems to be stabbing himself in the head.

Death

In January 814, Charlemagne became ill after bathing in the warm springs in Aachen¹, present-day Germany. He died within a week, at 9:00 am⁸ on 28 January 814^{1 2 3 4}. His family buried him in his own cathedral at Aachen^{1 3}.

His death left a huge void for his descendants to fill. The wars of Carolingian succession – including the Battle of Fontenoy – meant that Charlemagne’s empire crumbled after his death.

Lineage

This person is my 33 x great-grandfather.

References

1. Sullivan, R.E. (2019). Charlemagne | Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts. In: Encyclopedia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charlemagne[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Charlemagne: Birth Story, Family, Reign, & Achievements; World History; 2021-11-04[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. List of French sovereigns; Royal Tombs; (Retrieved 2024-05-21) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
4. Charlemagne, Franks, Carolingian Kings; Charles Cawley; (As updated 2020-07-26) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
5. Franks, Carolingian Kings; Charles Cawley; (As updated 2020-07-26) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
6. Marsilius of Padua on the Relationship of Church and State; Stonestreet and Sunshine; Breakpoint Colson Centre; 2024-01-19[↩][↩]
7. Who was Charlemagne, the Carolingian Emperor of Europe?; Emily Staniforth; Livescience.com; 2022-11-24[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
8. Charlemagne; New World Encyclopedia; (Retrieved 2023-09-10) [↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
9. History of Normandy and England, The; Volume I; Sir Francis Palgrave; 1851-01[↩]
10. Mental Floss. (2024). The Royal Rundown on Charlemagne’s 20 Children. [online] Available at: https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/charlemagne-descendants-family-tree[↩][↩]
11. What was the Carolingian Renaissance?; TheCollector.com; 2023-04-06[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
12. Why the Dark Ages Weren’t Really All That Dark; Robbie Mitchell; Ancient Origins; 2023-12-26[↩]
13. BBC News (2024). Hadiyadihii gaarka ahaa ee khaliif Haaruun al-Rashid uu siiyey boqorkii ugu awoodda badnaa yurubta galbeed ee qarniyaasha laga hadli doono – BBC News Somali. [online] BBC News Somali. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/somali/articles/cql3pyw1e03o [Accessed 12 Sep. 2024][↩]
14. Keeler, M. (2024). The Summer Shuffle of Kings, Queens and Jacks Who Were Knaves. [online] The Roanoke Star. Available at: The Summer Shuffle of Kings, Queens and Jacks Who Were Knaves [Accessed 31 Aug. 2024][↩]