Schematic diagram of the territory of the Charlemagne Empire and its division
The Charlemagne Empire was named after its founder, Charlemagne, Charlemagne. Charles was originally the king of the Carolingian dynasty of the Frankish kingdom, so it was also known as the Carolingian Empire. During the reign of Charlemagne (768-814), the territory stretched southwest to the Ebro River, north to the North Sea, east to the Elbe and Danube rivers, and to the south including the northern half of Italy. At its peak, it had an area of 1.11 million square kilometers and a population of 10-20 million.
Red Peach K Charlemagne
After Charles's death, the Empire fell into civil war. After the death of Charles's son Louis I, his three sons signed the Treaty of Verdun, dividing the Charlemagne Empire into three, and the great achievements of Charlemagne disappeared. However, to this day, the world still commemorates this great man in a strange way - the prototype of the red peach K in the playing card is his old man.
<h1>[Merovingian Dynasty].</h1>
Genealogy of the Frankish Kingdom
At the beginning of the 4th century, the Franks settled as Confederates in the northeastern corner of Gaul in the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire's own military might could not secure all of its borders, so the Romans allowed some friendly peoples known as the Confederates to enter their borders to help Rome maintain its borders.
When the Western Roman Empire began to disintegrate, the Franks took the opportunity to expand their territory, while the Visigoths to their south were expanding their territory. Initially, there was an enclave near Soissons in northern Gaul that was isolated from the rest of the empire but remained loyal to Rome.
In 486, Clovis I (466-511) defeated Sigirius, the last Roman governor of Gaul, at the Decisive Battle of Soisson, and monopolized all of North Gaul, thus establishing the first Frankish dynasty, the Merovingian Dynasty (481-751, named after Clovis's grandfather Merovin).
In the course of the Frankish expansion, Clovis confiscated the land where the landlord had been killed or fled and adopted it as king. Clovis used this wealth to consolidate his royal power and continue to expand. He became the largest landlord in the whole kingdom. By giving his land to other nobles to buy people's hearts, the system gradually evolved. The king leased his territory to his men for a limited period of time, so that he also solved the problem of managing a huge property. This was the basis of the early feudal society of the Frankish Kingdom and Europe.
The Merovin dynasty was the most powerful country in Western Europe at the time, but the domestic nobility often supported themselves and set off civil wars, leading to the division of the country. During the reign of Dagobert I (629-639), the country was unified, politically clear, and the situation was relatively stable. However, after him, the 12 kings of the Merovin dynasty were lazy and did not care about political affairs, and were called "lazy kings" by historians, and the result of the decline of the kingship was the sitting of the palace ministers.
The palace minister was originally the steward of the palace, but only the servant of the king. However, because of his prominent position, he gradually took charge of the secrets, not only controlling internal affairs, but also becoming the supreme leader of the army. In 678, pepin of Herstal (Pepin II) defeated other opponents and became the only palace minister. In 715, Charles Martel (nicknamed "Hammer") succeeded him as chancellor. He installed Crotel IV of the Merovingian family as a puppet and held real power himself as a palace minister and duke of Ostracia. After coming to power, he led his army to defeat the invasion of Saxons and Arabs, increasing his prestige. Charlie Matt also actively promoted the caiyi system, changing the original unconditional land grant system, and the large and small lords who received the national knighthood and fief (caiyi) had to be loyal to Charles and serve in the military, and the land obtained was only for their own enjoyment and could not be hereditary. Descendants who wish to inherit must re-perform the ceremony of canonization and reaffirm their allegiance. This reform gave birth to chivalry, strengthened the Frankish military power, and laid the foundation for the Carolingian dynasty to replace the Merovin dynasty.
<h1>[Carolingian Dynasty].</h1>
In 742, Pépin le Bref (Pepin III), son of Charles Matt, succeeded him as chancellor. He further expanded the absence of the Caiyi division and developed his own strength, but stopped the expropriation of ecclesiastical lands, so that the relationship between the crown and the church was improved and developed. At that time, Christianity was a common religion throughout Europe, and Christianity was generally accepted after the Germanic tribes moved south. At the Suissonsons Conference in 751, Pepin the Dwarf, with the support of the nobility, especially the Pope, deposed The Merovingian King Hilderick III and established himself as Frankish king (reigned 751-768), thus beginning carolingian rule. In return for the Pope's support, Pepin twice sent troops to attack the Lombards who threatened the Pope, and gave the conquered lands from Ravenna to Rome to the Pope, known in history as the "Pepin Sacrifice", which laid the foundation of the Papal State, and since then the Carolingian Dynasty and the Pope have become increasingly close.
Charles, the second monarch of the Carolingian dynasty (reigned 768-814), also known as Charlemagne, means Charlemagne, led the feudal lords on a conquest and established a large Frankish Empire encompassing the central and western regions of Europe. In 774, Charles defeated the Lombards, took control of northern Italy, and then crossed the Pyrenees to establish the "Spanish Frontier" east of the Obro River. Charles also sent troops to Bavaria, incorporating the upper Danube region into the kingdom's territory and continuing to attack the Avar Khanate, establishing the "Eastern Mark" in the middle reaches of the Danube, which later developed into Austria. The Saxon War was the most intense and longest war of conquest in Charles's life. Over a period of 33 years, he launched 18 major offensives, eventually establishing rule over a vast area between the lower Rhine and the Elbe, pushing the northern francotel of The Franks to the south bank of the Baltic Sea.
Under Charles's iron-blooded conquest, the Frankish territory stretched from the Elbe and Danube rivers in the east to the Ebro River in the south, the North Sea in the north, and the northern and central Italian peninsulas in the south, and its territory was comparable to that of the Roman Empire in the past. In 799, Pope Leo III was expelled from the Roman nobility and begged Charles for help. Charles led a large army into Rome and restored the papacy. On Christmas Day 800, Leo III crowned Charles at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, calling him "Emperor of the Romans". Since then, Western history books have called Charles "Charlemagne" (meaning Charlemagne), and the Frankish kingdom has been called "Charles's Empire" or "Carolingian Empire"
<h1>[Empire Split].</h1>
Charles ruled for 46 years and he died in 814. Charles in his will stipulated that the empire would be divided among his three sons, Pepin, Louis and Charles the Younger, but due to the deaths of Pepin and Charles the Younger in 810 and 811, this plan of three divisions was invalid, and Louis was promoted to deputy emperor in 813 and was able to succeed his father to the throne in 814 as Louis I (the Pious One).
Louis I decided to turn against his sons regardless of the kingdom, and the two sides went to war. In a palace coup in the early 830s, Louis I was detained by his sons and lost real power, while his sons became increasingly independent in their respective territories, and Louis I was in fact only a nominal emperor.
Treaty of Verdun
After the death of Louis I in 840, his eldest son Lothair ascended the throne, declaring himself supreme ruler of the empire and supporting his nephew Pepin II in succeeding to the kingdom of Aquitaine. Lothair's half-brother Louis the German and his half-brother Charles the Bald formed an alliance against Lothair, waging a civil war that eventually defeated Lothair at the Battle of Fontaine in 841. In 842, Lothair made peace. The following year, the tripartites signed the Treaty of Verdun, and charles's empire was divided into three. Lothair still inherited the imperial title, dividing the central part of the empire, called the Middle Frankish Kingdom; the German Louis divided the eastern part of the empire, called the East Frankish Kingdom, the predecessor of the Holy Roman Empire; and charles the bald divided the western part of the empire, called the West Franconian Kingdom.
Treaty of Prüm
In 855, Lothair I, in the Treaty of Prüm, distributed his Middle Frankish kingdom to his sons. The Kingdom of Middle Francia was divided into three parts, with the eldest son Louis II the Stutter receiving the titles of Kingdom and Emperor of Italy, the second son Lothaire II receiving the Kingdom of Lotharingie (Lorraine), and the youngest son Charles gaining the territory of the Kingdom of Provence and most of the former Duchy of Burgundy.
Treaty of Morson
Charles of Provence and Lothair II died in 863 and 869, and Charles the Bald and Louis the German signed the Treaty of Meerssen in 870, dividing Lorraine and Provence, while Italy continued to maintain the status quo. The Treaty of Morsen also defines the basic prototype of the borders of Germany, France and Italy today.
Today the country of western Europe
The Great Empire in History Chapter 9: The Roman Empire in the Time of Trajan – The Last Golden Age of Rome, the Happiest Age for Mankind in History
The Great Empire in History Part 10: The Byzantine Empire – which lasted for a thousand years and became the oldest monarchy in Europe