The Empire of Charlemagne - Second Rome

The Roman Empire, having fallen under the onslaught of the barbarians, left behind a great nostalgic desire. The splendor and grandeur of Ancient Rome were such that even the conquerors tried to copy them. In Europe, there were latent processes that wanted to revive a powerful single state that would extend, like Rome earlier, from the Atlantic Ocean to all the lands of Western Europe. Only the empire of Charlemagne could fulfill the dream of gathering lands in a single state. Let's briefly review its history, its flowering and decline.

After the fall of Rome and the imperial power, one of the leaders of the Germanic tribe of the Franks, Clovis, proclaims himself at the end of the V century king. From it began a dynasty, called the Merovingians. In the VIII century. Pipin Short, the major of the last Merovingian king, removed his suzerain in 751. Throne was taken up by Pepin's son, Karl, who later was called Great. Being a born warrior and talented commander, the new ruler not only gave the name of the whole royal dynasty, but also managed to expand the borders of the Frankish state to unprecedented proportions. As a result of his military campaigns, a real super-state, the empire of Charlemagne, was formed.

He inherited the reins of government early and was king for 46 years (from 768 to 814 years). During this time he took part in fifty military campaigns. As a result, thanks to his genius of commander, Charles increased the area of the kingdom by half. He annexed Bavaria and Italy. In the east, he conquered the Saxons and each time brutally suppressed their uprisings, and successfully defeated the threatening Turks-Avars. In the west, the empire of Charlemagne collided with a more powerful enemy - the Saracens, who also led their conquest, capturing the Iberian Peninsula almost entirely. The troops of the ruler managed to push them over the river Ebro.

In its heyday, around 800, the empire of Charlemagne stretched from the Ebro in the west to the Danube and Elbe in the east, to the north it went to the North Sea and the Baltic, and to the south - to the Mediterranean Sea. Having strategically faithfully granted the secular authority over the "papal region" to the Pope, the founder of the dynasty managed to gain the support of the clergy, and at the same time the pope was considered his vassal. In the year 800, for Christmas, Lev III, the Pope of Rome, placed the imperial crown on the great ruler and proclaimed him before the whole Christian world "God, crowned by the Roman emperor."

The empire of Charlemagne maintained diplomatic relations with both Byzantium and the Arab world. Seeking to revive the power of the Roman Empire and the splendor of antiquity, the ruler founded in his capital, Aachen, something of a cultural center. There, at the invitation of the king, John Scott Eriugen, Alcuin, Pavel Deacon, Khraban Mavr and others came and worked. Under the imperial decree in various parts of the country schools were founded, in which not only monks studied, but also secular people. This short-lived culture flourished among historians called "Carolingian Revival."

However, Karl's sons - Ludovic, Lothar and Karl Lysy - could not agree on inheritance and began to wage intestine wars with each other. In 843 the Verdun Treaty was signed, according to which the territory was divided among the brothers. Despite the fact that the royal dynasty still existed, the Carolingian empire disintegrated. The title of the emperor becomes more and more ephemeral. In the XI century. In the kingdom of France begins a new, the Capetian dynasty (the founder of Hugo Capet).