history of king charlemagne
Charlemagne (c.742-814), also known as Charles the Great, was a extraordinary medieval emperor who conquered almost all of Western Europe from 768 to 814. In 771, Charlemagne became king of the Franks, a Germanic tribe which occupied to what is now Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and western Germany. During his lifetime, Charlemagne set upon a mission to unite all Germanic peoples into one kingdom and convert his subjects to Christianity. Charlemagne, also a skilled military strategist, spent much of his reign engaged in warfare in order to accomplish these goals. In 800, due to his efforts to spread Christianity, Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III (750-816). Charlemagne used his power to encourage the Carolingian Renaissance, a cultural and intellectual revival during Europe's Dark Ages. When he died in 814, Charlemagne’s empire encompassed much of Western Europe, and he had also ensured the survival of Christianity in the West. Today, Charlemagne is referred to by some as the "Father of Europe."