Person:Charlemagne (1)

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Charlemagne or Charles the Great (; ; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy Roman Emperor from 800. Charlemagne succeeded in uniting the majority of western and central Europe and was the first recognized emperor to rule from western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire around three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state that Charlemagne founded was the Carolingian Empire. He was canonized by Antipope Paschal III— an act later treated as invalid—and he is now regarded by some as beatified (which is a step on the path to sainthood) in the Catholic Church.

Charlemagne was the eldest son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon. He was born before their canonical marriage. He became king of the Franks in 768 following his father's death, and was initially co-ruler with his brother Carloman I until the latter's death in 771. As sole ruler, he continued his father's policy towards protection of the papacy and became its sole defender, removing the Lombards from power in northern Italy and leading an incursion into Muslim Spain. He also campaigned against the Saxons to his east, Christianizing them (upon penalty of death) which led to events such as the Massacre of Verden. He reached the height of his power in 800 when he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day at Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Charlemagne has been called the "Father of Europe" (Pater Europae), as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the classical era of the Roman Empire, as well as uniting parts of Europe that had never been under Frankish or Roman rule. His reign spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church viewed Charlemagne less favourably, due to his support of the filioque and the Pope's preference of him as emperor over the Byzantine Empire's first female monarch, Irene of Athens. These and other disputes led to the eventual split of Rome and Constantinople in the Great Schism of 1054.

Charlemagne died in 814 after contracting an infectious lung disease. He was laid to rest in the Aachen Cathedral, in his imperial capital city of Aachen. He married at least four times,^[1][2] and had three legitimate sons who lived to adulthood. Only the youngest of them, Louis the Pious, survived to succeed him. Charlemagne and his predecessors are the direct ancestors of many of Europe's royal houses, including the Capetian dynasty, the Ottonian dynasty, the House of Luxembourg and the House of Ivrea.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Charlemagne, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.

   Marriages and heirs
   Charlemagne had twenty children over the course of his life with eight of his ten known wives or concubines. Nonetheless, he only had four legitimate grandsons, the three sons of his third son Louis, so that the claimants to his inheritance remained few.
   
   His first relationship was with Himiltrude. The nature of this relationship is variously described as concubinage, a legal marriage or as a Friedelehe.[19] (Charlemagne put her aside when he married Desiderata.) The union with Himiltrude produced two children:
   Amaudru, a daughter[20]
   Pippin the Hunchback (c. 769-811)
   After her, his first wife was Desiderata, daughter of Desiderius, king of the Lombards; married in 770, annulled in 771
   His second wife was Hildegard (757 or 758-783), married 771, died 783. By her he had nine children:
   Charles the Younger (c.772-4 December 811), Duke of Maine, and crowned King of the Franks on 25 December 800
   Carloman, renamed Pippin (April 773-8 July 810), King of Italy
   Adalhaid (774), who was born whilst her parents were on campaign in Italy. She was sent back to Francia, but died before reaching Lyons
   Rotrude (or Hruodrud) (775-6 June 810)
   Louis (778-20 June 840), twin of Lothair, King of Aquitaine since 781, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 813, senior Emperor from 814
   Lothair (778-6 February 779/780), twin of Louis, he died in infancy[21]
   Bertha (779-826)
   Gisela (781-808)
   Hildegarde (782-783)
   His third wife was Fastrada, married 784, died 794. By her he had:
   Theodrada (b.784), abbess of Argenteuil
   Hiltrude (b.787)
   His fourth wife was Luitgard, married 794, died childless
   
   [edit] Concubinages and illegitimate children
   His first known concubine was Gersuinda. By her he had:
   Adaltrude (b.774)
   His second known concubine was Madelgard. By her he had:
   Ruodhaid (775-810), abbess of Faremoutiers
   His third known concubine was Amaltrud of Vienne. By her he had:
   Alpaida (b.794)
   His fourth known concubine was Regina. By her he had:
   Drogo (801-855), Bishop of Metz from 823 and abbot of Luxeuil Abbey
   Hugh (802-844), archchancellor of the Empire
   His fifth known concubine was Ethelind. By her he had:
   Richbod (805-844), Abbott of Saint-Riquier
   Theodoric (b. 807)

2.   Weis, Frederick Lewis; Walter Lee Sheppard; and David Faris. Ancestral roots of certain American colonists, who came to America before 1700: the lineage of Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and some of their descendants. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 7th Edition c1992)
   50-13.
3. ↑ Einhard (the King's secretary) description of Charlemagne.

   "He was six feet four inches tall, and built to scale. He had beautiful white hair, animated eyes, a powerful nose...a presence "always stately and dignified." He was temperate in eating and drinking, abominated drunkenness, and kept in good health despite every exposure and hardship."

4.   Buck, J. Orton; Marcellus Donald Alexander von Redlich; Aileen Lewers Langston; and Timothy Field Beard. Pedigrees of some of the Emperor Charlemagne's descendants. (Baltimore [Maryland]: Genealogical Pub. Co., c1974-1978, 1979)
   2:17, 221, 284.
5.   (NEHGR)"The New England Historical and Genealogical Register". (Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847 on)
   101:109-112.
6.   De eerste generaties van Karel's nazaten, in Karel de Grote.
7.   Project Charlemagne at Familypedia by Rtol, in Familypedia.
8.   Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.
9.   CHARLES, son of PEPIN "le Bref" King of the Franks & his wife Bertrada [Berta] "au Grand Pied" (near Aix-la-Chapelle 2 Apr 748-Aix-la-Chapelle 28 Jan 814, bur Aix-la-Chapelle, Chapelle Sainte-Marie), in Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families.
10.   Emperor Charlemagne, in Find A Grave.
11. ↑ ^11.0 11.1 Charlemagne (Karolus Magnus, Charles the Great, Karl der Große), in Baldwin, Stewart, and Todd Farmerie. The Henry Project (King Henry II ): Ancestors of King Henry II.
12. ↑ Weinfurter, Stefan. Karl der Grosse: Der heilige Barbar. (München, Bayern, Deutschland: Piper, 2013)
    p. 55.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5} Biographie a Wikipédia FR, in Wikipedia
    [[1]], trouvée 2016.

    Charlemagne, du latin Carolus Magnus, ou Charles Ier dit « le Grand » dans la nomenclature qui commence avec Clovis Ier, né le 2 avril 742 (voire 747 ou 748)2, mort le 28 janvier 814 à Aix-la-Chapelle3, est un roi des Francs et empereur. Il appartient à la dynastie des Carolingiens, à laquelle il a donné son nom.
    Fils de Pépin le Bref, il est roi des Francs à partir de 768, devient par conquête roi des Lombards en 774 et est couronné empereur à Rome par le pape Léon III le 25 décembre 800, relevant une dignité disparue depuis la chute de l'Empire romain d'Occident en 476.