THE WORLD ATLAS

Empire · 800–888 · Europe

Carolingian Empire

Also known as East Francia, West Francia

The Carolingians were the Frankish family who replaced the Merovingian kings in 751. Pepin the Short's son Charlemagne spent most of his reign at war, conquering the Lombard kingdom in Italy, the Saxons, Bavaria and the Avars, until he ruled most of western and central Europe.

On Christmas Day 800 Pope Leo III crowned him emperor of the Romans, reviving the imperial title in the West. Charlemagne governed through counts and travelling royal envoys and sponsored a revival of learning, the Carolingian Renaissance. After his son Louis the Pious died, civil war led to the Treaty of Verdun in 843, which split the empire into West, Middle and East Francia. Briefly reunited under Charles the Fat, it broke apart for good when he was deposed in 887 and died in 888.

Follow its story on the map

Interior of Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel at Aachen, built c. 790–805 (the dome mosaic is a 19th-century recreation)
Interior of Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel at Aachen, built c. 790–805 (the dome mosaic is a 19th-century recreation) Vassil · CC0
Years
800–888
Capital
Aachen
Greatest extent
814, about 1.20 million km²
Region
Europe

At Charlemagne's death, from the Pyrenees to the Elbe and central Italy; c. 1.2M km² c. 814 (Turchin, Adams & Hall 2006)

Legacy

West and East Francia became the cores of France and Germany, and Carolingian scribes preserved much classical Latin literature in a clear script that inspired modern lowercase letters.

Timeline of Carolingian Empire

  1. Pepin the Short becomes king of the Franks

    For decades the Merovingian kings of the Franks had been figureheads, while real power lay with the 'mayors of the palace' of the Carolingian family. Pepin the Short, son of Charles Martel, held that office. In 751, with the support of Pope Zachary, he sent the last Merovingian king, Childeric III, to a monastery and had himself proclaimed King of the Franks, traditionally at Soissons. In 754 Pope Stephen II anointed him and his sons, and in return Pepin fought the Lombards and gave the pope lands in central Italy. This began the Carolingian dynasty.

  2. Pepin dies; Charlemagne's rule begins

    Pepin died in September 768, and as was Frankish custom his kingdom was divided between his two sons, Charles (later called Charlemagne) and Carloman. The brothers did not get on, and civil war seemed possible. When Carloman died in 771, Charles took over his lands and became sole king. Carloman's widow and children fled to the Lombard king Desiderius, which helped set the two kingdoms against each other. Charlemagne went on to spend most of his 46-year reign at war, greatly enlarging the Frankish realm.

  3. Saxon Wars begin; they last until 804

    The Saxons were pagan peoples living between the Rhine and the Elbe, in what is now northern Germany, who often raided Frankish lands. In 772 Charlemagne invaded Saxony and destroyed the Irminsul, a sacred pillar or tree the Saxons worshipped. The wars dragged on for 32 years, with repeated revolts led by the chieftain Widukind, who finally submitted and was baptised in 785. In 782, after a Saxon victory over a Frankish army, Charlemagne ordered 4,500 Saxon rebels beheaded at Verden. The conquest pushed the Frankish border east to the Elbe and spread Christianity by force.

  4. Charlemagne conquers the Lombard kingdom of Italy

    The Lombards ruled northern and central Italy from their capital Pavia, and their king Desiderius threatened the pope's lands and sheltered the family of Charlemagne's late brother. Pope Hadrian I called on Charlemagne for help. In 773 Charlemagne crossed the Alps and besieged Pavia, which surrendered in June 774 after a long blockade. Desiderius was sent to a monastery, and Charlemagne took the title King of the Lombards. Northern and central Italy now joined the Frankish realm, and the map reaches south toward Rome.

  5. Rearguard ambushed by Basques at Roncevaux

    In 778 Charlemagne accepted an invitation from Muslim governors in northern Spain who promised to submit to him if he helped them against the emir of Córdoba. His army crossed the Pyrenees, but the city of Zaragoza did not open its gates, and the campaign failed. On the way home he destroyed the walls of Pamplona, and in revenge Basques ambushed his rearguard in the Roncevaux Pass and wiped it out. Among the dead was the commander Roland, later the hero of the epic Song of Roland. Frankish expansion into Spain stalled for years.

  6. Charlemagne campaigns against the Avars in Pannonia

    The Avars were a nomadic people who had ruled the Pannonian Basin (modern Hungary) since the 560s and grown rich on plunder and tribute. In summer 791 Charlemagne invaded their lands along the Danube while his son Pippin, King of Italy, attacked from the south-east. In 795 or 796 a Frankish force captured the khagan's fortified camp, the 'Ring', with much of its treasure, and in 796 the khagan submitted. By 803 the Avar khaganate was finished. Its western lands, in today's Austria and western Hungary, became part of the empire.

  7. Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor in Rome

    In 799 Pope Leo III, attacked by enemies in Rome, met Charlemagne at Paderborn to seek his protection, and Charlemagne later went to Rome, restored the pope, and on Christmas Day 800, in St Peter's Basilica, Leo crowned him emperor of the Romans. He was the first emperor in the West in over 300 years, which angered the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople, who saw themselves as the only Roman emperors. Though historians still debate its meaning, the coronation gave Charlemagne's realm the status of an empire, the Carolingian Empire.

  8. Final Saxon campaign; Saxony absorbed

    Saxony had seemed conquered several times, but revolts kept breaking out, especially in the far north. In 798 Charlemagne's Slavic allies, the Obotrites, defeated the Nordalbingian Saxons north of the Elbe, and the Franks deported many Saxons to other parts of the empire. The last rising was put down in 804, more than 30 years after the first campaign. Saxony was now firmly part of the empire. The map's eastern frontier reached the Elbe, bordering Danes and Slavs.

  9. Charlemagne dies at Aachen; Louis the Pious succeeds

    Charlemagne had made his son Louis co-emperor in 813, since two older sons had died. When Charlemagne died at his capital Aachen in January 814, Louis, later called 'the Pious', became sole emperor of the whole realm. Louis struggled to keep control, and his repeated plans to share the empire among his sons led to revolts in which they even imprisoned him. The empire kept its full size during his reign. Its unity, though, depended on a family that was already at war with itself.

  10. Treaty of Verdun divides the empire among three brothers

    When Louis the Pious died in 840, his eldest son Lothair claimed the whole empire. His brothers Louis the German and Charles the Bald refused and defeated him at Fontenoy in 841. By the Treaty of Verdun, agreed on 10 August 843, the empire was split three ways: West Francia went to Charles, East Francia to Louis, and a long middle kingdom from the North Sea to Italy to Lothair, who kept the title of emperor. The division roughly foreshadowed the later shapes of France and Germany.

  11. Treaty of Meerssen splits Lotharingia between East and West

    Lothair's middle kingdom was itself divided among his sons in 855. The northern part, Lotharingia (Lorraine), went to Lothair II, who died in 869 with no legitimate heir. His uncles Charles the Bald of West Francia and Louis the German of East Francia then split Lotharingia between them by the Treaty of Meerssen in 870. The middle kingdom disappeared, and its lands were added to West and East Francia. Lotharingia stayed a disputed borderland between France and Germany for centuries.

  12. Charles the Fat reunites all the Frankish kingdoms

    After Charles the Bald died in 877, the Frankish kingdoms passed rapidly between short-lived kings, while Vikings raided in the north and west. Charles the Fat, a son of Louis the German, had inherited parts of East Francia and Italy and was crowned emperor in 881. When the young king of West Francia, Carloman, died in a hunting accident in 884, Charles inherited his lands as well. For the last time all the Frankish kingdoms were ruled by one man. On the map the empire of Charlemagne briefly reappears.

  13. Charles buys off the Vikings besieging Paris

    Viking armies had been raiding along the rivers of West Francia for decades. In November 885 a large Viking force sailed up the Seine and besieged Paris, which Count Odo defended with only a few hundred soldiers. The city held out for months, and when Charles the Fat finally arrived with an army in 886, he did not fight. Instead he promised the Vikings 700 livres of silver and let them sail on up the Seine to raid Burgundy. Many nobles saw this as cowardly, and Charles's standing collapsed, while Odo's grew.

  14. Charles the Fat deposed; the empire dissolves on his death in 888

    Charles the Fat was in poor health and was blamed for failing against the Vikings. In November 887 his nephew Arnulf of Carinthia rebelled, and the East Frankish nobles deposed Charles, who died in January 888. No Carolingian was strong enough to take the whole inheritance. Arnulf became king in East Francia, Count Odo of Paris was elected king of West Francia, and separate kings arose in Italy, Aquitaine and Burgundy. The Carolingian Empire dissolved for good and disappears from the map.

Periods and reigns

Rulers

Realms on the map

Chapters

Sources