Charlemagne Empire, a feudal empire in Western Europe in the early Middle Ages. Named after the founder Charlemagne. Charles was originally the Caroline King of the Frankish Kingdom, so he was also called the Caroline Empire. During the reign of Charlemagne (768-8 14), the territory was bounded by the Ebro River in the southwest, the North Sea in the north, the Elbe River and the Danube River in the east, and the northern half of Italy in the south. In 800, Charles was crowned by the Pope, known as the "Roman Emperor" and Charlemagne Empire, with its capital in Aachen (in present-day Germany). After Charlie's death, the empire fell into civil war. In 843, according to the Verdun Peace Treaty, the empire was divided into three parts: the area east of the Rhine River was called the Eastern Frankish Kingdom; The area west of the Guerder River and the Meuse River is called the West Frankish Kingdom; From the North Sea to the south along the Rhine River (including the Rhone River) until the middle of Italy, it still inherited the title of emperor. Basically laid the embryonic form of modern Germany, France and Italy.
Charlemagne (742-8 14) was also translated into Charlemagne, king of Caroline dynasty in the Frankish kingdom and founder of Charlemagne empire. Charlemagne is Pippin's son, and Pippin is the founder of Caroline Dynasty in the Frankish Kingdom. During his 46 years in power (768-8 14), he made great efforts to make the Frankish kingdom reach its peak. After Charlemagne ascended the throne in 768, in order to gain the support of the increasingly influential church among the people, he first allied himself with the Pope and strengthened his ruling power. At the same time, the foreign expansion policy has been implemented for many years, and more than 50 wars have been launched. Important battles and achievements include: conquering Lombardy in 774, attacking Saxons many times in 772-804, converting them to Christianity and seizing the vast land in the Elbe River basin, sending troops to Spain twice in 787 and 80 1 year, capturing the land north of the Nibro River, establishing the Spanish border area, and occupying Bavaria in 787. In the 9th century AD, the territory of Charlemagne Empire started from the Elbe River in the east, extended to the Atlantic coast in the west, bordered by the North Sea in the north and the Mediterranean Sea in the south, occupying most of the land in Western Europe, almost equivalent to the territory of the ancient Western Roman Empire. On Christmas Day in 800 AD, Pope Leo III crowned Charles in St Peter's Cathedral in Rome and anointed him with holy oil, calling him Charlemagne, the "great Roman emperor". This move is of great significance, which means that Charlie is no longer simply the conqueror, the king of the Germanic barbarian country, but the Germanic-Roman emperor, and he is the legal heir of the Roman emperor recognized by God; Charlemagne's mission is no longer simply to manage the Germanic countries, but to manage the whole Christian world in Western Europe, including religious affairs. Therefore, the international status of Charlemagne Empire has been improved unprecedentedly. Scotland and Abbasid Dynasty, a non-Christian country in the East, established diplomatic relations with Charlemagne Empire, and even the Eastern Roman Empire recognized Charlemagne's status as emperor. After Charles proclaimed himself emperor, he tried his best to strengthen centralized rule. In order to strengthen the effective rule of a huge country, Charles appointed nobles and bishops to rule, while continuing to implement the fief system. All imperial officials and bishops (including abbots) generally got fiefs from the emperor, that is, fiefs, and became vassals of the emperor. At the same time, as a condition of accepting the fief, they all swore allegiance to the emperor. In addition to the Council composed of the emperor's cronies, the imperial central government also held an aristocratic meeting once or twice a year to discuss major central decisions. In order to manage landlords, the central government often sends governors' envoys to supervise local governments. There are several earl districts in the local area, and the emperor appoints earl or bishop to rule. Earls have administrative, judicial, tax and military powers. A series of feudal hierarchical systems were formed, which were inherited by later feudal societies in western Europe. Later, these earl and bishops gradually became local separatist forces.
The basic form of production organization in Charlemagne Empire was feudal manor. The king, his adjutant and secular feudal nobles have many manors distributed all over the country. Manor is a self-sufficient natural economic production unit. All production mainly provides subsistence for lords and their servants, and secondly provides limited production and subsistence for producers. Most of the producers engaged in agriculture and handicrafts in the manor are serfs or dependent farmers. The land of the manor is generally divided into two parts: the best land is the owner's own land and the other part is the farmer's land. The Lord serves the peasants on his own, usually for 2-3 days a week, up to 4 days, and all the harvest belongs to the Lord. In addition to farming for the Lord free of charge, the farmers in service have to undertake all kinds of chores such as chopping wood, building roads, repairing houses and carrying. In addition, farmers must also pay all kinds of physical objects and various other fees to the lords. The tithe of the church is also a heavy burden for farmers. Due to the cruel exploitation of feudal lords, the situation of farmers was extremely difficult, so peasant uprisings often broke out.
Charlemagne was a very successful monarch. He is not only famous for his literature and martial arts, but also attaches importance to the development of cultural and educational undertakings. He founded a school and invited famous scholars to give lectures. Collect and copy ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts. The copied characters are the so-called Caroline cursive characters, which are exquisite and beautiful Latin letters. Later, it was slightly modified and has been used ever since. The monastery has set up a library to collect the works of the godfather and the works of ancient Greek and Roman writers. Charlemagne also invited the best architects, sculptors and painters in Europe to build monasteries and churches for the empire. Charlemagne's cultural and educational policies have made positive contributions to the restoration of classical civilization and the improvement of German cultural level. His cultural achievements during his reign were praised as "Carolingian Renaissance" by later generations.
The combination of secular regime and church is an important feature of Charlemagne regime. Strengthening the alliance with the church is one of the important reasons for Charlemagne's success. Charlemagne tried his best to safeguard and improve the rights and interests of the Roman church as a protector of the church. Every time he conquered a place, he strengthened the Christian power, such as forcing the Saxons to convert to Christianity after the conquest. We not only reuse bishops and abbots, enfeoffment their land, let them participate in state power, but also try our best to maintain the papal dominance. In 795, Pope Leo III conspired to ascend to the throne, which was opposed by some big noble in Rome. Leo sent messengers to the Frankish kingdom to ask Charlemagne for help, and presented him with the key to Peter's hall and the flag of Rome as a sign of obedience and loyalty, thus winning Charlie's support and keeping his position. In April 799, Leo III was deposed by the Roman nobility and fled Rome alone. In 800, Charlemagne rescued Leo III and personally sent him back to Rome to help him reset. So this Christmas, grateful Leo III crowned Charlie and awarded him the title of "Great Roman Emperor". From then on, the Frankish Kingdom became Charlemagne Empire. The rule of Charlemagne made great contributions to the establishment and development of the new feudal system in Europe, and had a great influence on the later feudal society in Western Europe. However, due to the dominant natural economy at that time, there was a lack of economic and cultural ties within the empire, and the foundation was very weak; Therefore, although Charlemagne's will to implement fiefs was to strengthen centralized rule, it led to feudal separatism. Therefore, shortly after the death of Charlemagne, the empire split. In 843, Charlie's three grandchildren carved up the empire, and on this basis, the embryonic form of Germany, France and Italy was formed.
(The picture shows the divided Charlemagne Empire)