CHARLES, or CHARLEMAGNE (Caw LUS MAGNUS), King of the Franks, and subse quently Emperor of the West, Holy Roman em peror: h. probably at Aix-la-Chapelle, 2 April 742; d. there 28 Jan. 814. His father was Pepin the Short, King of the Franks, son of Charles Martel. After the decease of his father, in 768, he was crowned king, and ac cording to the wish of Pepin divided the Frankish dominions with his younger brother, Carloman; but the conditions of this partition were several times altered, without being ever adjusted to the satisfaction of the parties. Their mutual discontent was fostered princi pally by the King of the Lombards, Desiderius (the father-in-law of both princes), because Charlemagne had repudiated his wife. Desi derius sought revenge for the rejection of his daughter by exciting and encouraging commo tions in the realm, in which he was assisted by the circumstances that the nobles aspired to independence. The people of Aquitania were the first who attempted to become independent. Charlemagne marched against them with rather a small army; but he relied on the assistance of his brother, Carloman, to whom a portion of Aquitania then belonged. Carloman appeared indeed on the field, but at the decisive moment deserted his brother, who was obliged to sus tain alone an unequal conflict. His great cour age and conduct, after a long and doubtful contest, procured him the victory and the in surgents submitted (770). At Carloman's death in 771, and after the flight of his wife and her two sons to her father in Italy, Charle magne made himself master of the whole em pire, the extent of which was already very great, as it embraced, besides France, a large part of Germany. He now formed the plan of conquering the Saxons, for which his zeal for the diffusion of Christianity served as a pre text. The Saxons, in possession of Holstein and Westphalia, preferred pillaging to peaceful occupations, and a wandering to a settled mode of life. An irruption into the territory of the Franks was the alleged cause of the first war which Charlemagne began against them in 772. The other wars were produced by the rebellions of this warlike nation, which was never re duced to complete submission till the peace of Seltz, in 803, after it had embraced Christianity. Charlemagne deported great numbers of the Saxons to Flanders and Switzerland and their seats were occupied by the Obotrites, a vandal tribe in Mecklenburg. During 32 years did the Saxons resist a conqueror who, striving with equal eagerness to convert and to subdue them, never became master of their country till he had transformed it almost into a desert. They
might have made a more successful defense had they not been distracted by internal dis sensions. The most celebrated of their lead ers was Wittikind, and next to him Albio, who embraced Christianity in 783.
While he was combating the Saxons on the banks of the Weser, Pope Adrian implored his assistance against Desiderius who had torn from him the exarchate of Ravenna, which Pepin the Short had presented to the Holy See, and who was urging the Pope to crown the nephews of Charlemagne, that Charlemagne himself might be considered a usurper. Charle magne immediately left Germany and marched with his army to Italy. Desiderius fled to Pa via, which was bravely defended by the Lom bards. The city fell, and Desiderius, with the widow and sons of Carloman, were carried prisoners to France. Desiderius ended his life in a monastery. In 774 Charlemagne was crowned king of Lombardy with the iron crown.
In 778 he repaired to Spain to assist a Moorish prince, conquered Pamplona, made himself master of the county of Barcelona and spread the terror of his name everywhere. But on his return his troops were surprised in the valley of Roncesvalles by some Saracens, in conjunction with the mountaineers, the Basques, and the rear-guard defeated; remarkable from the circumstance that Roland, one of the most famous warriors of those times, fell in the battle. (See RONCESVALLES ) . The disaffection of the tribes of Aquitania induced Charlemagne to give them a separate ruler: for this purpose he selected the youngest of his sons, Louis (called le Debonnaire). The Lombards were no less turbulent, and the Greeks made inces sant efforts to conquer Italy; and the nobles to whom he had entrusted a part of the sovereign ty of this country evinced little fidelity. He therefore gave them his second son, Pepin, for a monarch; his eldest son, Charles, remaining constantly with him, and assisting him in his manifold undertakings. In 781 he caused these two sons to be crowned by the Pope in Rome, hoping to render the royal dignity inviolable in the sight of their subjects. Charlemagne had another son, also called Pepin, who was the oldest of all his children, being the son of his divorced wife. This circumstance probably inspired the monarch with an aversion to the elder Pepin, and prevented him from admitting him to a share in the government.