CHARLES THE GREAT, or CHARLE MAGNE (front Lat. ('arolus Magnus. Charles the Great) (742-S14). King of the Franks after 7Gti. and Roman Emperor front SOO to SI I. Ile was the son of Pepin the Short. the first Carolin gian King, and of Bertha, a daughter of Chan bert. Count of Loon. and was born probably on April 2, 742. This birthplace is unknown; but from the fondness which he displayed throughout his life for the cities of Aix-la-Chapelle and In gelheim. it has betn conjectured that he was horn in one of these places. Of his early youth and education nothing is known. even by Ein ha•d, his contemporary biographer. Ile was brought up at the Court of his father, and re ceived the thorough training which constituted the education of the time. Ile took part in his father's expeditions against Aquitaine in :GI and 76•. On Pepin's death, in 7fiti, the Frankish kingdom was divided between his two sons, Charles receiving the eastern part or Aus trasia, which was predominantly Gennanie, to gether with a part of Aquitaine. while his brother Carloman received Neustria, the Ro mance part of the Frankish domains. Carloman died in 771, and Charles, with the consent of the Frankish nobles, took possession of the en tire kingdom, to the exclusion of the young sons of his brother. Their mother fled to Desiderius, Icing of the Lombards. and the ensuing coin plieations led to the first great war of Charles's reign. Charles had, ere this, in 770, offended Desiderius by repudiating his second wife, Desid erata. who was that monarch's daughter. The latter, therefore, received Carloman's widow hospitably, and urged Pope Adrian T. to crown the sons of Carlonian. Upon the Pope's refusal, he invaded the Papal territory. The Pope there upon summoned the Frankish King to his aid. Charles endeavored to avert the but upon the refusal of Desiderius to restore. the Papal cities of the Pentapolis, he crossed the Alp,, with two armies, from Geneva by the Great Saint Bernard and Mont Cenis, in 773. and besieged Desiderius in Pavia, forcing him, after a ten months' siege. to surrender and retire to a mon astery. In 777 he proclaimed himself King of the Lombards. and NI•: acknowledged as such by the Lombard dukes. Ile secured the Pope's favor
by confirming the donation of lands made to the Holy See by Pepin. In the winter of 7713 he again crossed the Alps and crushed a Lombard revolt, henceforth ruling over northern and cen tral Italy as far south as Spoleto. In 7ti0 he went to Italy, where the Pope crowned his sec ond son, Pepin, King of Italy. and his third son, Louis, an infant. three years old, King of Aqui taine. In 7S7 he completed the conquest of the Lombards by the subjugation of the Duke of 1:eneventum.
The severest war undertaken by Charles was his eont•st with the Saxons. The straggle was of long standing, having been waged by his father and grandfather, and emilemplated the in corporation of the Saxons into the Frankish kingdom and their conversion to Christianity. The obstinate resistance of the Saxons has scarcely been equaled in history. In 772 Charles advanced as far as the \\ eser. aml destroyed the famous •fiminsur—according.to heathen belief, the column supporting the earth. There were in cessant revolts, hut in 7'4 Charles carried his arms as tar as the Elbe. In 777 he could even hold the Frankish National Assembly on Saxon soil. at Paderborn. But in 778, on news of Charles's absence in Spain. the Saxons again arose. and advanced almost to Cologne: but charles again drove them back to the Elbe. They destroyed a Frankish army in the Stintel High lands in 7S2: and Charles. after a new victory, avenged this disaster by the massacre. at Verden, of 45(11) prisoners in one day. This caused a gen eral rising of the Saxons; lad, in 783-85. the Frankish monarch at last succeeded in reducing them to subjection. Their great leader, Widu kind, submitted to baptism. and their principal chiefs became Clia•les's vassals. The Saxons north of the Elbe submitted in 804, and 10,000 of them were led into the interior of Cermany as hostages. Charles proceeded to extend his arms beyond the boundaries of Saxony. The neighboring Slays were either his allies or else were made tributary. and even the Bohemians were in part subdued. The Danes were confined to the north of the Eider, which became the northern boundary of Charles's kingdom.