The Rise and Fall of the Carolingian Empire

A turning point for Frankish society, the Battle of Tours established Charles Martel as a great hero. With the defeat of the Mohommedan invaders, Martel gained notoriety and acclaim. It was during this time, when Charles earned the title Martel (Haaren).

Before his death, Charles Martel developed the Frankish Cavalry. Though he never officially held the title of King, he held the authority of King of the Franks (Haaren).

After Martel's death, his sons Pippin and Carolman ruled until Carolman decided he wanted to join the clergy. After serving as Mayor of the Palace for King Childeric III, Pippin convinced Pope Zacharias to annoint Pippin as king. Pippin deposed of Childeric III and was annointed as King (Haaren).

After Pippin's death, both of his sons ruled until Carolman died, leaving Charles as the sole king. This was the start of the reign of Charlemagne, or Charles the Great (Haaren).

Before Pippin had died, he had conquered the Lombards and given the land to the Pope. After Pippins death, the Lombards wanted their land back, but the Pope appealed to Charlemagne to help. In turn, Charlemagne seized all of the Lombards remaining territory. It was due to Charlemagnes logistical prowess that led him to take Byzantine gold to finance the Carolingian Renaissance (Kishlansky).

Besides his prowess for combat and logistics, Charlemagne was also fond of learning. It was on his command that schools were formed at various monasteries. He also rebuilt libraries and also inspired a search through Italy for original copies of the writings of the great thinkers (Kishlansky).

After his coronation and the ending of the Saxon Wars, the Byzantine emperor had acknowledged Charlemagne as emperor. Charlemagne announced his son Louis as his successor.

Although Charlemagne had intended to split his kingdom among all of his sons, only Louis survived him. Louis in-turn partitioned his kingdom among his three sons. Pippin was given Aquitane, Louis was given Bavaria north of Italy, and Lothair was obtained emperor of the rest.

Louis' wife died and he remarried to Judith, who gave him a son. Louis was convinced to give his son a portion of land. So Louis split up the land between his son Louis and half to Charles.

The second partitioning gave way to relative peace until Louis (the elder) died. The sons then battled among themselves for 3 years until they came together to agree upon a fair division called the Treaty of Verdun. Charles the Bald received Francia, which would later become France. Louis the Bavarian received Allemagne, which would later become most of Germany. Finally, Lothair received what was left, which was a large section that would later become Italy, Luxembord, and Hungary.