Summary:  Charlemagne  (742 - 814)

(German:  Karl der Gross,  Slav:  Karol)

Charles Martel (689 - 741), grandfather of Charlemagne, founded the Carolingian dynasty.  In 719, he united the Frankish tribes to create the first Frankish kingdom.  He stopped the Muslim (also called Moor or Saracen) advance in western Europe through the Iberian penisula.  He defeated the Saracen armies in 727 at Narbonne, and again in 732 at Poitiers.  His son, Pepin the Short succeeded him as king, who was then suceeded by Charlemagne.

Charlemagne became King of the Franks in 768, jointly with brother, Carloman.  When Carloman died in 771, Charlemagne ruled alone for the rest of his 46 year reign.  He expanded the Frankish Kingdom with 53 wars against 12 nations, including:

·        The Saxons, in 18 wars from 772 - 804, finally incorporating them fully into his empire

·        Lombardy in 773 and 776, adding Italy to the Frankish Kingdom

·        Saracens in 778, with little success, only moving his southern frontier from the Pyrenees mountains to the Ebro river in modern Spain.

·        The Bavarians in 788, adding Bavaria to his domain

·        The Avars in 791, and 794 or 796, destroying that empire.

After conquering the Saxons in 804, Charlemagne lived a peaceful life in palace in Aix-La-Chapelle (modern Aachen, Germany), until his death 10 years later.

Louis I (778 - 840) also called the Pious, Charlemagne's son, succeded him as Emperor of the Franks in 813.  In 817, he began dividing the Empire among his sons:  Lothair received Italy, Pepin received Aquitaine and Louis the German received Bavaria.  A later division in 829 also included his fourth son, Charles II the Bald.  This division provoked a revolt from his sons in 830, and Louis I was deposed in 833, only to be restored in 834.  Wars with his sons continued until his death in 840.  After his death, his sons continued to war against each other until the Treaty of Verdun, in 843, permanently divided the Frankish empire into three parts. 

Louis the German received East Francia, which later evolved into modern Germany.  East Francia included Saxony and Bavaria, two very powerful states, and all lands eastward.  Louis followed his monks in their eastward expansion.  When Mojmir of Moravia deposed Pribina of Nitrava for the founding of a Frankish church in Nitra in 838, Louis attacked the Great Moravian Empire.  In 846, he defeated and deposed Mojmir I in favor of his nephew, Rastislav, but the Franko-Moravian conflict continued until the destruction of the Great Moravian Empire at the hands of the Magyars in 907, at the invitation of Arnulf, King of Bavaria.