Rome’s Successors: Byzantium, Islam, and the Germanic West 133ruler of Francia. Only the sacred character of Merovin-
gian kingship, derived ultimately from the sanctions of
the church, prevented the Arnulfings from claiming the
throne for themselves.
Eventually, they were able to do just that. The Ar-
nulfing mayors of the palace were capable men whose
military exploits brought them respect. One of them,
Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer), united the Frank-
ish realms that had long been divided among various
Merovingian heirs and won special glory in 732 by de-
feating a Muslim raiding party near Poitiers in central
France. Though not perhaps as decisive an encounter as
was sometimes claimed, this battle marked the furthest
penetration of Islam in Europe and caught the imagina-
tion of the Franks. Finally, Charles’s son, Pepin the Short,
used the growing prestige of his family and his close rela-
tions with the church to depose the last Merovingian.
With the full support of Rome he had himself crowned
king of the Franks in the winter of 751–752.
The Empire of Charlemagne
The dynasty founded by Pepin is called Carolingian af-
ter its greatest member: Charles the Great, or Charle-
magne (c. 742–814). In forty-seven years he brought
most of what is now France, Germany, and northern
Italy under his rule, had himself crowned Roman em-
peror, and either reformed or created a host of institu-
tions both secular and religious. To the historians of a
generation ago he stood at the beginning of European
history. To Einhard, his biographer and a contemporary
(see document 7.5), Charlemagne held out the promise
of a new Roman empire. But few of the emperor’s
achievements survived his death, and even fewer were
the product of a grand and systematic historical vision.
The great king was above all a warlord who, like
his father, allied himself with the church to further his
interests. Pepin had left him western and northern
France and the Frankish territories along the lower
Rhine. A brother, Carloman, took the rest of France
and parts of southwest Germany including the western
Alps. When Carloman died in 771, Charlemagne
annexed his brother’s kingdom, forcing his wife and
children to take refuge among the Lombards of north-
ern Italy who had for some time been hostile to
Charlemagne. Realizing that the Lombards were a
threat to the papal territories, and perhaps to Rome
itself, Pope Adrian I allied himself with Charlemagne.
After two years of hard fighting, Charlemagne defeated
the Lombards in 774 and annexed their kingdom.
North Germany, too, required attention. The region
between the Rhine and the Elbe was inhabited mainly
by pagan Saxons who raided Frankish settlements in
the Rhineland and murdered the missionaries sent to
convert them. Treaties and agreements were useless be-
cause the Saxons acknowledged no political authority
beyond that of the individual war band, and each chief-
tain felt free to act on his own.
Characteristically, Charlemagne’s strategy focused
on religion. In 772 he raided deep into Saxon territory
and destroyed the Irminsul, the great tree that formed
the heart of one of their most sacred shrines. He
apparently thought that by doing so he would demon-
strate the stronger magic of the Christian God, but theDOCUMENT 7.5
Einhard: Description of Charlemagne
This brief passage from Einhard’s biography of Charlemagne
is both vivid and unusual in that it provides personal details
often omitted by the authors of the day.Charles had a big and powerful body and was tall
but well-proportioned. That his height was seven
times the length of his own feet is well known.
[He seems to have been about 6′ 3 ′′or more than a
foot taller than the average man of his day.] He
had a round head, his eyes were unusually large
and lively, his nose a little longer than average, his
gray hair attractive, and his face cheerful and
friendly. Whether he was standing or sitting his
appearance was always impressive and dignified.
His neck was somewhat short and thick and his
stomach protruded a little, but this was rendered
inconspicuous by the good proportions of the rest
of his body. He walked firmly and his carriage was
manly, yet his voice, though clear, was not as
strong as one might have expected from someone
his size. His health was always excellent, except
during the last four years of his life, when he fre-
quently suffered from attacks of fever. And at the
end he also limped with one foot. All the same, he
continued to rely on his own judgment more than
on that of his physicians, whom he almost hated
because they ordered him to give up his customary
roast meat and eat only boiled meat instead.
Einhard. The Life of Charlemagne,p. 87, trans. Evelyn Scher-
abon Firchow and Edwin H. Zeydel. Coral Gables: University of
Miami Press, 1972.