7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7of the Lombards (774–814), and emperor (800–814).
Although he was never crowned as such, he is considered
to be the first Holy Roman Emperor.
Life and Reign
Charlemagne’s father, Pippin III, became the unofficial
ruler of the Franks in 747. Upon deposing Childeric III,
the last king of the Merovingian dynasty, in 751, Pippin
became king of the Franks—the first monarch of what
would be known as the Carolingian dynasty. When Pippin
died in 768, his realm was divided between Charlemagne
and his brother, Carloman. Almost immediately the rivalry
between the two brothers threatened the unity of the
Frankish kingdom. The death of Carloman in 771 ended
the mounting crisis, and Charlemagne, disregarding the
rights of Carloman’s heirs, took control of the entire
Frankish realm.
The first three decades of Charlemagne’s reign were
dominated by military campaigns, which were prompted
by a variety of factors: the need to defend his realm
against external foes and internal separatists, a desire for
conquest and wealth, a keen sense of opportunities
offered by changing power relationships, and an urge to
spread Christianity.
Charlemagne’s most demanding military undertaking
pitted him against the Saxons, longtime adversaries of
the Franks whose conquest required more than 30 years
of campaigning. This long struggle, which led to the
annexation of a large block of territory between the
Rhine and the Elbe rivers, was marked by pillaging, bro-
ken truces, hostage taking, mass killings, deportation of
rebellious Saxons, draconian measures to compel accep-
tance of Christianity, and occasional Frankish defeats.