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THE FRANKS AND CHARLEMAGNE
The Franks were a G______________ tribe that conquered most of
present day F__________ and G____________. Clovis was the f___________
king to u_________ the Franks. And he was the first to c____________ to
C______________________ . A subsequent *F______________ leader,
Charles M__________ who was a mayor of the palace kept M__________
forces from invading F_________ and kept Europe ruled by the C___________.
The greatest Frankish k______ was C____________ the G________, or
C___________________. Charlemagne hoped to u_________ all
G______________ tribes into a single C________________ kingdom. On
Christmas Day, AD800, Pope L____ placed a c________ on
C____________________’s head and proclaimed him “A______________,”
emperor of the H______ R________ E__________.
Charlemagne hoped to regain the glory of the R________ Empire. He set
up s____________ through his e__________, and provided f_________ that
allowed m________ to c______ the works of G________ and R________
authors. C____________ himself could r_______ but not w____________ but
that didn’t stop him from *p______________.
To gain j__________ at Charles’ court all you had to do was to r________ a
b______ at his palace gate. Also Charles set up a new g______________ that
was based on the G___________ system of giving of lands. This new
government was known as F________________. He considered himself the
f______________ of his country and therefore in charge of the c_____________.
He appointed b____________ and gave large amounts of l_________ to the
church making it r_________ and p__________. He imposed the d__________
p_______ for breaking r________ rules such as refusing b_________ or eating
m_________ on F____________.
 The Franks and Charlemagne
CLOVIS
The Franks occupied the east
bank of the Rhine River for about
two hundred years. Then many of
the tribes crossed the river in
search of new homes. The region
west of the river was at that time
called Gaul. Here the Franks
established themselves and
became a powerful people. From
their name the country was
afterwards called France. Each
tribe of the Franks had its own
king. The greatest of all these
kings was Chlodwig, or Clovis,
as we call him, who became ruler
of his tribe. When Clovis became
king of the Franks a great part of
Gaul still belonged to Rome. This
part was then governed by a
Roman general, named Syagrius.
Clovis resolved to drive the
Romans out of the country, and
he talked over the matter with the
head men of his army.
"My desire," said he, "is that the
Franks shall have possession of
every part of this fair land. I shall
drive the Romans and their
friends away and make Gaul the
empire of the Franks."
When Clovis united most of
present day France and western
Germany, he became the first
king of the Franks. Another one
of his changes was to convert to
Christianity. On Christmas day a
great multitude assembled in the
church at Rheims to witness the
baptism of the king. A large
number of his fierce warriors
were baptized at the same time.
The service was performed with
great ceremony and the title of
"Most Christian King" was given
to Clovis by the Pope. This title
was ever afterwards borne by the
kings of France.
CHARLES MARTEL
AFTER the death of Mohammed the
Saracens, as Mohammedans are
also called, became great warriors.
They conquered many countries and
established the religion of Islam in
them. In 711 the Saracens invaded
and conquered a great part of Spain
and founded a powerful kingdom
there, which lasted about seven
hundred years. They intended to
conquer the land of the Franks next,
and then all Europe.
They thought it would be easy to
conquer the Franks, because the
Frankish king at that time was a very
weak man. He was one of a number
of kings who were called the "Do-
nothing kings." They spent all their
time in amusements and pleasures,
leaving the affairs of the government
to be managed by persons called
mayors of the palace.
Charles, who was twenty-five years
old at that time, became a mayor of
the palace. This Charles is known in
history as Charles Martel. He was a
brave young man. He had fought in
many of his father's battles and so
had become a skilled soldier. His
men were devoted to him.
Muslims had conquered Spain, and
in 732 they crossed the Pyrenees
Mountains and attempted to conquer
France. Charles Martel was not idle.
As quickly as he could he got
together a great army of Franks and
Germans and marched against the
Saracens. The two armies met
between the cities of Tours in
October, 732. On the seventh day a
great battle took place. The battle of
Tours is regarded as one of the
decisive battles of the world. Charles
was victorious and was known as
“the Hammer” after that for how he
used his battle axe. It decided that
Christians, and not Moslems, should
be the ruling power in Europe.
CHARLEMAGNE
Charlemagne or Charles the Great
was Charles Martel’s grandson and
the greatest of the Frankish kings. In
an era when most men were little
more than five feet tall, Charlemagne
stood six feet, four inches. He took
part in about 60 battle campaigns
and expanded the kingdom of the
Franks into Spain and Central
Europe. Charlemagne’s goal was to
unite all of the Germanic tribes into a
single Christian kingdom. When the
Lombards attacked the papal
territory in 774, Charlemagne
marched into Italy and defeated the
Lombards, and rescued the Pope.
On Christmas Day, 800, Pope Leo III
repaid Charlemagne for defeating
the Lombards. As Charlemagne
rose from prayer, Leo placed a
crown on his head and proclaimed
him “Augustus,” emperor of the “Holy
Roman Empire.” The coronation
united Christendom and started the
birth of western European civilization
under Charlemagne’s rule. When
Charlemagne named his son as his
successor, he presided over the
ceremony himself and did not invite
the Pope. Charlemagne hoped to
regain the glory of the Roman
Empire so he set out to make
changes.
Charlemagne had a passion for
justice and invited everyone to
dinner or court no matter what their
rank. All you had to do was to ring a
bell at his palace gate and you were
received in the court of Charlemagne
and he heard your case.
Charlemagne could read but never
learned how to write, but he wanted
to recapture the glory of the Roman
Empire. He set up public schools
(one at his palace) for all children not
just the rich throughout his empire
and provided funds that allowed
monks to copy the works of Greek
and Roman authors. These were
given to the students to use. While
he could read he could not write so
he kept tablets and blanks under his
pillow so late at night he could
practice
Another of Charlemagne’s
achievements was that of an
organized government. He
combined the German system of
chieftains and dukes with the Roman
tradition of a Centralized government
and created the first forms of
Feudalism, a type of government
based on the giving of land.
He considered himself the father of
his country and he was in charge of
appointing bishops and the church.
He imposed the death penalty for
breaking fast on Lent, eating meat
on Friday and refusing baptism. He
gave largest pieces of land to the
church and the church grew rich and
powerful because of it.