Biography Of Charlemagne

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After reading about Charlemagne and his reign there were a lot of positive examples of why he was a good ruler and some negative examples. There was a lot of information on his amazing battles that he won, land that he conquered and how much his people loved him, although there was a time when his people conspired against him as he treated people cruelly because of his Queen at the time.

Charlemagne was a great ruler because he most skilfully planned and successfully fought his wars. He won all the wars and battles that he got involved in. Charlemagne won these battles because he carried out the wars with persistence and bitterness. Charlemagne led the Franks to many victories. A lot of neighbouring countries feared him because of his brutality. This was good for Charlemagne as it made his people trust that he could protect them and that made them trust him. Charlemagne and his men were such great warriors that countries for example Gaul (now known as France) even submitted to him before the war began. Some of the other countries rulers even gave him their children so that he would not fight them and steal their land. Charlemagne conquered a lot of land but he did it differently to the other kings because he attacked other kingdoms less often but still conquered a lot of land. He almost doubled the amount that his father had previously conquered. He also made sure that he kept the land by taking hostages. A good example of the submission of the Bretons and Beneventans can be seen in the Einhard: The Life of Charlemagne. Charlemagne pitched his camp in Capua, a city in Campania and threatened the Beneventans until their duke Aragis sent his two sons, Rumold and Grimold with a lot of money to meet the King and begged Charlemagne to keep them as hostages if the Duke didn’t have to appear before him. These are some of the reasons why Charlemagne was a good ruler and how he was such a good warrior and obtained so much land.

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However, Charlemagne also did some very mean things during his reign to people as he removed them from their homes and even from their own countries because he didn’t like them or wanted their land. He often gave that land to other countries that he did like. A lot of his men died as a result of the many wars he fought in his 47 years of his rule. A lot of people suffered in their own lands because of this. He also strayed from his normal kind and gentle ways and supported his wife Queen Fastrada at the time who was very cruel in her conduct to their people. It was said that when Charlemagne was at war with the Huns in Bavaria, his son Pepin and some leading Franks conspired against him but they were found out and punished severely. This was a good example from The Royal Frankish Annals on Charlemagne. This was very unusual for Charlemagne’s people as most thought of him very well. It was believed that it was because of his wife Queen Fastrada and her cruel ways in punishing their people that he knew about and went along with. These are the reasons why Charlemagne was a bad ruler and why his people were sometimes afraid of him.

In conclusion Charlemagne was a partly good and partly bad ruler. He did some very good things for the Holy Roman Empire but he also did very bad things to other countries. Charlemagne gained a lot of area for the Franks but he did take some kings’ children from them and treated people at certain times very cruelly. These are the reasons why Charlemagne was a very good ruler but also a bad ruler.

Bibliography:

  1. Samuel Epes Turner, 1880, Einhard’s Life of Charlemagne, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/einhard.asp
  2. Dr. Ryan reeves, May 28 2014, who was Charlemagne?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yfhG547two

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