Who Is Charlemagne Really Charles The Great?

Charlemagne, or simply Charles the Great, was one of the greatest kings known to history. Charlemagne was born into the Carolingian Dynasty around 742 A.D. He was the eldest son of Pepin the Short, the founder of the Carolingian Dynasty. Although there is no written information on his childhood one thing was for certain, he was born into power and destined to be the next king of Frankia. When King Pepin passed away of dropsy after ruling the Frankish Kingdom for over fifteen years, his kingdom was split equally into two. It was decided by the Franks that both of Pepin’s sons, Charles and Carloman, be made kings. Charlemagne was to take control over the part of the kingdom that belonged to their late father, while Carloman was to occupy and
The most infamous campaign he was involved in was with the Saxons which lasted about 32 years. After years of constant conflict and slaughter, he made a deal with the Saxons to abandon their polytheistic beliefs and join the Christian religion. Charlemagne was inspired by the Romans and wanted to continue to expand his empire by bringing Western Europe together. Throughout his kingship, Charlemagne would go to war, takeover other kingdoms, make people renounce their faith, join Christianity thus becoming part of his kingdom expanding Charlemagne’s kingdom into modern day France, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Besides being remembered for his victorious campaigns of war, conquests and empire expansion, what else was he known for? Charlemagne was known to be a husband, he had many wives, but was a great father who was involved in every aspect of his children’s lives. He was a respected man who admired foreigners, a firm believer of Christ and devoted his life to
Historians are unsure whether his first relationship was with one of his wives or a concubine (CHI). Desiderata, daughter of King Desiderius of the Lombards, was married to Charlemagne for about a year before he divorced her for unknown reasons. After his marriage with Desiderata ended, within that same year he married a Suabian woman named Hildegard. He had as many as six children with Hildegard before her death in 783 A.D. Charlemagne had two other wives, Fastrada and Liutgard, and as many as six concubines. Together with his wives and concubines, Charlemagne had a whooping total of about twenty children some of who were illegitimate. Charlemagne was quite the family man who often brought his children with him during his recurrent expeditions until the family finally settled down in the capital of his empire, Aachen (CHI). Charlemagne emphasized the great importance of education for his children. Therefore, the boys were taught how to battle and horsemanship, while the girls were taught how to sew and make clothes. Equally important, both boys and girls were educated in the liberal arts (Einhard). As explained by Einhard in the Vita Karoli Magni,