Editing Charlemagne (section)

==King of the Franks and the Lombards==
===Annexation of the Lombard Kingdom===
[[File:771 CE, Europe.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Colour-coded map|Political map of Europe in 771, showing the Franks and their neighbors]]
Charlemagne's first campaigning season as sole king of the Franks was spent on the eastern frontier in his first [[Saxon Wars|war against the Saxons]], who had been engaging in border raids on the Frankish kingdom when Charlemagne responded by destroying the pagan [[Irminsul]] at [[Eresburg]] and seizing their gold and silver.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=99}} The success of the war helped secure Charlemagne's reputation among his brother's former supporters and funded further military action.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=116}} The campaign was the beginning of over thirty years of nearly-continuous warfare against the Saxons by Charlemagne.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=122}}

[[Pope Adrian I]] succeeded Stephen III in 772, and sought the return of papal control of cities that had been captured by Desiderius.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=117}} Unsuccessful in dealing with the Lombard king directly, Adrian sent emissaries to Charlemagne to gain his support for recovering papal territory. Charlemagne, in response to this appeal and the dynastic threat of Carloman's sons in the Lombard court, gathered his forces to intervene.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=117–118}} He first sought a diplomatic solution, offering gold to Desiderius in exchange for the return of the papal territories and his nephews.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=131–132}} This overture was rejected, and Charlemagne's army (commanded by himself and his uncle, [[Bernard, son of Charles Martel|Bernard]]) crossed the Alps to [[Siege of Pavia (773–774)|besiege]] the Lombard capital of [[Pavia]] in late 773.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=133}}

Charlemagne's second son (also named [[Charles the Younger|Charles]]) was born in 772, and Charlemagne brought the child and his wife to the camp at Pavia. Hildegard was pregnant, and gave birth to a daughter named Adelhaid. The baby was sent back to Francia, but died on the way.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=133}} Charlemagne left Bernard to maintain the siege at Pavia while he took a force to capture Verona, where Desiderius's son [[Adalgis]] had taken Carloman's sons.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=133, 134}} Charlemagne captured the city; no further record exists of his nephews or of Carloman's wife, and their fate is unknown.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=134–135}}{{sfn|Costambeys|Innes|MacLean|2011|p=67}} Recent biographer, [[Janet Nelson]] compares them to the [[Princes in the Tower]] in the [[Wars of the Roses]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=130}} Fried suggests that the boys were forced into a monastery (a common solution of dynastic issues), or "an act of murder smooth[ed] Charlemagne's ascent to power."{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=100}} Adalgis was not captured by Charlemagne, and fled to Constantinople.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=146}}

[[File:Charlemagne and Pope Adrian I.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Painting of Charlemagne, on horseback, being received by Pope Adrian I|[[Pope Adrian I|Pope Adrian]] receiving Charlemagne at Rome, 1493]]
Charlemagne left the siege in April 774 to celebrate Easter in Rome.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=101}} Pope Adrian arranged a formal welcome for the Frankish king, and they swore oaths to each other over the relics of St. Peter.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=135–138}} Adrian presented a copy of the [[Donation of Pepin|agreement between Pepin and Stephen III]] outlining the papal lands and rights Pepin had agreed to protect and restore.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=139–140}} It is unclear which lands and rights the agreement involved, which remained a point of dispute for centuries.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=112}} Charlemagne placed a copy of the agreement in the chapel above St. Peter's tomb as a symbol of his commitment, and left Rome to continue the siege.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=139–141}}

Disease struck the Lombards shortly after his return to Pavia, and they surrendered the city by June 774.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=142–144}} Charlemagne deposed Desiderius and took the title of King of the Lombards.{{sfn|Collins|1998|pp=61–63}} The takeover of one kingdom by another was "extraordinary",{{sfn|Collins|1998|p=62}} and the authors of ''The Carolingian World'' call it "without parallel".{{sfn|Costambeys|Innes|MacLean|2011|p=67}} Charlemagne secured the support of the Lombard nobles and Italian urban elites to seize power in a mainly-peaceful annexation.{{sfn|Collins|1998|p=62}}{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=147}} Historian [[Rosamond McKitterick]] suggests that the elective nature of the Lombard monarchy eased Charlemagne's takeover,{{sfn|McKitterick|2008|p=109}} and [[Roger Collins]] attributes the easy conquest to the Lombard elite's "presupposition that rightful authority was in the hands of the one powerful enough to seize it".{{sfn|Collins|1998|p=62}} Charlemagne soon returned to Francia with the Lombard royal treasury and with Desiderius and his family, who would be confined to a monastery for the rest of their lives.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=147–148}}

===Frontier wars in Saxony and Spain===
[[File:Frankish Empire 481 to 814-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Colour-coded map|Charlemagne's additions to the [[Frankish Kingdom]]]]
The Saxons took advantage of Charlemagne's absence in Italy to raid the Frankish borderlands, leading to a Frankish counter-raid in the autumn of 774 and a reprisal campaign the following year.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=154–156}} Charlemagne was soon drawn back to Italy as Duke [[Hrodgaud of Friuli]] rebelled against him.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=157–159}} He quickly crushed the rebellion, distributing Hrodgaud's lands to the Franks to consolidate his rule in Lombardy.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=159}} Charlemagne wintered in Italy, consolidating his power by issuing charters and legislation and taking Lombard hostages.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=159–161}} Amid the 775 Saxon and [[Friuli]]an campaigns, his daughter [[Rotrude]] was born in Francia.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=157}}

Returning north, Charlemagne waged another brief, destructive campaign against the Saxons in 776.{{efn|Charlemagne's third son ([[Pepin of Italy|Carloman]]) was also born in 776, based on the four-year-old's 780 baptism in Pavia.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=136}} }} This led to the submission of many Saxons, who turned over captives and lands and submitted to [[baptism]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=162–163}} In 777, Charlemagne held an assembly at [[Paderborn]] with Frankish and Saxon men; many more Saxons came under his rule, but the Saxon magnate [[Widukind]] fled to Denmark to prepare for a new rebellion.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=164–165}}

Also at the Paderborn assembly were representatives of dissident factions from [[al-Andalus]] (Muslim Spain). They included the son and son-in-law of [[Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri]], the former governor of [[Emirate of Córdoba|Córdoba]] ousted by Caliph [[Abd al-Rahman]] in 756, who sought Charlemagne's support for al-Fihri's restoration. Also present was [[Sulayman al-Arabi]], governor of Barcelona and Girona, who wanted to become part of the Frankish kingdom and receive Charlemagne's protection rather than remain under the rule of Córdoba.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=164–166}} Charlemagne, seeing an opportunity to strengthen the security of the kingdom's southern frontier and extend his influence, agreed to intervene.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=166}} Crossing the Pyrenees, his army found little resistance until an ambush by [[Basques|Basque]] forces in 778 at the [[Battle of Roncevaux Pass]]. The Franks, defeated in the battle, withdrew with most of their army intact.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=167–170, 173}}

===Building the dynasty===
[[File:Couronnement de Louis Ier le Pieux.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|alt=Miniature from an illuminated manuscript|Adrian crowning Louis, as Charlemagne looks on]]
Charlemagne returned to Francia to greet his newborn twin sons, [[Louis the Pious|Louis]] and Lothair, who were born while he was in Spain;{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=168, 172}} Lothair died in infancy.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=181}} Again, Saxons had seized on the king's absence to raid. Charlemagne sent an army to Saxony in 779{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=172–173}} while he held assemblies, legislated, and addressed a famine in Francia.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=175–179}} Hildegard gave birth to another daughter, [[Bertha, daughter of Charlemagne|Bertha]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=181}} Charlemagne returned to Saxony in 780, holding assemblies at which he received hostages from Saxon nobles and oversaw their baptism.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=173}}

He and Hildegard travelled with their four younger children to Rome in the spring of 781, leaving Pepin and Charles at [[Worms, Germany|Worms]], to make a journey first requested by Adrian in 775.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=181}} Adrian baptised Carloman and renamed him Pepin, a name he shared with his half-brother.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=182–186}} Louis and the newly renamed Pepin were then anointed and crowned. Pepin was appointed king of the Lombards, and Louis king of Aquitaine.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=136}} This act was not nominal, since the young kings were sent to live in their kingdoms under the care of regents and advisers.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=186}} A delegation from the [[Byzantine Empire]], the remnant of the Roman Empire in the East, met Charlemagne during his stay in Rome; Charlemagne agreed to betroth his daughter Rotrude to [[Irene of Athens|Empress Irene]]'s son, Emperor [[Constantine VI]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=191}}

Hildegard gave birth to her eighth child, [[Gisela, daughter of Charlemagne|Gisela]], during this trip to Italy.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=182–183}} After the royal family's return to Francia, she had her final pregnancy and died from its complications on 30 April 783. The child, named after her, died shortly thereafter.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=203}} Charlemagne commissioned epitaphs for his wife and daughter, and arranged for a [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] to be said daily at Hildegard's tomb.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=203}} Charlemagne's mother Bertrada died shortly after Hildegard, on 12 July 783.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=204–205}} Charlemagne was remarried to [[Fastrada]], daughter of the East Frankish count Radolf, by the end of the year.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=205}}

===Saxon resistance and reprisal===
In summer 782, Widukind returned from Denmark to attack the Frankish positions in Saxony.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=193}} He defeated a Frankish army, possibly due to rivalry among the Frankish counts leading it.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=193–195}} Charlemagne came to [[Verden an der Aller|Verden]] after learning of the defeat, but Widukind fled before his arrival. Charlemagne summoned the Saxon magnates to an assembly and compelled them to turn prisoners over to him, since he regarded their previous acts as treachery. The annals record that Charlemagne had 4,500 Saxon prisoners beheaded in the [[massacre of Verden]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=195–196}} Fried writes, "Although this figure may be exaggerated, the basic truth of the event is not in doubt",{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=126}} and [[Alessandro Barbero]] calls it "perhaps the greatest stain on his reputation."{{sfn|Barbero|2004|p=46}} Charlemagne issued the ''[[Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae]]'', probably in the immediate aftermath of (or as a precursor of) the massacre.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=196–197}} With a harsh set of laws which included the death penalty for pagan practices, the ''Capitulatio'' "constituted a program for the forced [[conversion of the Saxons]]"{{sfn|Barbero|2004|p=47}} and was "aimed&nbsp;... at suppressing Saxon identity".{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=197}}

Charlemagne's focus for the next several years would be on his attempt to complete the subjugation of the Saxons. Concentrating first in [[Westphalia]] in 783, he pushed into [[Thuringia]] in 784 as his son [[Charles the Younger]] continued operations in the west. At each stage of the campaigns, the Frankish armies seized wealth and carried Saxon captives into slavery.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=200-202}} Unusually, Charlemagne campaigned through the winter instead of resting his army.{{sfn|Collins|1998|p=55}} By 785, he had suppressed the Saxon resistance and completely commanded Westphalia. That summer, he met Widukind and persuaded him to end his resistance. Widukind agreed to be baptised with Charlemagne as his godfather, ending this phase of the [[Saxon Wars]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=208–209}}

===Benevento, Bavaria, and Pepin's revolt===
Charlemagne travelled to Italy in 786, arriving by Christmas. Aiming to extend his influence further into southern Italy, he marched into the Duchy of Benevento.{{sfn|Fried|2016|pp=139–140}} [[Arechis II of Benevento|Duke Arechis]] fled to a fortified position at [[Salerno]] before offering Charlemagne his fealty. Charlemagne accepted his submission and hostages, who included Arechis's son [[Grimoald III of Benevento|Grimoald]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=228}} In Italy, Charlemagne also met with envoys from Constantinople. Empress Irene had called the 787 [[Second Council of Nicaea]], but did not inform Charlemagne or invite any Frankish bishops. Charlemagne, probably in reaction to the perceived slight of the exclusion, broke the betrothal of his daughter Rotrude and Constantine VI.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=225–226, 230}}

[[File:Grimoald III solidus 74000878.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Both sides of an old coin|A ''[[solidus (coin)|solidus]]'' from Benevento, with Grimoald's effigy and Charlemagne's name (DOMS CAR RX, the Lord King Charles)]]
After Charlemagne left Italy, Arechis sent envoys to Irene to offer an alliance; he suggested that she send a Byzantine army with Adalgis, the exiled son of Desiderus, to remove the Franks from power in Lombardy.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=234}} Before his plans could be finalised, Aldechis and his elder son Romuald died of illness within weeks of each other.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=142}} Charlemagne sent Grimoald back to Benevento to serve as duke and return it to Frankish suzerainty.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=240}} The Byzantine army [[Byzantine expedition to Calabria (788/789)|invaded]], but were repulsed by the Frankish and Lombard forces.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=240–241}}

As affairs were being settled in Italy, Charlemagne turned his attention to Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by Duke [[Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria|Tassilo]], Charlemagne's first cousin, who had been installed by Pepin the Short in 748.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=186–187}} Tassilo's sons were also grandsons of Desiderius, and a potential threat to Charlemagne's rule in Lombardy.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=152}} The neighbouring rulers had a growing rivalry throughout their reigns, but had sworn oaths of peace to each other in 781.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=188–190}} In 784, Rotpert (Charlemagne's viceroy in Italy) accused Tassilo of conspiring with Widukind in Saxony and unsuccessfully attacked the Bavarian city of [[Bolzano]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=213–214}} Charlemagne gathered his forces to prepare for an invasion of Bavaria in 787. Dividing the army, the Franks launched a three-pronged attack. Quickly realizing his poor position, Tassilo agreed to surrender and recognise Charlemagne as his overlord.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=243–244}} The following year, Tassilo was accused of plotting with the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] to attack Charlemagne. He was deposed and sent to a monastery, and Charlemagne absorbed Bavaria into his kingdom.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=251–254}} Charlemagne spent the next few years based in [[Regensburg]], largely focused on consolidating his rule of Bavaria and [[Avar Wars|warring against]] the Avars.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=294}} Successful campaigns against them were launched from Bavaria and Italy in 788,{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=257}} and Charlemagne led campaigns in 791 and 792.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=157}}

Charlemagne gave Charles the Younger rule of [[Maine (province)#Early Middle Ages|Maine]] in Neustria in 789, leaving Pepin the Hunchback his only son without lands.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=270}} His relationship with Himiltrude was now apparently seen as illegitimate at his court, and Pepin was sidelined from the succession.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=270, 274–275}} In 792, as his father and brothers were gathered in Regensburg, Pepin conspired with Bavarian nobles to assassinate them and install himself as king. The plot was discovered and revealed to Charlemagne before it could proceed; Pepin was sent to a monastery, and many of his co-conspirators were executed.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=285–287, 438}}

The early 790s saw a marked focus on ecclesiastical affairs by Charlemagne. He summoned a council in Regensburg in 792 to address the theological controversy over the [[adoptionism]] doctrine in the Spanish church and formulate a response to the Second Council of Nicea.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=283–284}} The council condemned adoptionism as [[heresy]] and led to the production of the ''[[Libri Carolini]]'', a detailed argument against Nicea's canons.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=289–292}} In 794, Charlemagne called another [[Council of Frankfurt|council in Frankfurt]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=302}} The council confirmed Regensburg's positions on adoptionism and Nicea, recognised the deposition of Tassilo, set grain prices, reformed Frankish coinage, forbade abbesses from blessing men, and endorsed prayer in vernacular languages.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=306–314}} Soon after the council, Fastrada fell ill and died;{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=304}} Charlemagne married the Alamannian noblewoman [[Luitgard (Frankish queen)|Luitgard]] shortly afterwards.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=340, 377–379}}{{sfn|Riché|1993|p=135}}

===Continued wars with the Saxons and Avars===
Charlemagne gathered an army after the council of Frankfurt as Saxon resistance continued, beginning a series of annual campaigns which lasted through 799.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=319–321}} The campaigns of the 790s were even more destructive than those of earlier decades, with the annal writers frequently noting Charlemagne "burning", "ravaging", "devastating", and "laying waste" the Saxon lands.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=323–324}} Charlemagne forcibly removed a large number of Saxons to Francia, installing Frankish elites and soldiers in their place.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=325–326, 329–331}} His extended wars in Saxony led to his establishing his court in [[Aachen]], which had easy access to the frontier. He built a large [[Palace of Aachen|palace]] there, including a chapel which is now part of the [[Aachen Cathedral]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=356–359}} Einhard joined the court at that time.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=340}} [[Pepin of Italy]] (Carloman) engaged in further wars against the Avars in the south, which led to the collapse of their kingdom and the eastward expansion of Frankish rule.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=326, 333}}

Charlemagne also worked to expand his influence through diplomatic means during the 790s wars, focusing on the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Britain. Charles the Younger proposed a marriage pact with the daughter of King [[Offa of Mercia]], but Offa insisted that Charlemagne's daughter Bertha also be given as a bride for his son.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=270–271}} Charlemagne refused the arrangement, and the marriage did not take place.{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=83}} Charlemagne and Offa entered into a formal peace in 796, protecting trade and securing the rights of English pilgrims to pass through Francia on their way to Rome.{{sfn|Fried|2016|pp=84–85}} Charlemagne was also the host and protector of several deposed English rulers who were later restored: [[Eadberht III Præn|Eadbehrt of Kent]], [[Ecgberht, King of Wessex]], and [[Eardwulf of Northumbria]].{{sfn|Nelson|2019|pp=352, 400, 460}}{{sfn|Fried|2016|p=466}} Nelson writes that Charlemagne treated the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms "like satellite states," establishing direct relations with English bishops.{{sfn|Nelson|2019|p=353}} Charlemagne also forged an alliance with [[Alfonso II of Asturias]], although Einhard calls Alfonso his "dependent".{{sfn|Collins|1998|p=74}} Following his [[Sack of Lisbon (798)|sack of Lisbon]] in 798, Alfonso sent Charlemagne trophies of his victory, including armour, mules and prisoners.{{sfn|Reuter|1985|p=85}}