Carolingians

French dynasty, named after its greatest monarch Carolus Magnus (Charlemagne).

About the year 623 Clotaire II, one of the Merovingian kings, gave his son, Dagobert I, the kingdom of Austrasia (approximating to Lorraine and Franconia) with Pepin the Elder as mayor of the Palace. Pepin's grandson, Pepin le Gros made himself master of both Austrasia and Neustria in 687, though he did not assume the royal title. His son, Charles Martel, seized the reins of government on his father's death, and became renowned as a warrior and administrator, but still contented himself with being mayor of the palace to the nominal king. His son, Pepin le Bref, deposed King Childeric III and became king, reigning from 751 to 768. He was succeeded by his son, Charlemagne, one of the greatest monarchs in European history, both as conqueror and ruler. Extending his kingdom across the Pyrenees to the Ebro, eastwards to the Elbe, the Bohemian Mountains, and even to Croatia and Dalmatia, and southward to Naples, he was crowned (800) by Pope Leo III as head of the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious, shared his domains between his sons, Charles II, the Bald taking France (840). Forty years later Charles III, the Fat reunited the empire but was deposed by Odo of Paris, and though there were other Carolingian monarchs their authority was little more than nominal. The dynasty in France ended with Louis V, who was succeeded by Hugh Capet (987), though in Germany Carolingians ruled as kings until 911.

© JM Dent/Historybookshop.com

Recommended reading

The Carolingians and the Written Word
McKitterick, Rosamond — Paperback £18.99 —

The New Cambridge Medieval History
McKitterick, Rosamond (ed.) — Hardback £100.00 —