Charlemagne "Holy Roman Emperor" He was annointed King along with his brother by Pope Stephen III at Saint-Denis

in 754. After his father's death, Charles took possession ofhis half of the kingdom, the western portion, on Oct. 9, 768. After Carloman's death, he annexed his kingdom. He waged his first campaign against the pagan Saxons in retaliationfor a raid in 772. He invaded Italy to aid the Pope and defeated theLombards under Desideratus in 774, he suppressed a Lombard revolt in 775. His intervention in Spain to chastise the Moors was repulsed by thefortifications at Saragossa in 778, and his rearguard, commanded by hisnephew Roland, was ambushed and destroyed by Basques at the pass ofRoncesvalles near Burguete in 778. This story was later romantized as "The Song of Roland". Goaded by fierce Saxon resistance, he determined to conquer Saxonyand began a series of brutal campaigns. He founded the bishopric ofBremen in 781. He defeated them at the battles of Detmold and the Hase in783, and wintered in Saxony, finally achieving the submission of theSaxon chieftain, Widukind, in 785. Charlemagne's character was contradictory. In an age when the usualpenalty for defeat was death, Charlemagne several times spared the livesof his defeated foes; yet in 782 at Verden, after a Saxon uprising, heordered 4,500 Saxons beheaded. He directed several further campaigns, especially after a revolt in793, but by 798 most of the tribes were subdued. He drove Duke Tossila III out of Bavaria and annexed it in 788. soonafter, he was drawn into war against the marauding Avars on the middleDanube plain and defeated them gradualy annexing their territory as faras Lake Balaton and northern Croatia by 803. He had invaded Spain again in 796 and captured Barcelona in 801. He was crowned Emperor in Rome on Christmas Day in 800 by Pope LeoIII in recognition of his power and achievements. He waged a desultory and inconclusive war with the Byzantines forcontrol of Venizia (Venice) and the Dalmation coast between 802 and 812which ended with a negotiated peace and Byzantine recognition of his Imperial title. The last years of his reign were relatively quiet. Charles diedafter four years of failing health, from pleurisy, and is buried in thechapel at Aachen (now part of the cathedral)(Aachen = Aix la Chapelle). Physically imposing, a contemporary account states that he was almost seven feet in height, in an era when few men were even six feet -"large and strong, and of lofty stature, though not disproportionately tall...the upper part of his head was round, his eyes very large and animated, nose a little long, hair fair, and face laughing and merry." Hewas warm, outgoing and athletic. and highly intelligent, he was a ruler of extraordinary abilities. He delighted in hunting, riding, and swimming. He wore the Frankish dress--linen shirt and breeches, asilk-fringed tunic, hose wrapped with bands, and, in winter, a tight coatof otter or marten skins. Over all these garments "he flung a blue cloak,and he always had a sword girt about him." He was a superb militaryorganizer, his campaigns demonstrate determination, imagination,consistent strategy and excellent logistics. He compelled the clergy and nobles to reform, but he divorced two of his four wives without any cause. He forced kings and princes to kneel at his feet, yet his mother and his two favorite wivesoften overruled him in his own household. Through his administrative reforms he sought to bring unity and order to his realm, especially through the "missi dominici" administrative circuit riders. He alsopropounded art and learning, but most of his cultural and administrative initiatives lapsed after his death. He was rightly known as "a light inthe Dark Ages".