Charlemagne Biography

Charlemagne (/ˈʃɑːrləmeɪn/) or Charles the Great[a] (2 April 742[b] – 28 January 814), numbered Charles I, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor from 800. He united much of western and central Europe during the early Middle Ages. He was the first recognized emperor to rule from western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state that Charlemagne founded is called the Carolingian Empire. He was later canonized by the pope.