istoryworld
Events relating to charlemagne
Pope Stephen II anoints Pepin III and his two sons (one of them Charlemagne) in the abbey church of St Denis
On the death of Pepin III, the empire of the Franks is divided between his two sons - Charlemagne and his younger brother, Carloman
On the death of his brother, Charlemagne inherits the entire kingdom of the Franks
Charlemagne destroys a great Saxon shrine, the Irminsul - the start of a 30-year campaign against his pagan neighbours in what is now Germany
After two campaigns in Lombardy, Charlemagne establishes himself as king of the Lombards in northern Italy
An attack on Charlemagne's army, traditionally at the pass of Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees, is later the basis for the Chanson de Roland
Charlemagne, meeting the English scholar Alcuin on a visit to Italy, invites him to become head of the palace school in Aachen
In St Peter's in Rome, on Christmas Day, pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor - supposedly to Charlemagne's surprise
Pope Leo III consecrates Charlemagne's new palace chapel in Aachen, modelled on San Vitale in Ravenna
Charlemage has his only surviving legitimate son, Louis the Pious, crowned as his co-emperor
Charlemagne dies and his son Louis the Pious inherits the whole, now greatly extended, Frankish empire
The chansons de geste, performed by professional minstrels in castles and manors, celebrate the exploits of Charlemagne and his paladins
A popular French poem, the Chanson de Roland, turns a minor disaster in one of Charlemagne's campaigns into a tale of epic heroism
In feudal France and Germany Charlemagne is by now venerated as a saint