Charles I, King of the Franks & Emperor Charlemagne of Rome
- 774
Birth of daughter Adaltrude (773–774) – mother Hidegarde. Who was born whilst her parents were on campaign in Italy (seige of Pavia Sep 773-Jun 774). She was sent back to Francia, but died before reaching Lyons.
- 774
Kings of the Lombards. Coronation on 10 Jul 774 at Pavia, (reign 10 Jul 774 – 28 Jan 814).
- 774
Death of daughter Adalhaid (773–774) on 7 Aug 774 at Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France.
- 774
Concubine arrangement with Madelgard (?–?), they never married.
- 774
Birth of daughter Rotrude (774–810) in August – mother Hildegarde.
- 775
Birth of daughter Ruodhaid (775–810), – mother Madelgard. Abbess of Faremoutiers. Ruodhaid founded the monastery of Gy-les-Nonains in the region Center-Loire Valley, France and died in France on 24 Mar 852 aged 77.
- 776
Lombardy Rebellion. Charlemagne put down a rebellion in Lombardy by Duke Hrodgaud of Friuli and Duke Hildeprand of Spolet after rushing back from Saxony.
- 778
Birth of sons Lothair (778–779) and Louis I “The Pious” d’Aquitane (778-840) on 16 Apr 778 at Villa Cassinogilum, Chasseneuil-du-Poitou, France – mother Hildegarde. Louis I died on 20 Jun 840 at Ingelheim am Rhein, Mainz, Rhineland, Germany. He is buried at Abbey of Saint-Arnould, Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France.
- 778
Spanish Campaign (the Roncesvalles Campaign). Charlemagne marched his 3,000 strong army south in 778, besieged and takes the town of Pamplona, while Zaragoza, Huesca, Barcelona and Girona swore allegiance to him. He is frustrated in his attempt to take Saragossa and then – with nothing achieved – retreats northwards.
- The Battle of Roncevaux Pass (French and English spelling, Roncesvalles in Spanish, Orreaga in Basque) on 15 August saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne’s army (rear-guard and baggage train) in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees. The rear-guard stood their ground but were wiped out but they held out long enough for the rest of the army to continue in safety. Charlemagne’s nephew, Roland, military governor of the Breton March, who fought and died in the battle later had a song (poem) written about him, The Song of Roland, which is considered one of the first true national poems of the modern world. Later, William the Conqueror’s used the poem as a motivator for Norman forces prior to the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
- 779
Frankish-Moorish Wars (779-812)
The Franks and Moors fought throughout the Mediterrannean Sea and The Franks seized the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and in 799 the Balearic Islands plus parts of northern Spain. In 795, the Spanish regions of Gerona, Cardona, Ausona, and Urgel were united into the new Spanish March, which remained under Frankish authority until 1258.
- 779
Lothair died in infancy on 6 Feb 779 in Aachen, Rhineland, Germany.
- 779
Birth of daughter Berthe (c.779–824) – mother Hildegarde. She died on 11 Mar 824 at Aachen, Rhineland, Germany aged about 44.
- 780
Lombard War. Charlemagne installed his son as the ruler in Lombardy.
- 781
Birth of daughter Gisela of Rome (781–808) in May 781 at Milan, Lombardy, Italy. She was baptised there. Her mother was Hildegarde.
- 781
Charlemagne appointed two of his sons as kings. Carloman, was made king of Italy on 15 Apr 781 and in the same ceremony was renamed ‘Pepin. Louis, became king of Aquitaine.
- 782
Verdun, Lower Saxony (present day Germany). At the Massacre of Verden, Charlemagne reportedly ordered the slaughter of some 4,500 Saxons. He eventually forced the Saxons to convert to Christianity and declared that anyone who didn’t get baptized or follow other Christian traditions be put to death.
- 783
Birth of daughter Hildegarde (783–783) in Apr 783 at the royal estate Thionville, Moselle, Lorraine, France – mother Hildegarde.
- 783
Death of wife, Hildegarde on 30 Apr 783 aged 29 at the royal estate Thionville, Moselle, Lorraine, France due to after effects of her last childbirth. She is buried at Abbey of Saint-Arnould, Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France. Charlemagne insisted candles were burnt at her grave and daily prayers were said for her soul. In Charlemagne’s will of 806 he divided his domains between the three surviving sons of Hildegarde and because her son Louis ‘the Pious’ succeeded Charlemagne as Emperor, Hildegarde is often called ‘mother of Kings and Emperors’.
Hildegard’s epitaph
Here lies Hildegard,
once Charles happy wife,
by her charm,
but even more by the merits of her heart
the other women surpassed.
Her greatest fame, however, is the pleasure
of such a man, as Karl (Charles) is.
To have attracted
you was worthy Queen of alone.
To be so powerful empire
now complain all nations their death
and even defiant warrior
can the tears to not included.
Pain consumes the heart of her husband.
Only one consolation is left all,
that they will find their reward in heaven.
- 783
Death of daughter Hildegarde (783–783) in May 783 at the royal estate at Thionville, Lorraine, France. Paulus Diaconus wrote an epitaph to Hildegarde specifying that she lived for 40 days.
- 783
Death of mother Bertrada II “Broadfoot” of Laon (720–783) on 12 Jun 783 at Choisy-au-Bac, Oise, northern France.
- 783
Marriage (783-794) to Fastrada (765–794) in Oct 783 at Worms, Rhineland, Germany. She was 17. Her father was a Frankish count, Rudolph.
The 787 entry in the Royal Frankish Annals includes: “The same most gracious king reached his wife, the Lady Fastrada, in the city of Worms. There they rejoiced over each other and were happy together and praised God’s mercy.”
- 787
Birth of daughter Hiltrude (787– 830) in Alsace, France – mother Fastrada. She died aged 43 at Tours, France.
- 786
Breton Rebellion
Charlemagne subdued the Bretons, (Brittany in the west of Gaul) and they promised to obey him from then on.
- 787
Beneventian War
Charlemagne besieged the city of Salerno and incorporated southern Italy into his empire.
- 787
Bavarian War (787-788)
The ruler of Bavaria, Duke Tassilo, made an alliance with the Avars (better known as the Huns) to war with Charlemagne but when his forces entered Bavaria, the Duke quickly succombed and pledged loyalty to Charlemagne.
- 790
An offer by Offa of Mercia to arrange a marriage between Bertha and his son, Ecgfrith, led to Charlemagne breaking off diplomatic relations with Britain in 790, and banning British ships from his ports.
- 791
Frankish-Avar War (791-796)
Charlemagne together with his son Pepin waged war against the Avars and after a long and bloody war comlutaing in the subjugation of the Avars. Avars were from Pannonia located over the territory of the present-day western Hungary, eastern Austria, northern Croatia, north-western Serbia, northern Slovenia, western Slovakia and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 792
Second Beneventian War (792-?)
Grimold III, declared independence of Frankish rule and warfare continued on and off for years. Grimold never surrendered his independence.
- 792
In 792, he banished his eldest, though illegitimate, son, Pippin the Hunchback, because the young man had joined a rebellion against him, allegedly due to the cruelty of Queen Fastrada. He was judged by an assembly at Regensburg in Bavaria and imprisoned in the Abbey of St-Gallen in Switzerland. He was transferred to the Abbey of Prüm, Germany in 794.
- 792
Famine in the Frankish Empire in 792-4 caused catastrophic harvests, notably in France and Italy. The annalists report cases of cannibalism and collective hallucination.
- 793
Concubine arrangement with Amaltrud (c.775–?), they never married.
- 794
Birth of Daughter Alpaida(794–?) – mother Amaltrud.
- 794
Birth of daughter Theodrada (794–850), abbess of Argenteuil (814-828) in 8 Aug 794 at Wittenberg, Thringen, Germany – mother Fastrada.
- 794
Death of wife Fastrada (765–794)aged 30 on 10 Aug 794 at Frankfurt, Germany probably child birth complications.
- 794
Marriage to Luitgard (780–800). It was a childless marriage.
- 797
Charlemagne even had contact with the caliphal court in Baghdad. The caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid, presented Charlemagne with an Asian elephant named Abul-Abbas and a clock.
- 798
Slavic War
Charlemagne led a campaign against a Slavic group inhabiting what is now north-eastern Germany, they were known as the Wilzi. Charlemagne marched into their territory in 798 and crushed them.
- 799
Charlemagne conquered Corsica and Sardinia at an unknown date and in 799 the Balearic Islands.
- 799
Croation War (799-803)
The Croatian War continued on and off for years.
- 800
By 800, he had forged most of Western Europe into an efficiently run church-state.
- 800
Death of wife Luitgard (780–800) on 4 Jun 800 at Tours, France of unknown causes.
- 800
Ordination
On 25 Dec 800 at Old St Peter’s Basilicia, Rome, Italy. Pope Leo III (750-816) crowned Charlemagne holy emperor of the Romans.
- 800
Concubine arrangement with Regina Reginopycrha (775–?), they never married.
- 801
Birth of son Drogo (801–855) on 17 Jun 801 at Aachen, Rhineland, Germany – mother Regina. He was Bishop of Metz and he became Vicar of the Pope in France in Jun 844. He died after falling into the River Oignon in which he was fishing at Bourgogne, France on 8 Dec 855.
- 801
Frankish-Byzantine War (801-810)
Charlemagne waged war on both land and sea for control of Venetia and the Dalmatian coast (modern-day northern Italy, Slovenia and Croatia). Peace was agreed upon in which Charlemagne gave up most of the Dalmatian coast (which he had conquered), in exchange for the Byzantine Emperor recognizing him as Emperor of the West.
- 802
Birth of son Hugh, (802–844) at Aachen, Rhineland, Germany – mother Regina. He was made imperial Archchancellor of the Empire in 834 and Abbot of Saint-Quentin (822-823) in Aisne, France, Lobbes (836) in Hainaut, Belgium and Saint-Bertin (836) in Saint-Omer, Frankish Kingdom (now Pas-de-Calais, France). He died in an ambush by Pepin II on 14 Jun 844 at Angoumois, present day Charente, France. Hugh was killed by a lance, and according to the anonymous verse lament composed about his death. Charles wept over his body.
- 804
Concubine arrangement with Ethelind (c.780–?), they never married.
- 805
Birth of son Richbod of Rome (805–844), Abbott of Saint-Riquier – mother Ethelind. Died aged 39 in France.
- 805
Bohemian War (805-806)
Frankish forces subdued the Slavic region of Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic).
- 806
Charlemagne first made provision for the traditional division of the empire on his death. For Charles the Younger he designated Austrasia and Neustria, Saxony, Burgundy and Thuringia. To Pippin he gave Italy, Bavaria and Swabia. Louis received Aquitaine, the Spanish March and Provence.
- 807
Birth of son Theodoric of Rome (807–?) – mother Ethelind.
- 808
Death of daughter Gisela of Rome (781–808), aged 27 at Nièvre, Bourgogne, France.
- 808
Danish War (808-810)
Charlamagne settled accounts with the Danes, who had given aid and asylum to the Saxon leader Widukind in the Saxon Wars.
- 810
Death of daughter Rotrude (775–810) aged 45 on 6 Jun 810 at Comté du Maine, Neustria (present day France).
- 810
Death of son ‘Pepin’ Carloman (773–810) aged 37 on 8 Jul 810 at Milan, Lombard Kingdom (Italy). He is buried at Basilica of San Zeno, Verona, northern Italy.
- 810
Death of daughter Ruodhaid of Rome, Abbess of Faremoutiers. She died on 6 Jun 810 at Maine, Normandy, France aged 35.
- 811
Death of son Pepin ‘the Hunchback’ (767–811) died aged 44.
- 811
Death of son Charles ‘the Younger’ (772-811). At age 39 he had a stroke and died on 4 Dec 811 in Ingelheim, Hessen, Germany.
- 813
Charlemagne called Louis ‘the Pious’, king of Aquitaine, to his court and crowned his son as co-emperor named him as his successor at Aix-la-Chapelle, crowning him as joint Holy Roman Emperor on 11 September 813 and sending him back to Aquitaine. The only part of the Empire that Louis was not promised was Italy, which Charlemagne specifically bestowed upon Pippin’s illegitimate son Bernard (797-818).
- 813
During the autumn of 813 Charlemagne spent his time hunting before returning to Aachen on 1 November. In January, he fell ill with pleurisy. In deep depression (mostly because many of his plans were not yet realised), he took to his bed on 21 January and as Einhard tells it:
He died January twenty-eighth, the seventh day from the time that he took to his bed, at nine o’clock in the morning, after partaking of the Holy Communion, in the seventy-second year of his age and the forty-seventh of his reign.
- 814
Death on 28 Jan 814 at Aix-la-Chapelle royal palace, Aachen, Rhineland, Austrasia (present day Germany).
- 814
Burial at Cathedral of Aachen, Rhineland, Austrasia.
“ From the lands where the sun rises to western shores, People are crying and wailing…the Franks, the Romans, all Christians, are stung with mourning and great worry…the young and old, glorious nobles, all lament the loss of their Caesar…the world laments the death of Charles…O Christ, you who govern the heavenly host, grant a peaceful place to Charles in your kingdom. Alas for miserable me. ” – Anonymous monk of Bobbio Abbey, Bobbio, in the province of Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
Charlemagne had several residences across his kingdom, including private estates like Asnapium located near modern Villanueve d’Ascq in north eastern France. The estates were run in accordance with the Capitulare de villis*.
The Capitulare de villis played a role in preparing the king’s estates to aid him in the event of military conflict by supplying provisions and materials. Particular reference is made to carts and produce for the army.
A 9th century document detailing the inventory of an estate at Asnapium listed amounts of livestock, plants and vegetables and kitchenware including cauldrons, drinking cups, brass kettles and firewood. The manor contained seventeen houses built inside the courtyard for nobles and family members and was separated from its supporting villas. Every royal estate took pride in being self-sustaining with workshops, barns, granaries, dairies, breweries, ovens, fields, gardens, vineyards and orchards.
Another inventory shows the Asnapium estate had more than 60 horses. Other livestock included 100 cattle, nearly 300 hogs, nearly 500 sheep, more than 60 goats and poultry that included chickens, geese and peacocks. Supplies included barley, oats, spelt, wheat, peas, beans and rye. Some of this grain was stored; some planted.
*The Capitulare de villis is a text composed in c. 771–800 that guided the governance of the royal estates during the later years of the reign of Charlemagne. It lists, in no particular order, a series of rules and regulations on how to manage the lands, animals, justice, and overall administration of the king’s property and assets. The document was meant to lay out the instructions and criteria for managing Charlemagne’s estates and was thus, an important part of his reform of Carolingian government and administration.
The CV text might have been created in response to the famine of 792-4 but this is not proven.