 Also known as Charles the Great  Lived to be 72, twice the average life span at the time  King of the Franks from  Covered modern day France, Germany and parts of Spain and Italy

 Conquered land, tried to convert people to Christianity  Formed an alliance with Pope Leo III  Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor

 Gave the Romans their first emperor since 476  Gave Charlemagne the blessing of the Pope  Established the principle that the Pope had the power to crown an emperor

 Roman Empire 200

 Charlemagne brought in Alcuin in 782 to set- up a school  Created “Charter of Modern Thought”  This was given to church officials and demanded better grammar in documents  Priests were told to set-up free schools

 Books were produced by Monks and they would handwrite copies of the Bible  Charlemagne led a revival in Greek and Roman texts  Charlemagne could not write himself yet demanded better grammar to benefit others

 Charlemagne passed away in 814  In 843, his 3 grandsons signed the Treaty of Verdun  This made the empire weak and vulnerable to attack

 Muslims attack in late 800’s and occupy northern Italy  Magyars invade in 896 and take parts of France  Vikings attacked northern Europe in the 900’s