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[[File: Karl_Aachen_RathausCharlemagne_coronation.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|Statue of Charlemagne at AachenBeing Crowned the Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III]]
Charlemagne or Karl “the Great” (ruled AD 768-814) is regarded by scholars and lay people alike as one of the greatest Europeans in history. Today, both the French and Germans claim him as one of their earliest known and most revered monarchs due to his great deeds and the fact that he was one of the best recorded early medieval European kings.
The emperor Charlemagne was descended from an ethnic group known as the Franks, who came to prominence in western Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire in AD 476. The Franks, like many of their tribal neighbors of the time, were of Germanic origin and culturally different than the Romans. Despite their differences with the Romans, when the Franks settled in the Roman province of Gaul (roughly equivalent to modern France) in the fifth century they desired to be citizens of Rome.
In their quest to be Romans, the Franks were among the first of the Germanic tribes to convert to Roman Catholicism and they even fought alongside the Romans to defeat Attila and his army of Huns in 451. <ref> James, Edward. “The Northern World in the Dark Ages, 400-900.” In <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0192801333/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0192801333&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=e0459f2de47255b440690db378011ced The Oxford History of Medieval Europe].</i> Edited by George Holmes. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 65</ref> But as the Franks did what they could to impress the Romans, the empire collapsed, leaving the Franks and the other Germanic tribes to establish successor kingdoms throughout western Europe. The Franks would create the best organized and most enduring of all these states.
Most experts place the origins of the Frankish kingdom with King Clovis, who inherited his position from his father, Childeric, in 482. Clovis was able to conquer most of Gaul and brought back a considerable amount of political and social stability to the region that had been absent in the wake of repeated Germanic invasions and the withdrawal of Roman forces. Clovis also established a new dynasty, known as the Merovingian, which lasted for nearly 300 years. <ref> James, pgs. 65-67</ref>
The Merovingian Dynasty continued successfully until a new dynasty arose through the marriage of two of the most influential Franks’ children. In the seventh century, Pippin, who was the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, married his daughter to the son of Arnulf of Metz, which resulted in a new Frankish dynasty known as the Carolingian Dynasty. The dynasty acquired its name from Charles Martel (ruled 718-741), who famously drove the Islamic Moors from France and back into Spain in 732. <ref> James, p. 90</ref> Although there were many noteworthy Carolingian kings, none were more so than Charlemagne.
After Charlemagne assumed the Carolingian throne, he wasted no time instituting his ambitious plan to bring his kingdom out of the Dark Ages. Among the more important acts Charlemagne did early in his rule was the conquest and forced conversion of the Saxons in 785. For his efforts to spread Christianity in Europe, Pope Leo III rewarded Charlemagne by crowning him the “Holy Roman Emperor,” which became a title held by dozens of German kings during the Middle Ages. The emperor was also instrumental in reviving Hellenic ideas, promoting education and learning, and also his efforts to establish a reliably functioning government bureaucracy. <ref> Jotischky, Andrew, and Caroline Hall. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0141014490/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0141014490&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=72311ee7c9bedf8e3a0ab07576c5fb48 The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Medieval World].</i> (London: Penguin Books, 2005), p. 26</ref> One does not have to look far to see the influences Charlemagne left in medieval Europe, but often overlooked are the many economic ideas he advocated.
====Frankish Economic Ideas before Charlemagne====
Like his Frankish ancestors, Charlemagne saw the importance in fostering trade within his realm. The emperor continued with his predecessors’ policies of promoting trade fairs and towns, but then took things to the next logical level by expanding trade to neighboring kingdoms. Slaves, wine, grains, and hand made goods were exported from the Carolingian Empire along the Rhine River to the North and Baltic seas where they arrived in such places to the north as London and Sweden. The trade network helped to revitalize the depressed economic conditions of former Roman territories of the west and north and brought regions such as Scandinavia, which were not part of the Roman Empire, into this new system. Charlemagne also developed regular trade with the Byzantine Empire to the east and the various Islamic dynasties in North Africa and the Near East. <ref> Misbach, p. 267</ref> The creation of a widespread trade network was truly remarkable, but it would not have been possible without technological advances that were made in the agricultural sector during the Carolingian Empire.
[[File: Charlemagne_coronationKarl_Aachen_Rathaus.jpg|300px200px|thumbnail|rightleft|Statue of Charlemagne Being Crowned the Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo IIIat Aachen]]
When the Carolingian Empire came to power, most western European peasants were still using Roman era farming methods and technologies. Not only were most of these methods and technologies outdated and extremely labor intensive, they were also better adapted to the longer growing seasons of the Mediterranean basin. Two of the most important technological advances in farming that were made during the Carolingian Empire were the invention of the heavy wheeled moldboard plow and the modern horse harness. <ref> Misbach, p. 268</ref> These innovations helped to make farming less labor intensive, which meant that either more land could be worked by an individual or more time could be dedicated to other pursuits. Along with these agricultural inventions, Charlemagne and the Carolingians began view farming itself in a much different and more efficient way than the Romans did.
