King Charlemagne

Charlemagne was born in April 747 and died on January 28, 814. The place where Charlemagne was born is unknown historians. He was best known as the Frankish king and the Holy Roman Emperor. He was the Frankish king who conquered most of Europe and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800. Charlemagne united most of Europe and created a period of order during the Middle Ages. He was the first Germanic ruler to get the title of emperor. Charlemagne left his mark on the newly rising civilization of the West. He was the son of Pepin the Short and the grandson of Charles Martel. From 768 to 771, Charlemagne shared the kingdom with his brother, Carloman. When Carloman died, He became the main ruler.

Charlemagne became a giant figure in the western world especially in Europe during all his reign and even after his death, he would never be forgotten. Though Charlemagne's empire was very great, it did not replace the lost government of Rome. He contributed to the Early Middle Ages because of his concern with law. His main goal was to reform the legal system in the Frankish empire. He had eventually strengthened the feudal, political, and economic systems. Charlemagne appeared to be both a Christian and barbarian leader and emperor. Though it was said, that he was a Christian emperor, he was very brutal and violent. Though he was a Christian, he had no ideal of what Christianity was really about. ( Middle Ages 171, 172 & The Early Middle Ages 56, 57)

Charlemagne married the daughter of the Lombard king Desiderius in 770 in order to maintan an alliance with each other. When his brother dies, he sent his wife back to the Lombard king and began to expand his empire by attacking the Lombards. By the year 774, He had defeated his father-in-law and had gained control of northern Italy. Charlemagne had one of the best intelligence networks of the time, he sent out spies and scouts to determine locations of his enemies. He often divided his army into two columns and reunited them at the minute of the attack. Charlemagne's army were almost always successful because of their number and individual abilities.


Charlemagne was the most powerful ruler of Western Europe and the realm he had conquered covered what are now France, Switzerland, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Charlemagne restored much of the unity of the old Roman Empire and brought much of the development to modern Europe. On Christmas Day in 800, while Charlemagne knelt in prayer in Saint Peter's in Rome, was crowned King. The church shouted, " great and pacific emperor, long life and victory." He is considered the first Holy Roman emperor , and got the title Charles the Great, though he did not use it.

In 811, Charlemagne began the march to Verden to meet Godefrid, the king of the Norsemen. Before Charlemagne and Godefrid could meet for battle, Godefrid was murdered. Charlemagne was now seventy years old and when he heard news of what had happened, began the trip back home. This would be his last expedition. In 813, his health became very bad, so he gave his power and empire to his son Louis and less than a year later, he was dead.

Cantor, Norman. The Civilization of the Middle Ages. New York: HarpersCollins Publishers Inc. 1963
Corrick, James. The Early Middle Ages. San Diego: Lucent Books, Inc. 1995

Thanks for letting me turn this in late Mr lockwood!!!!!!!

The Middle Ages: The black death

The Middle Ages have many interesting parts to it. The one I found most interesting was the time during the Black death. The Black Death reached the shores of Italy in 1348, unleashing a huge percent of death across Europe. By the end of the three year period, 25% to 50% of people had been affected or killed by the plague. The plague was spread by fleas that attached themselves to rats who then attached themselves to humans which caused the time of the black death.

The plague was in three forms. The bubonic variant which was the most common of them was the swellings that appeared on a person's neck, armpits, or groin. These tumors ranged in size from the size an egg to the size of an apple. Some survived the painful time but usually the person had a life expectancy of up to a week. Infected fleas that attached themselves to rats and then to humans spread this bubonic type of the plague. The second type was the pneumonic plague, it attacked the respiratory system and could be spread just by breathing the exhaled air of a sick person. It was much more life threatening, a person only lived up to one to two days. And the last one was the septicemic version of the disease which affected the blood system. The population decreased because of the plague and this eventually led to an economic depression. Merchants and tradesmen had less and less people to whom they could sell their items too. The economic hardship spread throughout the community and made a huge effect on all of the people. The only ones who could avoid the disease and hardship were those who were wealthy and could travel and leave the city for the country.

I think this time, during the middle ages is so interesting because it shows me what the people had to deal with and go through. Its also interesting because, it goes to show me that I should be thankful for the technology we have and for the medical system we have today. There were many effects from the plague. One was that art was greatly affected by the plague. During the time of panic and fear, artists were inspired to draw and their drawings reflected what they were going through. Therefore the plague benefited art. Another thing that was effected was the way people looked at children after this. After this time children were not considered important and not worth the trouble. It took Europe four hundred years to regain the same population before the Black death.

I think the black death was interesting because i found out that scientists think the plague and HiV are similar. I also learned that though many people died from this disease, some survived. For a disease to infect a human body there must be a gateway through which the disease enters into human cells. The plague works by attacking the white blood cells sent to fight it off. It then travels inside the white blood cells to the lymph nodes. From there the bacteria breaks out and attacks the immune system. It is said that maybe, CCR5 gene or delta 32, may have prevented the disease from being able to enter a person's white blood cells. This topic really held my interest and showed me things from the past can be linked to things in the present time.

There were many reasons to why the plague was worse than it might have been. Europe was too overcrowded, the cities were crowded with people living in unsanitary conditions. Their bedding was made from straw which provided a perfect nesting place for rats and the fleas. In general conditions of health were very poor.Also the food supply could not keep pace with the population growth. The result of this was a series of devastating famines that had left Europeans weak and vulnerable to a any kind of diseases. The plague did not entirely disappear but instead had occasional local outbreaks, especially in central Asia. When it did return it create a widespread of panic in populations. Social order was weakened under the stress, and the hungry and exhausted people became more vulnerable to this plague or any plague for that matter. ( bookrag and online book/ encyclopedia)

Online book: http://www.bookrags.com/history/black-death-hf/sub6.html
online book/ encyclopedia: http://www.deathreference.com/Bl-Ce/Black-Death.html