History UsefulNotes / Charlemagne

* Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium: Middle-Earth being a FantasyCounterpartCulture of Medieval Europe, there are a few examples to be found:
** Elendil the Tall, last Lord of Numenor, is a kind of fantasy {{Expy}} of Charlemagne. An exceptionally tall [[TheGoodKing Good King]] with a CoolSword, who founds a realm of peace and order after the fall of a greater one...and whose kingdom is torn apart by internal strife after his death (Arnor does hold itself together a bit longer than the Carolingian Empire, but their fates are still the same).

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* ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland'', a Medieval Epic taking place in Spain during the Umayyad Conquest, depicting the adventures of the Paladin Roland and his companions at the Battle of Roncesvalles. Charlemagne actually serves a supporting role to [[spoiler: the ill-fated]] Roland.

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* There was a 1993 European co-production {{biopic}} MiniSeries titled ''Charlemagne'' (''Charlemagne, le prince à cheval'' in Francophone countries -- literally "The prince on his horse"). It's the last time any major live-action media has made him center stage in a fiction.

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* He is mentioned in ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedValhalla'' as a member of the Order of the Ancients (the setting's precursor to the Templars) and despite his position as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was simply exploiting religion for his own benefit. The "Siege of Paris" DLC allows Eivor to attain Joyeuse as a weapon and features his descendant Charles III as the central antagonist.

Speaking of which, not unlike [[UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan a certain other similar conqueror]], Charlemagne [[ReallyGetsAround got himself around.]] He had several wives and mistresses over the course of his life, and among them all, had close to twenty children. The royal families of England, France, Italy, and several German states can claim him as a distant ancestor. Not to mention a whopping 34 of the 46 U.S. Presidents, and [[Creator/ChristopherLee at least one awesome movie icon]]. He is also one of the rare ruling figures to have equal importance in both French and German nationalism, a division of the [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons Waffen SS]] made of French volunteers (the 33rd) was even named after him during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

Charles the Great aka Charlemagne, Karl der Große, Karel de Grote, Carolus Magnus, or Charles I (2 April 742 – 28 January 814). King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, and ''Imperator Romanorum''. Established the Carolingian Empire. Fostered the spread of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} throughout Western UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}. Crowned the first Western Roman Emperor in over three centuries since the end of the actual [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Western Roman Empire]], sowing the seeds of what would become the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. Shed the blood of four thousand Saxon men.

Charles the Great aka Charlemagne, Karl der Große, Karel de Grote, or Charles I (2 April 742 – 28 January 814). King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, and ''Imperator Romanorum''. Established the Carolingian Empire. Fostered the spread of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} throughout Western UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}. Crowned the first Western Roman Emperor in over three centuries since the end of the actual [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Western Roman Empire]], sowing the seeds of what would become the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. Shed the blood of four thousand Saxon men.

Charles the Great aka Charlemagne, Karl der Große or Charles I (2 April 742 – 28 January 814). King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, and ''Imperator Romanorum''. Established the Carolingian Empire. Fostered the spread of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} throughout Western UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}. Crowned the first Western Roman Emperor in over three centuries since the end of the actual [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Western Roman Empire]], sowing the seeds of what would become the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. Shed the blood of four thousand Saxon men.

* ''[[VideoGame/CrusaderKingsII]]'' has a DLC named after him, which allows the player to start in 769 A.D., shortly after Pepin's death, and the beginnings of Charles' struggle with Carloman. The scenario's explanation for Carloman's sudden death was his mother favouring Charles, and poisoning Carloman in return. Bertrada also begins the scenario as Charles' spymaster.
** Before that, the ''Old Gods'' DLC featured his descendants in the 867 A.D. start date, who were squabbling over his lands and legacy. As mentioned above, his empire had fractured after the death of his son and successor, Louis the Pious; this start date also became one of the two dates available in ''[[VideoGame/CrusaderKingsIII]]''.

* ''[[VideoGame/CrusaderKings Crusader Kings II]]'' has a DLC named after him, which allows the player to start in 769 A.D., shortly after Pepin's death, and the beginnings of Charles' struggle with Carloman. The scenario's explanation for Carloman's sudden death was his mother favouring Charles, and poisoning Carloman in return. Bertrada also begins the scenario as Charles' spymaster.
** Before that, the ''Old Gods'' DLC featured his descendants in the 867 A.D. bookmark, who were squabbling over his lands and legacy. As mentioned above, his empire had fractured after the death of his son and successor, Louis the Pious.

* The feudal-themed Italian satirical band [=BardoMagno=] is named after him (Carlo Magno being his Italian name). They also dedicated him the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdj4sYOeX8 Hanno Ucciso Carlo Magno]]", depicting the people's grief at the news of his death and the turmoil caused by his son's ineffective reign (the song also incorrectly claims he was murdered for sake of parody, as it's a parody of the song "Hanno Ucciso l'Uomo Ragno" ("They Killed Spiderman") by Italian band 883).

That aside, Charlemagne does seem to have been a pretty decent guy, all things considered. Very well educated himself, he appreciated the value of learning and literacy, and did his best to foster its spread throughout his realms. He was also an accomplished diplomat as well as a warrior: it’s worth noting that he tried to negotiate with the Lombards before going to war with them, only doing so when all diplomatic avenues were exhausted. Under his reign, the Franks even maintained good diplomatic relations with many of their Muslim neighbors, including a strategic alliance with the Abbasids against the Byzantines. (The Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid famously sent him a water clock and an elephant as diplomatic gifts; he appreciated the clock, but the elephant had such an impact on him that he insisted that elephants be embroidered into his burial shroud.) By all accounts, he was a genuinely devout Christian, donating large sums of money and land to the Church during his reign, as well as a loving and devoted father to his children.

That aside, Charlemagne does seem to have been a pretty decent guy, all things considered. Very well educated himself, he appreciated the value of learning and literacy, and did his best to foster its spread throughout his realms. He was also an accomplished diplomat as well as a warrior: it’s worth noting that he tried to negotiate with the Lombards before going to war with them, only doing so when all diplomatic avenues were exhausted. Under his reign, the Franks even maintained good diplomatic relations with many of their Muslim neighbors, including a strategic alliance with the Abbasids against the Byzantines. (They famously sent him a water clock and an elephant as diplomatic gifts; he appreciated the clock, but the elephant had such an impact on him that he insisted that elephants be embroidered into his burial shroud.) By all accounts, he was a genuinely devout Christian, donating large sums of money and land to the Church during his reign, as well as a loving and devoted father to his children.

That aside, Charlemagne does seem to have been a pretty decent guy, all things considered. Very well educated himself, he appreciated the value of learning and literacy, and did his best to foster its spread throughout his realms. He was also an accomplished diplomat as well as a warrior: it’s worth noting that he tried to negotiate with the Lombards before going to war with them, only doing so when all diplomatic avenues were exhausted. Under his reign, the Franks even maintained good diplomatic relations with many of their Muslim neighbors, including a strategic alliance with the Abbasids against the Byzantines. By all accounts, he was a genuinely devout Christian, donating large sums of money and land to the Church during his reign, as well as a loving and devoted father to his children.

* The feudal-themed Italian satirical band [=BardoMagno=] is named after him (Carlo Magno being his Italian name). They also dedicated him the song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdj4sYOeX8 Hanno Ucciso Carlo Magno]]", depicting the people's grief at the news of his death and the turmoil caused by his son's ineffective reign (the song also incorrectly claims he was murdered for sake of parody, as it's a parody of the song "Hanno Ucciso l'Uomo Ragno" ("They Killed Spiderman") by Italian rock band 883).

* OverprotectiveDad: Many portrayals that involve someone trying to marry one of Charlemagne's daughters mention how protective he was of them. This is half-true; although he only ever allowed one of his daughters to marry, he appeared to have no problem with his remaining daughters having affairs and even children with various courtiers.

->''Charlemagne, oh Charlemagne!''
->''A shaft of light in a Dark Age!''
->''For now he is the King of the Franks!''
->''Standing tall above men of all ranks!''
-->--''[[{{Music/Charlemagne}} Charlemagne: By the Sword and Cross]]''

* The Italian epic poems ''Orlando Innamorato'' and ''Literature/OrlandoFurioso'', being something of an AdaptationExpansion of ''The Song Of Roland'', take place in Charlemagne's court. Here, Roland is re-imagined as the lovestruck adventurer Orlando, with Charlemagne serving as the ever-present BigGood in the background...and the OnlySaneMan to the increasingly-insane happenings.

** [[Literature/LordOfTheRings Aragorn]] might qualify as a Charlemagne stand-in as well, since he resurrects the Kingdom of Arnor, which stands in pretty well for Western Rome. That said, he also reunites it with its Southeastern counterpart Gondor (whereas Charlemagne's Frankish kingdom never merged with Byzantium) and is crowned by a wizard rather than a pope(though the wizard is also a divine representative, being a [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Maiar]]).

** [[Literature/LordOfTheRings Aragorn]] might qualify as a Charlemagne stand-in as well, since he resurrects the Kingdom of Arnor, which stands in pretty well for Western Rome. That said, he also reunites it with its Southeastern counterpart Gondor (whereas Charlemagne's Frankish kingdom never merged with Byzantium) and is crowned by a wizard rather than a pope.

* ''VideoGame/TotalWarAttila'' has the Age of Charlemagne campaign pack, which features Charlemagne in his rise to power, at the dawn of the medieval age.

* ''VideoGame/TotalWarAttila'' has the Age of Charlemagne campaign pack, which features Charlemagne in his rise to power, at the dawn of the medieval age.

* Shows up as the Strategist hero for the Dark Ages in ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'' (due to the game's epoch-based approach to timelines, his Warrior counterpart is Julius Caesar).

* He is mentioned in ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedValhalla'' as a member of the Order of the Ancients (the setting's precursor to the Templars) and despite his position as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was simply exploiting religion for his own benefit. The "Siege of Paris" DLC allows Eivor to attain Joyeuse as a weapon and features his descendant Charles III as the central antagonist.

* Sigmar Heldenhammer of ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' is as clear a [[NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed fantasy stand-in]] for Charlemagne as you can get. Sigmar would go down in history for conquering and uniting numerous quarreling Germanic-sounding tribes into a great kingdom that would evolve after his death into a great Empire. Plus, Sigmar was deified upon death, while Charlemagne was beatified [[note]] Basically the Church's way of compromising between "Sainthood" (which they weren't prepared to grant Charlie) and "local folk hero" (which, like it or not, he was)[[/note]]. Also of note: Charlemagne had his twelve Paladins, and Sigmar had twelve subordinate chieftains to whom he gave the Runefangs.
* He is mentioned in ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedValhalla'' as a member of the Order of the Ancients (the setting's precursor to the Templars) and despite his position as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was simply exploiting religion for his own benefit. The "Siege of Paris" DLC allows Eivor to attain Joyeuse as a weapon and features his descendant Charles III as the central antagonist.
* In ''ComicBook/ArakSonOfThunder'', the title character is a BarbarianHero who becomes a knight in Charlemagne's court.
* The novel ''The Silver Horn Echoes'' by Michael Eging and Steve Arnold is a modern literary {{Demythtification}} of ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland''.

* ''The Silver Horn Echoes'' by Michael Eging and Steve Arnold is a modern literary {{Demythtification}} of ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland''.

* ''The Silver Horn Echoes'' by Michael Eging and Steve Arnold is a modern literary adaptation of ''Literature/TheSongOfRoland'' into an historical novel.

* In ''ComicBook/ArakSonOfThunder'', the title character is a BarbarianHero who becomes a knight in Charlemagne's court.

'''Charles the Great''' aka '''Charlemagne''' or '''Charles I''' (2 April 742 – 28 January 814). King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, and ''Imperator Romanorum''. Established the Carolingian Empire. Fostered the spread of UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} throughout Western UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}. Crowned the first Western Roman Emperor in over three centuries since the end of the actual [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire Western Roman Empire]], sowing the seeds of what would become the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. Shed the blood of four thousand Saxon men.

Not much is known for certain about Charlemagne’s early life. He was born some time around 742, in what is now Belgium. He was apparently very well educated; he was literate (which was a big deal back then, even for royalty), and spoke several languages, including Latin and Greek. With the death of Pepin in 768, in accordance with Frankish tradition, his kingdom was divided evenly between his sons Charles and Carloman. Despite working together to quell an Aquitanian uprising early in their reigns, the two brothers were almost constantly at each other's throats. After a diplomatic falling out between Charles and the Lombards of northern Italy, Carloman was just about ready to ally himself with the Lombards and go to open war with his brother... when Carloman suddenly -- ''conveniently'' -- died of illness in 771. This left Charles as now sole ruler of the Franks, at which point he promptly got down to business conquering the known world.