[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Charlemagne_-_By_The_Sword_And_The_Cross_7578.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:HE SHED THE BLOOD OF 4000 SAXON MEN!]]

->'' "Let legend mark me as the King, of whom future generations will sing." ''

''Charlemagne'' refers to a set of two [[ConceptAlbum Concept Albums]] dramatizing the life of King UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}} and the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. It stars Creator/ChristopherLee (who was a verifiable direct descendant of Charlemagne) in the title role, and was also released through his production company called, incidentally, [[http://charlemagneproductions.org/ Charlemagne Productions]].

[[folder: By the Sword and Cross]]
The first album, '''Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross''', was released in 2010 and is HeavyMithril in the style of SymphonicMetal. Produced by Corrado Canonici, with music by Marco Sabiu, the performers included Music/{{Manowar}}, Music/RhapsodyOfFire, and a 100 piece orchestra. In addition to Lee, the other actors include Phil S.P. as Charlemagne's father Pippin the Short, Mauro Conti as Pope Hadrian, Vincent Ricciardi as the young Charlemagne, Lydia Salnikova as Charlemagne's wife Hildegard, and Creator/ChristopherLee's daughter Christina as the narrator.

The story begins at the end of Charlemagne's days, as he looks back on his life and the many military campaigns he fought... particularly troubling for him was the Massacre of Verden, where he ordered the public execution of 4000 Saxon Men. Tormented by memories of these and other cruelties he engineered in the name of God, he is afraid that he might be damned for his actions and remembered as a tyrant rather than as a Christian warrior king.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Omens of Death]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the-omens-of-death1_8519.jpg]]
The second album, '''Charlemagne: the Omens of Death''' is a part sequel/part retelling of the first album, done in the style of full-blown HeavyMetal, with music by Richie Faulkner. Unfortunately, partway through the development, Faulkner was recruited by Music/JudasPriest, which sent the album into DevelopmentHell for a time, until guitarist Hedras Ramos Jr stepped in to finish the musical arrangements. The original cast returns, along with Gordon Tittsworth as Roland, Daniel Vasconcelos as Oliver, and Aaron Clouther as Duke Lop. A sample was released on May 27, 2012 (Creator/ChristopherLee's 90th birthday), and the full album was released on May 27, 2013. You can listen to samples [[http://charlemagneproductions.org/the%20omens%20of%20death here]] and watch a preview (complete with an interview with Christopher Lee himself) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTfFXrVJcNQ here]].
[[/folder]]

The songs released in the ''Omens of Death'' sampler, "Let Legend Mark Me As the King" and "The Ultimate Sacrifice", are available for ''[[VideoGame/RockBand Rock Band 3]]'' and ''VideoGame/RockBandBlitz''

!! Tracklist

'''By The Sword And The Cross'''

# "Overture" (2:53)
# Act I:"Intro" (1:34) and "King of the Franks" (7:14)
# Act II: "Intro" (1:46) and "The Iron Crown of Lombardy" (8:12)
# Act III: "Intro" (3:26) and "The Bloody Verdict of Verden" (6:16)
# Act IV: "Intro" (2:31) and "The Age of Oneness Out of Diversity" (6:07)
# Act V: "Intro" (2:09) and Starlight (4:40)
# "Finale" (3:57)
# "Iberia" (5:10)
# "The Bloody Verdict of Verden" (Instrumental) (6:20)

'''The Omens Of Death'''

# "The Portent" (4:29)
# "Charles the Great" (6:23)
# "The Siege" (7:09)
# "Massacre of the Saxons" (5:41)
# "Drawing of a New Age" (4:40)
# "Let Legend Mark Me As the King" (5:45)
# "The Betrayal" (5:02)
# "The Devil's Advocate" (4:54)
# "The Ultimate Sacrifice" (5:09)
# "Judgement Day" (3:41)

!!The Charlemagne albums contains examples of:

* TheAntiChrist: Charlemagne mentions Hunald as "The Devil" explicitly.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: In "The Bloody Verdict of Verden". The Carolingian dynasty's own history the ''Royal Frankish Annals'' indicate that the 4,'''5'''00 men executed at Verden were surviving rebels from the preceding uprising by Widukind and executed for rebellion (or possibly treason), rather than false converts to Christianity executed for heresy as stated in the narration. It's basically a DistinctionWithoutADifference as far as the Saxons were concerned, however.
* AscendedExtra: Oliver is one of the least-talked about Paladins of Charlemagne, yet here he has a song for himself. Hunald, as well, is not a very popular character in history and myth alike ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunald just notice how short his page on Wikipedia is]]), yet here he is the BigBad.
* BadassArmy: The Paladins are not to be triffled with.
* BadassBoast: All songs feature at least one from The Emperor himself, but Hunald gets a pretty good one in "The Devil's Advocate":
-->'''Hunald:''' Charlemagne! We will crush you both like stone! We will tear you limb from limb!
* BandOfBrothers: The Paladins of Charlemagne, his main lieutenants and most trusted friends.
* TheBerserker: Hunald, at one point, breathes like a bull about to charge when challenging Charlemagne.
* BigBad: Hunald, leader of the Gascon uprising, in "The Omens Of Death".
* BigBadassBattleSequence: The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Roncevaux_Pass Battle Of Rocencavoux Pass]].
* BlackSpeech: Hunald talks like this combined with VoiceOfTheLegion.
* BloodKnight: Hunald is pretty vivid about slaughtering the living Hell out of the Franks.
* BigGood: [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Pope Adrian]] fills this role to [[RealMenLoveJesus Charlemagne]], guiding him to build a mighty nation of Christendom.
* BittersweetEnding: "The wars have ended, and people have been raised from the dark age of ignorance and chaos to a new world of enlightnement. But...what if there is no God? [[CessationOfExistence No...afterlife]]? Only dust..and darkness." Opening words of "Judgement Day", last track of "The Omens Of Death".
* BookEnds: The first and last song have the same gregorian-like chanting ("Charlemagne! Charlemagne!").
* CavalryBetrayal: The Gascons do this in "The Betrayal".
* TheChosenOne: Pope Adrian calls Charlemagne TheChosenOne to save Christendom.
* TheChosenPeople: In ''By the Sword and the Cross'', King Karl of Francia calls himself "TheChosenOne / To lead the faithless to the Cross", and the Franks the chosen people by extension.
* CompositeCharacter: [[BigBad Hunald]] seems to be a mix of both Hunald himself (Leader of the Gascon Uprising and commander of the ambush on Roland), Ganelon (The GreenEyedMonster who betrayed Roland) and Duke Lupo (who provided Hunald with the army).
* ConceptAlbum: Both are based on the life and mythic tales of Charlemagne and his peers.
* TheConqueror: Hunald is here to take what is his, according to himself.
* CoverVersion: Several of the tracks of the second album are HeavyMetal versions of tracks from the first:
** King of the Franks - The Portent
** The Iron Crown of Lombardy - The Seige
** The Bloody Verdict of Verden - Massacre of the Saxons
** Starlight - Dawning of a New Age
** Let Legend Mark Me as the King - The Age of Oneness Out of Diversity
* DarkestHour: The Gascon ambush.
* DawnOfAnEra: There's a track called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Dawning Of a New Age]]" in "Omens Of Death", about the birth of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire.
* DemotedToExtra: Compared to Literature/TheSongOfRoland, Roland has a remarkably small role in this story. This is historically accurate, however.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Oliver and Roland die waging the most epic battle of Charlemagne's reign.
* TheEmperor: Charlemagne.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Oliver on his LastStand, proudly dying for his King.
* FaceOnTheCover: Creator/ChristopherLee, seated and crowned as a king.
* FamedInStory: The central themes of both albums is this; reflecting on the legacy of Charlemagne and on whether Charlemagne's deeds are truly legendary or not when all is said and done.
* FourStarBadass: Leader of the Frankish army.
* GenreShift: The first album combines Metal and symphonic elements. The second is pure HeavyMetal.
* HappilyMarried: Charlemagne and Hildegard.
* HeroicSacrifice: "The Ultimate Sacrifice" is mostly from Oliver's perspective, valiantly singing about how Charlemagne must live to lead the franks at the price of his own life. It is very heartfelt.
* HeroKiller: Hunald, slayer [at least indirectly] of Roland and Oliver.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Played with. The songs often analyze whether he was a bloodthirsty warrior, a holy king, [[TakeAThirdOption or both]].
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: We know next to nothing about the historical Hunald besides the fact he rebelled against Charlemagne, but he certaintly wasn't TheAntichrist.
** HistoricalBadassUpgrade: Once more, we know very little of him, but he almost certainly wasn't as fearsome as "The Devil's Advocate" portrays him (unless the historical Hunald could somehow speak in the VoiceOfTheLegion).
* {{Instrumental}}: "The Bloody Verdict Of Verden"
* KingOnHisDeathbed: Pepin The Younger has a moment of this in The Omens Of Death, passing his throne to Charlemagne and telling him to build [[UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire a great Empire]], while Charlemagne himself is telling the story from this position.
* LargeHam: Creator/ChristopherLee at his finest, only mildly surpassed by [[VoiceOfTheLegion Hun]][[BlackSpeech ald]], whose singing sounds like something taken straight out of a death metal album.
** EvilIsHammy: In the case of Hunald.
* LastStand: Roland and Oliver (Oliver, is, in the fact, the man who sings most of the song) have this in "The Ultimate Sacrifice", [[Literature/TheSongOfRoland as per legend]] and history.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In "Let Legend Mark Me As The King": "Let legend mark me as the king, of whom future generations will sing!", since this is a RockOpera about his life recorded centuries after his death.
** Not to mention Creator/ChristopherLee himself is a direct descendant of Charlemagne.
* LonelyAtTheTop: Charlemagne notes this after the death of Pepin The Short (thus becoming the King Of The Franks), as his beloved father is dead and his only brother is now firmly opposed to him.
* MissionFromGod: To spread Christendom is Charlemagne's, according to himself.
* MoralEventHorizon: InUniverse. Charlemagne ruminates over fears that the Massacre at Verden might be seen as this for him, and that the event will give him a legacy as a ruthless butcher rather than a brave warrior-king.
* {{Narrator}}: Christina Lee in the first album.
* PosthumousCharacter: Charlemagne himself is narrating the entire (second) album from beyond the grave. The first album is framed by him being on his deathbed.
* RankScalesWithAsskicking: Charlemagne, obviously. [[BigBad Hunald]] also seems to be pretty remarkable.
* RatedMForManly: It's a heavy metal album focused around the life of the greatest and most powerful warrior-king in the history of Europe and is sung by Christopher Lee.
* RealMenLoveJesus: Charlemagne, of course.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Charlemagne again.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Charlemagne is ''pissed'' by the death of his Peers at Racencroux and immediately wages war against Hunald to bring him down (and succeeds).
* RockOpera: An opera about the life of Charlemagne.
* RousingSpeech: Half of "The Siege" consists of one of these by Pope Adrian, urging Charlemagne to become a protector of all Christendom. It works marvelously.
* TheSiege: A track by the same name details Charlemagne's claim for Constantinople.
* TitleDrop: First album ("The Sword and the Cross") In "The Bloody Verdict of Verdun" ("My companions I trust: ''The Sword and the Cross''!") and in the second album ("The Omens of Death"), first track ("These were omens...The Omens of Death.")
* TragicVillain: Charlemagne himself is presented as one, especially in "The Bloody Verdict of Verden." He's incredibly ruthless and brutal in its tactics, but it's through spending most of his life fighting against his enemies, grinding away with nothing to show for it, and desperately wanting to live in peace in a Christian kingdom, where the religious differences and violence have ceased, with his constant fighting even taking him away from his dearly beloved family. This pushes him to what even he considers his MoralEventHorizon.
--> ''Weary grow I of this task which fell\\
On the shoulders of a man who yearns to spend\\
But one hour with wife and child\\
To gaze on faces innocent and mild...''
* UndyingLoyalty: The Paladins have this towards Charlemagne in spades.
* VillainProtagonist: Charlemagne is the protagonist of the albums, but does some incredibly appalling things throughout their course, even questioning his own actions on his deathbed. He serves as protagonist despite his horrid deeds and war crimes, with the album showing in detail [[TragicVillain exactly why he does these things]].
* TheVillainSucksSong: Half of "The Devil's Advocate" (ironically, for the name) is this towards Hunald, with Charlemagne and his army chanting about how they'll kill this fiendish foe.
** VillainSong: The other half is Hunald himself singing about how he'll butcher Charlemagne and his forces.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: Hunald.
* YouShallNotPass: Oliver towards the Gascons at his LastStand.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Charlemagne considers himself this, using oftentimes brutal tactics to bring people to God, but unlike most examples of this trope he harbors genuine doubts as to whether or not he went too far.
* WhamLine: "It is the Gascons! They are attacking our flanks!...They have ''[[CavalryBetrayal betrayed us]]''".
----