Charlemagne

(sharlman.) [ Fr.; L. Carolus Magnus, "Charles the Great."] King of France and Emperor of the West, B. in 742, was the grandson of Charles Martel, and, in 768, s. to the throne conjointly with his brother Carlo man, on whose death,3years later, he became sole monarch. In 770, he subdued Aquitaine, and opened, in 772, a war with the Saxon heathens, which lasted 30 years. In the following year, cro ing the Alps, he was crowned king of Lombardy by the Pope. In 778, he conquered Spain as far as the Ebro, but on his return was surprised and defeated at the pa of Roncesvalles, where many of his noblest knights were slain, among them his nephew Roland, the famous Orlando of the verse of Ariosto. In780, his sons, Pepin and Louis, were crowned at Rome by the pontiff, kings of Lombardy and Aquitaine. After conquering all Germany as far as Bohemia, C. was crowned, in 800, emperor of the West, and was ab ont negotiating for the hand of Irene to unite by ma triage the empires of the East and West, when he D. at Aix-la-Chapelle, 814. C. was one of the greatest tulers and warriors who have adorned any age, and not le was he a lover of learning and the arts. He was, with the exception of his contemporary the caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, the most enlightened [s. 166]