Very Eventful Year For Europe And Charlemagne example essay topic

413 words
The year 800 was a very eventful year for Europe and Charlemagne. It was a turning point in the lives of many people, and a jumping off point as well, for the events of this year were the beginning of a change for the better. It all started when the Pope Leo had to call Charlemagne for help on November 24th, 800 because the Romans had poked out his eyes and ripped out his tongue, obviously rendering him incapable of doing a lot of necessary tasks. This was the main event which started a variety of improvements to the Kingdom of the Franks. Charlemagne went over to Rome to help Pope Leo get things in order. He spent pretty much the rest of the winter there fixing up Church affairs.

Then, on December 25th, 800, he was crowned by Pope Leo. This sparked the creation of an improved kingdom for Charlemagne's Empire, because of his newly acquired supremacy. That was very important because after he was crowned, he had the power to make several large changes to the laws of his people, or reforms. He changed and created a lot of things, including putting into writing the unwritten laws under his rule, created a form of grammar for his language, and even gave the months his own names.

His coronation brought back the spirit of the fallen Western Roman Empire. Another effect was popes saying that crowning the king made them superior to kings. Before he was crowned Emperor, Charlemagne was already very well known for other things that he did. That is actually how he received the name "Charlemagne!" It means "Charles the Great" which was his original name. He was able to conquer massive amounts of land, reuniting much of which was originally a part of Ancient Rome. He defeated the Lombards (in Italy), the Muslims (northern Spain) and the Saxons (non-Christians).

He fought the Saxons in order to spread Christianity. He also conquered the Avars. Charlemagne was a very enthusiastic and religious leader. Not only did he reunite his kingdom, but he drastically improved the government. He sent missionaries to spread Christianity throughout the rest of his empire, and even created a form of taxes which he called a "tithe", which was basically 10% of their income.

This helped to finance the parishes (rural district with its own priest).