The very fact that this account exists-probably the first biography of a European ruler-is testament to how important he was (or at least was seen to be). Even Einhard, his dedicated servant and biographer, wouldn’t get drawn into the specifics of Charlemagne’s early life in his fawning magnum opus, The Life of Charles the Great.
The precise place of his birth is also unknown, but it’s likely to be in a town such as Aachen, now in contemporary Germany, or Liège in Belgium. If you’re not, be patient, and we’ll come to your own very regal ancestry soon enough.Īlong with Alexander and Alfred, Charlemagne is one of a handful of kings who gets awarded the post-nominal accolade “the Great.” His early life remains mysterious and the stories are assembled from various sources, but it seems he was born around 742 A.D., just at the time when the Plague of Justinian was dispatching millions at the eastern edge of the moribund Roman Empire. I am making an assumption that you are broadly of European descent, which is not statistically unreasonable but certainly not definitive.
Charlemagne, Carolingian King of the Franks, Holy Roman Emperor, the great European conciliator your ancestor.
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