The Carolingian Dynasty and the Holy Roman Empire

Charlemagne receives Alcuin 780, by Jean Victor Schnetz, 19th century, via Meisterdrucke.uk; with Photograph of Aachen Cathedral, via worldheritagegermany.com

The Holy Roman Empire existed in medieval and modern Western and Central Europe, founded by Charlemagne, of the Frankish Carolingian dynasty.

After the Migration Period that destroyed the Western Roman Empire, most of the newly formed Germanic states collapsed very fast. But not in France, which would become the most powerful new state of the early middle ages. The Franks, a Germanic tribe of skilled and courageous warriors led by Clovis of the Merovingian dynasty, established a state in the Roman province of Gaul and extended Frankish rule to the surrounding Germanic tribes. By accepting Christianity, Clovis became friendly with the clergy and thus laid the foundations for an alliance between Church and State. This alliance was strengthened in the second half of the 8th Century, during the reign of Pepin the Short of the Carolingian Dynasty. The alliance between the church and the Carolingians was eventually sealed in 800, when Charlemagne was proclaimed the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

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