Friday, November 5, 2010

Charlemagne

Interviewer: "Greetings Charlemagne, do you mind if I ask you a few questions today?"

Charlemagne: "No, go ahead."

Interviewer: "Well, could you please tell me your life story?"

Charlemagne: "Sure. I was born April 2, 741 son of Pippin the Short and grandson of Charles "The Hammer" Martel.  When my father died in 768,  the realm of the Franks was split between me and my brother, Carloman. My territory was harder to maintain than my brother's and as an early king I had to put down many revolts.  Carloman died in 771 and I got the whole kingdom to myself, I a real Carolingian king.  In 772 we attacked the Saxons and tried to inforce Frankish political authority over them as well as convert the pagans to Christianity.  At my empire's largest, it spanned from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. On Christmas day 800 A.D., I was crowned king of the Franks by the pope and started the holy Roman Empire.  During my entire reign of 46 years, I had over 50 military conquest and never failed."

 Interviewer: "What about the Danes and your invasion of Spain?"

Charlemagne: "Still, that was pretty good. "

Interviewer: "True. What was The Bloody Verdict of Verdun?"

Charlemagne: "It was 782, I had defeated the Saxons and seen them worshiping false gods.  Now you know my policy: Convert to Christianity or I will...kill you.  So, keeping my word I condemned 4,500 of them to death.  I am a strict Christian, as you may know.  As king, I myself have to take care of all aspects of my kingdom: political, social, artistic, and intelictual.  I had royal schools made because before then only education was given to munks. As I was trying to bring Europe out of darkness as the new Emperor of the West, I was hit with a new challange: vikings.  I died on January 28, 814 know as the greatest king in the Dark ages."

Interviewer: "Is it true that you know how to read and write?''

Charlemagne: "Not fully, but I did put in a lot of time towards learning how."

Interviewer: "Impressive.  Well, thank you for this interview."

Charlemagne: "You're welcome"

Charlemagne ruled from 768 to 814.



("Charlemagne." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 5 Nov. 2010. )

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