After Pippin´s death, his son Charlemagne succeeded him. Charlemagne was one of Medieval Europe’s most famous kings. He became king of the Franks in 768. Charlemagne means Charles the Great and he certainly was unique. Charlemagne led his troops into battle and he was a great warrior so he extended the Empire through Europe.
Charlemagne and the Franks defeated most of the other tribes in Europe and expanded the Frankish Empire to cover Germany, France, Italy, and parts of Spain. This also included Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and Denmark.
His main achievements were
- Trial by ordeal was replaced by the trial by jury.Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence was determined by subjecting the accused to a dangerous challenge. It was a life or death test and the proof of innocence was survival.
- Charlemagne was deeply interested in culture so the brought scholars from other countries to his palace. He wanted scholars to teach how to read and write. Scholars also copied old manuscripts in a new style since a new system of illustrating anc painting with gold foil was introduced. These copies were called illuminated manuscripts.
- Charlemagne had a curious system to rule his empire . He established a new group in the nobility, the counts. Each count was responsible for his district and they ruled in the name of Charlemagne. Charlemagne or his emissars called missi dominici visited to control the count´s govern.
- Charlemagne implemented the marches. Marches were territories near the frontiers or recently conqueres áreas and were ruled by the marquises with special military powers and troops.
- Each count had tax collectors to collect taxes. Charlemagne created silver coins, each with a set value to use. Then, a farmer could sell his crops for silver coins and then pay his tax with the silver coins.
NOTES ON THE TOPIC;
2travellingacrosstime / Viajando a través del tiempo 2 