There are a few events that really determined the flow of Western history. Probably the most important was the assassination of Julius Caesar. But it wasn't the only one. Exactly 1,210 years before I was born, to the day, Karl, son of Pipin and brother of Carloman, became King of the Franks, and began and Empire that would dictate the history of Europe up until this very day. The empire he created would eventually lay the foundations for the polities that we today know as France, Germany, and, in a roundabout way, even Spain and Italy.
Carloman died young, which was convenient for his older brother, who then consolidated all his father's realm into an empire that would rival the power of the Roman empire before him. Long after conquering the Lombards in Italy, he even made friends with the Pope, who crowned him Emperor, the first in the West in more than three hundred years. The empire he formed was eventually split, combined, split, combined, and split again, until it resulted in the Holy Roman Empire, which I've posted about before, and which endured until Napoleon.
Perhaps the most enduring testament to Karl's greatness is that no one knows him as Karl, or even as Charles. We know him only by his name combined with his epithet, probably the only Western ruler since Caesar Augustus to have such an honor. Charlemagne. Literally, "Charles the Great."
Carloman died young, which was convenient for his older brother, who then consolidated all his father's realm into an empire that would rival the power of the Roman empire before him. Long after conquering the Lombards in Italy, he even made friends with the Pope, who crowned him Emperor, the first in the West in more than three hundred years. The empire he formed was eventually split, combined, split, combined, and split again, until it resulted in the Holy Roman Empire, which I've posted about before, and which endured until Napoleon.
Perhaps the most enduring testament to Karl's greatness is that no one knows him as Karl, or even as Charles. We know him only by his name combined with his epithet, probably the only Western ruler since Caesar Augustus to have such an honor. Charlemagne. Literally, "Charles the Great."