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mother was a great-great-granddaughter of Charlemagne). In 936 his son Otto I

succeeded as king and in 962 was also crowned Emperor. Otto I, his son Otto II, and
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his son Otto III, revived Charlemagne’s empire under German rulership. In the 12
century “Holy” was added to its name. The Holy Roman Empire lasted until 1806,
longer than the Roman empire.

What is Charlemagne’s place in European history?
Charlemagne has always been difficult to pin down. He has been variously called the
father of Europe, the founder of modern France and Germany, and the first of the

Holy Roman Emperors. This raises the issue of how European history should be
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written. A traditional 19 century view was that European history is the collected
histories of the nations who make up Europe today. From this nationalist perspective,
how can Charlemagne be the founder of both France and Germany, given their
centuries of conflict? (the EU on the other hand has adopted Charlemagne as a
symbol of Franco-German reconciliation). Nationalist historians also struggle to get to
grips with the Holy Roman Empire. It doesn’t fit. It was never a nation. It became an

elective, and to nationalists, weak empire. It no longer exists. Nationalist historians,
including most British ones, neglect or even ignore it. Yet it played a significant part
in pre-1806 European history. The Emperors were the senior monarchs of Europe,
“primus inter pares”, first among equals. In practice they were only as strong as their
army and alliances made them. Peter H. Wilson’s “The Holy Roman Empire: A
Thousand Years of European History” (2016) was hailed as original and ground-
breaking, but one reviewer, though favourable, doubted that anybody would read it
(I have a copy if any member would like to borrow it).

Was Charlemagne’s “the father of Europe”? It was at his court that the name
“Europe” was first used in something like its modern sense. External threats, from
Moslems, pagan Vikings and later Magyars and Slavs, were helping to define its
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identity. The Islamic invasions of the 7 century onwards cut Europe off from the
southern Mediterranean, and shifted its centre of gravity northwards towards the

Franks. A distinguished French historian Henri Pirenne coined the memorable phrase,
“No Charlemagne without Mohammed.” Charlemagne’s coronation did not occur in a
vacuum. Christendom seemed divided and beleaguered. Nostalgia for Rome
exercised a powerful afterglow. By 800 the revival of a western empire seemed more
desirable than ever.

However Charlemagne’s coronation as emperor posed more questions than it
answered. Charlemagne and Pope Leo III had almost certainly planned it between
them. They recognized their mutual dependence. Charlemagne needed the Pope to

confirm his status as the leading barbarian king. The Pope needed Charlemagne to be