1. Before we go any further, where are we?
Talked about Alexander the Great, who was he?
Great Greek Conqueror
Who took over Europe following Alex the Great?
Romans
Who was the first leader of note in Rome?
Caesar
What happened to him?
Assassinated
What made Rome so great?
Architecture (Roads, Aqueducts, Baths, Coliseum) Laws, Legions, Tradition, & Legacy
What made Rome not-so-great?
Greed & corruption

2. Where we are part 2…
Who were the people who were responsible for the “sacking” of Rome?
Barbarians
Following the fall of Rome, what was the ‘era’ known as and why?
Dark Ages, people fell into a more less structured, primitive state
What was responsible for the re-shaping of Europe?
Spread of Religion
What Religions & why?
Judaism, Christianity, & Islam; because they all followed similar principal & belief in a similar God.
Who were the most notable, and successful of these Barbarians?
The Franks
Who led the Franks (family name), and where did they go?
Merovingians & into Gaul (France)

3. Okay now we can move to Charlemagne…
Who, what, where, and when…
768 AD
Became leader of the Frankish Merovingian Empire following the death of his father, the last of the Merovingian rulers
Pepin, the Short
Mistranslation of Pepin, the Younger
Also known as Charles the Great
Charlemagne’s goal was to rebuild civilization (remember we were in the “dark ages”), he had the intelligence and the power to do so…

4. What did he do?
Using his power and intelligence, along with military power, he expanded the “old” Merovingian Empire in every direction
He was crowned the Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III.
The Carolingian Empire, as it was known, gave Western Europe a brief rest from the wars that had torn it apart

5. How’d he do it?
Governed from modern day Germany, in a place known as Aachen
Gave local governments freedom, all the while sent out his agents to ensure that the people we being treated properly
Developed a code of laws for the whole empire
He tried to make things better for the serfs and tradespeople, unlike anyone else before him
Developed a more successful education program
New schools and encouragement of learning

6. What he did…
Aside from new schools and higher levels of learning Charlemagne achieved much more…
Succeeded in brining a rebirth of learning and the arts
His time has been referred to as the Carolingian Renaissance
Wasn’t always the “nice, reformed guy”
Number of Saxon (other Barbarians) we captured, he insisted that they converted to Christianity – Saxons said no – up to 4000 Saxons executed in one day…

7. Charlemagne’s Renaissance
Characteristics of his renaissance included:
Encouraged learning of Latin
Established new schools in monasteries
Took an interest in architecture
Many stone churches & palaces built in Germany

8. As with Rome, things come to an end…
Charlemagne died following 46 years of ruling, at the age of 72
The Peace and security that he had worked for fell apart
Much like the Merovingians of the past, his empire fell apart due to bickering and in-fighting of his heirs
They showed weakness just in time for these guys to show up…