genealogical research

Charlemagne (742 – 814) King of Franks and Lombards, First Holy Roman Emperor, Founder of Carolingian Empire

Post author By Steven Wood Collins
Post date November 18, 2021
255 Comments on Charlemagne (742 – 814) King of Franks and Lombards, First Holy Roman Emperor, Founder of Carolingian Empire

Statue of Charlemagne, Notre Dame Cathedral Square, Paris

A map showing Charlemagne’s additions (in light green) to the Frankish Kingdom

Francis II in his coronation robes, by Leopold Kupelwieser

The crowning of Charlemagne as “emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III in 800 AD restored the Roman Empire in the West for the first time since it concluded during the late 5th century. He was thus the first Holy Roman Emperor and King of All Franks. Charles III (879 – 929) was the last of the Carolingian lineage to rule as Holy Roman Emperor.

The Roman Catholic Church was founded by Constantine the Great I (279 – 337) First Christian Emperor of Rome, Saint. He invoked the First Council of Nicaea (325) and later established Christianity as the official state religion throughout the Roman Empire.

In effect, the Holy Roman Empire ended in 1806 when Napoleon Bonaparte pressured Francis II (1768 – 1835) to renounce his claim to rule Italy and Germany. Thereafter, the empire consisted of only Austria. The Third Reich attempted to revive the Holy Roman Empire.

Nearly every male of European descent living today is directly related to Charlemagne through several lineages within their family trees.

Charlemagne’s DNA and Our Universal Royalty

Charlemagne (742/748-814), Holy Roman Emperor, 52 Ancestors #103

Are You Related To King Charlemagne?

Humans Are All More Closely Related Than We Commonly Think

He was an agnatic descendant of Clovis I Meroving (466 – 511) 1st King of Franks, 1st Christian Ruler of Gaul. His great-granddaughter St Bertha (541 – 616) married St Aethelberht I (552 – 615) King of Kent, 1st English Christian King

Charlemagne is ranked #97 in Hart’s Most Influential People in History – Top 500 List (125).

By Steven Wood Collins

I spent most of my life unaware of my ancestral heritage. Sure, I knew of the personal history of my more immediate relatives; but beyond that, I never had any inkling as to my ancestral heritage. Then one day many years ago my sister said to me, “I sometimes wonder about our family background.” And so my quest to discover our genealogical roots commenced.

I started building my family tree with the very basic relationships, going back in time from my grandparents, one ancestor at a time. That initial effort proved to be the hardest part of the pursuit, mainly due to my lack of expertise as a novice genealogical researcher. As I gained familiarity with the databases and how to efficiently mine them, my progress gained ever-increasing momentum. Today, The Patricians! tree (Ancestry.com) contains nearly 120,000 individuals, stretching over 135 generations, 5,800 of which are my direct ancestors in a genealogical sense.

During this trek back in time, I encountered fascinating figures in both history and obscurity. This blog contains many stories about their genealogical relationship to me (and many of you). By far and away, as a student of history, the historically obscure individuals are of particular interest to me. I cite Baron “Blue Beard” Montmorency-Laval de Rais (1405 – 1440) as an example of a historically maligned personage whose real contribution to history, as both a playwright and hero of France, has yet to be properly recognized. Another example is Earl Edward de Vere (1550 – 1604), who’s yet to gain widespread recognition as the actual author of the body of literary work wrongly ascribed to William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).

My life-long interest in international economics and finance continues unabated. I primarily demonstrate this professional involvement as a contributor to the Long Room, the members-only international finance professionals' forum hosted by the Financial Times of London.

I'm an avid recreational scuba diver who enjoys traveling to exotic dive sites. My love of the sea and marine life gives me an unbounded appreciation and support of “green” issues, especially those devoted to the conservation of endangered species and coral reefs.

He continually posts results of his personal genealogical research to his Goodreads Authors Blog. Entitled The Patricians - The Ancestral Heritage of Steven Wood Collins, the work represents thousand of hours of his research efforts and related commentary.

View Archive

255 replies on “Charlemagne (742 – 814) King of Franks and Lombards, First Holy Roman Emperor, Founder of Carolingian Empire”

[…] Charlemagne (742 – 814) King of Franks and Lombards 8GGF […]

Share this:

Related

By Steven Wood Collins

255 replies on “Charlemagne (742 – 814) King of Franks and Lombards, First Holy Roman Emperor, Founder of Carolingian Empire”

Leave a comment