Middle Ages
Carolingian Europe

The Merovingian kings customarily distributed Francia among their sons and destroyed their own power base with extensive land grants. In the northeastern Frankish kingdom of Austrasia, the Arnulfings were the most prominent beneficiaries of royal favour. As hereditary Mayors of the Palace, they were the power behind the throne beginning in the mid-7th century. One, Pepin of Herstal (d. 714), also assumed power in the central Frankish realm of Neustria. His son, Charles Martel (d. 741), took advantage of the permanent Muslim threat to confiscate church property and raise troops by parcelling it out to the recruits.

The Carolingians, as Charles Martel's descendants are known, succeeded the Merovingians as the royal dynasty of Francia in 751. The Merovingian king Childeric III (r. 743–51) was deposed that year, and Charles Martel's son Pepin the Short (r. 751–68) was crowned king with the consent of the Frankish leaders and the papacy. Pepin attacked the Lombards, enforcing their promise to respect papal possessions. His subsequent donation of central Italian territories to the Holy See marked the beginning of the Papal States.

Pepin left his kingdom in the hands of his sons: Charles, more often known as Charlemagne (r. 768–814), and Carloman (r. 768–71). When Carloman died, Charlemagne reunited Francia and embarked on a programme of expansion. He subjugated the Saxons, conquered the Lombards, and created a border province in northern Spain. Frankish troops also destroyed the Avars, facilitating the development of small Slav principalities primarily ruled by ambitious warlords under Frankish suzerainty. The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor on Christmas Day 800 marked the return of the Western Roman Empire, although the Byzantines did not recognise him as a second "emperor of the Romans".

His empire was administered by an itinerant court that travelled with the emperor and about 300 imperial officials (known as counts), who administered the empire's counties. The central administration supervised the counts with imperial emissaries, known as missi dominici, who were roving inspectors and troubleshooters. The clerics of the royal chapel were responsible for recording important royal grants and decisions.

Charlemagne's court was the centre of the cultural revival sometimes known as the Carolingian Renaissance. Literacy increased with development of the arts, architecture and jurisprudence, and liturgical and scriptural studies under the auspices of the Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin (d. 804). He developed a script, presently known as Carolingian minuscule, which facilitated reading with the clear separation of words and the extensive use of punctuation. Charlemagne sponsored changes in church liturgy, imposing the Roman form of worship on his domains and Gregorian chant in liturgical music for the churches.
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