Representative reports back to Charlemagne

Charlemagne's empire was organized into 350 counties. Each county was led by an appointed count who served as judges and administrators. To create loyalty, Charlemagne created Missi Dominici. This system allowed one representative from the church and one representative from the emperor to yearly check on each county, reporting back to Charlemagne. This allowed Charlemagne to keep each county under control.

Silver coin depicting Charlemagne

Charlemagne made a change to the currency that lasted for hundreds of years. He changed the gold coin to silver and standardized the currency throughout most of Europe. A change that he made that also lasted for hundreds of years was his dedication to education. He introduced Latin as the language of scholarly study, creating a well known pure romantic language. He also built monastic schools, increasing the number of educated individuals in his empire.

Charlemagne welcoming new officers to enforce his laws

Charlemagne created structured law enforcement and criminal punishment, breaking away from the personalized system that had no rhyme or reason. He created a judicial system that consisted of a count who judged and sentenced people. It can be argued that Charlemagne created the judicial system that still exists today.

Charlemagne after being crowned, shortly before writing laws

In his empire, Charlemagne implemented and reformed laws which helped develop the medieval monarchy called Admonitio generalis. Charlemagne was the first king to write his own laws for his kingdom. He took the laws of his people, including those he conquered, to create a set of laws that his entire kingdom could live by. Some provinces had slightly different laws, but overall, it was the Frankish law that ruled. He implemented his laws by having leading members of each province read them aloud. Many of the laws pertained to new Christian reforms.

Charlemagne crowned Emperor

On Christmas day in the year 800, Charlemagne was at Mass in St. Peter's Rome. Suddenly Pope Leo III placed a golden crown upon his head. Charlemagne became the Holy Roman Emperor. He was the first emperor since Romulus Augustulus in 476. The Pope crowned Charlemagne out of thanks for the safety the Franks had given him. The crowning also represented Rome;s independence from the Greek Empire in Constantinople. Though it may seem that the Pope had power over Charlemagne, the emperor continued to appoint bishops and counts.

Charlemagne's Empire

During his rule, Charlemagne also conquered the Avards in 791-795, allowing his land to expand to the east. He conquered Bavarian and many Muslim tribes, allowing his country to expand immensely. His conquering allowed for Western Europe to reunite for the first time since the Roman rule.

Charlemagne accepts Widukind's defeat

Charlemagne's goal as an emperor was to unite his kingdom under Christian rule. After defeating the Lombards he began a three decade long war with the Saxons beginning in 772 continuing through 804. The Saxons were a Germanic tribe of Pagan worshippers led by Widukind. The war was long and ruthless. Charlemagne demanded that all Saxons convert to Christianity and be baptized, otherwise they would be killed. Thousands of Saxons died in battle and refusal to convert.