Charlemagne's Italy

Southern Italy Series

-----Charlemagne's Italy-----

Charlemagne invaded the Kingdom of Lombardy in 773 in order to safeguard Papal control in the Romagna. By 774 the capital at Pavia had fallen and Charlemagne now wore the Iron Crown [link] . In 787 Charlemagne marched against the Duchy of Benevento, the last holdout of the Kingdom of Lombardy. The duke, Arechis II, was forced to submit to Charlemagne’s authority. But after he died in 792 his son Grimoald III renewed the struggle.

But Charlemagne didn’t really bother with retaking Benevento because he had far more important things to do, like defeating Saxony and kicking the Muslims out of Barcelona.

Then in 799 the Romans tried put out Pope Leo III’s eyes, but the Pope escaped and fled north over the Alps into Germany. In the winter of 800 the Pope returned to Rome with Charlemagne and the Frankish Army. Then on Christmas Day, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Imperator Romanorum (Emperor of the Romans).

Thus began a new relationship in Western Civilization: the Emperor provided the military and political means to uphold the sovereignty of the Papal state and in turn the Pope provided the religious legitimacy to uphold the Empire and keep the feudal order in check. Thus Charlemagne and the Pope stood together and benefited mutually from the other's power.

In 814 Charlemagne died. He was succeed by his son Louis in most of the empire [link] , but Italy went to Bernard [link] the bastard son of Louis’ dead brother Pepin.

Southern Italy Series

500 BC [link] Origins
264 BC [link] The Punic Wars
115 AD [link] The Roman Empire
405 [link] East and West
526 [link] Collapse of the West
565 [link] Reconquest
572 [link] Lombard Invasion
751 [link] Lombard Italy
814 Charlemagne's Italy
1000 [link] Italy and the Holy Roman Empire
1095 [link] The Norman Conquest
1154 [link] The Kingdom of Sicily
1250 [link] Hohenstaufen Italy
1280 [link] Anjou Sicily
1300 [link] War of the Vespers
1400 [link] Black Death
1492 [link] Renaissance Italy
1559 [link] Italian Wars
1715 [link] Habsburg Italy
1780 [link] Bourbon Italy
1799 [link] Revolutionary Italy
1812 [link] Napoleonic Italy
1860 [link] United Italy

2/19/12 EDIT:
map base source [link]
map base created by Citypeek [link]