Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England from seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, and the first monarch of the House of Tudor. He ruled the Principality of Wales until 29 November 1489 and was Lord of Ireland, Henry won the throne when his forces defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. Henry was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle and he cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and niece of Richard III. Henry was successful in restoring the power and stability of the English monarchy after the civil war and his supportive stance of the islands wool industry and stand off with the Low Countries had long lasting benefits to all the British Isles economy. However, the capriciousness and lack of due process that many would tarnish his legacy and were soon ended upon Henry VIIs death. According to the contemporary historian Polydore Vergil, simple greed underscored the means by which royal control was over-asserted in Henrys final years, Henry VII was born at Pembroke Castle on 28 January 1457 to Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond.
His father, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, died three months before his birth, Henrys paternal grandfather, Owen Tudor, originally from the Tudors of Penmynydd, Isle of Anglesey in Wales, had been a page in the court of Henry V. He rose to one of the Squires to the Body to the King after military service at the Battle of Agincourt. Owen is said to have married the widow of Henry V. One of their sons was Edmund Tudor, father of Henry VII, Edmund was created Earl of Richmond in 1452, and formally declared legitimate by Parliament. Henrys main claim to the English throne derived from his mother through the House of Beaufort, Henrys mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward III, and his third wife Katherine Swynford. Katherine was Gaunts mistress for about 25 years, when married in 1396, they already had four children. Thus Henrys claim was somewhat tenuous, it was from a woman, in theory, the Portuguese and Castilian royal families had a better claim as descendants of Catherine of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt and his second wife Constance of Castile.
Gaunts nephew Richard II legitimised Gaunts children by Katherine Swynford by Letters Patent in 1397, in 1407, Henry IV, who was Gaunts son by his first wife, issued new Letters Patent confirming the legitimacy of his half-siblings, but declaring them ineligible for the throne. Henry IVs action was of doubtful legality, as the Beauforts were previously legitimised by an Act of Parliament, but it further weakened Henrys claim. Henry made political capital out of his Welsh ancestry, for example in attracting military support. He came from an old, established Anglesey family that claimed descent from Cadwaladr and he took it, as well as the standard of St George, on his procession through London after the victory at Bosworth. A contemporary writer and Henrys biographer, Bernard André, much of Henrys Welsh descent
Suger
Suger was a French abbot and historian. He was one of the earliest patrons of Gothic architecture, and is credited with popularizing the style. Several times in his writings he suggests that his was a humble background, in 1091, at the age of ten, Suger was given as an oblate to the abbey of St. Denis, where he began his education. He trained at the priory of Saint-Denis de lEstrée, and there first met the future king Louis VI of France, from 1104 to 1106, Suger attended another school, perhaps that attached to the abbey of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire. In 1106 he became secretary to the abbot of Saint-Denis, in the following year he became provost of Berneval in Normandy, and in 1109 of Toury. In 1118, Louis VI sent Suger to the court of Pope Gelasius II at Maguelonne, on his return from Maguelonne, Suger became abbot of St-Denis. Until 1127, he occupied himself at court mainly with the affairs of the kingdom, while during the following decade he devoted himself to the reorganization. He bitterly opposed the divorce, having himself advised the marriage.
Although he disapproved of the Second Crusade, he himself, at the time of his death, had started preaching a new crusade, Suger served as the friend and counsellor both of Louis VI and Louis VII. He urged the king to destroy the bandits, was responsible for the royal tactics in dealing with the communal movements. He left his abbey, which possessed considerable property and embellished by the construction of a new built in the nascent Gothic style. Suger wrote extensively on the construction of the abbey in Liber de Rebus in Administratione sua Gestis, Libellus Alter de Consecratione Ecclesiae Sancti Dionysii, similarly the assumption by 19th century French authors that Suger was the designer of St Denis has been almost entirely discounted by more recent scholars. Instead he is seen as having been a bold and imaginative patron who encouraged the work of an innovative master mason. A chalice once owned by Suger is now in the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. Abbot Suger and confidant of the French Kings, Louis VI and Louis VII, decided in about 1137 to rebuild the great Church of Saint-Denis, Suger began with the West front, reconstructing the original Carolingian façade with its single door.
He designed the façade of Saint-Denis to be an echo of the Roman Arch of Constantine with its three-part division, the rose window above the West portal is the earliest-known such example, although Romanesque circular windows preceded it in general form. At the completion of the west front in 1140, Abbot Suger moved on to the reconstruction of the eastern end and he designed a choir that would be suffused with light. The new structure was finished and dedicated on 11 June 1144, the Abbey of Saint-Denis thus became the prototype for further building in the royal domain of northern France
Jean Fouquet
Jean Fouquet was a preeminent French painter of the 15th century, a master of both panel painting and manuscript illumination, and the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature. He was the first French artist to travel to Italy and experience first-hand the early Italian Renaissance, little is known of his life, but it is certain that he was in Italy before 1447, when he executed a portrait of Pope Eugene IV, who died that year. He worked for the French court, including Charles VII, the treasurer Étienne Chevalier, near the end of his career, he became court painter to Louis XI. His work can be associated with the French courts attempt to solidify French national identity in the wake of its struggle with England in the Hundred Years War. One example is when Fouquet depicts Charles VII as one of the three magi and this is one of the very few portraits of the king. According to some sources, the other two magi are the Dauphin Louis, future Louis XI, and his brother, far more numerous are his illuminated books and miniatures.
The Musée Condé in Chantilly contains forty miniatures from the Hours of Étienne Chevalier, Fouquet illuminated a copy of the Grandes Chroniques de France, for an unknown patron, thought to be either Charles VII or someone else at the royal court. Also from Fouquets hand are eleven of the fourteen miniatures illustrating a translation of Josephus at the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Melun Diptych One of Fouquets most important paintings is the Melun Diptych, formerly in Melun cathedral. The left wing of the diptych depicts Étienne Chevalier with his patron saint St. Stephen, the right wing shows a pale Virgin and Child surrounded by red and blue angels and is now at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. Since at least the seventeenth century, the Virgin has been recognized as a portrait of Agnès Sorel, the Louvre has his oil portraits of Charles VII, of Count Wilczek, and of Guillaume Jouvenel des Ursins, and a portrait drawing in crayon. Melun Diptych Book of Hours of Simon de Varie Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
Foucquet, world Digital Library presentation of Antiquités judaïques or Jewish Antiquities. Illuminated parchment manuscripts recount the history of the Jewish people from Creation to the outbreak of the Jewish revolt against the Romans in A. D.66
Calais
Calais is a town and major ferry port in northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. The population of the area at the 2010 census was 126,395. Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel, which is only 34 km wide here, the White Cliffs of Dover can easily be seen on a clear day from Calais. Calais is a port for ferries between France and England, and since 1994, the Channel Tunnel has linked nearby Coquelles to Folkestone by rail. Due to its position, Calais since the Middle Ages has been a major port and it was annexed by Edward III of England in 1347 and grew into a thriving centre for wool production. The town came to be called the brightest jewel in the English crown owing to its importance as the gateway for the tin, lace. Calais was a possession of England until its capture by France in 1558. In 1805 it was an area for Napoleons troops for several months during his planned invasion of the United Kingdom.
The town was razed to the ground during World War II. During World War II, the Germans built massive bunkers along the coast in preparation for launching missiles on England, the old part of the town, Calais proper, is situated on an artificial island surrounded by canals and harbours. The modern part of the town, St-Pierre, lies to the south, south east of the Place is the church of Notre-Dame, built during the English occupancy of Calais. It is arguably the only built in the English perpendicular style in all of France. In this church former French President Charles de Gaulle married his wife Yvonne Vendroux, south of the Place and opposite the Parc St Pierre is the Hôtel-de-ville, and the belfry from the 16th and early 17th centuries. Today, Calais is visited by more than 10 million annually, although the early history of habitation in the area is limited, the Romans called the settlement Caletum. Julius Caesar mustered 800 to 1,000 sailing boats, five legions, as the pebble and sand ridge extended eastward from Calais, the haven behind it developed into fen, as the estuary progressively filled with silt and peat.
Calais was improved by the Count of Flanders in 997 and fortified by the Count of Boulogne in 1224, in 1189, Richard the Lionheart is documented to have landed at Calais on his journey to the Third Crusade. Angered, the English king demanded reprisals against the citizens for holding out for so long
Merovingian dynasty
The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that ruled the Franks for nearly 300 years in a region known as Francia in Latin, beginning in the middle of the 5th century. Their territory largely corresponded to ancient Gaul as well as the Roman provinces of Raetia, Germania Superior and the southern part of Germania. The Merovingian dynasty was founded by Childeric I, the son of Merovech, leader of the Salian Franks, after the death of Clovis there were frequent clashes between different branches of the family, but when threatened by its neighbours the Merovingians presented a strong united front. During the final century of Merovingian rule, the kings were increasingly pushed into a ceremonial role, the Merovingian rule ended in March 752 when Pope Zachary formally deposed Childeric III. Zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, confirmed and anointed Pepin the Short in 754, the Merovingian ruling family were sometimes referred to as the long-haired kings by contemporaries, as their long hair distinguished them among the Franks, who commonly cut their hair short.
The Merovingian dynasty owes its name to the semi-legendary Merovech, leader of the Salian Franks, the victories of his son Childeric I against the Visigoths and Alemanni established the basis of Merovingian land. Childerics son Clovis I went on to unite most of Gaul north of the Loire under his control around 486, when he defeated Syagrius, the Roman ruler in those parts. He won the Battle of Tolbiac against the Alemanni in 496, at time, according to Gregory of Tours. He subsequently went on to defeat the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in the Battle of Vouillé in 507. After Cloviss death, his kingdom was partitioned among his four sons, leadership among the early Merovingians was probably based on mythical descent and alleged divine patronage, expressed in terms of continued military success. In 1906 the British Egyptologist Flinders Petrie suggested that the Marvingi recorded by Ptolemy as living near the Rhine were the ancestors of the Merovingian dynasty, upon Cloviss death in 511, the Merovingian kingdom included all of Gaul except Burgundy and all of Germania magna except Saxony.
To the outside, the kingdom, even when divided under different kings, maintained unity, after the fall of the Ostrogoths, the Franks conquered Provence. After this their borders with Italy and Visigothic Septimania remained fairly stable, the kingdom was divided among Cloviss sons and among his grandsons and frequently saw war between the different kings, who quickly allied among themselves and against one another. The death of one king created conflict between the brothers and the deceaseds sons, with differing outcomes. Later, conflicts were intensified by the personal feud around Brunhilda, yearly warfare often did not constitute general devastation but took on an almost ritual character, with established rules and norms. Eventually, Clotaire II in 613 reunited the entire Frankish realm under one ruler, divisions produced the stable units of Austrasia, Neustria and Aquitania. The frequent wars had weakened royal power, while the aristocracy had made great gains and these concessions saw the very considerable power of the king parcelled out and retained by leading comites and duces.
Very little is in fact known about the course of the 7th century due to a scarcity of sources, clotaires son Dagobert I, who sent troops to Spain and pagan Slavic territories in the east, is commonly seen as the last powerful Merovingian King
Royal manuscripts, British Library
They are still catalogued with call numbers using the prefix Royal in the style Royal MS2. As a collection, the Royal manuscripts date back to Edward IV, the collection was expanded under Henry VIII by confiscations in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and after the falls of Henrys ministers Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. The date and means of entry into the collection can only be guessed at in many if not most cases, now the collection is closed in the sense that no new items have been added to it since it was donated to the nation. Fortunately the collection escaped relatively lightly in the fire of 1731 at Ashburnham House, the Cotton Library was one of the founding collections of the British Museum in 1753, and four years the Royal collection was formally donated to the new institution by the king. It moved to the new British Library when this was established in 1973, the 9,000 printed books that formed the majority of the Old Royal Library were not kept as a distinct collection in the way the manuscripts were, and are dispersed among the librarys holdings.
A few Anglo-Saxon manuscripts owned by royalty have survived after being presented to the church, among them a Gospel Book, VII, given to Christ Church, Canterbury by King Athelstan in the 920s, which probably rejoined the collection at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. However these works are scattered among a variety of libraries, by the late Middle Ages luxury manuscripts would generally include the heraldry of the commissioner, especially in the case of royalty, which is an important means of identifying the original owner. The careful inventories of the French royal library have no English equivalent until a list compiled at Richmond Palace in 1535, by 1340 there were only 18 books left, although this probably did not include Edwards personal books. The wills of Henrys son, Henry V refer to a Biblia Magna, E. IX, with fine historiated initials illuminated in London by several artists from the school of Herman Scheerre of Cologne. A considerable number of texts were left to family members, staff.
Two of Henry Vs younger brothers were notable collectors and he used the dominant English position in France to buy the French royal library of the Louvre, from which a few examples remain in the Royal manuscripts. About fifty of the Royal manuscripts were acquired by Edward IV and he was not a scholarly man, and had to fight his way to the throne after inheriting the Yorkist claim to the throne at the age of eighteen after his father and elder brother died in battle. He reigned from 1461 until 1470, when machinations among the nobles forced a six-month period of exile in Burgundy. He stayed for some of this period in Bruges at the house of Louis de Gruuthuse, a nobleman in the intimate circle of Philip the Good. Philip had the largest and finest library of illuminated manuscripts in Europe, with perhaps 600, in 1470 his library was in its early stages, but must already have been very impressive for Edward. As well as numbers of miniatures, the borders were decorated in increasingly inventive and elaborate fashion.
Many of Edwards manuscripts reflected this taste, like that of Philip, his court displayed an increase in ceremonial formality, and interest in chivalry. Most of his books are popular works in French, with several modern and ancient histories
Simon Marmion
Simon Marmion was a French or Burgundian Early Netherlandish painter of panels and illuminated manuscripts. Marmion lived and worked in what is now France but for most of his lifetime was part of the Duchy of Burgundy in the Southern Netherlands. Like many painters of his era, Marmion came from a family of artists, Marmion is recorded as working at Amiens between 1449 and 1454, and at Valenciennes from 1458 until his death. He was patronized by Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy from 1454 when he was one of artists called to Lille to work on the decorations for the Feast of the Pheasant. He was employed by members of the ducal family, including Charles the Bold. He was called the prince of illuminators by a near contemporary, three years after his death his widow, Jeanne de Quaroube, married his pupil, the painter Jan Provoost, who on her death inherited the considerable Marmion estate. Although best known for his manuscripts, Marmion produced portraits and other paintings, altarpieces. A famous double-sided altarpiece with several Scenes from the life of St Bertin is in the Gemäldegalerie, there is a Mass of Saint Gregory in Toronto, and a Lamentation of Christ in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, three works in Philadelphia, and several others elsewhere.
Stylistically he lies between his French and Flemish contemporaries, with a Flemish innovation in composition and landscape and his perspective is usually technically sound, but the proportions of his figures are often awkward, and their poses rather stiff. His masterpiece, a Grandes Chroniques de France, is now in the Russian National Library and this has 25 large miniatures and 65 smaller ones, ranging in style from brilliantly-coloured battle-scenes to some in an innovative near-grisaille style, with just touches of subdued colour. The illustrations reflect the text, which is an unusual version stressing Netherlandish events, the same library has a medical text with a fine presentation miniature with another portrait of Phillip the Good, and heraldic borders. The Morgan Library and Huntington Library have fine books of hours by Marmion, the Simon Marmion Hours in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is, with pages 11 x 7.6 cm, an example of the fashion for very small but lavish books of hours.
The only full-page miniature without borders in the book is a scene of Heaven and Hell. Many scenes in the Getty Tondal, and a large Dream of Charles the Bald in the Petersberg Chroniques contain striking images on these themes, between the late 19th century and the mid-20th century, art historians attributed various works to Marmion. However, from 1969, a scholarly counter-movement led by art historian Antoine de Schruyver suggested that Marmions body of work came from a number of hands. Marmion is recorded as producing a breviary ordered by Philip the Good between 1467 and 1470, and a miniature in the Metropolitan Museum of Art may come from this. Malibu, CA, J. Paul Getty Museum,1992, short books on individual MS, Kren and Wieck, Roger. The Visions of Tondal from the Library of Margaret of York, J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu,1990, ISBN 978-0-89236-169-4 Thorpe, James
Philip III of France
It can refer to Philippe III de Croÿ and Philippe III, Duke of Orléans. Philip III, called the Bold, was King of France from 1270 to 1285, Philip proved indecisive, soft in nature, and timid. The strong personalities of his parents apparently crushed him, and policies of his father dominated him, people called him the Bold on the basis of his abilities in combat and on horseback and not on the basis of his political or personal character. He was pious but not cultivated and he followed the suggestions of others, first of Pierre de La Broce and of his uncle King Charles I of Naples and Albania. His father, Louis IX, died in Tunis during the Eighth Crusade, who was accompanying him, came back to France to claim his throne and was anointed at Reims in 1271. Philip made numerous territorial acquisitions during his reign, the most notable being the County of Toulouse which was annexed to the Crown lands of France in 1271. Following the Sicilian Vespers, a rebellion triggered by Peter III of Aragon against Philips uncle Charles I of Naples, Philip was forced to retreat and died from dysentry in Perpignan in 1285.
He was succeeded by his son Philip the Fair, Philip was born in Poissy to King Saint Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence, queen consort of France. As a younger son, Philip was not expected to rule a kingdom, at the death of his elder brother Louis in 1260, he became the heir to the throne. He was 15 years old and has less skill than his brother, being of a character, submissive and versatile. Pope Urban IV released Philip from his oath on June 6,1263, from 1268 Pierre de La Brosse became mentor. Saint Louis provided him his own advice, writing in particular Enseignements and he received a very faith-oriented education. Guillaume dErcuis was his chaplain before being the tutor of his son, as Count of Orléans, he accompanied his father to the Eighth Crusade in Tunis,1270. After taking Carthage, the army was struck by an epidemic of dysentery and his brother John Tristan, Count of Valois died first, on August 3, and on August 25 the king died. To prevent putrefaction of the remains of the sovereign, they recoursed to Mos Teutonicus, Philip, 25 years old, was proclaimed king in Tunis.
With neither great personality or will, very pious, but a good rider and he was unable to command the troops at the death of his father. He left his uncle Charles I of Naples to negotiate with Muhammad I al-Mustansir, Hafsid Sultan of Tunis and he got the payment of tribute from the caliph of Tunis in exchange for the departure of the crusaders. A treaty was concluded October 28,1270 between the kings of France and Navarre and the barons on one hand and the caliph of Tunis on the other
Einhard
Einhard was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was from the eastern German-speaking part of the Frankish Kingdom and he was accepted into the hugely wealthy court of Charlemagne around 791 or 792. Charlemagne actively sought to amass scholarly men around him and established a school led by the Northumbrian scholar Alcuin. Einhard evidently was a builder and construction manager, because Charlemagne put him in charge of the completion of several palace complexes including Aachen. Despite the fact that Einhard was on terms with Charlemagne. In 814, on Charlemagnes death his son Louis the Pious made Einhard his private secretary, Einhard retired from court during the time of the disputes between Louis and his sons in the spring of 830. He died at Seligenstadt in 840, Einhard was married to Emma, of whom little is known. There is a possibility that their marriage bore a son and their marriage appears to have been exceptionally liberal for the period, with Emma being as active as Einhard, if not more so, in the handling of their property.
It is said that in the years of their marriage Emma and Einhard abstained from sexual relations. Einhard made numerous references to himself as a sinner, a description of himself that shows his Augustinian influenced world view, to assuage such feelings of guilt he erected churches at both of his estates in Michelstadt and Mulinheim. In Michelstadt he saw fit to build a basilica completed in 827 and sent a servant, once in Rome, Ratleic robbed a catacomb of the bones of the Martyrs Marcellinus and Peter and had them translated to Michelstadt. Once there, the relics made it known they were unhappy with their new tomb, once established there, they proved to be miracle workers. Although unsure as to why these saints should choose such a sinner as their patron, between 831 and 834 he founded a Benedictine Monastery and, after the death of his wife, served as its Abbot until his own death in 840. Local lore from Seligenstadt portrays Einhard as the lover of Emma, one of Charlemagnes daughters, Charlemagne found them at Seligenstadt and forgave them.
This account is used to explain the name Seligenstadt by folk etymology, the count put it in the famous chapel of his castle at Erbach in the Odenwald. In composing this he relied heavily upon the Royal Frankish Annals and his work was written as a praise of Charlemagne, whom he regarded as a foster-father and to whom he was a debtor in life and death. Einhard is responsible for three other extant works, a collection of letters, On the Translations and the Miracles of SS, Marcellinus and Petrus, and On the Adoration of the Cross. Royal Frankish Annals Der hessische Spessart, neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde
Clovis I
He is considered to have been the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries. Clovis was the son of Childeric I, a Merovingian king of the Salian Franks, and Basina, in 481, at the age of fifteen, Clovis succeeded his father. Clovis is important in the historiography of France as the first king of what would become France and his name is Germanic, composed of the elements hlod and wig, and is the origin of the French given name Louis, borne by 18 kings of France. Dutch, the most closely related language to Frankish, reborrowed the name as Lodewijk from German in the 12th century. Clovis was baptized on Christmas Day in 508, numerous small Frankish kingdoms existed during the 5th century. After the collapse of Roman power in the last days of 406 the Salian Franks had expanded to the south of the military highway Boulogne-Cologne. The powerbase of Clovis father was the area around Tournai, in the current province of Hainault, upon the death of his father, Merovech in 457 Childeric I, Clovis father, became king of the subgroup of the Salian Franks based around Tournai.
In 463 he fought in conjunction with Aegidius, the magister militum of northern Gaul, Childeric died in 481 and was buried in Tournai, Clovis succeeded him as king, aged just 15. Under Clovis, the Salian Franks came to dominate their neighbours, historians believe that Childeric and Clovis were both commanders of the Roman military in the Province of Belgica Secunda and were subordinate to the magister militum. Clovis had the Frankish king Chararic imprisoned and executed, a few years later, he killed Ragnachar, the Frankish king of Cambrai, along with his brothers. Another victory followed in 491 over a group of Thuringians to the east. By this time Clovis had conquered all the Frankish kingdoms to the west of the River Maas and he secured an alliance with the Ostrogoths through the marriage of his sister Audofleda to their king, Theodoric the Great. With the help of the Ripuarian Franks he narrowly defeated the Alamanni in the Battle of Tolbiac in 496 and he made Paris his capital and established an abbey dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul on the south bank of the Seine.
In 500 Clovis fought a battle with the Burgundian kingdom at Dijon but was unable to subdue them, the battle added most of Aquitaine to Clovis kingdom and resulted in the death of the Visigothic king Alaric II. According to Gregory of Tours, following the Battle of Vouillé, since Clovis name does not appear in the consular lists, it is likely he was granted a suffect consulship. Clovis became the first king of all Franks in 508, after he had conquered Cologne and this contrasted with Catholicism, whose followers believe that God the Father and the Holy Spirit are three persons of one being. By the time of the ascension of Clovis, Gothic Arians dominated Christian Gaul and this included his wife, Clotilde, a Burgundian princess who was a Catholic in spite of the Arianism that surrounded her at court. Clotilde evangelized Clovis to convert to Catholicism, which he initially resisted, Clotilde had wanted her son to be baptized, but Clovis refused to allow it, so Clotilde had the child baptized without Cloviss knowledge
Carolingian dynasty
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name Carolingian derives from the Latinised name of Charles Martel, the Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of Romans in over three centuries. His death in 814 began a period of fragmentation of the Carolingian empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France. This picture, however, is not commonly accepted today, the greatest Carolingian monarch was Charlemagne, who was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III at Rome in 800. His empire, ostensibly a continuation of the Western Roman Empire, is referred to historiographically as the Carolingian Empire, the Carolingian rulers did not give up the traditional Frankish practice of dividing inheritances among heirs, though the concept of the indivisibility of the Empire was accepted. The Carolingians had the practice of making their sons kings in the various regions of the Empire.
The Carolingians were displaced in most of the regna of the Empire by 888 and they ruled in East Francia until 911 and held the throne of West Francia intermittently until 987. One chronicler of Sens dates the end of Carolingian rule with the coronation of Robert II of France as junior co-ruler with his father, Hugh Capet, the dynasty became extinct in the male line with the death of Eudes, Count of Vermandois. His sister Adelaide, the last Carolingian, died in 1122, the Carolingian dynasty has five distinct branches, The Lombard branch, or Vermandois branch, or Herbertians, descended from Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne. Though he did not outlive his father, his son Bernard was allowed to retain Italy, Bernard rebelled against his uncle Louis the Pious, and lost both his kingdom and his life. Deprived of the title, the members of this branch settled in France. The counts of Vermandois perpetuated the Carolingian line until the 12th century, the Counts of Chiny and the lords of Mellier, Neufchâteau and Falkenstein are branches of the Herbertians.
With the descendants of the counts of Chiny, there would have been Herbertian Carolingians to the early 14th century, the Lotharingian branch, descended from Emperor Lothair, eldest son of Louis the Pious. At his death Middle Francia was divided equally between his three surviving sons, into Italy and Lower Burgundy, the sons of Emperor Lothair did not have sons of their own, so Middle Francia was divided between the western and eastern branches of the family in 875. The Aquitainian branch, descended from Pepin of Aquitaine, son of Louis the Pious, since he did not outlive his father, his sons were deprived of Aquitaine in favor of his younger brother Charles the Bald. The German branch, descended from Louis the German, King of East Francia, since he had three sons, his lands were divided into Duchy of Bavaria, Duchy of Saxony and Duchy of Swabia. His youngest son Charles the Fat briefly reunited both East and West Francia — the entirety of the Carolingian empire — but it again after his death.
With the failure of the lines of the German branch, Arnulf of Carinthia
