Does everyone know that the Carolingians are the first ruling dynasty of kings, officially recognized by the church, the world and all nations? Prior to this, petty attempts to unite certain regions of Europe into a single powerful force called the Frankish Empire for a long time were practically impossible for anyone, and only the perseverance and mind of Charlemagne changed the situation, for which he was given this nickname during his lifetime. What began the history of the reign of Europe on the territory of Germanic tribes in antiquity, who stood at the origins, we will consider in more detail.
Who is the founder of the Carolingian dynasty?
Carlos Magnus, aka the famous Charlemagne, is the second ruler in this family, and his name served as a modernized name for the dynasty. The first was his father, Pipin the Third Short, who came from an ancient family, coming from Bishop Arnulf, who was canonized after death by the Catholic Church and who is the patron saint of brewers. It was Pipin who, on his dying bed, divided the huge Frankish state into two parts and gave it to his sons: Karl and Karloman.
The last, younger brother did not live long and at the age of 20 unexpectedly died in his castle, they say that he was not his death, as there was a serious conflict with women: Karloman abandoned his lawful wife with a child and wished to marry another. Karl joined all the lands of his brother to his own, creating an alliance with influential people close to Karloman and officially launched the Carolingian dynasty - this happened in 800 when he was crowned by Pope Leo the Third.
Unfortunately, when, in 817, before his death, the son of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious, who ruled at that time, divided all the lands into three parts and gave his sons - Louis, Pipin the Younger and Lothar, the state again split and formed the countries of Bavaria, Aquitaine and Italy . Civil strife grew until the Peace of Verdun was signed in 843, which included the newly born three Frankish kingdoms: Western, Eastern and Central.
How did the Carolings come to power?
This happened in 751, when the cunning descendant of Arnulf convened a council of Germanic tribes in order to decide: if the king does not use his power and does nothing for the state, giving the reins to the councilors and mayordom, then perhaps it is worth choosing another, more worthy king? The situation was extremely thought out, the ground for reflection was prepared by the previous exploits and deeds of Pipin, who at that time was the main mayor of the Frankish community.
Naturally, the majority voted for his candidacy, and now the "ruling" King Childeric the Third has been tonsured a monk by force and sent to the monastery of Saint-Bertin. Officially, Pipin Short was anointed to reign in May 752, and died, transferring power to children in the fall of 768.
How many dynasty rules?
The Carolingian rule lasted from 751 to 987, that is, a total of only 236 years. Of course, this is a rather short period of time (for comparison, the Rurikovich dynasty ruled in Russia for 748 years), but within the borders of those times it was a lot.
According to the family tree below, you can track all the representatives of the Carolingian - this is easy to do when all the descendants of Pipin Korotkoy are brought together.
After replacing the ruling dynasty, the male line of the Carolingian clan lasted until 1080, and in 1122 the last representative of the oldest clan died.
Who became the successor?
The Capolings came to replace the Carolingians, because the last representative of the descendants of Charlemagne, Louis the Lazy, had no children, so Hugo Capett, the guardian of the young Louis the Fifth, was appointed king as the bishop of Reims at a meeting of powerful families in France . This representative of the new dynasty did not rule for long, only nine years, for the most part which he spent on eradicating all the Carolingian representatives. It also forced Kapet to appoint his son Robert as co-ruler during his lifetime, in order to exclude any desires and attempts of other elections for the post of king: The Kapetings approved the line of succession by clan inheritance.
Who stood behind the transfer of royal power from the Merovingians to the Carolingians
This is quite easy to trace by historical facts: given that Childeric the Third did not take any part in state and social life, it is quite natural that there were more power-hungry individuals, like Pipin Korotky was.
Over a long period of service, he thoroughly studied all the subtleties of manipulating the opinions of governing structures, so during land oppression by the lombards of the Pope, Pipin promptly offered his help and patronage, thereby buying his voice in the elections. And given that the opinion of the pope was usually supported by the majority, since the fear of excommunication was higher than the fear of death, it was a very wise move, which once again proves that power and the clergy are inseparable.