How Charlemagne Conquered Europe
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- The founder of the Carolingian empire, Charlemagne, is often called the “father of Europe." He is regularly ranked among the greatest military captains of history, even by as unlikely a source as Mike Tyson. However, there are many myths about Charlemagne's art of war, which this video dispels to bring you the true story about how he and his family conquered Europe.
This is the third episode in a series covering the Holy Roman Empire.
Sources & further reading:
- Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire (Peter H. Wilson)
- Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West 450-900 (Guy Halsall)
- The Carolingian World (Marios Costambeys, Matthew Innes, Simon MacLean)
- Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories (Bernahrd Scholz & Barbara Rogers-Gardner)
- Life of Charlemagne (Einhard)
- The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edward Gibbon)
Music & footage:
- Mike Tyson boxing footage & podcast audio
- Civilisation: Season 1, Episode 1, by Kenneth Clark, 1969
- Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 - Strauss
- Johann Strauss II - The Blue Danube Waltz
- "Nisi Dominus - Cum Dederit" de Antonio Vivaldi. Andreas Scholl
- Maurice Ravel - Bolero
- Verdi: La forza del destino - Overture (Sinfonia)
- Mahler: Symphony No. 2 In C Minor - "Resurrection" / 1st Movement - Allegro maestoso...
- Ride of the Valkyries - Richard Wagner
- Symphony No. 3, "A guerra" (War) : I. Life and Labour. Allegro quasi giusto
- Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre
- Beethoven - Coriolan Overture, Op 62 - Muti
- Franz Schubert - Piano Trio in E flat, op. 100 (Second movement)
- Schubert: 5 German Dances, D.89 (D.90) - Arranged For 7 Trios And 1 Coda For String Quartett
- Mozart Lacrimosa
0:00 - An unlikely disciple
1:53 - What the Carolingian period represents to us
6:20 - The foundations laid by Pepin the Short
13:57 - Charlemagne & Carloman
17:15 - The sole reign of Charlemagne begins
18:00 - Conquest of Lombardy
22:00 - Setback in Iberia (Battle of Roncevaux Pass)
25:25 - Victory over the Avars & Slavs
28:56 - 30-year struggle against the Saxons
35:40 - How did Charlemagne do it?
46:23 - The REAL role horses played in Charlemagne's wars
48:00 - The ACTUAL size & speed of Charlemagne's armies
49:36 - Frankish weaponry & equipment
52:56 - The final verdict on Charlemagne's reputation as conqueror
Next video about the Carolingian Renaissance + the other aspects of Charlemagne's reign coming soon!
Corrections/clarifications will be posted here:
- Wrong unit conversion: Charlemagne was 1.8 meters tall, equivalent to 5 feet 11 inches
Great video. I'm loving your series. Also, I'd appreciate if, in the next videos, you could also convert the measures from the imperial system to the metric system. In this video you tell us that the armies' speed was between 5 and 10 miles per day, and, since I'm not from the US, I had to search afterwards how much was this in kilometers.
Thanks in advance.
I appreciate the quality and production of your videos. I will definitely be checking in for more content to come!
Iconoclasm is not unique in opposition to the worship of images, but rather it conflates veneration and worship. All Christians agree on not worshipping idols, but the iconoclasts claimed all icons were idols and that any physical representation of the divine was blasphemous, which on its face is a denial of the incarnation; hence why it's a condemned heresy.
Thats interesting but your viewpoint is still Western-centric (influenced from western "pagan" canon of philosophy). From the Eastern point of view, influenced by eastern pagan Judaic/Parthian philosophy, icons are seen in a more complicated lens.
@Science: correct.
Sacred icons are not idolatry. Idol worshipers believe a spirit, deity that is, comes to inhabit the object.
as a catholic, thank you for clarifying this and referring to the actual devotional position
The Christopher Lee metal song at the end is the LAST thing I expected. Wow.
Got copyrighted unfortunately haha, enjoy while it lasts.
Would have been a nice suprise if it wasnt the top comment
Lee could trace his lineage to Charlemagne.
Yes. He was rather proud of that album. He also worked with the Italian power metal band Rhapsody on multiple albums both singing and providing narration for a few of their albums. It’s pretty cool.
The idea that the Saxon Wars were "The" cause for the viking age is nowadays considered to be a bit outdated. Franco-Danish hostilities existed before Verden (just as Scandinavian traders existed after it), the first areas to be targeted were in the British isles, and there are quite a few problems with attributing a premodern pan-German national identity as a motivating factor. Keep in mind, the first version of the Dannevirke was built to keep out the Saxons, and the Danes attacked across it when the Saxons were weakened by the Saxon Wars. Meanwhile Verden itself was enabled by "The Saxons" themselves, with some Saxons turning in the rebels. I use quotation marks because there were many Saxon tribes, and your loyalty was to your tribe and not to a nationalistic idea of the Saxon People writ large. Never mind the Swedish and Norwegian vikings, who were less connected to the Saxon Wars.
Now, the Saxon Wars could have been a contributing factor in the start of the Viking Age, with displaced warriors and chieftains now needing a new career path with some of them having political connections in Denmark, for example, but similar displacements were happening elsewhere in Scandinavia at the same time, so it wouldn't be quite right to present it as "The" cause.
Of course, whatever it was the started the Viking Age, what kept it going was that they found out it was profitable, they liked it, they were good at it, and they were alive.
17:10 second most important; it is alleged that Atilla the Hun died of a nose bleed, although it is also said that his new bride who he just married that day killed him on their wedding bed
Edit: fixed a missing word.
Super interesting. Lots of legends about that man, like the Sargon style one about the diversion of the river.
This is a fantastic channel! Hopefully it grows! As someone with a more modern interest, the British Empire and the United States, learning about this period is incredibly facilitating and you do a great job introducing it while also providing depth and detail. I appreciate the sited sources, a thing I think a lot of history channels seem to forget. Overall fantastic
Thank you! This HRE series is going to take us pretty far in space & time, will be a fun one :)
@@Empire-Builders definitely. The British possession of Hanover and the British king being an elector in the Holy Roman Empire was a thing I was aware of but learning the history of the HRE will hopefully be very fun! Interestingly since Hanover was in personal union with Great Britain from 1714-1837, when the US became independent the King we became independent from, George III, was an elector in the HRE.
I wholeheartedly agree about the citations! It’s horrible that it’s standard for many history UA-cam channels to engage in theft
11k subs, with production value of a channel with millions, keep it up
Another Great Intro! Love these little hooks you do for the vids
Thanks brother! 👊
Wow, I absolutely loved the HRE series and this is even better. I really like the added pictures and maps, it really gives depth to the video and conveys the atmosphere of the time perfectly!
This is such an understudied part of history, and I'm glad it's getting some representation. Charlemagne is not lauded enough for his accomplishments, even though I'm sure most people vaguely know who he is. Regarding the most important rulers in Western civilisation, in my view he's up there with Augustus as someone who didn't just conquer, but also made many accomplishments in terms of bureaucracy, societal institutions and economic developments.
Amazing documentary. The future looks bright for this channel and I'm looking forward to what you bring out next.
Trust me in germany it is not understudied. I'd guess there was only one topic we would chew through more than Karl der Große, which was the third reich. Funnily enough, since he is seen as father of the french AND the germans, which was a point of contention over many centuries, it is now spun into the direction of 'we are all one european family and he is our imaginary father' - if you get my meaning.
Great video again. Enjoying this series very much gives me a vibe of reading a book but I guess it’s feel like a kindle version. As someone who only enjoys 19th to 20th centuries European history epically Germany history this series is a breath of fresh air. As for Charlemagne, he is up there with historical Europeans that deserved to be called European or a father of Europe. Can’t wait for more of your videos.
Also, Peter Wilson’s HRE A Thousand Years of History is a good source and I’m glad you are referencing. I read it a while back and it gives a way better view of the HRE as this 1000 years political entity that was bound to change and evolve over time. Another good book of his is Iron and Blood which is about German military and the German people since 1500 and be a useful tool for future videos.
Also, I don’t know what date you are going to finish this series (probably 1806 or 1815 when a replacement of the HRE came into existence) but I would love to see a video on the HRE’s perspectives after its dissolution. The immediate effects how did Germans react to it, how did German states (especially smaller ones) react to it and how did outside states react to it. Then something on others perspectives of the HRE after the years that followed, how did German Confederation, Imperial Germany, Weimar Germany, Nazi Germany, post-WWII Germanys and modern-day Germany view their form political entity. And of course other European nations that had a historical connection or even the EU which many scholars believe have similarities to the HRE.
Anyways that enough from me and my rambling. Sorry for the long comment. Thank you and can’t wait for the next part.
Wonderful feedback! Greatly appreciated 🙏
Love your content
This series is amazing, not only enterteining or informative, but also gives light to a period not so often talked about. I'm so glad that found your channel, keep up the fantastic work!
🙏
Fantastic channel and wonderful video!
Keep it going!
✊
Great video!
Dude this is QUALITY production. You should be proud. Liked and Subbed.
You’re going places I can feel it. Quality, interesting, and diverse content is definitely something I will subscribe to
Much obliged! Next one coming soon.
Great channel ! Love the content, the narration and the background music. Thanks from Montréal !
Produced in Newfoundland! 🇨🇦
This underrated channel is informative and FUNNY ASF!!!!!!!! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed my friend!
This is some of the most visually and intellectually stimulating content I've ever enjoyed in my entire life, and it's from a channel with 6k subs. Cable and TV is dead, long live the UA-camr.
🙏
We are living in a Golden Age of viewer directed content creation. People will be writing about this era, lets enjoy while it lasts.
Christmas came early, I see 🔥great vid
I discovered tis channel a couple of days ago. Great videos man! greetings from Argentina!
Muchas gracias!
Currently my favorite UA-camr, amazing quality for how small you are ❤
Thank you 🙏🙏
Love your stuff and very happy to see sources and further reading, love getting to pick up more books. Keep up your good work!
Enjoy my friend!
Amazing video, Build your channel like an empire
Dude, your music choices are amazing. Pairing Dans Macabre with the war with the Vikings is so great.
Just wanted to say when it came to siege weapons the Onager was still in use and by the 700s the Mangonel i believe was beginning to be used by the Franks.
Interesting, was not aware of this. Apparently the Avars introduced Europe to the mangonel, similar to the stirrup.
I am tempted to say that it will be a similar story to the stirrup, whereby we lack hard evidence for the usage of the mangonel/onager by the Franks as of yet.
I’m absolutely loving this series
This channel os going to be huge, brother. Got a sub from me, of course. Cheers from Brazil.
Great vid. Medieval history is underrated
The Constantinople crowd has been real quiet since this video dropped...
Now that you are posting your sources I am so happy
:)
@Empire-Builders I really enjoyed the video, thanks to you now I understand way better how the Merovingians and the Carolingias both functioned and their role in history, great work
@@Empire-Builders and I love to see that now you are doing proper sourcing
Never really cared for early medieval European history til now your videos really make learning this era fun keep up the good work and I can’t wait to see what you make next
That means a lot! 🙏
Hahahahahaha My comment influenced you bro I LOVE YOU NOW I feel like I helped you make the video but aside from that Charlamgne is one of my favorite kings to study so this is a REAL TREAT
Man can't stop making goated videos 🤯
Great documentary! You've even managed to capture a live jester at the magnificent court of Charlemagne :) 2:23
Great stuff, yeah
32:27 don't forget us Icelanders and the Faroese.
Great stuff w Mike Tyson. Was that on a JRE?
Yessiree. That and the Hot Boxin pod.
I've been waiting for that one
🙏
Excellent video; slight correction - at 18:40 your text & speech states that 1.8m is “around 5 foot 9”. This is incorrect, 1.8m is ~6 foot, which explains why Carolus Magnus was seen as a giant, because whilst 5 foot 9 would likely be seen as relatively tall for the age, 6 foot was truly unusually large.
182cm is 6ft, so 180cm is like 5’11. (Edit: and a bit, but i don’t think it’s 6ft yet)
Thanks for the catch! Conflated 5.91 feet with 5 feet 11 inches. Added correction to pinned comment.
You had to have Strauss in that intro. Perfection.
Best intro ever
save me charlemagne! 🙌🏻
another empire builders masterclass 🤩
Sank you kindly brother 😍
At first, I must admit I almost turned your series off. I'm very pleased that I stuck it out! Can you make more Playlists for your other series so I can listen to them all at a click? Also, keep up the great work, and thank you.
Glad to hear it! So far, only got the Carolingian & Akkadian series/playlists. Any reason why you almost turned it off? :)
you have quickly become one of my favorite youtubers! you have a bright future on this platform my friend!
Thank you bro!
Another point about stirrups is that it made the use of larger horses possible. The larger the horse the more weight it can carry = heavy cavalry. Very hard to get on a large/tall horse without using stirrups. You can't carry a mounting block around with you :-)
Would you consider doing a video on Theodoric the Great? I think he might be the most underrated ruler in world history. At his peak, he might have been the most powerful human in the Mediterranean. He outright controlled the largest chunk of the Roman World until Charlemagne, and by marrying his daughters to both the Frank and Vandal kings, and acting as Patrician to the Byzantine court, he exerted similar soft power to Theodosius I or Justinian I. He maintained a lot of Roman customs, and it seems like Italy and Spain truly thrived under his wise but firm leadership.
Thanks for the suggestion. Definitely will consider it.
Carlomans poor wife & children. Uncle Charlamagne was scary!
Save me charlemagne.
Charlemagne wasnt actually the first HRE. His stamp always said King of the Franks and he didnt put the Imperial title into his will as he didnt see it as any more than legitimacy for the King title.
I'm curious what you think of the theory that the Franks inherited the concept of land based feudalism from their Hunnic overlords who carried the central Asian practice to Europe..
Herodians
Have not heard of this theory before
@@Empire-Builders it was advanced by professor Hyun Jin Kim of South Korea in his book about the huns in europe
@@Empire-Builders professor Kim has several interviews on UA-cam where he discusses this idea..quite fascinating 🤔
@@pl33 Thanks I’ll be sure to check em out
There are a lot of history channels on UA-cam but most don’t get past the first level of details and historical errors. You’ve managed to get to level 2 and still be interesting. Would have liked for you to better connect the methods that Charles used to accomplish his military organization. You mention at least 2 of these in the next video but as presented they were only loosely handled; his royal agents mitigating the information problem and the royal estates entirely funding the mil campaigns avoiding tax reforms that might have affected the cohesion of Frankia. Thanks for the videos.
FINALLY !
When the HRE is done, would a video about the Norman or British Empire be of interest to you guys?
Definitely. Not sure what I'll be doing next.
Nah you got to do something random, Everyone does a video of Great Britain you should next try telling the story of some random empire no one knows about.
@@lephinor2458there’s probably a reason nobody knows about them 😴😴😴
@@GlizzyGoblin757 dude it's the narrator that can make something interesting or boring. Second also is the fact that there are a lot of empires that are really interesting but not heard of a lot.
Have you seen princess tutu? A lot of the music you use is also used in that show
I have not!
@@Empire-Builders That's a crazy coincidence! You have great taste in music. I think you would also really enjoy watching Lotgh and the Rose of Versailles
@@wooju08damn those are some heavy hitting recommendations
What is the sense of the popular classical music in the background?
Mike Tyson's intellect is underappreciated
3:26 for some reason i absolutely hate that statement. Charlemagne is far more important than Washington ever will be.
You ever heard the story of Washington during some battle, something creek, he was fighting Indians for the British. His jacket had like five bullet holes and his horse was shot from under him, but he escaped unscathed. A chief was quoted as saying he had an aura around him. We still have time to see who ends up most important.
@@agayactornamedmichaeldougl6289
George Washington only influenced USA, Charlemagne influenced the entire western civilisation. Litteraly ruled over it.
George Washington is more on the level of Clovis or Bismarck.
An important national figure, but not a civilisation level one.
That is the realm of Alexander the Great, Caesar, Charlemagne and Napoleon.
"Let my armies be the rocks and the trees and the birds in the sky" - Charlemagne.
tight quote from a phenomenal movie, but Big C didn’t actually say this, tragically.
“… - Charlemagne” - Sean Connery
What happened to the akkadians videos
Being converted into proper vids currently! Audio versions available on all major podcasting platforms.
0:00:20 Wooooooo!
You got a Theodoric the Great and Totila video?
I reference Theodoric always when Charlemagne is mentioned, he took the black and gold of the Ostrogoths and moved those famous marble arches now in Aachen cathedral from Theodoric’s palace in Ravenna.
Not yet!
@@Empire-Builders okay, no doubt. You do great work here. I’m actually going to be starting a channel about European history with a special focus on Germanic and Celtic history (because those are the things I am and what I feel most comfortable talking about for great length) starting early next year. Looking forward to seeing you continue improving and releasing more videos. Happy Christmas and new year to you my brother!
@@Thor-OrionMerry Christmas brother, and best of luck getting the channel started. Keep me posted
@@Empire-Builders thanks so much! A happy and healthy Christmas and new year to you and your family! Enjoy the season with your loved ones!
I loved it when I heard Joe Rogan
"Standing at a towering 5'9, and a growing pot belly"
where,pray tell,did ya get sucha perfect condition clip
of Civilisation?
On UA-cam!
17:15 Atila also died via nose bleed
Think about this. Edward Gibbon seems to have lived and wrote a long time ago. But Gibbon was writing about Charlemagne approximately ONE-THOUSAND YEARS after he lived!
Puts things into perspective!
France was named after the franks which cane from the weapon they had. It was like a hatchet that they flung at you skipping and skidding at an ambiguous direction 😮👍🤟✌️
Someone's in love with Kubrick
our country
my country is ll
but not of shortage of any kind.we are not poor,we are not starving,we are not in desperate of violent control or even short of any lavishness or knowledge or out of touch from the world
we lack the capacity to change.for if we cannot even manage to move one kid then we are all doomed
Woe to the vanquished.
27:22 and today we refer to Mongols as "Magyars"
Let’s gooooooo
Peppin/Pippin was also.advised by the Irish Bishop Fearghal, more popularly known as Virgil of Salzburg. Many fail to note the existing written records of Irish people meddling in Francia 😉 People much prefer the WASP influenced narrative, the one that censors the fact that Charles Carroll was an Irish Catholic founding father of America, barred from office due to his being Catholic despite being more a warrior than the majority of modern junk food addicted and Israel worshipping Anglos. I like this series btw, Holy Roman Empire was always a favourite, though it declined as Protestantism arose.
+BEATE CAROLE MAGNE IMPERATOR, ORA PRO NOBIS.
?
issent 1.8 m like 5,11?
Yup, correction in pinned comment.
Salve. I’m gonna post a reply to this comment which is not intended to be negative in any way but merely to pick your brain a bit.
Love the video and love your stuff dude, but I would love for us as students of history to shift away from calling this period the Dark Ages. It implies centuries-long stagnation which was simply not the case. Obviously there was a reconfiguration of the political order following the fall of the WRE but it’s not like nothing of importance happened from then until the Renaissance. I know that you know that too, but framing an almost entire millennium within the category of the Dark (or Middle) Ages sort of contributes to the positive feedback loop of people glossing over this period of history and assuming it was stagnant and uninteresting. The primary sources all testify to the fact that the world remained a dynamic place and education continued (albeit cloistered away for the most part, but really hasn’t it always been inaccessible for most people until recently? [excluding Novgorod]). I realize using popular categories like this helps you reach wider audiences, but maybe you can help change the discourse around this period of history. I don’t have any sort of solution, which is annoying I know, but I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
@@thomaslawson7469 You're right that people are too in thrall to this Petrarchian term, even those who understand the period well owing to the need to be understood. However, it is interesting to me to see this label now most commonly used in reference to the early middle ages (until the 10th century) and no longer applied to the entire sweep of medieval history. Progress?
As we transition from the 800s into the 900s in this series, we will scrutinize this "underrated" century and examine whether it deserves its traditional reputation. Not gonna be the first to do this, obviously! Kenneth Clark, who's referenced in the beginning of this video, even took a stab at doing just that (regarding the 9th century) in his Civilisation series way back in '69!
@@Empire-Builders glad to hear you’re going to discuss this a bit more. I’ll check out Kenneth Clark, good shout. Keep up the great work man you’re killing it.
Europeans call anybody they dont like "The Hun" the allies even called germans the hun during WWI
It was the Germans themselves, specifically the Kaisar, who first described the Germans as Huns.
@@dale6947that was one speech were he suggested the soldiers to act like the Huns in fighting back the Chinese during the boxer rebellion
pure evil no less abusive than barbarian butchery. the historic myopia of motivated reasoning
So the franks won the same way the romans did? logistics and tenacity.
there was no Charlemagne, his name was Karl/Carl (or latinized: Karolus/Carolus Magnus), 'Charles' itself is just a much later localized variation of Karl/Carl. Why is this important? Because ALL historical documents, architecture etc. and in ALL other languages than French (the English took the wrong name from their) refer to a Karl dynasty line, also later. One understand history much better if one deals with the real name which in difference to localized names like 'Tut ench amun' makes much more sense, since the real name is still common and so on ...
Reply
Joe “ the conqueror “ Rogan lol
Rad
Logistics BORING AF! But the reason why wars are won!
Devil's in the details!
Move along now ill pay u later🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈⬛🧐
The size of these armies were pathetic when compared with Ceasar's force in Gaul. Shocking how far we had fallen.
Unfortunately your sound quality is very bad, it is crackling every other word which is to annoying to listen to . I have watched one about clovis but was again irritated by the constant background noise.
“Let’s spend 90 percent of the video just making a really long preface and than barely discuss the actual topic”
his name was karl the great not charlemagne
Not sure what to say about this video's intro but I don't think I was into it, for whatever my input is worth.
yeah it was regarded af.
I don’t get the references to Mike Tyson, I lost interest.
Spreading misinformation about charlemagne starting the viking raids 😂 😂 thats just an biased opinion by the pop historians.
I don't know how you can logically argue that the Byzantine Empire was not the Roman Empire. That is a ridiculous assertion. After Diocletian, power and wealth in the Roman Empire was centered in the East. The more powerful Roman Emperor was always the Eastern Emperor. That why the East survived, and the West fell. The Eastern Roman Empire always used Greek as its lingua Franca even during the Republican period. There is no institutional change in Constantinople after the fall of Rome in the West. They would even use Latin for a few centuries in their legal code. The people stayed the same, the titles stayed the same, the institutions remained, and would continue to develop and evolve. The Eastern Empire is unequivocably a continuation of the Ancient Roman Empire. There is no break and revival; it is simply the same political entity. Byzantines = Romans. They are the Rhomaioi.
Most hoi4 hostorian asss video ever
More like CKIII
This feels like I’m listening to you just read from an encyclopedia. There’s no spirit or anything in this, I tried to listen to this because I really wanted to learn about the Saxon wars, but this is the most disinteresting boring solace I have found on UA-cam. Not looking at any more of your content, this is all I had to see. It feels like you’re just reading from an encyclopedia.
Great video!