Age of Charlemagne:

Charlemagne was the king of the Franks. He ruled very well and conquered many countries. When the Roman empire needed a ruler, the pope and all of the country agreed that Charlemagne would rule better than anyone else.

When Charlemagne came to Rome, he earned the title Defender of the Faith. At Christmas as he stood up from prayers, the pope put a crown on Charlemagne’s head. The crowd cheered and acknowledged Charlemagne as the emperor of most of Europe.

Charlemagne the Great was a powerful emperor who conquered many countries and enlarged his empire. He loved his subjects and whenever his son Pepin donated land, he would give it to the churches for his subjects.

The Avars were a tribe that grew into a feared nation like the Huns. They demanded gold as tribute from any lands that they conquered. Their pile of gold grew very large and they kept it in the center of a fortress made of seven circular walls each forty miles apart. Each wall had bushes on top so that archers could hide on top and shoot at any attackers on the ground twenty feet below them.

Charlemagne saw the Avars as a threat to his people and gathered a large army. The army traveled to the Avars’ fortress in three groups. The regiment that Charlemagne led and another that met them near the fortress attacked the gates in the walls. One by one they broke through three walls, but then a sickness kill his horses and the cavalry which made up most of his army. They retreated out of the fortress and got safely away.

Charlemagne was told that the other regiment led by Pepin had broken into the center ring and gotten the gold. When all three parts of his army got home, Charlemagne distributed the huge amount of gold to his people and became the most wealthy and powerful empire of that time.

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