He capitalized on his fatherвЂ™s good political relations with the Vatican, and in 800 was crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in St PeterвЂ™s Basilica, an event so momentous that Charlemagne marked it by giving Leo one of the great medieval relics as a thank you-the Holy Prepuce, better known as JesusвЂ™ foreskin.ДЄ fecund ruler, Charlemagne sired at least 18 children by motley wives and concubines, including nine by his second wife, Hildegard of Vinzgau. He battled the Saxons to the northeast, the Lombards in Italy, and Muslims in Spain.

Charlemagne stepped up as his successor, and continued the expansion with aplomb. He was the son of Pippin the Short, an aggressive ruler of France who expanded the Frankish kingdom until his death during the return journey from a campaign against the persistently rebellious realm of Aquitaine in 768.

In many European languages, the word вЂњkingвЂќ is itself derived from CharlemagneвЂ™s name. The very fact that this account exists-probably the first biography of a European ruler-is testament to how important he was (or at least was seen to be). Even Einhard, his dedicated servant and biographer, wouldnвЂ™t get drawn into the specifics of CharlemagneвЂ™s early life in his fawning magnum opus, The Life of Charles the Great. The precise place of his birth is also unknown, but itвЂ™s likely to be in a town such as Aachen, now in contemporary Germany, or LiГЁge in Belgium. If youвЂ™re not, be patient, and weвЂ™ll come to your own very regal ancestry soon enough.ДЄlong with Alexander and Alfred, Charlemagne is one of a handful of kings who gets awarded the post-nominal accolade вЂњthe Great.вЂќ His early life remains mysterious and the stories are assembled from various sources, but it seems he was born around 742 A.D., just at the time when the Plague of Justinian was dispatching millions at the eastern edge of the moribund Roman Empire. I am making an assumption that you are broadly of European descent, which is not statistically unreasonable but certainly not definitive. Charlemagne, Carolingian King of the Franks, Holy Roman Emperor, the great European conciliator your ancestor.

Karling coat of arms