Charlemagne and the first Europe

I find it very fascinating that while Christianity spread the Empire struggled with divisions and wars. Yet out of this we find a french king who through his long life and just handling of his conquered lands is crowned Emperor. Not only is he crowned Emperor but the glory of Rome is forever tied to the Christian faith from his rule forward. The Pope becomes the one to crown the Emperor much to Charlemagne's dismay. Yet when Charlemagne helped with the disagreements in Rome it proved that he was a respected king not only in his lands but through out the west. Charlemagne left a legacy that he may not have even realized. His grandsons set the stage for modern Europe. They created the regions that still exist today in much of the same areas. France, Germany and the Neutral states of the central European region all can trace their roots to that of Charlemagne. I find the idea of a man who was uneducated but loved to have edducation around him incredible for the time frame. Charlemagne helped establish the preservation of the classics, he encourage the scholary professions and is responsible for the script we use as our basics today. Much was lost of the early documents and histories but from Charlemagne forward very little is lost. The preservation of history was his greatest sucess but all he was aware of was unifing and ruling his people. Several years ago I watched a special on history channel that showed the possibility of our King Arthur legends being link to Charlemagne. While these were british legends as you read about the man you can see that many of the sucesses of Arthurs are parallel to those of Charlemagne. He may not have been the man the stories were based on but the way he handled his people and lands was passed on to influence these great medival stories.