Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, King of the Franks (742-814), was a strong leader
             who unified Western Europe through military power and the blessing of the Church. His
             belief in the need for education among the Frankish people was to bring about religious,
             political, and educational reforms that would change the history of Europe.
             Charlemagne was born in 742 at Aachen, the son of Pepin(or Pippin) the Short and
             grandson of Charles Martel. His grandfather, Charles, had begun the process of unifying
             western Europe, in the belief that all people should be Christian. Charlemagne's father,
             Pepin, continued this process throughout his rule and passed his beliefs on to
             Charlemagne. All three, in addition to the political unification, believed that the church
             should be reformed and reorganized under the Pope, which helped their rise to power as
             the Carolingian Dynasty. (Holmes 74)
             Upon Pepin's death in 768, Charlemagne and his brother, Carloman, each inherited half of
             the Frankish kingdom. Pepin, in the Merovingian tradition of the time, split his kingdom
             between his two sons. Three years later Carloman died and Charlemagne took control of
             the entire kingdom. He inherited great wealth and a powerful army, built by his father and
             grandfather. Charlemagne used the army and his own skillful planning to more than
             double the size of the Frankish Kingdom. (Halsall 15)
             The world of Charlemagne was a heathen one, with many warring tribes or kingdoms.
             Many of these tribes were conquered by Charlemagne, among them the Aquitanians, the
             Lombards, the Saxons, the Bretons, the Bavarians, the Huns, and the D...