Charlemagne: The Bloodthirsty Emperor of Dark Age Europe | Charlemagne | Chronicle
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 2. 09. 2022
- This is the story of the dramatic and violent life of the Middle Ages' most important emperor: Charlemagne. His life as a political strategist, a passionate lover, a man that conquered most of Europe, and a cultural visionary.
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"You gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet".
-Charlemagne
@@Endgame707 Vivaaaa
He ate a lot of omelette for sure
I canât with these comments đ
Stalin
Charlemagne and the Germanic tribes are a part of history that kind of gets glossed over. It was basically the plowing over of the Roman empire and the birth of a new world where the strongest warlord took control, until basically, nation states formed.
It has also been said one of the prime motivating forces behind formation of European states was the need for defense forces to guard against Viking attacks.
He was Greek like the rest of the European aristocracy. Germanic tribes were cannon fodder. His laws for instituting Jewish debt collectors is the give away. So did other "Greats" (i.e. Napoleon, Peter) who borrowed money from the Greek merchant banking oligarchy. The Greeks invented the "jews" as a means not to have a finger pointed at themselves. Only Alexander the Great didn't do it because jews weren't invented yet. Greek debt collectors and protected merchant ghettos existed even during Spartan times, they just didn't dress up as jews.
@@darrelmorgan6266 exactly. it's an inevitable defense against tribal warfare. Same thing happened in the east with the Mongols. At some point the organization of people defeats sheer strength and force.
@@bvyup2112 hence the persistent message and goal of division by media as politicians in America Canada Australia etc
This is factually incorrect on so very many levels. Too many to tackle in a CZcams comment. Just read The Birth of Europe.
No more blood thirsty than the countless other chieftains and tribal kings in Europe.
Charlemagne merely had an army that matched his power, and a willingness to use it.
I always saw it as he was thrown into violent times like so many others and mostly was aiming to bring some measure of order to chaos instead of just looking for quick loot.
I gotta admit, the video title describing him as "bloodthirsty" strikes me as a little off considering the accounts I've read paint him as very conflicted over one of his most well-known acts of war (the infamous massacre of Saxons, which reportedly he'd wished he could have dealt with them peacefully). I don't know if it's simply a poorly-chosen title or it's trying to imply something, given I've met some people who seemed to actively dislike Charlemagne for poorly-specified reasons.
Exactly.
@@KwadDamyj The video also calls these times the "Dark Ages", which is clearly an enlightenment myth.
Actually no, he was a better killer and warmaker than the killers and warmakers around him, that's why he got to be emperor. His bodycount was highest, ergo he had more blood thirst and slaked his thirst
@@deejin25 Nope. See the original comment to see why you're completely, irrevocably wrong.
Thank you for sharing.
Such a fascinating period in European history!!!
There are at least two major inaccuracies at the very beginning of this supposed "biography." First, Pepin and Bertrada were not married--she was his concubine, not his wife--and secondly, Charles was not Pepin' firstborn son. The elder son, and heir, was named Carloman. When Pepin died, Carloman received the inner, more secure territories while Charles was set to attempt to govern the borderlands. It was only after Carloman's death that his younger brother became king of all the Franks.
No. Bertrada and Pepin were married after Charlesâ birth, but before Carlomanâs. Charles was the eldest son, born sometime around 747, Carloman was born in 751 after Pepin was pronounced king. When Stephen II makes the journey into Francia, he is greeted by an eleven-year old Charlemagne, as Carloman was at that time too young.
I was about to ask how Charlemagne "passed over" his brother's kids as I had thought he was the older son and generally isn't it the older son is first in line, than HIS children are next in line before any of his siblings? But if Bertrada wasn't even Pepin's wife to begin with then how did Charlemagne have a claim in the first place being that would have made him illegitemate? I'm very confused now...
@@LotusStitchandSketch The laws of primogeniture (right of the first-born son to inherit) hadn't yet been codified and concubines were not merely mistresses, but secondary wives. Their offspring were regarded as at least quasi-legitimate. Remember too, that the Franks at this time were still semi-barbaric and followed their own rules rather than those of the Church. Even in the High Middle Ages 14th-15th centuries--and later, for that matter--bastards were highly regarded by both their titled fathers and society in general. Charlemagne was the stronger son, both mentally and physically as well as politically and militarily. When Pepin the Short divided his kingdom, Charles was assigned the task of protecting the provinces which were more endangered by invasion.
@@deanroberts9258 Gotcha. Thank you because that had me rather confused so really appreciate the clarifcation
@@LotusStitchandSketch My information was based on the biography written by historian Charles Lamb.
18:21 I now know how to say, "That is the plan," in German LOL. Literally "das ist der plan."
No. German sentence structures are not the same as in English. "Der plan das ist" would be closer.
@@Madonnalitta1 I timestamped where he said it, so then the actor delivered the line incorrectly huh
@@pyrotechnick420 Granted I am not a native German speaker but der Plan das ist sounds wrong
Very interesting
Charlie had his shit together.
He was not anymore bloodthirsty than most other rulers from all parts of the globe in human history
Which is not stated in the title or implied. It's very accurate to call him the bloodthirsty emperor of Europe. He was, and to win that title he had to kill more people, spill more blood and cause more mayhem than his competitors. Apt and accurate title, which you pointed out.
Super film
What is the name of the movie? Thank you.
Name will always make me think of steely dan. They are such a good binge.
Thanks for hard work on these videos. All incredible work
_"Our use of the phrase "The Dark Ages" to cover the period from 600 to 1000 marks our undue concentration on Western Europe .... From India to Spain, the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished. What was lost to Christendom at this time was not lost to civilization, but quite the contrary .... To us it seems that West-European civilization is civilization, but this is a narrow view."_
- Bertrand Russell
Islam flourished by conquering other lands and cutting the local population's heads.. they did this to India too.
People living in Europe are bound to give there own history more gravitas than the histories of other nations which did not directly effect the outcome of the area.
All history is interesting to learn but it stands to reason that people would know their local history better than global history.
I would expect than an African would know more about the ancient Kush than they know about Saxons, for instance.
Early Islam is truly dark age, we know nearly nothing for certain about it.
@@2adamast only according to revisonist school
The former southern Roman Empire and its old civilisations became through Islam the Barbary states. There is a clear view to the cleaned up and final aspect of an Islamic take over. Or not because the romans did destroy piracy in that region early on. Maybe Islam was just a varnish on top of a persistent local culture.
He's the man who created white wine aswell, as the red wine stained his beard and he wanted a wine that wouldn't stain his beard.
Charlemagne Was From The USA đșđž
He didn't invent white wine, he just preferred it because of his beard. White wine is about 7 thousand years old!
He didn't even DRINK. You people know NOTHING about Charlemagne.
What game are they playing at 18:23?
Which damn episode number is this
Charlemagne was known as a peace giver. But only relatively. And perhaps you needed to use war to have peace.
Documentarians, never give your actors in your reenactments dialogue. They're there for mood and scenery.
wierd
Charlamagne was for all intrinsic things was the first HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR
But more importantly he was a Frankish long haired king.
He in not Roman emperor,he is German.East Roman imperium was in Constantinople and western in Rome.He has nothing to do with Rome.
Charlemagne*
But in the early middle ages, the Roman empire was dead
And Charlamane conquered Italy, eastern Europe and part of France and was crowned the first holy roman( this was used to honor the romans) Emperor
đČ
this whole overwindy overdramatized tiresome story could have been told in 7 minutes rather than wasting 50 minutes with little skits in the monastery and the bedchamber and anywhere else.....at the end of this hour documentary its amazing just how little is told about charlemagne
It's amazing how much of the stuff we attribute to Charlemagne wasn't really about him at all đ
The unnecessary masacre on Saxons and brutal destruction of their way of life are stain on his reputation.
Anything else serves him as a true wise and brave leader. Pacifying the Vikings, fending off the Arab invasion, favouring the law and literacy...
Wasnt he remorseful for what he did to the Saxons?
@@KwadDamyj Probably, just like Friedrich II (Der GroĂe) remorsed the war against Austria in 18th century.
The Saxons themselves handed the 4,500 over to Charlemagne. Also this doesn't seem to tell you that the Saxons were raiding the border towns of the Franks, raping and pillaging them and destroying churches.
@@erikhaar490 Didn't think of it, actually was not known to me, (the raidings...), but doesn't seem improbable.
The saxons massacred other people & destroyed their way of life too so whatâs the issue?
Charlemagne AKA Father of Europe
Butcher* The history of Charlemagne really is just more history of the religious in this world, slaughtering hundreds of millions of innocent people.
If I had known this was part of the History Hits network I wouldn't have started to watch it!! I REFUSE to watch programs stuffed with network commercials trying to get me to pay money to watch commercials!!
"The Franks" seem to have spoken perfect Hochdeutsch... I appreciate the attempt at authenticity, (they wouldn't have been speaking English, of course), but they do sound as if they were from 1950's MĂŒnchen, having learned the modern German language, rather than the 800's north, where these characters are supposed to be from. (Whoops, I ended a sentence in a preposition... Sorry?)
English is just as authentic as Hochdeutsch lol. Both of those are Germanic languages that are completely different from Frankish in the 8th-9th century
Charlemagne, thank you for keeping Europe european. You are loved all across it.
What an eloquent way to say youâre racist. đđ
More than European. Christian!
â@@NefariousBella you're the prejudiced 1. Europefor Europeans us an obvious, natural and common sense statement. The rape of Europe is going to result in a reaction that will shatter the arrogance and hate of those such as you who are not European. You are being exploited as a pawn by white liberals who are obsessed with profits of globalisation. This is shuddering to a halt.When the money runs out, the philosophy of tolerance based on Christianity, plus the most pernicious elements of the Enlightenment, will be eviscerated with, for you and your ilk, SHOCKING RAPIDITY. How much longer will the wealth last to buttress such self hate within the West? Not long. Be afraid Nasr. Europeans, the indigenous ones, have only been effeminate wastrels for a few decades. Scratch the surface, we, like you lot, are very violent. The tribalism is being awakened by comments like you've just made. Think on that. Look at European's faces when you look into their eyes.
He was Greek like the rest of the European aristocracy. Germanic tribes were cannon fodder. His laws for instituting Jewish debt collectors is the give away. So did other "Greats" (i.e. Napoleon, Peter) who borrowed money from the Greek merchant banking oligarchy. The Greeks invented the "jews" as a means not to have a finger pointed at themselves. Only Alexander the Great didn't do it because jews weren't invented yet. Greek debt collectors and protected merchant ghettos existed even during Spartan times, they just didn't dress up as jews.
Europe didn't exist until many centuries after Charlemagne. Lol It wasn't even Christendom until Charlemagne genocided the Saxons.
NOT bloodthirsty, but insisted on it all his way, in accordance with his power. A man of his time
But still cruel in a way too.
What a weird thought you hold, LOL. The history of Charlemagne really is just more history of the religious in this world, slaughtering hundreds of millions of innocent people.
Rulers of his time were bloodthirsty, they had to be, why deny it?
Good and Great People have always ruled with the deadly use of violence. Charlemagne was one of the very best. --- "When a man says he's going to kill you, believe him, and kill him first." ----- Today, 2022, is no different. It will always be the same. Look for, hope for good leaders.
_"Our use of the phrase "The Dark Ages" to cover the period from 600 to 1000 marks our undue concentration on Western Europe .... From India to Spain, the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished. What was lost to Christendom at this time was not lost to civilization, but quite the contrary .... To us it seems that West-European civilization is civilization, but this is a narrow view."_
- Bertrand Russell
@@johndoeiii9767 Islam was a military movement. Anything good or great it claims was actually taken, stolen, pillaged from others. Islam to this day is founded on "Convert, pay or die". Islam is what it is. But civilized is not a word that comes to mind.
@@TheTubeDude
Read more.
Deadly force is used against deadly people. Raiders were a real problem and leaders like Charlemagne finally did what had to be done in those times. In England the pagans were eventually taught to read and write which then led to them joining Christianity. Poor souls, fancy being sent to school. How cruel is that.
@@ladybug591 It's unusual to read a comment from an educated person. I appreciate you taking the time to post here.
Bloodthirsty ? No. A great Warrior king that you try to judge according contemporary ideology.
(12:25) in German it's "Frankreich" though. đ
(46:43) and human sacrifices - at least the vikings did..
This is clickbait. An important Renaissance of thought occurred at Aachen because of him. He wasn't bloodthirsty, he functioned like most people in his position would act. He was a great man and monarch. Europe comes in part from his intelligence. Compared to most empires, he was fairly moderate.
My childhood hero no more
Why was Charlemagne allowed to divorce his wife but king Henry IIIV of England wasn't, 800 years later?
I was wondering the same thing!
Also itâs Henry VIII not IIIV.
800 years of increasing papal power.
Politics.
The Pope crowned Charlemagne because the Vatican was in the weakest position it would ever be in. Without forcing Charlemagne into a subordinate position as Holy Roman Emperor, the Christian religion and Catholic church would have been swept under the rug with the rest of Roman civilization. Because of that, the Pope had exactly zero political power over Charlemagne.
Fast-forward 800 years and the Vatican is the most powerful political player in the world. So when the Pope says no, the Pope gets what he wants. ...Unless you live on an island and it's really just too much bother to drum up a Crusade against you.
Cause marriage wasn't a "holy sacrament" until it was politically convenient for the church to control it around 1100-1200ad
Haha there was a King Henry 35th!?đđđđ
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PĂ©pin is pronounced in French paypa(n not pronounced but nasalized) not peppin as in steppin.
I think they are pronouncing it in the German manner. Because this documentary is in German
@@gloriamontgomery6900: Perhaps? I was aware of what youâre saying.
In modern modern french they made Liége (Pepin's hometown) LiÚge
The French do indeed pronounce words/names like that in that way (without pronouncing the last syllable or last letters). It might have been pronounced in an old Frankish way though which was similar to old German back then, hence the documentary being in German - perhaps the easiest way because to get enough actors who speak old German/Frankish would be an impossible task and because modern German is the closest they could get.
"Almost the whole of Europe" must not include Eastern Europe, the Balkans, The British Isles, or The Iberian Peninsula. Also, pretending they spoke modern German in the reenactments is just as accurate as having the actors speak modern French. Low quality crapola here
RUBBISH! Absolute rubbish. What are you talking about, what do you actually know about the Saxons? So many people lump them all together as one people when that was never the case at all, the English Saxons were not raiders of anywhere. And another complete fabrication we can prove today, was that they tried and failed, (as did the Romans), to defeat the Cornish in South West England.
The Roman's tried and failed to defeat the Cornish in the 1st century, upon the Roman's arrival they initially recorded the Dumnonii but later reported on the Cornovii of Dumnonii. The Romans colonized much of central and southern Britain, but Dumnonia was virtually unaffected by the conquest. Roman rule had little or no impact on the region, meaning it could flourish as a fully independent kingdom which evidence shows was sometimes under the dominion of the kings of the Britons, and sometimes to have been governed by its own Dumnonian monarchy, either by the title of duke or king. This kingdom shared strong linguistic, political and cultural links with Brittany.
The Saxons also tried and failed to defeat the Cornish. When the Kingdom of Wessex were expanding their territory westwards towards Cornwall. The Cornish were frequently embattled with the West Saxons who used their Germanic word walha meaning "stranger" or "foreigner", to describe their opponents, later specifying them as Cornwalas (the Cornish). Conflict continued until King Athelstan of England determined that the River Tamar be the formal boundary between the West Saxons and the Cornish in the year 936, making Cornwall one of the very last retreats of the true Britons.
They should speak the border dialects at the southern Dutch German border if they were going to go with the language that most likely descends from the language Charlemagne spoke.
How stupid a title...
The fact that fire and animal sacrifice were used in the Germanic tribes that is a clue to Bale being their god
You are deluding yourself.
No. There were many false gods that demanded such things.
But killing of any sort is drivin by evil
huh
Bible poisoning.
Bloodthirsty?, how about trading that word with "greatest" and then the title makes sense.
Were the pope in the time of Charlemagne able to speak German?
Probably would have been
Latin.
@@gloriamontgomery6900 he was Italian/roman indeed (and not German as some popes were), but I'm just wondering if he was able to..
@@littleandre4957 Sorry!
@@gloriamontgomery6900 no, you're fine,.. but the question remains then if that's the case (that he only spoke latin) if Charlemagne spoke latin in order for them to understand each other without an interpreter as shown in this documentary. đ
I wanted to watch this, not read captions.
Cartoons
Didnât enjoy reading small subtitles. Why wasnât it presented in English? Not all of have healthy eyesight.
Interestingly take on the great monarch true founder of the West and Eastern Frankish empire. As they say in both in France and modern Germany it all goes back to Charlemagne.
The ages are now regarded as not so dark after all. . Challenging the the hagiography is one thing, but this is an exaggerated piece of dramatised German dross. . What a waste of time. Pity, it's such an interesting topic , and such a failure to portray the complexity of early mediaeval Europe, that neatly fits a narrow fairy tale German narrative. The crass German pronunciation doesn't help either
I mean, not that shocking that countries whose borders are mosly inside the Frankish Empire go back in some way to that Empire.
Genocider
King Charlemagne is my 40th Great Grandfather i share his passion for burning things i also have a short temper i just wished he had not bowed down to the holy roman empire so much imagine if he had of Rebelled and completely Demolished The Vatican đ i know i guess we wouldn't be here now to speak of such Glorious things!
Yes... Russell. Modern Secular people, who hate religion, are the new pagans. They have little understanding of how the Christian religion is designed to guide you to become a better person. Any system that assists you to become a better man is a good thing - perhaps you may agree with that premise.
Angry resistance to self-control and self-discipline is the mark of callow youth.
Instead of self-control they want self-indulgence and consider anything else to be "repressive", without self-discipline they cause great harm to other people, and themselves, the same as the vicious pagan raiding parties caused great harm to decent people, and learnt a harsh lesson in the end.
History repeats itself - or rather unmodified bad human behaviour repeats itself, which leads to bad things happening to many. It's an age-old story. Regards.
Charlemagne Slaughtered 4 thousand 500 Germanic Pagan Saxons in one day all in the name of Christianity Great Way to Montain Order đ
I usually don't have a problem with subtitles, but in this case, it's really annoying. I'm wearing ear buds and listening to this while working out. I'm sure a lot of people are. Well, if you don't audibly translate this then I can't understand half of this documentary. Meaning I(and I'm sure others) will find something else to listen to. I enjoy these documentaries but I assume they're made for English speaking audiences.
You're literally the 1st person I've ever heard of trying to watch/listen to a documentary while working out lol. Cant just listen to music like everyone else?
@@michaelarnold1897 Lol yeah I know, but I'll quote White Goodman "I like to work up a mental sweat too." đ
@@Son-of-Tyr fair enough, I probably would if I could... but thanks the ADHD I suck at multitasking and if I don't actually see what happening in the show I always end up rewinding...so I'd end up being on the tread mill 3 hrs đ
@@michaelarnold1897 yeah that's what's happening kind of with me. They don't dub it and they're speaking German so I have to pause and read it. I mean I know they're doing it for realism but it's like, I want to learn about the history, not how to speak German lol. Anyway, doesn't matter I'll still watch the docs just not while exercising.
Sucks that it's in krautspeak
Wouldn't be surprised, if Charlemagne's birth, was due to his mom, havin an Affair(to keep in her husband's Good-books...or he might even have Encouraged, the "affair") .đ„°
đ§
Why call him Charlemagne?
His name was Karl and nothing else.
Butt hurt much? đ
Did Charlemagne speak German?.. Didn't the Franks have their own language already back then?
Unlikely they'll find actors willing to speak Old Frankish.
@@juliajs1752 They can go for modern Frankish though
All acting is spoken in german :( Have to read subtitles. Like this channel is too poor to hire english actors.
Expelled his wives, killed his brother, exerted genocide on Saxons and other peoples - that's truly Father of United Europe. I like it.
Poor attempt at a genocide given that not only are there still Saxons, a Saxon dynasty supplanted his and created the Holy Roman Empire
@@sebe2255 LOL. Dream on pagan... đ
@@oriraykai3610 What?
This one sucks
They ate meat.
@@matthewmoua8494 genius IQ
it is wrong to be French
Too bad itâs not in English
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LIES LIES LIES
here because of mike tyson ....