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Y202: Charlemagne 768–814

War and conquest: Situation in the Frankish lands and wars against the Saxons

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 2

Overview

Recall questions on situation in the Frankish lands on Charlemagne’s accession in 768, succession disputes with Carloman 768–771, reasons and changing motives for war, wars against the Saxons.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Why was the division of the kingdom with Carloman in 768 so dangerous?

Process

Explain how Charlemagne's motives for war changed over the reign.

Key term

How was the succession dispute with Carloman resolved?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was the state of the Frankish lands when Charlemagne came to the throne in 768?

    Model answer

    He inherited a large, wealthy and militarily aggressive kingdom recently consolidated by his father Pippin, but one that was divided with his brother and whose outlying peoples such as the Aquitanians and Saxons were only loosely controlled.

  2. 2

    Why was the division of the kingdom with Carloman in 768 so dangerous?

    Model answer

    The two brothers received interlocking territories rather than clean blocks, so neither had a defensible realm, and Carloman refused to help suppress the Aquitanian revolt, leaving the two courts openly hostile.

  3. 3

    How was the succession dispute with Carloman resolved?

    Model answer

    Carloman died suddenly in 771, and Charlemagne immediately took over his lands and won over his followers before the claims of Carloman's young sons could be pressed.

  4. 4

    Explain how Charlemagne's motives for war changed over the reign.

    Model answer

    Early campaigns were driven by plunder, tribute and the need to reward and occupy his aristocracy, but from the 770s conquest was increasingly justified as the defence and expansion of Christendom, with conversion becoming an aim in itself.

  5. 5

    What triggered Charlemagne's invasion of the Lombard kingdom in 773?

    Model answer

    Pope Hadrian I appealed for help against Desiderius, who was pressing on papal territory and sheltering Carloman's family.

  6. 6

    How did the Lombard kingdom fall?

    Model answer

    Charlemagne besieged Desiderius in his capital at Pavia through the winter of 773 to 774 until the city capitulated, after which Desiderius was deposed into a monastery and Charlemagne took the title King of the Lombards.

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