Charles the FatCharles III (839 – 13 January 888), also known as Charles the Fat, was the emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 881 to 888. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles was the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandson of Charlemagne. He was the last Carolingian emperor of legitimate birth and the last to rule a united kingdom of the Franks. Over his lifetime, Charles became ruler of the various kingdoms of Charlemagne's former empire.
Treaty of VerdunThe Treaty of Verdun (Traité de Verdun), agreed in , divided the Frankish Empire into three kingdoms among the surviving sons of the emperor Louis I, the son and successor of Charlemagne. The treaty was concluded following almost three years of civil war and was the culmination of negotiations lasting more than a year. It was the first in a series of partitions contributing to the dissolution of the empire created by Charlemagne and has been seen as foreshadowing the formation of many of the modern countries of western Europe.
SaxonsThe Saxons (Saxones, Sachsen, Seaxan, Sahson, Sassen, Saksen) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, Saxonia) near the North Sea coast of northern Germania, in what is now Germany. In the late Roman Empire, the name was used to refer to Germanic coastal raiders, and in a similar sense to the later "Viking" (pirate or raider). Their origins are believed to be in or near the German North Sea coast where they appear later, in Carolingian times.
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a political entity usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor in Central and Western Europe. It developed in the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Roman emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe more than three centuries after the fall of the ancient's Western Roman Empire in 476.
FranconiaFranconia (Franken, ˈfʁaŋkŋ̍; Franconian: Franggn ˈfrɑŋɡŋ̍; Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: Fränkisch). While several Germanic dialects are referred to as Franconian (including Dutch), only the East Franconian dialects are also colloquially referred to as "Franconian", and only the East Franconian dialect area is regarded as Franconia.
GermaniaGermania (dʒərˈmeɪni.ə ; ɡɛrˈmaːni.a), also called Magna Germania (English: Great Germania), Germania Libera (English: Free Germania), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a historical region in north-central Europe during the Roman era, which was associated by Roman authors with the Germanic peoples. The region stretched roughly from the Middle and Lower Rhine in the west to the Vistula in the east.
FranciaThe Kingdom of the Franks (Regnum Francorum), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, the Frankish Empire (Imperium Francorum) or Francia, was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties during the Early Middle Ages. Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era. The original core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were close to the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the north, but Franks such as Chlodio and Childeric I expanded Frankish rule into what is now northern France.
