Charlemagne is believed to have been born about the year 742. He has been considered by many people an ideal ruler, and a model for other rulers. Charlemagne, also known as Charles I, was the son of King Pepin the Short. Later when he became King of the Franks, his country already occupied nearly all of modern France, all of Belgium and the Netherlands, most of Switzerland, and large areas of Germany. To expand the country even more he added Saxony, Bavaria, large parts of Austria, the Kingdom of Lombardy, which was all of northern Italy, and an area of Spain. His country was the largest in the history of Western Europe after the fall of the West Roman Empire. In the year 800, on December 25, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by
