I don't know why so many people are dissing Charlemagne on here. He was a great leader, and a man very much of his times.

Great video Ryan, thank you! Just two small factual corrections: 1) The ancient roman circus below the Vatican was NOT the Circus Maximus, but was called Circus of Nero. The Circus Maximus is about two miles away and you can still visit what's left of it (not much to be honest, it's a grassy field mostly used as a music/concert venue). 2) You said Northumbria is in the nothern part of Brittany... I am sure you meant to say Britain. Brittany is the north-western region of France.

Dr. Reeves, thank you for posting such elegant summaries! I can only imagine how many hours of your life were required for this 30 minute distillation. Your videos are a gold mine!

Thank you for this video. There are too many videos that try to portray a "story", and it is great to find a video with pure knowledge. Well done, these are hard to find (especially without a dry boring voice!)!

This was a really thorough look at Charlemagne's rule - really helpful as I study for my history final. Thank you!

So interesting how these comments look like Charlemagne's family reunion.

Fantastic video. It's amazing how hard it is to find an informative video of decent length on Charlemagne.

Thank you , Dr. Reeves. I have visited Aachen and have had the privilege of seeing the museum and the Dom. A most fascinating historical person was Charlemagne or rather Karl der Gros. A friend of mine used to like to tease French friends by telling them Charles was a German Kaiser.

Dr. Reeves, thanks for putting all this great content online. I think it's important for anyone studying the Bible to learn Biblical context, as well as the history of the church -- and you're providing a great way to do it. A possible verbal typo... you said old St. Peter's was built on top of Circus Maximus, and that Circus Maximus was near the Vatican... I think you meant the Circus of Nero. (The image in the video actually does show the Circus of Nero.)

Thank you Mr. Reeves for this video. I found it very informative and enjoyable. I look forward to watching more of you work.

Thank you for this Video, i am addicted to history and i can't get enough of these lectures.

I felt a bit like Charlemagne himself who had the works of Augustine read to him while in his hot spring bath. Ironically, I had Dr. Reeves reading to me, about Charlemagne, as I was taking a hot shower. As you can tell, I find these videos highly entertaining and educational... to the point of not wanting to stop no matter what I'm doing! Keep up the good work!

First off, thanks for an awesome video. However, York is in the middle of England. Not Brittany, Brittany is Nort-Western France. Britannia is the province in which York is located! Also, you can't refer to Britain as if it was a united thing. Even England wasn't united at this time!

a note about Saddles and the Stirrup. while the Romans, Celts, and other cultures did not have a stirrup. they had a saddle that would be sat in rather then on. the saddle would be designed with four 'horns' allowing the rider to be placed in it not on it. this allowed for stability. even Caesar was able to use cavalry who rode with such saddles to great use.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. Great!!!

Great quality video. Very good selection and presentation of information.

ive always heard Charlamagnes name being thrown around and now I can actually get that info im so ever craving!! ive already watched the samirillion part 1 & 2 youve earned another subscriber my friend.

A great and interesting view of history. Thank you for the videos.

Very interesting. You are my new history teacher!

Wow, how is it that I am just now discovering your channel. Amazing work! Thank you for these great videos.

Very good presentation. Concise & to the point. Delivers a lot of information.

Excellent presentation! Thank you 1000 times!

This was a fascinating thing to listen to. And while I am an atheist I recognise the important role that the Catholic church played in making our world what it was today.

Wow, this is great stuff! I'm not a Christian, however, I'm a deep admirer of its history and culture. Keep up the good work and I'll keep watching!

Thank you very much for sharing your expertise and years of study.

Mr Reeves thank you ministry. You have a wealth of knowledge thank you for shareing it.

Thank you 4 posting this, have bin looking 4 history vids on Charlemagne on here 4 months!

Thank you!!! Very clear and complete!!!! Great job!!!!

Very interesting. Thanks for uploading.

Thanks for the post

One of my favorite times in history. Very Nice

absolutely great video

Wish you were my professor, you teach really well.

I am a fan, sir! I am using a few of your videos to supplement my rather dry German history textbook; thank you for saving me a lot of work!

great videos I learned a lot

Very interesting, I haven't really done any study on history this far back but I'm getting into pre-1066 history & I've always heard that Charlemagne was very important but had no idea why. now I need to go further back to get it all straight!:)

Absolutely excellent. This is very valuable.

Excellent lecture. I would love to know more about those dark age Irish monasteries who developed Christianity in the British Isles. Any thoughts Ryan?

Amazing video! Thank you!!!

Brilliant documentary; history lesson on Charlemagne.I had this topic at high school when I was a youngster and I didn't get it. Imagine! I'm 63 yo and to this day I thought that Burgundians were in Austria!!!!!!!!!! No map!! Thank you very much for the educational enjoyment. You've corrected and increased my knowledge on Charlemagne.

Thank You for creating & sharing all of your excellent videos. Your channel is truly one of the greatest treasures on KZfaq.

Very informative, thank you.

good documentary well done!

omg i just found out today that i am decendant of Charlemagne 's chef who cooked him a baguette that morning on the church

Nice video. It's a shame that you only had a picture of the Cathedral. Right behind it is the town hall which was Charlesmagne's residence. It was modernized at some point in the 15th century, so it doesn't look exactly the same.

GREAT VIDEO

Any book recomendations to further my knowledge on Charlemagne and the Carolingians?

im sorry for my lack of knowledge, both about the matter in hand (im portuguese, so between the fall of roman empire and holly conquest of iberian peninsula i know nothing because its, our teachers believe, a non-important subject) and geographic knowledge. i always heard about charlemagne, but never went deep into searching about it. I only started to feel a couriosity need to know about it after the season of vikings where they sack paris. So here is my question. if louis the german (or pious) was the "king of germany", how could he have his capital in paris? isnt paris in center of france? was the bourder of "germany" and "france" much more different that it is now a days? or its only fiction, and louis wasnt in paris at all? or did i get something wrong in the end of the video? im loving your videos. a good replacement of history channel used to be

Fantastic! Thank you!

Where do the poses come from? I cant find any documents that explain when they came or what their Authority allows...

I believe that there is a slight omission in this explanation. The Eastern part of Francia does not only split into Germany, but into Germany and the Hapsburg Empire of Austria-Hungary. I believe this is important since Hapsburgs were emperors for a great part of the Holy Roman Empire. The Eastern Francia, and later Holy Roman Empire, included Czechs, Slovaks, other Slavic peoples, and Hungarians, and being part of the Holy Roman Empire was their identity as well. Also, was is it not Napoleon who "liberated" Germany from the Holy Roman Empire, thereby causing the Holy Roman Empire's demise? To mention only Germany without Austria-Hungary (and the post-World War I states, into which it itself divided) seems to leave out a great bit of detail. Wasn’t it the Prussian state, which initially developed independently from the Holy Romany Empire that eventually unified Germany? It seems that Austria-Hungary is more of a descendant of Eastern Francia and Holy Roman Empire than Germany. Please correct me if I err. Thank you!

Very Nice job. Thank you for making these videos. I've been looking for a honey-hole for quite some time. According to the laws of nature..."Free knowledge", however eerily elusive it may be,..cannot indefinitely remain as such. For, It will always be discovered by a parched, unquenchable sponge,...somewhere out there. Destined to be consumed & ultimately recycled back into history itself.

Can you recommend good resources on Byzantine history during this time period (middle ages)? I'd like to learn more about the Byzantine side of things.

Interesting information on the Carolingian Reformation and the manuscripts. Thanks for all your great videos.

I have greatly enjoyed your podcast Mr. Reeves. I have also learned a lot from them. So much so when I talked to friends I sound almost like a scholar. In this podcast you mention that the Aachen Cathedral held 7000 manuscripts. Is it true that Western Europe had to rely on the Islamic world for access to the classics? Thank You for your work.

I have thought for about 50 years that the "Chansons de Roland" were written after Karl Martel .."the Hammer" had invaded Spain.?? As for Karl der Grosse's "inability" to write...as I understood it contextually, he was suggesting instead his penmanship was very faulty!! I enjoyed this presentation. Thanks for sharing!!

Thank you!!

Best history videos I've seen yet!!! Way better than the crap the History Channel makes. I've been searching all over the internet and iTunes for medieval history lectures and these videos utterly destroy all of the Harvard and Yale lectures I've been listening to in iTunes. Cheers!!

You were Great!!

Hi Ryan, I am currently an undergraduate history major and I am writing a term paper on Charlemagne. I am trying to find out what ancient writings and manuscripts specifically were in the archival tower at the Aachen...I'm having a hard time locating any of this information on the web, could you point me in the right direction? Thanks!

Wow. Great history of an old ancestor. Thanks dude!

All is not as it seems. With one hand we condemn the monsters of the old world and the other praise the heroes. Charlemagne is a Hero and Genghis Khan is a Monster. However both had there counters. Charlemagne is noted for the Saxon Blood Courts and Ghengis Khan is noted for reinforcing the Silk roads and forming a system of communication. To simply say one is a monster and the other is a saint is to dismiss what good they did and what horrors they committed. Lets go with two examples. Berbers have historically suffered mistreatment from the Muslim leaders in North Africa. Anglo-saxons often persecuted the Britons (Effectively they are the Welsh)

How can such an intelligent video have such a stupid comment section?

He's a lot like Peter the Great for Russia in what he did for his nation.

LOVED THIS! Thank you for your research, and detailed account of Charlemage.

Awesome lecture series. It is a pleasure listening. One small thing I noticed in the Charlemagne lecture is you accidentally said "Constantine" when referring to Charlemagne's death at approx. 26 minutes, 30 seconds into the lecture.

Dr Reeves I wish I had 1 professor that has your passion and expertise I’d have my phd in history 😅now I’m getting the best for free with the Cambridge touch! ❤

Hmm, don't like to be the nitpicking kind of guy, but the statement at the end "Otto was the first germanic prince/king on the scene in the middle ages" is simply false. What do you think the franks where? They were germanic, not german in the modern sense, but definitely a germanic tribe. So all the princes and kings of the frankish line where germanic. Otto was the first to unite the former east-frankish realms under a german or maybe better deutsch or teutsch identity, as opposed to the west frankish, who after mixing with the celtic/roman inhabitants of their land and adopting their romance language came to identifying themselves as french. I know, the destinction between german and germanic can be a bit messy nowadays, but it is nevertheless important. And also, you english speaking guys brought that on yourself, when you insisted on calling the people of the netherlands dutch, what clearly comes from deutsch and the people who actually refer to themselves as deutsch german. Now please deal with it.

i think 'millenia' is plural of 'millenium'. call me crazy. anyway i like these movies.

Father of Europe

12:28 Where is this St. Justinian Church?

He got the elephant from Bagdad,

Awesome

you have a typo in your descriptor, "kinds" should probably read "kings"

Why no mention of the verdict of Verdun?

I hear this part of history and tremble overwhelmed with the realization of how close we were to losing order. Order will evolve but ALL are the benefactors of "The Patriarchy" so scorned today. Thank you Charlemagne.

Karl der Große!

Thanks very much for this video. Well done!

hi what would u recommend seeing as your first video?(which one is dating back the furthest ?) also would u consider the first pope jewish?

What did Charlemagne do to provoke the anger of the Vikings?

Treaty of Verdooon?

The language purists are probably cringing at the use of the word "coronate" used as a verb in place of "crown."

The church only took 10%. Our contemporary governments, when you add together city, state, federal, sales, tariffs, required insurance, etc. the government takes well over 50%. This needs to end in a controlled way before it unravels in an uncontrolled way.

Hi Ryan, Love the videos. Do you have one about the Aryan religion you refer to in this and the Merovingian dynasty? Thanks.

I think you should have mentioned the Copy's Mills in Ireland . Almost 400 years before Karl. Which is were King Karl mostly got the Idea to copy material to preserve them. The Insular Church also was into educating even peasants So peasants would know the law about land ,money , trade ,taxes etc.....If you want to control the Plebs in peace they have to know the Law. That tradition was then carried to the Anglo-Saxons. And then to the Franks.

Well, this explains some of the relationships and disagreements between France and Germany

"Get along, get along, Kid Charlemagne Get along Kid Charlemagne," -Steely Dan

Holy shit that was interesting as fuck, well done.

Carlemange invents spacing :)

Finally I have found videos about the Merovingian's and Charlemagne. You should go further into Charlemagne's heirs.

Charlemagne = Karl der Grosse (Deutsch) Charles Martel commonly known as Charles the Hammer

Great video, however, if I had to nitpick, you were wrong about the stirrup not being around during the time of the Frankish Empire. The first versions were made in India during the 5th to 3rd centuries BC and were very popular among the nomadic tribes of the Steppes. It did take the stirrup a while to become popular in Western Europe, but you get my point.

Bet you didn't know Ragnar Lothbroks grandfather (momsdad) was named Gandalf, which actually translates to wand-elf, or more pleasing to the ears; Elvenwand. (Not so surprising the moviestar with the same name has that name eh?) Gandalfs father was named Alfgeir Alfheim, Alfheim coming from the place he lived, which is located just south of the current southernmost border between Norway and Sweden. (Basically in the heart of Scandinavia). My point being; *Ragnar Lothbrok Sigurdson Elvenheim* could be one of his legitimate English names. He's basically Legolas, and Gandalf is his granddad.

Franks like many other people, had their own fashion style, they didn't have beards, and they didn't have long hair, they had long mustaches it was a way to mark their difference with other Germanic people such as Saxons, who usually had long hair and beards. Charlemagne also didn't have beard, and his hair was short, many of the well known paintings showing him with long hair and beard, are from the XVI to XIX century.

The Song of Roland, Orlando Furioso, and other Middle Ages texts are named the Matter of France. I find it interesting that the Matter of Britain, the Arthurian legend, was made to compete with the Matter of France and eventually came to surpass it.

I think Richard Winston's book does a better presentation of Charlemagne. Although the book is somewhat hard to find nowadays, the audiobook is available.

2 Timothy 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

I know our history where Charlemagne went to Rome and ask the Pope to kneel Oh and thanks for the video

How was the spanish introduced to this?

Wonderful presentation. Given your knowledge on this era, what is your take on the Phantom Time Hypothesis? Many of the people point to documents from this era that appear to be forgeries. In fact, I have even heard some say that Charlemagne himself never even existed. Are theses people just crazy, or might they be on to something after all?