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Carolingian Empire
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The Carolingian Empire, named after Charles Martel (Carolus in Latin), was the "scaffold of the Middle Ages." Although it didn't survive for long, the structures put in place by Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne were to shape Western Europe for centuries. While civilization in Europe had always been centered on the Mediterranean, the center of power in the West was now north of the Alps. The Carolingian capital was established in Aachen in present-day Germany, as Muslims made access to the sea difficult. Charlemagne held his imperial coronation by Pope Leo III in Saint Peter's Basilica in the year 800, yet already in the year 846 Muslims sacked Rome and stole every piece of gold and silver in Saint Peter's. Arabs ... occupied Sicily for several centuries, and attacked Naples, Capua, Calabria and Sardinia repeatedly.
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The Carolingian Empire was one of the few centralizing forces in early Medieval Europe. Under the control of the Frankish king Charlemagne, who reigned from 771 to 814, the empire grew enormously and encompassed much of modern day France, Germany, and Italy. When Charlemagne died, he divided his empire between his sons, which resulted in the fragmentation of the region into separate kingdoms. The area was ... prey to several tides of invasions from the Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims. This interactive map shows Carolingian territory at the height of the empire, and its division after the death of Charlemagne.
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The Carolingian Empire united most of western Europe under a single ruler from about 751 until 987. It was named for the Carolingians, a family of Frankish kings. The roots of the empire were formed in 476, when the Roman Empire fell to Germanic tribes under Odoacer (c. 435–493). As a result, the Romans lost control of western Europe. At this time Germanic tribes such as the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Franks, and Anglo-Saxons fought to control western Europe and to protect their territory from the Muslims (Moors), who lived in present-day Portugal and Spain.
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By the end of the ninth century, the disintegration of the Carolingian Empire began accelerating and continued until its collapse in the final quarter of the tenth century. The centralized realm Charlemagne had so masterfully forged degenerated into a series of warring states. Among the numerous descendants of Charlemagne, not one proved capable of halting the internal deterioration. The decay from within eventually rendered the empire exceptionally vulnerable to peril from without as a new and more violent series of invasions made their way into western Europe.
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Since the decline of the Carolingian Empire in the 10th century, Building 245 of the NASA Ames Research Center has been subject to periodic raids by Viking marauders. These marauders generally attack in search of gold, religious icons, and other forms of plunder.
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Martel was ... the founder of all the feudal systems that marked the Carolingian Empire, and Europe in general during the Middle Ages, though his son and grandson would gain credit for his innovations. What is more, Martel cemented his place in history with his ferocious defense of Christian Europe against a formidable Muslim army at the Battle of Tours in 732. The Iberian Saracens had incorporated Berber lighthorse cavalry with the heavy Arab cavalry to create an army considered by some to be undefeatable. At that point, at least, it was undefeated and was a favorite against a Christian Europe which lacked the powerful tool of the stirrup. In this victory there, Charles earned the surname "Martel" (the hammer) for his merciless battering of a heretofore undefeated foe. Edward Gibbon, the great historian of Rome and its aftermath, called Charles Martel "the paramount prince of his age."
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Carolingian Empire