Legacy of Charlemagne. Charlemagne (Charles the Great) ruled the Carolingian kingdom from 768 to 814. By the end of his life that kingdom had taken on a completely different shape, having more than doubled in size. At that time it encompassed modern France, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland, most of Germany, and a large part of Italy, northern Spain, and Austria. The reason for this growth was simple: of all medieval leaders none was so militarily successful as Charlemagne. He summoned his armies to fight in nearly every one of his forty-six years on the Frankish throne. All of these campaigns were used to extend the borders of the Carolingian kingdom, and, because each campaign was against a non-Catholic foe, all of his wars were waged with -the blessing and for the benefit of the Church. As such, Charlemagne defeated the Avars in...