Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( 742 – 814 ),king of the Franks (768) and crowned by Pope Leo III as Emperor of the West (800), the son of Pepin the Short. He and his Paladins are the subject of numerous chansons de geste , of which the Chanson de Roland is the most famous (see Roland ). Of the three groups of French chansons de geste concerned with Charlemagne , only the first, the geste du roi, is represented in English, in such romances as Otuel , Sir Ferumbras , and The Sege of Melayne. As well as being the subject of romances, Charlemagne is of significance in English literature for the tradition of learning he established at his court (led by the Northumbrian Alcuin ) which King Alfred copied a century later. See P. Wolff , The Awakening of Europe (English trans. A. Carter , 1968 ).
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