This video focuses on the last chapters of the Carolingian Empire, in the days of Charlemagne’s grandsons and great grandsons.
What were the last Carolingians really like, and how did they navigate this time in flux? Our story coincides with the Viking Age, the birth of feudalism, and the origins of French & German statehood.
This is the sixth episode in a series covering the Holy Roman Empire.
Sources & further reading:
– Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire (Peter H. Wilson)
– The Carolingian World (Marios Costambeys, Matthew Innes, Simon MacLean)
– The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians 751-987 (Rosamond McKitterick)
– Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard’s Histories (Bernhard Scholz & Barbara Rogers-Gardner)
– Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict Under Louis the German, 817-876 (Eric J. Goldberg)
Music/Footage:
No Country For Old Men
Crusader Kings III Copyright: 2020 Paradox Interactive AB. www.paradoxplaza.com
0:00 – No Country For Old Carolingians
1:28 – Death of Louis the Pious
5:49 – Battle of Fontenoy
8:45 – Stellinga Uprising
10:13 – Europe’s Birth Certificate
18:01 – Middle Francia: Trials by Ordeal, Saracens & Byzantines
26:36 – West Francia: Old-Timers, Vikings & Capitularies
35:23 – East Francia: Ass-Kickers, Real Estate & Slaves
43:33 – The “bass-lines” of Carolingian history
48:13 – The last emperor: Charles the Fat
53:13 – Charlemagne’s vision
54:26 – Enti
40 Comments
Hope you guys enjoy this one! The format is ever evolving, as I am trying to make these vids as educational & entertaining as possible. I welcome any & all feedback 🙂
HUGE thanks to KnowHistory for helping me out with the maps in this vid. Go check out his channel if you haven't already, as I am positive you will enjoy his work:
https://www.youtube.com/@KnowHistory/
Corrections/clarifications will be posted here, as always:
-I misspoke and said Basil II instead of Basil I at 25:05
Wow, you've really carved out quite a niche for yourself to become one of the premier Youtube channels! I'm glad to have subscribed over a month ago when you had a tiny fraction of subscribers.
Lore of How did the Carolingian Empire Collapse? Momentum 100
41:22 “Unbuckled his belt…” Dunno why but that diction being used in reference to Charles the Fat of all people made me laugh way too hard.
Love the NCFOM allegories
You are the Dude! I love the way you shove the History in my Ears!!
Your channel should be boosted more
"It is better to have Albert the Bear standing inside the tent and pissing out than standing on the outside and doing the same in reverse." Dirk Hoffman-Becking in "History of the Germans"
These empire videos rock! I've never known much about the Carolingian empire, nor had I heard of the Akkadian empire untill I came across your channel
I'm not saying this is relatable content haha, but there is something about fighting with your brother that I really connect with in this story.
I absolutely adore your videos. From the sources you've read on the post-Carolingian Middle Ages, what would you recommend as the best one(s) to start with as a baseline? (I've read nothing at all so far)
What's the image you used at 39:44? Looks gorgeous
Full on descent of man with the titles here. From "the Great" to the stammerer, the bald and the fat.
I've been searching for a channel like this on youtube for the better part of 10 years now. I've never found one – just the odd video on the merovingians or charemagne either from a TV program or a sidenote from a historian channel. Nothing this high caliber. Thank you so much for making all this content.
I am not sure about Louis the Stammerer and others, but I know that Charles the Bald was called such because he was the one brother without a crown for most of his life (being so young). This could of course be just legend or hearsay, but that makes the most sense to me given that he wasn't really bald as you said.
Your use of art and media for the video enjoyers is awesome
Phenomenal channel. Keep up the good work. This was very informative.
Babe come quickly empire builders posted a new video.
So good
These videos are fantastic! It's criminal that more people don't see these.
The same pattern of rival brothers and rebellious sons seems to have been repeated with Plantagenet history -specifically with the sons of Henry II -where even the wife Eleanor of Aquitaine got in on the act on the side of the sons.
What a complicated ass family. Would love to see a series about the Ottonians and the later restablishment of the HRE as it is known in modern day
It truly is strange how such a great empire collapsed into tragedy and farce
Very excited for you to continue the series!!
Impressive production quality. I also like how quotes from books and such are handled.
Nice, very splendid. Now do Otto next!
That Gibson fellow was quite the disgusting normaltrash, the way he looked down on infirmities from his pampered healty state. Not the kind of person who deserves to be quoted anywhere. I'd say being called a hammer is a good deal more damning than being called a stammerer.
It's rather the early Carolingians who were indolent and the people who admire them. The people these disgusting spoiled normaltrash look down on are the ones who are far more admirable than they or their heroes could ever hope to be.
This video is more a promotional work for various books than it is an adequate historical view on the end of the Carolingian Empire.
What a primitive, inefficient empire.
Anybody here just aching for kingdom come deliverance time period 1403 and after to be covered? God be praised
Future episode on Russian conquest of the Caucus?
I am not sure if that reenactment in the last couple of minutes of the video is a historically accurate representation of the HRE.
Can we be honest
Baso was just TommyKay CK2 in real life.
Tick tick tick… have no regrets 🙏
Louis iii being horny really ruined the frankish empire
..great vid..i need a coin of Louis the German for my Louies of France…:)
How are emperors of the eastern rome just claimants when they are in continuity with previous emperors?
How is Basil making a jab when it is known that he was pissed due to someone else using his title?
also calling Basil I as II is just embarassing, if you try to present something from contemporary states at least be accurate.
So good! I this might be my favourite video of yours, the mix of history and poetry with the music brilliant visuals just come together perfectly.. What is the the song that starts at 8.20?
This channel is a golden nugget here b4 1 million
Basil I, the usurpator, not Basil II, the B'lgursmasher, offered the byzantine float to the service of a Carolingian, so initiating a collaboration between both empires. Charlemagne himself could have married Eirene, the widow of emperor Zeno the Isaurian and mother of his successor Constantine VI, to whom a daughter of the same Charlemagne was promised.
Later, the already menopaused Zoe, daughter of Constantinos VIII, was promised to young Kaiser Otto III, who died from " malaria" as Zoe was waiting to encounter him in Brindisi.
Zoe married four successive byzantine emperors, while attempting all sort of " fertility cures" to overcome her passed fertility.
Would an alliance between the Heilige Römische Reich and the Oriental Roman Empire have discouraged the incessant approaches of the Muslim invaders ?