Clodion and his successors, so far as we know by the general history of Europe, belonged to the so-called dynasty of the Merovingians. The kings of that dynasty, in the course of the seventh century, were weaklings, actually dominated by their powerful ministers, the mayors of the palace. One of these, Peppin, in 751, succeeded in becoming himself a king and was the founder of a new royal dynasty, the Carolingians. The new dynasty was, geographically speaking, essentially a Belgian dynasty, for it had many possessions in Eastern Belgium and all its members had occupied influential offices at the court of the Austrasian kings, who, in the sixth and seventh centuries, ruled over that part of the country. The most famous of the Carolingians is Charles the Great, who re-established the old Roman Empire (800) and who, by successful campaigns, succeeded in extending his domination over the territory lying between the river Elbe, the Bohemian mountains, and the Raab on the east, the sea on the west, the North Sea, and the Garigliano River in Italy and the Ebro River in Spain on the south. The favorite residence of the great Emperor was at Aix, and this contributed largely to the development of Belgian trade and industry at the beginning of the ninth century. Politically abandoned by the Frankish kings when they moved to Paris, Belgium again became important in the time of Charles the Great as the most favorably located portion of the Frankish Empire. Belgium is, indeed, for trade purposes, the natural meeting-ground of the West-European nations. Lying between England, France, Germany, and Holland, it has good water communications with each. Though not quite so near the English coast as a corner of France is, it has the great advantage of exactly fronting the mouth of the Thames. With France it is connected by the upper courses of the Lys, the Scheldt, the Sambre, and the Meuse, the last named being navigable by deep-draught vessels far into Lorraine. With Germany its connection is less direct, the outlet of the Rhine running of course through Holland.[6] These geographical conditions played a large part in the development of Belgian trade in the time of Charles the Great. The presence of the imperial palace at Aix attracted a great deal of traffic: from every part of the empire merchants, soldiers, priests, in short all classes of people, came through Belgium in order to reach the residence of the Emperor, and their presence resulted in unparalleled prosperity in that part of the Carolingian empire. Charles the Great was not only a great soldier and legislator, but also a man who knew the importance of the Christian religion in cultural matters. During his reign the development of religious life in the different parts of the empire grew rapidly.