The writers who in modern times have treated of the life of Charles the Great number some hundreds, and I make no pretension to even a superficial acquaintance with the bibliography of so vast a subject, but I may mention that the books which I have found most helpful in the composition of the following pages are Waitz’s _Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte_, Guizot’s _Lectures on the History of Civilization_, Dahn’s _Urgeschichte der germanischen und romanischen Völker_, and pre-eminently the series of _Jahrbücher der deutschen Geschichte_, in which Bonnell has treated of _The Beginnings of the Carolingian House_; Oelsner, of _The Life of Pippin, King of the Franks_; and Abel and Simson, of _The Life of Charles the Great_. To the last work (in two volumes) I have been under great and continual obligation. THOS. HODGKIN. CONTENTS. PART I. TO THE BIRTH OF CHARLEMAGNE. CHAPTER I. PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER II. EARLY MAYORS OF THE PALACE 15 CHAPTER III. PIPPIN OF HERISTAL AND CHARLES MARTEL 45 CHAPTER IV. PIPPIN, KING OF THE FRANKS 63 PART II. FROM THE BIRTH OF CHARLEMAGNE. CHAPTER V. FALL OF THE LOMBARD MONARCHY 109 CHAPTER VI. THE CONVERSION OF THE SAXONS 137 CHAPTER VII. REVOLTS AND CONSPIRACIES 166 CHAPTER VIII. RONCESVALLES 188 CHAPTER IX. WARS WITH AVARS AND SCLAVES 204 CHAPTER X. RELATIONS WITH THE EAST 219 CHAPTER XI. CAROLUS AUGUSTUS 240 CHAPTER XII. OLD AGE 274 CHAPTER XIII. RESULTS 308 APPENDICES-- A. Genealogy of the Ancestors of Charles the Great 332 B. Family of St. Charles the Great 333 CHARLEMAGNE. PART I. TO THE BIRTH OF CHARLEMAGNE. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.