Charlemagne

Charlemagne (: Carolus Magnus; 742 – 814), also known as Charles the Great or Charles I, was the King of the Franks from 768, the King of from 774, and from 800 the Emperor of the Carolingian Empire, which would eventually be succeeded by the Holy Roman Empire. Secretly, he was also a leader of the Order of the Ancients.Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The Poor Fellow-Soldier
==Biography==
===Reign===
In the spring of 774, following the Lombards' , Charlemagne visited Rome to confirm and reassert his . On 25 December 800, he was reluctantly crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, splitting Christiandom between the West and the East. Francia and the collection of Christianized tribes he already ruled became the Carolingian Empire.Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The Siege of Paris – Database: Francia
Between 797 and 809, Charlemagne received three emissaries from the Caliph Harun al-Rashid of the Abbasid Caliphate. Among the gifts they displayed, there was an elaborate water clock made of brass on which 12 small horsemen would move around at the end of each hour. The emperor also received an elephant named Abul-Abbas.Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Database: Greeks Bearing Gifts
In May 804, the scholar Alcuin wrote a letter to Charlemagne regarding the existence of the Order of the Ancients and how they were a parasitic group neglecting God's teachings and instead worshipping a race of precursor beings known as the Isu. Alcuin also informed Charlemagne about the Order's obsession with Sages, Isu allegedly reborn as humans. Believing the Order to be blasphemers, Alcuin was unaware that Charlemagne himself was a member of the same organization. Despite being a pious defender of God's will, Charlemagne hid his allegiance well. The Order then had Alcuin killed a week later as he knew too much and his letter was never sent.
===Legacy===
After Charlemagne's death, the Frankish Hidden Ones stole his sword Joyeuse and locked it away in their former bureau near Paris. In 886, during the Siege of Paris, the Viking jarlskona Eivor Varinsdottir from the Raven Clan found the bureau and claimed the sword for herself.Assassin's Creed: Valhalla – The Siege of Paris – Hidden
A slightly fictionalized version of Charlemagne appears in the epic poem, , published in the late 12th century, in which Charlemagne oversees the baptism of his Iberian royal messenger Balan. An illustrated version depicting this scene was published between 1240 and 1250.Discovery Tour: Viking Age – Learnings: Baptism and Victory
Sometime between 1544 and 1566, the Italian artist drew a depiction of Charlemagne confirming the Donation of Ravenna.
In 2012, Charlemagne was one of many historical figures included in the Glyph puzzles that the late Assassin Clay Kaczmarek left behind in the Animus as messages for his successor Desmond Miles to decipher.Assassin's Creed: Initiates – The Desmond Files Desmond solved this puzzle in September of that year, which was part of a set titled "Instruments of Power" and in which Charlemagne was excluded from a list of individuals known to have wielded Swords of Eden.Assassin's Creed II – Glyph 5: "Instruments of Power" That same year, Charlemagne was included in a mnemonic set in Abstergo Industries' Project Legacy.Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
In 2020, during Layla Hassan's Animus sessions reliving the memories of Eivor Varinsdottir, she used a digital patch that allowed Eivor to equip a set of armor inspired by Charlemagne.Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
==Gallery==
Charlemagne.png|Portrait of Emperor Charlemagne by Taddeo Zuccaro
ACV SoP Tapestry of Charlemagne's crowing.png|Tapestry depicting the crowning of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor
==Appearances==
*Assassin's Creed II 
*Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy 
*Echoes of History 
*Assassin's Creed: Valhalla 
**The Siege of Paris 
*Discovery Tour: Viking Age 
*Assassin's Creed: Mirage 
==References==
fr:Charlemagne
zh:查理曼
Category:742 births
Category:814 deaths
Category:Individuals
Category:Franks
Category:Saints
Category:Monarchs of France
Category:Monarchs of Italy
Category:Holy Roman Emperors
Category:Captain Generals of the Church
Category:Carolingian dynasty
Category:Order of the Ancients
Category:Order of the Ancients leaders