what was charles the first known as
Synopsis. Charlemagne, also known as Charles I and Charles the Great, was born around 742 A.D., likely in what is now Belgium. Crowned King of the Franks in 768, Charlemagne expanded the Frankish kingdom, eventually establishing the Carolingian Empire. He was crowned Emperor in 800. Charlemagne's empire united Western Europe for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire, and sparked the Carolingian Renaissance. Charlemagne was born around 742, the son of Bertrada of Laon (d.783) and Pepin the Short (d.768), who became king of the Franks in 751.