The sword of Joyeuse, which today sits in the Louvre Museum, is one of the most famous swords in history. Historical records link the sword to Charlemagne the Great, King of the Franks. If it did...
After years of speculation, researchers have finally traced the origins of Europe's revolutionary adoption of silver coins in the mid-7th century, uncovering a tale of economic evolution and...
Charlemagne , also known as Charles the Great, stands as a pivotal figure in European history, reshaping the fragmented Western and Central Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Born...
For hundreds of years, a period often referred to as ‘the Dark Ages’, covering the 5th to the 10th centuries, was looked down upon by historians, especially during the Renaissance and Enlightenment...
Ragnar Lothbrok , an iconic figure in Viking lore, emerges from the shadows of Norse sagas, a sea king whose exploits reverberate through the annals of history. In 845, as the Frankish Empire...
Anyone familiar with European history will have heard of the Saxons. Originally a Germanic tribe from the North Sea coast of the Netherlands, over the centuries they spread across Europe like...
The title of “emperor” is commonly seen as superior to that of “king”. But that has not always been the case. Ironically, what is now translated as “emperor” started out not as a title at all but as...
Despite its relatively small size, the town of Le Puy-en-Velay in France is blessed with a spectacular landscape, great architecture, and remarkable ruins. Many festivals are held here throughout the...
Rollo was a well-known Viking leader who lived between the 9 th and 10 th centuries AD. He is best-known for becoming the ruler of Normandy and is therefore sometimes referred to as the first Duke of...
In the early Middle Ages, the most eminent members who surrounded the sovereign of the empire were defined as Paladins, or Palatine Counts, who, among various other duties, served as Judges for...
Believed to have been created by Charlemagne , Andorra is a tiny country nestled between Spain and France and the only country where Catalan is the official language. It is a place not everyone has...
Carcassonne is Europe’s largest fortified city that still stands today. It is located in Aude, a department in the southern French region of Occitanie . The city is divided into two parts by the Aude...
One of the most prominent Anglo-Saxon kings, Offa of Mercia in southern England, came to power upon the murder of his cousin, King Aethelbald. He went on to rule for 39 years and consolidated much of...
Louis I (byname the Pious, the Fair, or the Debonair) was a King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor belonging to the Carolingian Dynasty. He lived between the 8 th and 9 th centuries AD and reigned...
Externsteine is an unusual sandstone rock formation near Ostwestfalen-Lippe in the northwest of Germany. It is unique among other monolithic sites in Europe because it is a natural formation that has...
While we might be gripped by the intrigues, the machinations, and the violence of the Lannisters and the Starks in the Game of Thrones television series and the Song of Ice and Fire series of novels...
In the 14th century, the nine worthies were a list of nine men who were identified as paragons of chivalrous behavior, which included courage and honor in battle. The nine worthies consisted of a...
Roland (Hruodland in Frankish) also called "Roland the Valiant," was born in 736 AD and died in 778 at Roncevaux. He was a Frankish knight, Earl of March of Brittany, responsible for defending the...
Many years after the destruction of the great libraries of the ancient world, such as the libraries of Pergamum and Alexandria, the Imperial Library of Constantinople preserved precious Ancient Greek...
Treasures are not always large gold hoards or mountains of precious stones. A treasure can also be a highly precious artifact such as the Ark of the Covenant, the Spear of Longinus, and the Sword of...
Charlemagne (known also as Charles the Great, as well as Charles I) was a King of the Franks , the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire (though the term ‘Holy Roman Empire’ would only be coined after...
Archaeologists in Edinburgh have excavated several skeletons this year, including a discovery last month of bones believed to belong to a medieval Scottish nobleman or knight, now dubbed Sir Eck...
Archaeologists have found the 1,200-year-old remains of an old church beneath the “Old Cathedral” in Mainz, Germany, today known as the Evangelical Church of St John. The discovery is the only...
German scientists have announced after almost 26 years of research that the bones interred for centuries at Aachen Cathedral are likely to be those of Charlemagne , King of the Franks. Charlemagne (...
