Woodcut of Charlemagne by famous illustrator HJ Ford. ?006 TopFoto / Fortean Charlemagne (742 or 747 ?28 January 814) (also Charles the Great[1]; from Latin, Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus), son of King Pippin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, was the king of the Franks from 768 to 814 and king of the Lombards from 774 to 814. He was crowned Imperator Augustus in Rome on Christmas Day, 800 by Pope Leo III and is therefore regarded as the founder of the Holy Roman Empire (as Charles I). Through military conquest and defence, he solidified and expanded his realm to cover most of Western Europe and is today regarded as the founding father of both France and Germany and sometimes as the Father of Europe. His was the first truly imperial power in the West since the fall of Rome.