In 884, Charles the Fat reunited all the Carolingian kingdoms for the last time, but he was deposed by the Frankish nobility in 887 and died in 888 and the empire immediately fractured.

[4][5] Though Charles Martel chose not to take the title of king (as his son Pepin III would) or emperor (as his grandson Charlemagne), he was the absolute ruler of virtually all of today's continental Western Europe north of the Pyrenees.

Although Bernard succeeded Pepin as king of Italy, Louis was made co-emperor in 813, and the entire Empire passed to him with Charlemagne's death in the winter of 814.

[9] Although his reign was mostly overshadowed by the dynastic struggle and resultant civil war, as his epithet states, he was highly interested in matters of religion.

In 822 Louis' show of penance for Bernard's death greatly reduced his prestige as Emperor to the nobility – some suggest it opened him up to 'clerical domination'.

Whilst this was part of the reason for strife amongst Louis' sons, some suggest that it was the appointment of Bernard of Septimania as chamberlain which caused discontent with Lothar, as he was stripped of his co-Emperorship in 829 and was banished to Italy (although it is not known why; The Astronomer simply states that Louis 'dismissed his son Lothar to go back to Italy'[16]) and Bernard assumed his place as second in command to the emperor.

Pepin, Louis' second son, too, was disgruntled; he had been implicated in a failed military campaign in 827, and he was tired of his father's overbearing involvement in the ruling of Aquitaine.

[18] Lothar received the imperial title, the kingship of Italy, and the territory between the Rhine and Rhone Rivers, collectively called the Central Frankish Realm.

Lothar II died in 869 with no legitimate heirs, and his kingdom was divided between Charles the Bald and Louis the German in 870 by the Treaty of Meerssen.

Charles the Bald died in 877 crossing the Pass of Mont Cenis, and was succeeded by his son, Louis the Stammerer as king of the Western Franks, but the title of emperor lapsed.

Saxony and Bavaria were united with Charles the Fat's Kingdom, and Francia and Neustria were granted to Carloman of Aquitaine who also conquered Lower Burgundy.

Carloman died in a hunting accident in 884 after a tumultuous and ineffective reign, and his lands were inherited by Charles the Fat, effectively recreating the empire of Charlemagne.

Charles, suffering what is believed to be epilepsy, could not secure the kingdom against Viking raiders, and after buying their withdrawal from Paris in 886 was perceived by the court as being cowardly and incompetent.

[24] Recently, however, Timothy Newfield challenges the idea of demographic expansion, criticising scholars for relying on the impact of recurring pandemics in the preceding period of 541-750 AD and ignoring the frequency of famines in Carolingian Europe.

[25] A study using climate proxies such as the Greenland Ice core sample 'GISP2' has indicated that there may have been relatively favourable conditions for the empire's early years, although several harsh winters appear afterwards.

[26] Whilst demographic implications are observable in contemporary sources, the extent of the impact of these findings on the empire's populations is difficult to discern.

However, it is accepted that the empire was inhabited by major ethnic groups such as Franks, Alemanni, Bavarians, Thuringians, Frisians, Lombards, Goths, Romans, Celts, Basques and Slavs.

The Carolingian improvements on the old Merovingian mechanisms of governance have been lauded by historians for the increased central control, efficient bureaucracy, accountability, and cultural renaissance.

The Carolingian Empire was the largest western territory since the fall of Rome, but historians have come to suspect the depth of the emperor's influence and control.

His administration was an attempt to organize the kingdom, church, and nobility around him, however, its efficacy was directly dependent upon the efficiency, loyalty and support of his subjects.

[29] Charlemagne would, for many years, gather an assembly around Easter and launch a military effort that would typically take place through the summer as this would ensure there were enough supplies for the fighting force.

[31] Preference was shown towards mobility warfare in place of defence-in-depth infrastructure; captured fortifications were often destroyed so they could not be used to resist Carolingian authority in the future.

[43][41] Einhard suggested the construction of so-called 'public buildings' was a testament to Charlemagne's greatness and likeness to the emperors of antiquity and this connection was certainly capitalised upon by the imagery of palace decorations.

[45] For Louis the German, Frankfurt has been deemed his own 'neo-Aachen' and Charles the Fat's palace at Sélestat in Alsace was designed specifically to imitate Aachen.

They made four journeys a year in their local missaticum, each lasting a month, and were responsible for making the royal will and capitularies known, judging cases and occasionally raising armies.

It was called for three reasons: to gather the Frankish host to go on a campaign, to discuss political and ecclesiastical matters affecting the kingdom and to legislate for them, and to make judgments.

In 789 (in response to the 786 rebellion) he began legislating that everyone should swear fidelity to him as king, however in 802 he expanded the oath greatly and made it so that all men over age 12 swore it to him.

Intellectuals such as Alcuin reckoned that the Charlemagne's coronation as emperor on Christmas Day 800 marked the beginning of the seventh and final age of the world.

Though most historians would be naturally hesitant to assign Charles Martel and his descendants as founders of feudalism, it is obvious that a Carolingian 'template' lends to the structure of central medieval political culture.

The Ottonian dynasty which succeeded the title of Holy Roman Emperor magnified distant ties to the Carolingians to legitimise their dynastic ambitions as 'successors'.