Map of Charlemagne's Empire at his Death, 814
Maps of the Crusades
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This map depicts the extent of the Frankish Empire at the death of Charlemagne in 812. Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800. Both his political expansion as well as his forced conversion of pagan Saxons to Christianity helped pave the way for the Crusades nearly three centuries later. Charlemagne's relations with Arab Muslims - sometimes fighting them, sometimes making alliances with them - also presaged the relations Crusades would later have with Islam.
