Charlemagne (; 2 April 742/747/74828 January 814), also known as
Charles the Great or
Charles I, was
King of the Franks. He united most of Western Europe during the early
Middle Ages and laid the foundations for modern
France and
Germany. He took the Frankish throne in 768 and became
King of Italy from 774. From 800 he became the first
Holy Roman Emperor — the first recognized emperor in Western Europe since the
fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. While Charlemagne already ruled his kingdom without the help of the Pope, recognition from the pontiff granted him divine legitimacy in the eyes of his contemporaries.