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Welcome to the podcast, folks. Charlemagne. Charles Le Magne, Charles the Great,

the first Holy Roman Emperor. It had the rare distinction of being included on lists of kings on both sides of the

Rhine. Charles I of France, Carl de Grosha in Germany. He forged a mighty empire from the North Sea to the

Adriatic, from the Pyrenees to the Elbe. His court became a crucible

of European culture. His empire has inspired would-be conquerors ever since. This is a podcast

all about the great man, the warrior, the scholar, the religious zealot, the reformer. He got Matt in this, tell us all about it.

He's very brilliant, a professor of history and deputy vice-chancellor at Birkbeck University of London.

And of the many things he really highlighted for me in this conversation,

I suppose firstly he taught me how greatness is a generational project.

He was born in the mid-700s, the great grandson of Pepin,

grandson of the mighty Charles Martel, Charles the Hammer, son of another conquering Pepin.

And following on from their three successful reigns of conquest, he completed that job. He expanded

the empire still further, And then over a very long

rule, he consolidated that empire too, turned it into something quite different. Early in his year,

he conquered Northern Italy and great sways of Germany. And he deepened his family's control

of France and the low countries. But then he went on to do something extraordinary.

He forged the idea of a Christian empire. His family's rule legitimized by their mission to advance

Christ's kingdom on earth. Stability locked into oaths of loyalty sworn on the Bible.

He standardized weights and measures. He encouraged scholars to come from across Europe

...