The Carolingian dynasty, named for its most famous son, Charles (Latin Carolus) the Great, or Charlemagne (c. 742-814), which ruled the greater part of Christian western Europe between 751 and 887, gave its name to a major cultural phase, the impact of which extended to Ireland.
The dynasty rose to prominence in the early seventh century and gradually reduced their titular Merovingian kings to figureheads. Pippin III (d. 768) deposed the last Merovingian ruler and, in 751, was proclaimed king of the Franks. Twenty years later the kingdom passed to Charlemagne, who embarked on a series of conquests that made him the undisputed master of the Christian West except for Britain, Ireland, parts of southern Italy, and northern Spain. On Christmas day 800, he was crowned emperor of the restored Roman Empire by Pope Leo III. Central to the maintenance of the empire was the education of an administrative elite, and some of the greatest scholars in Europe, including a number of Irish, were brought to the imperial capital at Aachen. The liberal arts were promoted, classical texts were copied and preserved, and a new script was devised—Carolingian minuscule—which was adopted in Ireland. Charlemagne was succeeded by his son Louis the Pious, on whose death in 840 the empire was divided into three, with the western section, including most of Gaul, going to Charles the Bald (823-877). Carolingian authority was further weakened by subsequent partitions and, although members of the dynasty ruled in France until 987, the last holder of the imperial title was Charlemagne’s great-grandson, Charles the Fat, who was deposed in 887.
The Carolingian monastery of Echternach, which became a royal monastery in 751, was one likely means of access to the court for eighth-century Irishmen. In 767, Vergilius (d. 784) was appointed bishop of Salzburg, after successfully completing a diplomatic mission for Peppin III. Einhard, Charlemagne’s biographer, commented that letters existed in which Irish kings praised the emperor and addressed him as "lord;" these probably related to the security of the pilgrim routes and the maintenance of hostels. In 772-774, Charlemagne directed that goods plundered from pilgrims be restored to the Irish church on the island of Honau, near Strasbourg. Irish scholars at the court of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious included Josephus Scottus (fl. 782-796), Dungal (fl. 804-827), Clemens Scottus (fl. 815-831), and Dfcuil. Irish influence reached its zenith at the court of Charles the Bald, where the circle included Murethach of Auxerre (fl. 840-850), Sedulius Scottus, Eriugena, and Martin Scottus (fl. 850-875), teacher of Greek at the court school in Laon. In 846, Charles the Bald confirmed the re-establishment of hospices for Irish pilgrims, while direct political contact is attested in 848 when Charles received an Irish embassy that presented him with gifts, requested safe passage to Rome for the "king of the Irish" (presumably Mael-Sechnaill I), asked for an alliance, and reported that their king had won a great victory over the Vikings. No political alliance was made, however, and with the waning of Carolingian power, the influence of Irishmen in France also declined.
