Gaius Julius Caesar is remembered as one of history's greatest generals and a key ruler of the Roman empire. As a young man he rose through the administrative ranks of the Roman republic, accumulating power until he was elected consul in 59...

Vercingetorix was the chieftain of the Arverni tribe known as the man who united the Gauls in an ultimately unsuccessful revolt against Roman forces during the last phase of Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. Vercingetorix came to power in 52 BC,...

Germanicus was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a prominent general of the Roman Empire known for his campaigns in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia Minor, Germanicus was born into a prominent branch of the pat...

Martin of Tours was Bishop of Tours, whose shrine in France became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most famil...

Clovis or Chlodowech was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was als...

Theuderic I was the Merovingian king of Metz, Rheims, or Austrasia — as it is variously called—from 511 to 533 or 534. He was the son of Clovis I and one of his earlier wives or concubines. He inherited Metz in 511 at his father's death. In...

Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather. He wrote in form...

Dagobert I was the king of Austrasia (623–634), king of all the Franks (629–634), and king of Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He was the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield any real royal power. Dagobert was the first of the Fran...

Charles Martel also known as Charles the Hammer, was a Frankish military and political leader, who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings and ruled de facto during an interregnum (737–43) at the end of his life, using the...

Pepin the Short (or Pepin the Younger or Pepin III), was the King of the Franks from 751 to 768 and is best known for being the father of Charlemagne, or Charles the Great. He was born in 714 in Jupille, close to the city of Liège, in what...

Charlemagne, meaning Charles the Great, was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans (Imperator Romanorum) from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Cent...

Roland, the great French hero of the medieval Charlemagne cycle of chansons de geste, immortalized in the Chanson de Roland (11th or 12th cent.). Existence of an early Roland poem is indicated by the historian Wace's statement that Taillefe...

Louis the Pious, also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of the Franks and co-Emperor (as Louis I) with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only surviving adult son of Charlemag...

Charles the Bald was the King of West Francia (843–877), King of Italy (875–877) and Holy Roman Emperor (875–877, as Charles II). After a series of civil wars during the reign of his father, Louis the Pious, Charles succeeded by the Treaty...

Otto I, traditionally known as Otto the Great, was German king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda. Otto inherited the Duchy of Saxony and the kingship...