Karoulos 1 is the Frankish king Charlemagne. Son of Pippinus (Pepin 1): Lib. Pont. 94. 25, 96. 16, 17, MGH, Scr. Rer. Mer. I, p. 465. Brother of Carlomannus (Karoulomannos 2): Lib. Pont. 96. 16, 17, 28, MGH, Scr. Rer. Mer. I, p. 465. Father of Pepin 3, Lib. Pont. 98. 16; of Carolus (Karoulos 3), Lib. Pont. 98. 24; and of Rotrud (Erythro 1) (τὴν αὐτοῦ θυγατέρα, Ἐρυθρὼ), Theoph. AM 6274.

He was sent a hundred miles ahead by his father to welcome pope Stephen III (II) (Stephanos 8), when Stephanos 8 visited Francia and went to Ponthion in winter 753/754: Lib. Pont. 94. 25. During that winter, in January, Pepin 1 and his two sons (Karoulos 1 and Karoulomannos 2) were anointed kings of the Franks by Stephanos 8, in the monastery of St Denis at Paris: Lib. Pont. 94. 27. This event was recorded in a note written in 766 or 767 and placed at the end of a manuscript of Gregory of Tours by a monk of St Denis, which is cited by Duchesne, Lib. Pont. p. 458, n. 31. He dates his note to the year 767 of the Incarnation, the sixteenth year of Pepin 1, indiction five (i.e. 766-767), and the thirteenth year of Pepin 1's sons Karoulos 1 and Karoulomannos 2 ("filiorum eius eorundemque regum Francorum Caroli et Carlomanni, qui per manus sanctae recordationis viri beatissimi domni Stephani papae, una cum predicto patre domno viro gloriosissimo Pippino rege, sacro chrismate in reges, Dei providentia et sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli intercessionibus, consecrati sunt"); see MGH, Scr. Rer. Mer. I, p. 465. By 768 Karoulos 1 and his brother had the titles of kings of the Franks and patricii of the Romans, like Pepin 1: Lib. Pont. 96. 16 ("excellentissimos viros Pipinum, Carulum et Carulomannum, reges Francorum et patricios Romanorum"). On the death of Pepin 1 in 768 Karoulos 1 and his brother succeeded him as joint rulers of the Franks; they received an envoy (Sergios 53) sent to Pepin 1 by pope Stephen IV (III) (Stephanos 84) before the death of Pepin 1 was known in Rome and agreed to the pope's request to send twelve learned envoys to Rome to attend a council on the problem of the antipope Constantine (Konstantinos 140): Lib. Pont. 96. 16-17 ("ad eius filios antedictos Carulum et Carulomannum, germanos fratres, reges Francorum et patricios Romanorum"). Karoulos 1 sent envoys to Italy, probably in 770, who were in Ravenna at the time when Michael 54 was deposed from the see and Leo 114 installed: Lib. Pont. 96. 26 ("missi excellentissimi Caruli regis Francorum et patricii Romanorum"). He and his brother received frequent representations from Stephanos 84 seeking help in recovering from the Lombard king Desiderius (Desiderios 3) the lost rights ("iustitiae") of the Roman Church: Lib. Pont. 96. 28. Also styled "rex Francorum et patricius Romanorum": Lib. Pont. 97. 9.

After Karoulos 1 became sole ruler, the widow and sons of his brother fled to the Lombards; Desiderios 3 tried to create a rift between Karoulos 1 and pope Hadrian I (Hadrianos 1) by encouraging the pope to crown Karoulomannos 2's sons, but he refused: Lib. Pont. 97. 9. Envoys came to Karoulos 1 from Hadrianos 1 asking him to intervene in Italy and to protect the interests of the Church against Desiderios 3 and the Lombards, as his father Pepin 1 had done previously: Lib. Pont. 97. 22 ("ad excellentissimum Carolum, a Deo protectum regem Francorum et patricium Romanorum"). He received envoys from the Lombards claiming that the captured cities had been restored, but sent envoys of his own (Georgios 127, Gulfard 1 and Alcuin 1) to Rome, where they learned that this was false; they visited Desiderios 3 and found that this was so, and then returned to Karoulos 1 accompanied by papal envoys with a request to Karoulos 1 to fulfil what his father Pepin 1 had undertaken and restore to the church and to St Peter what was due to it: Lib. Pont. 97. 26-27. Karoulos 1 sent further envoys (whose names are lost) offering money to Desiderios 3 in return for the restoration of the cities and the rights, but without success: Lib. Pont. 97. 28. He then prepared an army but only when the Lombards had ignored all threats and promises did the Franks invade Italy; Desiderios 3 then escaped to Pavia: Lib. Pont. 97. 29-31. Karoulos 1 besieged Pavia; he summoned his wife Hildigardis (Hildegard 1) and his sons from Francia, and then moved on Verona, where Autchar 1 with the wife and sons of his brother Karoulomannos 2 all surrendered to him; he then returned to Pavia and sent regiments out and about to various Lombard cities north of the river Po, which all surrendered to his rule: Lib. Pont. 97. 34. After the siege of Pavia had lasted six months, as Easter was approaching, Karoulos 1 left for Rome, attended by secular and religious leaders, to celebrate Easter; he was greeted by Hadrianos 1 and the Roman authorities with the greatest honours: Lib. Pont. 97. 35. The reception and the ceremonies during his visit are described in Lib. Pont. 97. 37-40. Finally Karoulos 1 and Hadrianos 1 reached an agreement confirming that made formerly by Pepin 1 and Stephanos 8 and defining the territories belonging to the see of St Peter: Lib. Pont. 97. 41-43. Karoulos 1 then returned to Pavia, which eventually fell into his hands; all the kingdom of the Lombards was now under his rule, and he returned to Francia taking with him Desiderios 3 and his wife: Lib. Pont. 97. 44.

King of the Franks (τὸν ῥῆγα τῶν Φράγγων), father of Rotrud (Erythro 1) (τὴν αὐτοῦ θυγατέρα, Ἐρυθρὼ λεγομένην); in 782 an embassy from the empress Eirene 1 in Constantinople sought the hand of Karoulos 1's daughter (Erythro 1) in marriage for the emperor Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) and the terms of the betrothal were agreed: Theoph. AM 6274, cf. Zon. XV 10. 10-11 (Eirene sought his daughter's hand in marriage for her son, but then changed her mind). In a letter from pope Hadrian I (Hadrianos 1) to the emperors Konstantinos 8 and Eirene 1, dated 26 October 785, Karoulos 1 is styled "filius et spiritualis compater noster dominus Carolus rex Francorum et Longobardorum ac patricius Romanorum"; his widespread conquests in the West are mentioned and his generous gifts of land, gold and jewels to the church met the full approval of the bishop of Rome ("per sua laboriosa certamina eidem Dei apostoli ecclesiae ob nimium amorem plura dona perpetuo obtulit possidenda, tam provincias, quam civitates, seu castra et cetera territoria, imo et patrimonia quae a perfida Longobardorum gente detinebantur, brachio forti eidem Dei apostolo restituit, cuius et iure esse dignoscebantur. Sed et aurum atque argentum quotidie pro luminariorum concinnatione seu alimoniis pauperum, non desinit offerendo; quatenus eius regalis memoria non derelinquatur in seculum seculi"): Mansi XII 1075-1076. The betrothal of 782 was cancelled by Eirene 1 in 788; in this same year the empress sent an expedition to Italy under Ioannes 522 to counter Karoulos 1's activities there: Theoph. AM 6281.

After the attacks on pope Leo III (Leo 11) in Rome on 25 April 799, Leo 11 made his way to visit Karoulos 1 in Francia; Karoulos 1 greeted him with all honour and kept him at the Frankish court until 800, when he sent him back to Rome escorted by an embassy of leading Frankish clergy and nobles: Lib. Pont. 98. 15-18 (in 15 he is styled "domnus Carolus rex Francorum et Langobardorum atque patritius Romanorum"), cf. Theoph. AM 6289 (in 797 Leo 11 fled for refuge to Karoulos 1, the king of the Franks - τῷ ῥηγὶ τῶν Φράγγων Καρούλῳ). Karoulos 1 himself travelled to Rome shortly afterwards, where he assembled the archbishops, bishops, abbots and all the nobility of the Franks and the senate of the Romans and heard the allegations that had been made against the pope, Leo 11; Karoulos 1 accepted Leo 11's innocence and shortly afterwards, on Christmas Day, 25 December 800, Karoulos 1 received the imperial crown from the hands of the pope himself; the assembled Romans then acclaimed him as Augustus ("Karolo, piissimo Augusto a Deo coronato, magno et pacifico imperatore, vita et victoria"); he and his family then presented gifts to St Peter's and other churches, and he exiled to Francia the originators of the charges against the pope: Lib. Pont. 98. 21-26, cf. Theoph. AM 6289 (Karoulos 1 helped Leo 11 to recover his see and himself became master of Rome; on 25 December 800, he was crowned emperor of the Romans by Leo 11 in St Peter's - ἔστεψεν αὐτὸν εἰς βασιλέα Ῥωμαίων ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου Πέτρου; he was anointed with oil from head to foot and arrayed in the imperial garments and crown), Zon. XV 13. 13-14. King of the Franks (ὁ τῶν Φράγγων ῥήξ), he was crowned by Leo 11 on 25 December 800 (indiction nine); he at first planned an attack in force on Sicily, but then changed his mind and sent envoys to Eirene 1 at Constantinople, in 801/802 (indiction ten), with a proposal of marriage: Theoph. AM 6293. In 801/802 the envoys (ἀποκρισιάριοι) of Karoulos 1 and Leo 11 reached Constantinople with proposals for the marriage of Eirene 1 and Karoulos 1 and the unification of the East and the West; the proposals were acceptable to Eirene 1 but were opposed and prevented by the eunuch Aetios 1: Theoph. AM 6294, Zon. XV 13. 22-23. His envoys (τῶν ἀποκρισιαρίων Καρούλου) were present in Constantinople in October and November 802 and witnessed the overthrow of Eirene 1 by Nikephoros I (Nikephoros 8): Theoph. AM 6295.

Soon after Christmas 805, Karoulos 1 was visited by Beatos 3, Obelerios 1, Paulos 97 and Donatos 12 as envoys to discuss the affairs of Venetia and Dalmatia; he received large gifts from them and he regulated matters concerning Venetia and Dalmatia before dismissing them: Annales Regni Francorum s.a. 806 (p. 122). He was approached in 811/812 by the new emperor Michael I (Michael 7) on the subject of peace and a marriage arrangement for Michael 7's son Theophylaktos 9: Theoph. AM 6304 (πρὸς Κάρουλον, βασιλέα τῶν Φράγγων). He is referred to in the later Life of pope Leo IV (Leo 121) as "piae memoriae imperator Francorum et Romanorum", in a story about a crucifix made of gold studded with jewels, which he gave to the Church of the Saviour at Rome: Lib. Pont. 105. 17.

Ancestor of Lotharios (Lotharios 2); sole ruler of Francia and the other (Western) kingdoms; he sent money to Palestine and founded many monasteries: Const. Porph., DAI 26, 2ff.

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