Charlemagne reportedly kept wax tablets under his pillow to practice writing letters he never mastered, yet he saved Western European literacy and earned the title Father of Europe. This episode looks past the legend of the holy king to examine a ruthless political mastermind whose template for rulership lasted over a millennium.

We cover his rivalry with his brother Carloman, the conquest of the Lombards, the brutal Saxon wars and the Massacre of Verden, the Christmas Day 800 coronation by Pope Leo III, the missi dominici, the Carolingian Renaissance and Carolingian minuscule, his alliance with Harun al-Rashid and the elephant Abul Abbas, and the empire’s breakup after his death.

• Carloman’s suspicious death and the disappearance of his sons
• How Charlemagne’s Saxon campaign enforced conversion by law and violence
• Why the surprise coronation story is doubted
• How Carolingian minuscule gave us modern lowercase letters
• Why he refused to let his daughters marry