In 732 Charles Martel defeated a Muslim force in a battle which became known as The Battle of Poitiers. This battle halted the Muslim expansion into Europe and set the tone for Christian expansion. By defeating the Muslims Charles Martel gained the churches favor for himself and the Carolingians alike. Charles and his son, Pippin III, further gained the churches favor by supporting Christian missionaries. By gaining the churches favor this later set the ground work for Pippin to be crowned King. Pippin most likely realized that the church was a valuable ally and found ways to help the church, which in turn helped him greatly. He helped the church out against the Lombards twice. The first time around he was crowned King, the second time he was anointed, which was reserved for priests and bishops. This made him very powerful because to go against him now also meant you were going against the church, which held the greatest amount of power at the time. This all set the ground work for his successors, such as Charlemagne. Charlemagne’s forces spread through Europe like a wild fire in the name of spreading Christianity. Charlemagne was successful in unifying most of Northwestern Europe. He didn’t rule it all per say, he appointed counts to govern counties. These counts handled the day to day governance of their patch of land. It was their job to publish royal orders, hold court proceedings, collected taxes/tolls, supervised maintenance of bridges and roads, and also raised troops for the army. This system was the ground work for medieval feudalism. Counts were few and far between and the real glue that held the Kingdom together was alliances/oaths between royal families and other personal relationships, which was also one of its greatest weaknesses. Charlemagne had a handful of sons and only 3 of them managed to survive to adulthood and only one of those survived him. Charlemagne had 4 grandsons so his royal line was secure. Charlemagne was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo, which further escalated his power over Europe. Pope Leo, who didn’t see the rule of a women to be legitimate, then named Charlemagne King of the Byzantine Empire. This further strained the relations between Rome and the Byzantine Empire, who saw this act as rebellious and Charlemagne as a usurper. The coronation of Charlemagne influenced politics in Europe, mainly Germany, for centuries. Rulers sought to emulate Charlemagne by gaining the imperial title and associating themselves with his name. Charlemagne left his empire to his only surviving son, Louis the Pious. Louis split the empire up between his 3 sons in 840 upon his death. His sons fought back and forth for a while and then signed the Treaty of Verdun, which set the pattern for political boundaries, much like we see today. Few have controlled this much of Europe. The Romans and Charlemagne were the ones who controlled the most for the longest period of time. Only Napoleon and Hitler have controlled nearly as much but only for a very short period of time.