Was Charlegmagne directly decended from Vikings? (and was he therefore related to "the Normans"?)?

Question

Was Charlegmagne directly decended from Vikings? (and was he therefore related to "the Normans"?)?

Answer 1

Charlemagne was King of the Franks and, after the year 800, also crowned "emperor" by the Pope in Rome. He was a Frank of the Carolingian dynasty. The Franks were a tribe of Germanic warriors who migrated into what his now called France in the 300s-400s and conquered the whole region.



The Vikings were Scandinavian warriors who launched widespread naval raids on the coasts and rivers of Europe beginning in the late 700s. They were only distantly related by language-group to the ancient Germans (which is why Scandinavian and German languages today are only slightly similar). By the late 800s, Viking raids grew so large in size that that constituted armies capable of taking over whole regions.



One powerful Viking force from the Denmark coast invaded the northern French coast, which had previously been ruled by the King of the Franks (a descendent of Charlemagne). When the Frankish king realized he didn't have sufficient strength to beat back the Vikings, he instead offered the land to them to settle and rule in his name in return for converting to Christianity and pledging loyalty to him. The early French name given to these Vikings was "Norman" ('northmen') and their province was renamed "Normandie" (Normandy) after them. Within a generation, the Viking Normans had completely christianized and assimilated into the evolving 'French' culture and language. By the time of William the Conqueror in 1066, the Normans were entirely French culturally and linguistically with virtually no remaining traces of their Viking origins.



So no, Charlemagne was not directly related to the Vikings. In fact, Vikings only showed up on the shores of his empire beginning in the last couple decades of his life.

Answer 2

Charlemagne was not directly descended from the Vikings. He was directly descended from Charles Martel, who was directly descended from the Germanic tribe of the Franks. He was not related to the Normans either. Normans were the people who settled around Normandy, and were Vikings. They took over Normandy from the Franks. The Franks were a Germanic tribe like the Goths, Vandals, and Saxons (all other Germanic tribes). They invaded the Western Roman Empire when it fell, as well as other groups like the Muslims, Vikings, and Magyars, who invaded when the empire fell. Franks are different from Vikings because they hail from their own villages from present-day Germany, and the Vikings came from Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark). The Franks are different from Normans because the Normans are a group of Vikings that were named Normans because they took over the area that is now present-day Normandy from the Franks. The Franks originally took Normandy from the collapsing Western Roman Empire. King Clovis was the First King of the Franks, who obviously was of Frankish decent from his village in Germany. Hope this information helps. Have a great day! :)



Robbie

Answer 3

No. He had already been King of the Franks for about 25 years when the Viking era began in 792. His people, the Franks, were descended from a coalition of Germanic peoples living along the Roman frontiers around the lower Rhine starting in the 4th century; they immigrated within the empire and, after its breakup, formed an independent kingdom under Clovis starting in 486.