Charlemagne: King of the Franks, Prince of the Jews
- Richard Kretz
- Nov 22, 2024
- 3 min read
Pepin III and Bertrada had a son named Charles II, aka Charles the Great aka Charlemagne, named after his grandfather, Charles Martel. Charlemagne was therefore ¾ Jewish and matrilineally in direct line of descent from King David. This has significant overlooked and unaddressed implications! While Charlemagne may not have had the paternal Divine Right to inherit, rule, and govern as king of the Franks, according to matrilineal Jewish tradition, as a direct descendant of King David through the Babylonian Exilarches, he was a Prince (Nasi) of the Jews responsible for the protection and spiritual welfare of all Jewish peoples. So, in addition to being a secular ruler, Charlemagne was a spiritual authority who had a documented ancient lineage and responsibility exceeding that of any Pope. It explains why he didn’t feel he was subordinate to a Pope, his tolerance, support, and protection of Jews during his reign, and why the Christian Church didn’t squawk too much about his otherwise seemingly impertinent “unchristian” actions. As King of the Franks and Prince of the Jews, Charlemagne was responsible for ALL peoples in his kingdom. This makes him a far more extraordinary man and leader than history acknowledges. Sadly, it appears the Church has suppressed this information for obvious reasons.
Charlemagne, inheriting a Jewish lineage through both his mother Bertrada and grandfather Charles Martel, defied the Church’s anti-Jewish stance by fostering close ties with Jews, inviting them to settle in his realm with protection and opportunities, and employing them as advisors, physicians, and diplomats, such as his cousin Isaac the Jew. His reign saw the introduction of stirrups, enabling the feudal system with mounted knights called Paladins, including the Counts Palatine of Champagne from the House of Blois, who managed vast fiefdoms. Charlemagne asserted dominance over the Church, exemplified by his conquest of the Lombards in 774, claiming their crown and gifting the Papal States to the Pope. His only major military setback came in 778 at Roncevaux Pass, immortalized in The Song of Roland, while a concurrent mission by his advisor Arnaud to Egypt and Giza uncovered Rosicrucian mysteries, leading to the Order of Amus in France. Despite his illiteracy, Charlemagne championed education, expanding the Palace School at Aachen under Alcuin of York to include liberal arts and sciences, educating his children, including his daughter Rotrude.
Charlemagne’s reign intertwined with Byzantine and Abbasid relations, notably through a failed betrothal of Rotrude to Constantine VI, disrupted by Empress Irene’s actions at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, and his diplomatic rapport with Caliph Harun al-Rashid. In 797, amid Muslim attacks on Jerusalem’s Christians, Patriarch George sought Charlemagne’s aid, leading to Isaac’s mission to Baghdad, returning in 802 with gifts like the elephant Abul-Abbas. This alliance saw Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope in 800, cementing a co-dependent rise with the Church that began with Clovis I’s conversion and peaked with Pepin III’s coup, granting the Pope king-making power. Charlemagne’s protection extended to Jerusalem’s Christians, funding restorations like the Holy Sepulcher, though he never visited the East. His Davidic lineage and Caesaropapism positioned him as a secular protector of both Jews and Christians, integrating clergy into his military and eclipsing the weakened Byzantine and Roman Church authorities, setting the stage for the Templars and the First Crusade.
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