Map of Charlemagne's Empire, c.1890 (colour litho)

Charlemagne (742-814), crowned in Rome in 800 by Pope Leo III, was the first Holy Roman Emperor; called the "Father of Europe" (Pater Europae), Charlemagne united most of Western Europe for the first time since the Roman Empire; this map illustrates the extent of his empire, which included Germany, France and parts of Spain and Italy; he was the first Germanic ruler to be granted the title of Emperor by the Church and to be recognised as such by the Eastern Roman Emperor (based in Constantinople) and also the Muslim world, shown here by the illustration of the embassy sent to Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) from Baghdad by the Caliph Harun al-Rashid with gifts of a clepsydra (water clock) and an elephant; the elephant, called Abul-Abbas, was housed in the menagerie of Charlemagne's palace at Aachen;