Charlemagne's Empire Wasn't Destroyed by Vikings. It Was Divided by Lawyers.

Podcast: The Jeremy Ryan Slate Show · Jeremy Ryan Slate

Opublikowano: 2026-08-12

Nobody toppled Charlemagne's empire with a sword. Nobody burned it down with a torch. It was taken apart with a law. Most history counts the battles. This channel reads the contracts. You've been told Charlemagne's empire just fell apart — his sons fought, the Vikings came, the center broke. That version is true as far as it goes. It's just far too small. The real weapon was Frankish partible inheritance — a legal custom built for chieftains splitting up cattle and hillforts. In 843 it got applied to an empire that ran from...