Europe During the Beginning Middle Ages

Chapter 7
1. How was Charlemagne able to maintain such a vast empire?
Charlemagne was able to maintain such a vast empire because from the day he was crowned he had goals to revive and restore the Roman Empire, which he had felt had definitely fallen and needed to be renewed. He reformed cultural, religious, and political life in the empire in order to make the revival a success and to maintain the empire. Reform in all three of these areas was needed because they all interlinked and were important in the day-to-day living of the Romans. Charlemagne also appointed Frankish counts to oversee the conquered lands. He occasionally also sent his own representatives out to spread the word of new laws and such and didn't rely on only written work. He had downfalls in the way his government was run but it was the best that Western Europe had seen up to this point.
2. Why were his successors unable to maintain his empire?
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