Charlemagne King of Franks was born April 2, 742 in Aachen, West Germany. He was the son of Pepin the Short King of Franks and Bertha. He married Himiltude. He married Desideria in 770. He married Hildegard in 771. He married Fastrada in 784. He married Luitgard in 794. He died in 814.

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of western and central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day in the year 800. Through his conquests and reforms, Charlemagne helped define both Western Europe and the middle ages. He is considered as the founding father of both the French and German monarchies. Charlemagne had twenty children by eight of his ten known wives or concubines. It is from this second wife Hildegard that Katherine and Anna are descended. They are descended from two sons of Charlemagne and Hildegard: from his son Carloman who was renamed Pepin (773-810) and from his son Louis (778-840), who was King of Aquitaine since 781 and who became Holy Roman emperor in 813.