[Natural Law]

Charles Martel was the king of the Alsace Franks which were a German tribe. His grandson, known to some as Charlemagne, was in actuality named Karl der Grosse (Karl the Great). His capital would reside in Achen, Germany, not France.

[woofer]

known to some as Charlemagne, was in actuality named Karl der Grosse (Karl the Great).

Hence, the romantic Char le Magne.

[Cronos]

Charles Martel was the king of the Alsace Franks which were a German tribe. His grandson, known to some as Charlemagne, was in actuality named Karl der Grosse (Karl the Great). His capital would reside in Achen, Germany, not France.

Essentially there was no concept of a nation state until the 1400s. The English Kings -- the Angevin dynasty for 300 years were FRench speakers. Up until the time of John they owned more land in what is now France than the French king -- all of Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, the entire Atlantic cost of modern day France. IT was only when Prince Louis kicked out King John's English from France that France really started to come into being. Thies was not cemented until after the 100 years war when the French threw out the English. This was the beginning of the nation states of France and England. Germnay was not to exist as a nation state until the 1870s, ditto Italy. Beligum came into existance only in the 1700s after the Spanish were thrown out. Spain came into existence in 1492 when the Moors were thrown out. Portugal existed from the 1200-1300s. Poland was a unified state by the 1100s but it was a multi-ethnic state for most of it's history with many German, Lithuanian, Ukrainian families taking Polish names to become part of the Aristocracy (The ruling classes spoke polish). Russia was a mess until the Romanovs (the time under Ivan the TErrible and earlier is the time of the Dukes of Muscovy which is what hte Tsars then really were).