How did people like Charlemagne rule and govern such a vast land,

Seeing as how Karl the Great was 100% purely Germanic, I would have to say it was Germanic efficiency and Ordnung.

>>1440396
Feudalism.

>>1440400

So thats why you need a Latin root?

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By delegating. A lot.

When looking at empires, you have to consider the level of centralization as well as geographic area. Charlemagne's empire was extremely decentralized.

>>1440407
?

>>1440413
So how much authority did he have over the principalities?

>>1440396
It didn't actually take months. Charles Martel, for instance, was all the way in Bavaria when the Moors invaded Aquitaine and were marching on Tours. France and German had a shit ton of river systems that made travel relatively quick and easy. This is also why the Romans were able to reach and hold England in the first place, and also how the Hapsburgs were able to maintain communications and logistical support in the Netherlands despite a hostile France and England.

>>1440444
So if he's in Bavaria, and the couriers use the rivers to warn him, that'll take 3 weeks give or take. 2 days to mobilize forces, and a longer journey to aquitane in gathering substantial forces, so that'll take about 6 weeks. This is easily enough time for the moors to march through half of france.

He had an administration. Dukes to lead armies, counts to handle administration and taxes, marquesses to control the borders.

>>1440479
The Moors didn't come to France to just enjoy a brisk hike through the woods. They had to siege, raid, and keep together as a unified force which meant they took their time harrying Aquitaine, foraging for food, scouting, etc.

Besides, they did march through half of France to even reach the battlefield where Charles engaged them. Charles had more than enough time, and probably took his time as well since Aquitaine was not yet his to care about defending, but Tours was.

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>>1440396
How did they do it?

>>1440512
Also rivers and horses

>>1440512
While T'ang China was the flowering of the Chink Centralized Bureaucratic Government, there was still some autonomy involved in the Peripheral provinces, which were relegated to the Jiedushi (Military Governors/ "Generalissimos") which can make proxy laws and raise their own forces.

>>1440512
It's easy when you can jump-glide from hill top to hill top and shit

He spent basically his whole reign fighting wars to keep it going, and a lot of the laws he set weren't really enforced because the guys going around occasionally to make sure they were, were terrified of getting disappeared by some duke for telling him off.

>>1440396
There's a few reasons. First, as someone mentioned, his domain was decentralized and local 'governments' could handle things short term. 2) The Romans build a lot of highways which were still in good condition. 3) Unlike many other parts of Europe, following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Franks held firm control over their territory and thus they also inherited the Cursus Publicus. This is best described as way stations along a highway where an official messenger can get a fresh horse (or sleep if need be) and keep riding ahead AT FULL SPEED. They did also use rivers, but the cursus publicus played a huge part in communication. cf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursus_publicus

Play CK 2 and find out m8.

Its hell.

>>1440512
>Xinjiang
I wonder why would they even want to conquer a desert, Silk Road?

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>>1440770
My Abyssinian.

>>1440806
Yes. Silk Road.

>>1441944
>>1440770
You guise are prettybad at map paiting sims

>>1440409
>Comte d'Anjou

REEEEEEEE
FUCK YOU ANGEVINS

>>1440415
He means,is that why you had to abandon most of your previous culture in favor of the vastly superior Latin model?This is /his/,not /pol/ .

>>1440396
It didn't take months, a week at best with a proper courier service.
Also consider that any enemies would be bound by the same constraints.

We have this idea today that without having looked at a map and seen the shape of your land from space, it must have been impossible to navigate or get anywhere. This isn't true. Think about it, you know where your local towns are, you know where various places are, and you could reach them without a map, there is a mental map inside your head, which might not be geographically correct but it's correct enough to get you there.

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Travel times in Rome, wouldnt be much different in medieval times.

He would require that local rulers provide him with a certain amount of troops, effectively reducing their military power while increasing his own. At the same time he resolved border disputes and reformed laws allowing trade and intensive farming. Warlords with military power became landowners who had to attend court and perform duties every so often to preserve their political power.

Other more distant rulers were effectively allies with only token obligations in peace like swearing fealty, agreeing to political marriages, buying wedding gifts, building churches and sending sons to serve in the army.

The system wasn't perfect, but instead of regional powers fighting amongst themselves they would fight to place a new king or emperor on the throne of a single political entity and to curry favor with lower ranking nobility there would be less raiding and general carnage.

>>1442464
That's a neat map. Thanks!

>>1442460
You have to consider all the retards who don't know East from West and still use a GPS to get to and from work.

>>1442464
Saved

>>1442464
It did actually. Owing to the fact that new borders sprang up, no one big army kept the order, and some bits of infrastructure were neglected.

>>1440409
Wtf I hate Charlemagne now