10 of the Most Influential Rulers of the Dark Ages.

This list is not exhaustive. It is intended to introduce prolific rulers of the Dark Ages to readers who then may feel inspired to research these important characters of history further and on their own.

10. Nominoë

Nominoe’s Vow, a Victorian illustration to a ballad about Nominoe in Barzaz Breiz in which he vows vengeance on the Franks for killing a Breton emissary

An early Duke of Brittany, Nominoë revolted against the Frankish Empire successfully while cunningly allying himself with the Danish invasions of Normandy. Brittany would retain its independence from the French crown for more than five hundred years thereafter.

9. Totila

Leader of the Ostrogoths in the 6th Century, he successfully turned the tide of war against the Byzantine Empire who at the time had reclaimed a significant portion of the former Roman Empire. His skill as a tactician and as a politician earned him great renown with all the other German tribes.

8. Oleg of Novgorod

Although never the official ruler, he sat upon the throne of Novgorod as regent until the heir apparent was old and wise enough to rule. Oleg moved the capital of the Principality of Novgorod to Kiev and consolidated royal power for the Varangians over the Slavs, and is considered the architect of the later Russian Dynasty.

7. Harald Bluetooth

This king of Denmark consolidated power in a formerly divided territory and influenced the development of several other kingdoms including Sweden, Norway, England, and Normandy. His legacy is mixed as he was defeated later in his reign, but his influence on the politics of Northern Europe helped to shape that region into what it became in the Medieval period.

6. Charles Martel

Charles’ legacy remains one of the greatest in European history. It is he and his army who stopped the Islamic army from invading Europe at the battle of Tours (which was actually closer to Poitiers). He was one of the most successful Frankish rulers of the time whose family would reshape Europe.

5. Alfred the Great

At the height of his power, Alfred was the most powerful man in Britain. His successful resistance to the Vikings earned him political favors among neighboring kingdoms. His military genius was renown, and he presided over the most advanced intellectual centers in Christendom of the day.

4. Clovis

The first to unite the Frankish tribes, Clovis carved out a kingdom in the former Roman province of Gaul in the vacuum following the collapse of the Roman Empire. His military genius was unmatched in his life. He is most remembered for his early conversion to Christianity which allowed Christendom to expand and flourish further north. Without his influence, Christianity may have died out in many parts of Europe.

3. Tariq ibn Ziyad

This early Muslim ruler conquered the Christian Visigothic kingdoms of Iberia and saw the expansion of Islam reach the feet of the Pyrenees. He was a keen strategist, and instituted a system of governance in Cordoba that endured nearly seven hundred years (until the end of the Reconquista in 1492). His legacy is more than visible in Spain today where evidence of his rule is still apparent in the culture, architecture, and some linguistic vestiges as well.

2. Justinian I

Ruler of the Byzantine Empire (formerly known as the Eastern Roman Empire) in the 6th Century, Justinian had ambitions to reestablish the Roman Empire to its former glory. His numerous successful military campaigns saw his power reach as far as Carthage in North Africa and Rome in Italy. His exploits would likely have been successful, and he might have reconquered all formerly Roman lands if not for the awful luck of having had the Bubonic Plague infest his capital city. Justinian himself died from it.

1. Charlemagne

No doubt the most famous ruler of the Dark Ages, Charlemagne conquered the largest amount of territory in Europe since the Roman Empire. He instituted a strict law code across his lands and formed a new, more efficient type of hierarchy to rule over his lands which would later become the model for Feudalism. His armies carried with them more than just weapons as well. Charlemagne saw himself as a messenger of God and forced the people he conquered to convert. He is also credited as having invented public education, but of course this was reserved for the upper classes and not the peasantry. So important was he that the knights of the High Middle Ages legitimized their claim to the nobility by tracing their ancestry back to Charlemagne. If a knight could not trace his family tree back to Charlemagne, he was not considered nobility and was barred from being eligible to be a knight. It must be noted that most of these ancestral claims were fictitious and were frequently fabricated…at a price.

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