The paladins (from Latin palātīne, meaning 'servant, government official'), sometimes known as the Twelve Peers, were the foremost warriors of Charlemagne's court, according to the literary cycle known as the Matter of France.[1] They first appear in the early chansons de geste such as The Song of Roland, where they represent Christian valour against the Saracen hordes inside Europe.
The paladins and their associated exploits are largely later fictional inventions, with some basis in historical Frankish retainers of the 8th century and events such as the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 and the confrontation of the Frankish Empire with Umayyad Al-Andalus in the Marca Hispanica.
Charlemagne has been called the "Father of Europe" (Pater Europae),[c] as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the classical era of the Roman Empire and united parts of Europe that had never been under Frankish rule. His rule spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church. All Holy Roman Emperors considered their kingdoms to be descendants of Charlemagne's empire, up to the last Emperor Francis II and the French and German.