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Charlemagne (2 April 742 - 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and was crowned as the Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800. A skilled military strategist, he spent much of his reign engaged in warfare in order to accomplish his goals. Charlemagne succeeded in uniting the majority of western and central Europe and was the first recognized emperor to rule from western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire approximately three centuries earlier. The expanded Frankish state that Charlemagne founded was the Carolingian Empire, which is considered the first phase in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. 
When he died in 814, after contracting an infectious lung disease, Charlemagne’s empire encompassed much of Western Europe. Today, Charlemagne is referred to by some as the 
'Father of Europe.' He was laid to rest in the Aachen Cathedral, in his imperial capital city of Aachen, Austrasia (now Germany.) He was canonized by Antipope Paschal III, an act later treated as invalid, and he is now regarded by some as beatified (which is a step on the path to sainthood) in the Catholic Church. 			 			 
Rosamond McKittcrick, a recent biographer, writes that Charlemagne not only promoted Christianity among his subjects, sometimes by force, but also was guided in his personal piety by Alcuin of York (a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher,) and family rituals during Christmas and Easter at the royal chapel at Aachen. 
The €0,85 stamp features the equestrian statue of Charlemagne, produced by Agostino Cornacchini for St Peter's Basilica in 1725, with the Benedictine Abbey of Fulda (Hesse, Germany) and St. Denis (Paris), in the background. The €1,90 stamp features classic iconography of Charlemagne with scepter and orb with the Cathedral of Aachen in the background, the site of his tomb. 
Both stamps represent political and cultural unity of the Western European continent. Artist Patrizio Daniele designed the two stamps for this issue which emphasize the concept of a united Europe represented by the reign of Charlemagne (French, English), Carlo Magno (Italian, Spanish), Karolus Magnus (Latin) or Karl der Große (German).

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