Emperor Charlemagne

Charlemagne — King of the Franks from 768, crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800 — is the figure most often cited as the founder of medieval Europe. He united most of western and central Europe under a single Christian rule, set the precedent for the Holy Roman Empire that endured until 1806, and earned the title Europae Pater, Father of Europe. For a collector, he is the anchor a Carolingian or early medieval display tends to be built around: the king who turns a row of armored figures into a court.

This W. Britain release shows him crowned and cloaked in red, in mail and tunic with a long sword grounded before him — a regal stance rather than a battle pose, which makes him work as a centerpiece rather than a skirmisher. The face is sculpted as the bearded, mature ruler the contemporary biographies describe, not the idealized king of later medieval art.

1/30 scale (60mm), matte-painted, single figure boxed. Catalog number 10183. As with the rest of the W. Britain modern range, the painting is photographic-quality detail intended to read well in dioramas and display cases.