<P> In a famous assessment of the name, Voltaire remarked sardonically: "This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire ." </P> <P> As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control . In the late 5th and early 6th centuries, the Merovingians, under Clovis I and his successors, consolidated Frankish tribes and extended hegemony over others to gain control of northern Gaul and the middle Rhine river valley region . By the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers . In 751, Martel's son Pepin became King of the Franks, and later gained the sanction of the Pope . The Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy . </P> <P> In 768 Pepin's son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an extensive expansion of the realm . He eventually incorporated the territories of present - day France, Germany, northern Italy, and beyond, linking the Frankish kingdom with Papal lands . On Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the West for the first time in over three centuries . </P> <P> After Charlemagne died in 814, the imperial crown passed to his son, Louis the Pious . Upon Louis' death in 840, it passed to his son Lothair, who had been his co-ruler . By this point the territory of Charlemagne had been divided into several territories, and over the course of the later ninth century the title of Emperor was disputed by the Carolingian rulers of Western Francia and Eastern Francia, with first the western king (Charles the Bald) and then the eastern (Charles the Fat), who briefly reunited the Empire, attaining the prize . After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, and was never restored . According to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm "spewed forth kinglets", and each part elected a kinglet "from its own bowels". After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy . The last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924 . </P>

What was the name of the frankish king who formed the holy roman empire