He was of noble Frankish parentage, and educated at the palace school in Aquae Grani ( Aachen ) under Alcuin.

In 2009, Aachen was ranked 8th among cities in Germany for innovation.

A quarry on the Lousberg, which was first used in Neolithic times, attests to the long occupation of the site of Aachen.

Even in the late 18th century the Abbess of Burtscheid was prevented from building a road linking her territory to the neighbouring estates of the duke of Jülich ; the city of Aachen even deployed its handful of soldiers to chase away the road-diggers.

Aachen became attractive as a spa by the middle of the 17th century, not so much because of the effects of the hot springs on the health of its visitors but because Aachen was then — and remained well into the 19th century — a place of high-level prostitution in Europe.

Traces of this hidden agenda of the city's history is found in the 18th century guidebooks to Aachen as well as to the other spas ; the main indication for visiting patients, ironically, was syphilis ; only by the end of the 19th century had rheuma become the most important object of cures at Aachen and Burtscheid.

Aachen was chosen as the site of several important congresses and peace treaties: the first congress of Aachen ( often referred to as Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in English ) in 1668, leading to the First Treaty of Aachen in the same year which ended the War of Devolution.

By the middle of the 19th century, industrialisation swept away most of the city's medieval rules of production and commerce, although the entirely corrupt remains of the city's mediæval constitution was kept in place ( compare the famous remarks of Georg Forster in his Ansichten vom Niederrhein ) until 1801, when Aachen became the " chef-lieu du département de la Roer " in Napoléon's First French Empire.

In 1880, the Aachen tramway network was opened, and in 1895 it was electrified.

Aachen was heavily damaged during World War II.

Aachen was the first German city to be captured by the Allies.

Damaged buildings included the medieval churches of St. Foillan, St. Paul and St. Nicholas, and the Rathaus ( city hall ), although Aachen Cathedral was largely unscathed.

Aachen Cathedral was erected on the orders of Charlemagne in AD 786 and was on completion the largest cathedral north of the Alps.

For 600 years, from 936 to 1531, Aachen Cathedral was the church of coronation for 30 German kings and 12 queens.

Aachen was the administrative centre for the coal-mining industries in neighbouring places to the northeast ; it never played any role in brown coal mining, however, neither in administrative or industrial terms.

The International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen was awarded in the year 2000 to the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, for his special personal contribution to cooperation with the states of Europe, for the preservation of peace, freedom, democracy and human rights in Europe, and for his support of the enlargement of the European Union.

The Scotch-Club in Aachen was the first discothèque since 19 October 1959.

King Ethelwulf of Wessex, father of Alfred the Great was born in Aachen.

During the Middle Ages, Aachen remained a city of regional importance, due to its proximity to Flanders, achieving a modest position in the trade in woollen cloths, favoured by imperial privilege.

The two spent the winter in Vercelli, and in the spring they started the march over the Alps to the Emperor's residence in Aachen, arriving on 1 July, 802.

The pachyderm arrived on July 1, 802 to the Emperor's residence in Aachen.

During his residence in Aachen, he received embassies from Alfonso II of Asturias, according to the Frankish chronicles.

In the year of his coronation as King of Franks, 768, Charlemagne came to spend Christmas at Aachen for the first time.

Charlemagne spent most winters between 792 and his death in 814 in Aachen, which became the focus of his court and the political centre of his empire.

Inside you can find five frescoes by the Aachen artist Alfre Rethel which show legendary scenes from the life of Charlemagne, as well as Charlemagne's signature.

Since 1950, a committee of Aachen citizens annually awards the Karlspreis ( German for ‘ Charlemagne Award ’) to personalities of outstanding service to the unification of Europe.

Einhard evidently was a talented builder and construction manager, because Charlemagne put him in charge of the completion of several palace complexes including Aachen and Ingelheim.

Brundtland was awarded the Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen.

Around 1439, Gutenberg was involved in a financial misadventure making polished metal mirrors ( which were believed to capture holy light from religious relics ) for sale to pilgrims to Aachen: in 1439 the city was planning to exhibit its collection of relics from Emperor Charlemagne but the event was delayed by one year due to a severe flood and the capital already spent could not be repaid.

In 1954, he received the Karlspreis ( English: Charlemagne Award ), an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea, European cooperation and European peace.

At the same time, Charlemagne was consciously reviving the Roman expression in his " palace " at Aachen, of which only his chapel remains.

* 814: Charlemagne dies at Aachen.

* Charlemagne dies in Aachen, aged 67 or 72 ( depending on source )

* Charlemagne summons the monk and scholar Alcuin of York to head the palace school at Aachen in order to inspire the revival of education in Europe.

Pope Adrian I authorized Charlemagne to take away anything from Ravenna that he liked, and an unknown quantity of Roman columns, mosaics, statues, and other portable items were taken north to enrich his capital of Aachen.

Both proceeded to the grave of Charlemagne at Aachen Cathedral, where Bolesław received the Charlemagne's throne as a gift.

He was buried in Aachen Cathedral alongside the body of Charlemagne.

Frederick in the meantime was focused on restoring peace in the Rhineland, where he organized a magnificent celebration of the canonization of Charles the Great ( Charlemagne ) at Aachen, done under the authority of the antipope Paschal III.

After Charles Martel countered the Moorish invasion from Spain ( 732 — Poitiers ), the King Charlemagne ( born close to Liège in Herstal or Jupille ) brought a huge part of Europe under his rule and was crowned the " Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire " by the Pope Leo III ( 800 in Aachen ).

So, Emperor Charlemagne considered making Metz his imperial capital, before he finally decided in favor of Aachen.

In 2003 he received the Charlemagne Award of the German city of Aachen.

In his villa here, Theoduadum palatium, Louis the Pious was informed of the death of his father Charlemagne in 814 and hurried to Aachen to be crowned.

: Charlemagne Award ) an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace.

Charlemagne built the Palatine Chapel at his palace at Aachen between 789 and its consecration in 805.