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Why did Charlemagne annex Bavaria?
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Charlemagne
Charlemagne, oil on limewood by Albrecht DĆ¼rer, 1512; in the collection of the German National Museum, NĆ¼rnberg, Germany.
Charlemagne annexed Bavaria in 787ā788 primarily to destroy the autonomy of the region, whose leaders had long resisted Frankish overlordship.12
Under their Agilolfing dukes, the Bavarians had maintained an independent, southward-looking state with close ties to Lombard Italy and peaceful relations with the Avar kingdom to the east. Charlemagneās conquest of the Lombards in 774 left Bavaria isolated, providing him with the opportunity to depose the last Agilolfing duke, Tassilo III, and replace him with a trusted agent.23
Following the annexation, Charlemagne utilized Bavaria as a strategic staging ground for a series of military campaigns between 791 and 796 that ultimately led to the destruction of the Avar empire.12